Riding the success of CSPAN’s convention hub which featured twitter feeds about both the DNC and RNC (shout out to the Twitter Queen @leslieann44), Current.com is getting hip to the social media community with Hack the Debate.

From their site:

Current is partnering with Twitter to give your feedback and voice a home — on TV as the various candidates debate. There will be four debates total, and we’ll be broadcasting them live on Current TV as well as live streaming them on Current.com.

As one commenter mentioned on the website, Current.com is not using “hack” in the conventional sense. I guess in this context “hack” is just meant to bait politically active social network types into participating. Which they will, as long as Current lays off the “look at us, we’re so edgy!” vibe. You can follow Current at: http://twitter.com/current

‘Tis summer and apparently that means it’s time for lots of video contests - including two chances to win a Flip Video camera!

1) Activate wants to feature your citizen journalism photos and videos for a chance to win a Flip Video camera and other prizes:

News shouldn’t be a spectator sport. The best stories engage you with the world. They are a call to activate. To celebrate our 100th Issue, we are stepping out of the mainstream-media box. We want to showcase the stories that activate your universe. Enter here to win some great prizes by sharing your story on our Flickr ™ group.

2) WE Can Solve the Climate Crisis wants suggestions for their “Unlikely Alliance” series:

You may have seen the ads already. Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich. Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson. Complete opposites. But there they are, together, on a couch. Addressing climate change brought them together. Now it’s your turn to come up with the next pairing for the couch. Tell us what famous pairs would motivate the rest of America to put aside differences to solve the climate crisis. Click here to watch the ads and nominate the next “Unlikely Alliance.”

Here’s one they’ve already done with Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson. Personally, I’d like to see Bill Gates and Steve Jobs appear together…

3) Americans for Informed Democracy is offering a chance to win a Flip Digital Camcorder through their Rights Camera Action Video Contest:

“For the past six months, student groups across the country have been organizing innovative campaigns around global human rights issues and documenting their experiences on film. From labor rights to access to essential medicines, and from fair trade to divestment, these campaigns have touched upon a myriad of pressing human rights issues. Vote for your favorite video here and be entered to win a free Flip Digital Camcorder!”

There’s rarely any good news about Sudan. A group of volunteers in Chicago decided to change that.

Accompanied by a member of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” ordinary people joined forces in an effort to ship donated medical supplies to the war-torn country, where a new and much-needed hospital is under construction.

It’s a small step in confronting a problem half a world away.

Produced by Hassan S. Ali

It was the day after a man shot and killed five students at Northern Illinois University, and I had just arrived on campus.

The shootings that ravaged this community opened the door to a media frenzy a town this size should never have to see. And I, a guy with a camcorder sandwiched between global news teams, stood out like a sore thumb amidst all of it.

Or so I thought, until I decided to ditch the stodgy press area and visit the offices of the Northern Star, the campus newspaper whose constantly updated website has served as a lifeline to concerned NIU parents, students, and outside journalists.

The tragedy that devastated Northern Illinois University yesterday made headlines around the world. But unlike other incidents such as those at Virginia Tech and more recently at a Chicago-area shopping mall, the mainstream news outlets — at least for several hours — were relatively powerless in disseminating information and reporting the story.

Why? Because, as one student so aptly put it, Dekalb is “in the middle of a bunch of cornfields.” Indeed, being 2 hours away from a major metropolis limited the news media’s ability to dig for information on the scene, leaving them to call school officials and other personnel for brief phone interviews on the air, at least until a local affiliate could arrive on the scene and patch through. Continue Reading…

Regardless of who gets the nomination for either party, the biggest storyline of the 2008 primary election so far has been voter turnout, particularly in the 18-29-year-old voting bloc. In all of the early primary and caucus states young voters have been coming to the polls in record numbers.

The elusive youth vote has been manifesting itself for a number of reasons – increased interest in politics, appealing candidates – but one influence that almost certainly isn’t responsible for the record turnout is “get out the vote” campaigns that attempt to make voting seem sexy.

Remember P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die!” campaign in 2004? During that election season, Diddy’s mohawked head was splashed over t-shirts and television screens everywhere with that famous life or death proposition. “Vote or Die!” was a more menacing outgrowth of the successful “Rock the Vote” political advocacy group, which was started in 1990 by music industry members who were concerned about censorship issues. On the surface, “Vote or Die!” was a mild success, as a slightly larger proportion of young voters participated in 2004 than had in the 2000 presidential election. But in reality, the increased political participation was probably more of a response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than anything else. continue reading…

Produced by Hassan S. Ali and Dorothee Royal-Hedinger

For the Lakota tribe in South Dakota, growing industrial hemp is not just a risky business — it’s a means of survival.

“Standing Silent Nation” by Suree Towfighnia and Courtney Hermann chronicles the ongoing legal battle between the government and the Lakota over their right to grow and sell industrial hemp on tribal land.

In a country where information technology is booming alongside slums and starving children, Video Volunteers is giving disenfranchised communities a voice. Based in New York and Ahmedabad, India, this non-profit organization is working to create “a global social media network, which provides solutions-based media for marginalized and poor communities around the world.” You might be thinking that for people living on under one dollar a day, the last thing they need is camera equipment when access to basic resources like food and shelter is scarce. But it becomes evident when watching the community-produced videos from the slums and tribal villages of India that filmmaking is a tremendous source of empowerment. Each Community Video Unit (CVU) is run by up to 10 community members trained in all aspects of video production that produce videos covering local news, opinion polls, short documentaries, exposes, legal tips and funny skits.

Bored to death by the back-and-forth bickering of the presidential primary season? Never fear! Our web correspondent, Mark Boyer, brings us good news from the front. - Dorothee

It happens time and again on the campaign trail: a reporter digs up a tantalizing bit of gossip, and within hours the story picks up momentum, eventually creating an all-out feeding frenzy at the political trough. For the rest of the news cycle, nobody’s talking about “the issues” because every network is abuzz with Hillary Clinton’s Emotional Moment or a gaffe that might be interpreted – with a little suspension of disbelief – as racist. There are a lot of factors that can account for the herd mentality of the national press and the way they cover the electoral process, but above all, there are newspapers to sell and Nielsen Ratings to worry about.

Enter Purple States, a citizen journalism project that provides raw footage and commentary from a team of five hand-picked citizen journalists who explore the issues and candidates on the campaign trail using new media. The project was started by Cynthia Farrar, a Yale lecturer who has done similar work in the past with PBS. Several of the videos will be professionally edited and broadcast in key markets, and NYTimes.com is posting some of them on their Op-Ed page. The initial videos have a documentary quality to them, with the five citizens chatting with independent voters, interviewing the candidates, and giving their own running commentary of what they’re finding.

The coverage that these citizen journalists offer isn’t better or worse than national press coverage – it’s fundamentally different. The footage that they’ve produced so far is engaging, and they generally manage to point their cameras above the fray.

Photo by Xylonets