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I contacted Brian Conley because I wanted to find out what drove him to set up aliveinbaghdad.org and begin pushing the envelope as far as this medium is concerned. He is giving a voice to the people of Iraq. A voice that is sometimes forgotten about.
But times are changing. Time Magazine’s, “Person of the Year” is…You…meaning you, the people/users of the Internet. This is a time in history where we, as people, can feel empowered rather than watching TV and being a passive audience. The Internet is evolving into a mass media frenzy driven with content supplied by us. The way we want it. That is what is driving people like Brian Conley to make sites like aliveinbaghdad.org and aliveinmexico.org. This concept is totally funded and driven by people like us. They even have a wiki to show you their financial record, how much money they have, who contributed, where the money is being spent. How many public companies can say that about their organization? This is the way we want it and dammit we are going to make it work.
This is Alive In Baghdad’s Mission Statement:
Alive in Baghdad is empowering Iraqis to share their stories with the world, and provides a place of education and interaction for global citizens interested in the real life political, military, economic and social situation in Iraq.
To this end, Alive In Baghdad seeks to:
? Generate and publish at least one short (3-7 minute) video from Iraq, made by an Iraqi civilian, each week, and make this video easily accessible to the world via the Internet.
? Keep all previously published videos easily accessible to the public.
? Publish ongoing and up-to-date written blogs and videoblogs from Iraqi citizen journalists on www.AliveinBaghdad.org.
? Provide a user-friendly, encouraging and supportive environment for public interaction and education concerning Iraqi issues through on-site discussion boards, chat rooms and message threads.
Above all, Alive in Baghdad is devoted to empowering Iraqi citizen journalists to share their stories with the world in a personal, candid and non-bureaucratic way. We endeavor to cut through the red tape and politics of corporate news and deliver the real stories, from real people, everyday.
