History Commons Newsletter, July 21, 2009

Fundraising Efforts Continue

The History Commons is beginning to work towards making some dramatic upgrades in the website, including revamping the web application, and adding much more content and information. These changes will, we trust, make the History Commons a much more effective resource for you and your fellow users. (This spiffy new e-mail format is the first of those changes.) While you may not see the results of these changes for some time, they will, when finished, completely transform the site to make it far more usable and comprehensive. To help move this process forward, we need your financial support like never before. We accept donations through PayPal, credit cards, and personal checks. We sincerely appreciate all you do to make the History Commons a viable resource for information and citizen activism.
Please make your tax-deductible donation today.

You can help steer the transformation of the History Commons by making your comments and observations on the History Commons blog. Over the next few weeks, we will begin polling our users to determine what they want to see in the new and improved “History Commons 2.0.” You are a valuable part of the History Commons, and we want to know what you think. You can start posting in this thread. Thanks again.

History Commons Newsletter, July 14, 2009

The Push Towards “History Commons 2.0”

Over the next few months, the History Commons will begin working towards making some dramatic upgrades in the website, including revamping the web application, and adding much more content and information. These changes will, we trust, make the History Commons a much more effective resource for you and your fellow users. While you may not see the results of these changes for some time, they will, when finished, completely transform the site to make it far more usable and comprehensive. To help move this process forward, we need your financial support like never before. We accept donations through PayPal, credit cards, and personal checks. We sincerely appreciate all you do to make the History Commons a viable resource for information and citizen activism. Please make your tax-deductible donation today.

Re-organization of Global Financial and Economic Crisis Timeline

As you may or may not have noticed, the timeline on the current global economic crisis has again been reorganized. Firstly, it underwent its umpteenth name change, and now goes under the moniker Global Financial and Economic Crisis 2007-2009. We plan this will be the last change, with the possible exception of altering the end year if the crisis goes into 2010, which is looking fairly likely right now.

The categories were also reorganized. A new meta-category called Failing Companies: Specific Cases was created. The category about the collapse of the British mortgage bank Northern Rock was moved here and a category covering the failure of the US insurance giant AIG was added. The latter category only has a few entries at present, but several dozen more have already been entered into the system and will be published over the next week or two.

Finally, the oldest material that briefly covered, for example, oil in the 1970s and the 1980s savings and loan crisis was also re-organized, being shrunk down from a number of meta-categories to just one, called Events in Economic History. This material is not being worked on because the guy who started to go over it was unable to find the time to keep contributing. We thought there was no need to get rid of good information, however piecemeal it is, so we figured we would keep it, but alter the categories so that there were not lots of categories with few entries that were not being developed. The majority of categories now focus on current events, which is what the contributors are writing about.

History Commons Newsletter, July 7, 2009

History Commons Newsletter, July 7, 2009

Raising Funds for History Commons 2.0

Over the next few months, the History Commons will begin working towards making some dramatic upgrades in the website, including revamping the web application, and adding much more content and information. These changes will, we trust, make the History Commons a much more effective resource for you and your fellow users. While you may not see the results of these changes for some time, they will, when finished, completely transform the site to make it far more usable and comprehensive. To help move this process forward, we need your financial support like never before. We accept donations through PayPal, credit cards, and personal checks. We sincerely appreciate all you do to make the History Commons a viable resource for information and citizen activism. Please make your tax-deductible donation today.

History Commons Projects, Update for June 25, 2009

Over the next few months, the History Commons will begin working towards making some dramatic upgrades in the website, including revamping the web application, and adding much more content and information. These changes will, we trust, make the History Commons a much more effective resource for you and your fellow users. While you may not see the results of these changes for some time, they will, when finished, completely transform the site to make it far more usable and comprehensive. To help move this process forward, we need your financial support like never before. We accept donations through PayPal, credit cards, and personal checks.

Please make your tax-deductible donation today.

We sincerely appreciate all you do to make the History Commons a viable resource for information and citizen activism.

You can help steer the transformation of the History Commons by making your comments and observations on this blog. Over the next few weeks, we will begin polling our users to determine what they want to see in the new and improved “History Commons 2.0.” You are a valuable part of the History Commons, and we want to know what you think. Look for posts soliciting your thoughts and opinions very soon — hopefully by the time you read this.

---

About a dozen timelines have been updated in the past week, and one of the most active was the Economic Crisis project. One contributor points out that unemployment is already at 21 million peole in the European Union, whereas globally it could reach 51 million, according to the International Labor Organization. Another highlights the fictitious “light switch tax,” as well as much-needed tax cuts for millionaires.
Read more.

In the US Health Care Timeline, a contributor has started to cover the recent murder of late-term abortion provider George Tiller.
Read more.

In the Neoliberalism and Globalization Timeline, a contributor has started to document the cultural diversity movement, beginning with a group of entries about a UNESCO agreement on cultural diversity.
Read more.

A contributor to the Global Warming Timeline has added entries about recent comments by Republican Congressmen on global warming.
Read more.

Similarly, in the Domestic Propaganda Timeline a contributor has input more material about criticism of President Obama, and more about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.
Read more.

Finally, in the Loss of Civil Liberties Timeline, a contributor highlights a recent statement by former Defense official Douglas Feith, who said he had nothing to do with the Bush administration’s torture policy.
Read more.

Grant Recipients Rockin the Commons

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Three of our recipients are busily adding entries, kicking butt, and, no doubt, gnashing their teeth while they learn the system. Excellent. The other four are preparing to jump in; expect lots of new entries by new contributors over the next few days and weeks.

Maybe this is a bit juvenile, but I know I was secretly thrilled at the first entry I had posted. Why not do a little justified backslapping?

Veteran readers, if you’ve ever had an itch to become a History Commons contributor, now’s a great time to do it. There are seven new contributors all learning the ropes together, and hopefully helping one another in the process. You can be part of this “next wave” of Commons contributors, taking the site into the new millennium. Join this band of information activists today.

Mini-Grant Recipients: Part III

You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m posting the new grant recipients’ intros as I get them e-mailed to me. Batting fourth and posting under the moniker “River Ledger,” I’ll let him speak for himself from here on out.

Meet the Grant Recipients, Part II

Today we have the next of our recipients to take a bow. I’ll reprint what she sent me for posting:

Yvonne Shine (HC username 99 Percent Pure) is a freelance researcher/writer living in Los Angeles. Yvonne will be documenting the Events Leading Up to and Contributing to the Current Financial Crisis. Yvonne’s first timeline post, Royal Bank of Scotland Warns of Global Stock and Credit Crash can be viewed under the 2008 Credit Crisis timeline.

We’re glad that Yvonne chose to share her talents for investigation and writing with us. Keep an eye on the Credit Crisis timeline for more of her work.