Helium Partners with 1H2O – a Collaborative Project of Knight Center for International Media & Independent Television Service (ITVS)
Project Brings Global Environmental Issue to Helium, Awards Top Citizen Journalists
ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Helium (www.Helium.com), the leader
in citizen journalism, and 1H20, a collaborative project between the
Knight Center for International Media and the Independent Television
Service (ITVS), have partnered to raise awareness on global
environmental issues and the state of safe drinking water. The
partnership provides citizen journalists with a platform to write about
issues raised by 1H20 and the Knight Center. The starting titles will
also appear in the project’s feature film, One
Water.
“Partnering with Helium allows us to reach
out to a community of citizen journalists. Our goal is to encourage high
quality writing aimed at shedding light on the global fresh water crisis
over the next year through Helium,” said
Sanjeev Chatterjee, vice dean and executive director, Knight Center for
International Media.
The partnership provides Helium members with the opportunity to win an
award from the Knight Center and ITVS. Helium members can compete by
writing to any of 1H20’s featured issues.
Journalism faculty at the Knight Center will then pick the award winners
from the top-rated articles in each category. Winners will be presented
with a 1H20 Citizen Journalism Award, presented by the Knight Center.
The Knight Center will also award one cash prize each month.
Citizen journalists can write to 1H20 titles at Helium such as “Will
Science and Technology conquer water related diseases?”
and “Will our great rivers die?”
“We are beginning our partnership with titles
posed in the film, One Water. The film is being produced by the
University of Miami and it premiered at the Miami International Film
Festival. We are encouraging people to go to Helium and write to the
issues,” said Chatterjee.
1H20 and the Knight Center leverage Helium’s
fair and trusted peer-review rating. Every article at Helium is sorted
for quality by its community of writers in a simple, yet effective A
versus B comparison. After many ratings by many people, quality content
rises to the top. The Knight Center will select the award winners from
the site’s most highly rated articles on each
issue.
Helium is revolutionizing citizen journalism by inviting anyone with a
voice to write. It thrives on quality content, passion and unique
perspectives, and is home to hundreds of thousands of writers. Helium is
partnered with some of the most prestigious journalism and news outlets,
and leading nonprofit organizations in the world, including the Pulitzer
Center on Crisis Reporting, the leader in international nonprofit
journalism; the National Press Club, the world’s
most professional club for journalists; Foreign Exchange, a weekly
international affairs series that probes the global questions of the
moment; One World, the premier global hub for groups and individuals who
care about international issues; and more.
To learn more about Helium’s partners and to
get involved, visit Causes &
Charities.
Learn more about the Knight
Center and 1H20 at Helium and to write.
About the Knight Center for International Media
The Knight Center for International Media was established in February,
2007 to address the assumption that the world will not solve its most
difficult problems unless its people learn to communicate more easily
across national borders. The Center is made possible by a major grant
from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s
Journalism Initiatives and builds upon the University of Miami’s
long-standing relationship with the Foundation. Learn more about
the Knight Foundation.
About 1H20 & One Water
1H2O endeavors to create an international network of journalists and
media makers with the purpose of generating the most compelling
journalism relating to water and human life.
1H2O is a collaboration between the Knight Center for International
Media at the University of Miami and the Independent Television Service
(ITVS) to create opportunities internationally for the creation of
media, aimed at generating worldwide awareness about the challenges
facing the planet with regard to the provisioning of safe potable water.
1H2O is made possible by major funding from the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation and will enable journalists from around the world to
tell stories about the challenges relating to water. This effort will
also help in the creation of public television programming in developing
countries around the world.
One Water is a global film about the state of potable water. The feature
length film was shot in 16 countries around the world. It addresses the
evolving worldwide situation with access to clean and safe water. One
Water explores the problems and their solutions, present and projected.
The connection of human life to water biologically, as well as
culturally, will for the basis for visual storytelling. Learn more about 1H20
& One Water.
About the Independent Television Service (ITVS)
The Independent Television Service (ITVS) brings to local, national and
international audiences high-quality, content-rich programs created by a
diverse body of independent producers. ITVS programs take creative
risks, explore complex issues, and express points of view seldom seen on
commercial or public television. ITVS programming reflects voices and
visions of underrepresented communities and addresses the needs of
underserved audiences. ITVS is the largest content provider of
independent documentaries for public television. Learn more about ITVS.
About Helium
Helium is connecting you with real-world knowledge through citizen
journalism. Helium goes beyond search, bringing together real advice
from real people on a wide variety of topics. Helium combines citizen
journalism with a simple yet highly effective peer-rating process which
pushes the best content to the top, whether there are 5 or 500 articles
on a topic. Described as "About, Yahoo Answers and Wikipedia all rolled
into one," by Search Engine Journal, Helium is a fun community for
people who are passionate about a topic to read, write and rate articles
and be rewarded for their efforts. Try it now at www.Helium.com.