"All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head . . ."*

As most people from coast-to-coast will attest, the temperatures outside are definitely on the rise.  Call it global warming, call it what you will, but before you get distracted by the image of that mercury bubble at the top of your thermometer bursting, I'm here to report that things here at ePluribusmedia are positively scorching!

And was delighted to see her wonderful kudos to all the folks here (which, of course, just speaks volumes about the kind of person we all know Ilona to be). Anyway, I knew she wouldn't mind if I quoted her from her acknowledgements:

To my ePluribus Media mentors and colleagues: You are a citizen journalist's best friend. My success is directly linked to the ideas, leads, advice, moral support, editing, fact-checking, friend-ship and dozens of other resources and opportunities you have given me. An enormous amount of appreciation goes to JeninRI, literally responsible for the PTSD Timeline's existence (along with programmer extraordinaire LeftyLimblog), and the driving force behind the fact-checking of every incident in its database. To D.E.Ford, MSW and retired Naval Commander Jeff Huber: thank you for scooping me up and letting me work with two pros. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes, too: standingup, kfred, Aaron Barlow, Barbara J. Schulz, radish, Roxy, Susie Dow, Kay Shepherd, Andrew Brenner, Timothy D. Smith, Greyhawk, luaptifer, Todd Johnson, Welshman, Chris White, intranets, rba, clammyc and the rest of the gifted gang at ePluribus Media.

Thank you Ilona! It's amazing that in the midst of all your busy schedules, you are able to take time to thank the people here.

On June 9th and 10th, the fourth annual DemocracyFest will be held -- this time in Manchester, NH. I will be attending as a presenter for ePluribus Media along with luaptifer. We need your help to ensure that we can all get as much as possible out of this.

First, what is DemocracyFest?

DemocracyFest is an annual educational and inspirational festival for the progressive grassroots. DemocracyFest gives grassroots progressives the knowledge and skills they need to take our country back. Participants return home to their communities with renewed commitment, and new skills to help them making a difference.

Several VIPs will be in attendance. In addition to giving our own presentation on Sunday, we're going to try and land some interviews with these folks, and we want you to help us develop the questions.

Aaron's new book, The Rise of the Blogosphere, reviewed by Carol White on the ePluribus Media Journal, has been quoted in an editorial of the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

The question of what constitutes a blogger and what protections should be provided has stalled a proposed federal shield law for more than two years. Former New York Times columnist William Safire told a Senate committee that he thinks "the lonely pamphleteer has the same rights" as the Times. Indeed, Aaron Barlow, author of the new book "The Rise of the Blogosphere," calls Ben Franklin "the patron saint of the blogs."

Nor must a journalist be on the spot at news events. Barlow points to legendary muckraker I.F. "Izzy" Stone, whose weekly political newsletter went to 70,000 homes. "What Stone discovered and what bloggers are rediscovering is that effective reporting entails a great deal more than direct observation," Barlow writes.

and over on the Greg Palast thread on Dkos...this kudo to the ePluribus Media researchers...and I know I left some out!

Epluribus-
The people over at epluribus are way ahead of everyon on this http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/...

-Zachary Roberts Staff, Greg Palast Office

by GregPalast on Wed May 23, 2007 at 05:43:54 PM EDT

And one more this morning:

No, thank YOU! Really!
I have nothing but good things to say about ePluribus Media. Now there's a crew with focus.
IWT; voting rights overview, timeline
by AlanF on Thu May 24, 2007 at 12:19:33 PM EDT

Spring is in the Air!

Spring is a time to celebrate growth and renewal, and in the spirit of the season ePluribus Media is growing rapidly. Site traffic is up and continues to grow. Stories are going up on the Journal on a regular basis. We are trying to get eight new stories up each month, so if you have a good story don’t be shy about submitting it to editors@epluribusmedia.org. For information and some guidelines, check out the submissions guidelines. We are also getting requests for permission to reprint our articles from mainstream news organizations and have been linked to by TPMMuckraker, Raw Story and Paul Krugman from the New York Times to name a few.

