Category Archives: Multimedia Publishing

Project Description
The main idea is to create a small, online, independent publishing platform by taking advantage of GV huge archive and its future production. We could select, re-package and disseminate our multimedia content according to topics, regions, issues, languages, media, etc. This platform could produce electronic books, dossier and specific publications in a variety of formats (pdf, html, odt, epub, mobipocket, etc.), containing a collection of the best posts/material, preceded by an ad hoc introduction or short essay(s) to provide the proper context. For example, we could create right away a “Global Voices 2011″ or an “Arab Spring Voices” ebooks including best posts on these topics already published on GV in several languages, enriching and adapting them accordingly. In time we can build a unique catalog focused on citizen and social media material to be distributed (under CC) on many occasions and in many venues — while also attracting new people interested in sharing their multimedia content (videos, pics, audio, etc.), on our platform.

GV Books is branching out…

Leave a reply

Yes, in mid-February 2013 we opened accounts on some open access, sharing and popular platforms: the Internet Archive, Scribd, Issuu. We set up a nice profile and uploaded our two e-books in their various translations. Here below are basic statistics about reads & downloads after the first two weeks, along with some less accurate figures (for technical reasons) from the GV Books website (which received more than 500 visits since its inception on May 30, 2012).

GV Books:
– “EU in crisis” dwnlds in english: 40 pdf + 5 epub + 4 mobi
– “African Voices…” dwnlds in english: 22 pdf + 3 epub + 2 mobi

Internet Archive:
– “EU in crisis” (pdf): 11 dwnlds in english, 16 in arabic, 7 in spanish, 5 in italian, 5 in portuguese;
– “African Voices…” (pdf): 9 dwnlds in english, 7 in italian

Scribd:
– “EU in crisis”: 167 reads (+ 3 readcasts, 19 dwnlds) in english, 144 in arabic, 66 (+ 4 readcasts, 3 dwnlds) in italian, 50 (+ 1 dwnld) in portuguese, 29 (+ 1 readcast, 1 dwnld) in spanish
– “African Voices…”: 178 reads (+ 2 readcasts, 12 embed views, 1 dwnld) in english, 102 reads in italian

Issuu:
– “EU in crisis”: 7 impressions in english, 24 in arabic, 5 in italian, 3 in portuguese, 2 in spanish
– “African Voices…”: 38 in english, 4 in italian.

New e-book published!

Leave a reply

As promised, on December 19, 2012, we launched our second e-book: “African voices of hope and change: a collection of 13 best posts (plus an original & broad introduction) from 2012 GV coverage of Sub-Saharan countries. It turned out a lovely and collaborative project indeed! Also underway is the Portuguese edition of our first e-book (EU in crisis), after the Italian, Arabic and Spanish versions — French will follow soon.

“GV Books” is happily growing!

Leave a reply

Indeed: thanks to a broader community effort, our first ebook, EU in Crisis, in now available also in Italian and in Arabic — in the usual three formats (PDF, mobipocket, ePub). The Spanish version is coming soon, while Portuguese and French translators are quickly catching up.

In early December we plan to release our second English ebook: “African voices of hope and change” — keep an eye on our dedicated GV Books website. Muchas gracias everybody for making this project flourish!

“EU in crisis” ebook ready!

Leave a reply

Another update to let everybody know that the Global Voices first e-book is ready (since early August 2012): EU in crisis, a collection of best material hand-picked from the on-going special coverage provided by our International team of dedicated citizen-reporters. Now you can download our ebook it in three different formats:

– PDF (3,2 MB)
– ePub (3,2 MB)
– Mobipocket (2,8 MB)

More details on our GV Books webspace, which is the final development of the initial “GV multimedia publishing project” supported by this GV Innovation Awards. See you there!

“GV books” up & running!

Leave a reply

As promised, here is our e-books webspace, devoted to the GV multimedia publishing project detailed earlier. Please get involved, post comments, and subscribe to the related mailing list! The plan is to develop this collaborative space to make available our upcoming, lovely e-books as they get ready and also create a gathering place around them, with on-going discussions, new resources/links, etc. We are currently moving forward with our first two e-books: Europe in Crisis and Forgotten Conflicts in Africa — to be introduced at the Nairobi Summit. The initial production stage covers listing and selection of best articles published on those topics up to May 31, 2012 on GV english (other languages will follow soon). For questions, suggestions, and to contribute please check GV e-books! See you there 😉