We have a new blogad up. Thanks to AvaHome for keeping the new ideas coming in. If anybody has any suggestions for graphics or "us" words, please leave a note in the comments.

New Newsletter Editor

jenn718 has volunteered for Newsletter duty. This newsletter is her first edition. We are hoping we will now have newsletters delivered every month to keep the community up-to-date.

New Book Reviews Editor

We welcome Carol White as the new Reviews Editor for the Journal. With Carol's prodding, the Book Review section seems to be taking off. The response to a call for more book reviewers was quite exciting. Several people have already responded to say that they are interested in doing reviews. It is also heartening to know that there are a growing number of people who follow our book review section. We are always looking for more reviewers and for suggestions of books to review. If you are interested in learning more send an e-mail to Carol White.

Mid Month News --
Note the cool new blogad by Avahome and Roxy-- And Huge SHOUT OUT to Roxy for converting the U.S. Attorney data dump into files that can be searched. We are not worthy!

Jeff Huber has been asked to provide a weekly column for Military News. Here's a link that provides a headshot of Jeff along with some of the fine company (/snark -- is that really Ollie?) he is keeping. As someone emailed this past month, "I get all the news I need from rba and Jeff." Nice to see him get this gig!

Welshman was a guest editor on Juan Cole's Informed Comment and ePluribus Media received an invite to speak to Wisconsin editors about "citizen journalism" and ePluribus Media. More about this exciting opportunity to come!

And even better, Ilona Meagher has been asked to participate on the YearlyKos 2007 Veterans panel. She's been working so hard, and now the well-deserved acolades are rolling in. Here's another issue that the citizen journalists (if you will) have pushed the agenda into the public sphere.

more below the fold.

Couple of neat things happening that couldn't wait for a newsletter...

ePluribus Media secured Press credentials for Ilona Meagher to cover the National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis next week. And even better, the day proceeding the Conference is a symposium sponsored by our friends at Media Giraffe. Ilona's involved with that as well. Look for her coverage of the events here!

ePluribus Media also was accepted to the Columbia Journalism School Sulzberger Leadership Program. Way back in the Fall, Nybri asked me to answer some questions about ePluribus Media for Douglas Smith. Doug and I continued corresponding and eventually he invited us to apply to the program. Aaron Barlow, Todd Johnston and I worked on the application, though Aaron did the lion's share of the work. ePluribus Media received the huge honor of being accepted! The program is a year-long, and ePluribus Media will represented by many of us, starting next week where Aaron and I will do the first tour of duty at Columbia. More about this exciting adventure to follow.

Finally, Avahome and Roxy have come up with another beaut of an ePluribus Media banner... on the left and at top... it'll also be on the next newsletter!

So anyone else -- AlanF (?) -- going to be in Memphis next week ? At either the Media Giraffe or Media Reform events? Post below and maybe you guys can meet up!

As Avahome reminds us, "it takes a village." So with the New Year about to ring in, the Board and Advisory committees of ePluribus Media are establishing 8 Awards, named in honor of ePluribus Media individuals who have done so much to keep us working.

Later in the month, we will open up nominations / voting for the first recipients for each of these awards. The eight awards, named in honor of those who have literally gotten ePluribus Media "off the ground," are:

• The ePluribus Media Roxy -- to honor member contributions to design, graphics, and production
• The ePluribus Media Radish - to honor member contributions to technical assistance keeping the many ePMedia sites running
• The ePluribus Media Avahome -- or the Volunteer of the Year -- to honor at large contributions to all aspects of ePluribus Media
• The ePluribus Media 'Nets -- to honor member contributions to the research behind the stories
• The ePluribus Media rba - to honor ongoing, ironman-like, contributions to the Community site
• The ePluribus Media JeninRI - to honor fact-checking and verifying the Timelines and any article that goes on the Journal
• The ePluribus Media Huber - to honor member contributions of consistent excellence in commentaries on the Community site
• The ePluribus Media ilona - for dedication to a specific Timelines project

There are so many folks who do so much to keep ePluribus Media functioning, and we wanted to do a little something to honor these notable members before opening up the floor to nominations for each of the 8 awards.