Project proposal: GV multimedia publishing

Leave a reply
1. Full name
Bernardo Parrella
2. Global Voices sections to which you contribute
GV in English
Lingua
3. Publication date of your latest post or translation
Date: – 18/1/2012
4. Title of project
GV multimedia publishing
5. Project representative (person who will sign award agreement and receive funds)
Bernardo Parrella
6. Describe the proposed project as clearly as possible in five sentences or less
The main idea is to create a small, online, independent publishing platform by taking advantage of GV huge archive and its future production. We could select, re-package and disseminate our multimedia content according to topics, regions, issues, languages, media, etc. This platform could produce electronic books, dossier and specific publications in a variety of formats (pdf, html, odt, epub, mobipocket, etc.), containing a collection of the best posts/material, preceded by an ad hoc introduction or short essay(s) to provide the proper context. For example, we could create right away a “Global Voices 2011” or an “Arab Spring Voices” ebooks including best posts on these topics already published on GV in several languages, enriching and adapting them accordingly. In time we can build a unique catalog focused on citizen and social media material to be distributed (under CC) on many occasions and in many venues — while also attracting new people interested in sharing their multimedia content (videos, pics, audio, etc.), on our platform.
7. What aspect or need of Global Voices does your project address?
This project will greatly increase collaboration and participation within the entire GV and Lingua communities, given that each GVer could be involved in its various stages and outcomes. It could enhance our currently work flow and perspective, start new editorial partnership with media outlets and non-profit organizations.
8. How would the project further Global Voices’ mission?
This multimedia platform/project will provide a broader exposure/visibility to local issues, voices and citizen media; it will amplify the global conversation online and provide further channels, formats, venues to “give voice to the voiceless”.
9. What is innovative about your project?
We will need to deploy new tools and techniques to produce multimedia outcomes, thus advancing and refining our working procedures. Our platform will also employ most current (and future) tools and services our platform to allow people to share their multimedia content and/or to adapt it for future products.
10. Which section of Global Voices would your project most benefit (if applicable)?
GV in English
Lingua
Rising Voices
GV Advocacy
11. How would the wider GV community utilize and/or participate in your project?
All interested GVers could propose e-book titles and series; select, translate, and edit posts; preparing multimedia files; proofreading, beta-testing, etc. GVers could also develop other publishing projects directly on our platform, such as pop-up galleries for different regions and cities, creating special kits, etc.
12. List the other GV community members, if any, who will be actively working on the project. Please specify what role each person will play in the development of the project.
Several GVers express their willingness in getting directly involved (see Innovation blog), and they can easily help according to the roles and needs outlined above, as well as based to their own interest.
13. What additional resources or expertise, if any, would you need to complete the project?
Particularly for setting-up the platform, some technical help & developing will be needed; probably later also graphic designing and multimedia expertise will be necessary.
14. Describe the prospects for sustainability/continuation once the innovation grant funding ends
After the first six months or one year, the project should be able to support itself by a combination of means: selling e-publications on many platforms/sites, partnerships and commissioned jobs, ad-hoc sponsors and grants, etc.
15. Please specify the timeline for the project, from start to finish
General preparation will require about three months, so the the platform could be launched in June with the first ebooks/products and develop in full autonomy until the end of 2012. Later external funding (described above) should provide further sustainability/continuation.
16. Provide a detailed budget of up to US$5,000 for project costs. (Please try and present as accurate a budget as possible: applicants are encouraged to submit budgets for less than the maximum amount as smaller grants allow us to fund more projects)
The money grant will be used to cover initial expenses: new domain (>$10/year), web-hosting (>350/year), part-time admin & develop ($100/month?). Also, a small compensation for a coordinator (me) and maybe for editors/translators involved on specific tasks. The whole $ 5,000 will be needed to ensure the project proper launch and its growth until the end of 2012.

Proposal: GV media publishing

9 Replies

Since its inception in December 2004, GV published a huge amount of material on a variety of topics, countries and languages. To date, just the GV English sites alone total over 75,000 posts long and many more have been published on each of the localized sites. Those archives are an important historical and cultural treasure and deserve broader dissemination, thus advancing GV’s mission of fostering “voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media.”

We should take advantage of the themes we’ve already covered, re-packaging and re-proposing our archived multimedia content, after a proper search of relevant posts/materials across countries, topics, languages. We could create electronic books, dossier and topic publications in a variety of formats (pdf, html, epub, mobipocket, etc.), containing a collection of the best posts/material, preceded by an ad-hoc introduction or short essay(s) to provide the proper context. In time we can build a unique catalog focused on citizen and social media material to be distributed/used on many occasions and in many venues. For example, we could create right away a “Global Voices 2011” or an “Arab Spring Voices” ebook including best posts on these topics already published on GV, enriching and adapting them accordingly.

Continue reading →