VOICES SELECT | MAGAZINE |

New Moon Magazine for Girls
New Moon magazine is an inspirational magazine for girls and women. What makes it incredibly special is that it is advertising free. New Moon states on their website that they're for every girl who "wants her voice heard and dreams taken seriously." Their blog tells of their next issue titled Letter to Congress. They're looking for political blogger journalists—someone who will watch when bills are stalled or move in congress. Sounds like advocacy to me... :-)... way to go New Moon magazine!

MAKE MEDIA LESS ADDICTIVE FOR YOU AND YOUR KIDS

Kids and adults are getting bombarded more than ever by commercials, advertising, video games and product placements. Soon they will be all over the cell phones as well. It's big business and not everyone realizes that this thing called "media" can become addictive. Last year, kids 4 to 12 years old had an estimated spending power of $45 billion, and teens $160 billion. There are teams of very smart, well-paid advertisers out there whose job it is to equate more “stuff” with more happiness. It’s a tough job for all of us to resist that kind of pressure - but even more difficult for kids. Download the MediaWise Parent Survival Guide to find out how advertisers are targeting your kids. Get the Facts.

While you're at it-- find out more about how your kids post to places like YOUTUBE and MYSPACE. MediaWise Walks you through how they do it.

VOICES SELECT | WEB SITE|

Check out some of the best news photography of the year. View the Winners Gallery at World Press Photo -- awards for best photography in twenty categories -- from portrait to nature to spot news and TIME MAGAZINE offers their year in photos.

DON'T LAY OFF NOW--

Make Net Neutrality Priority 1 for 2007. There's little to no discussion of what net neutrality is on regular broadcast news. Because of this the Free Press initiative "SavetheInternet Coalition" was born in April 2006 and byseveral months later, in July, over 1 MILLION people had signed the petition to maintain our Internet freedom. By September the public stood together on Net Neutrality and the anti-net neutrality Bill that passed through Senate stalled.

Net Neutrality ensures that any citizen can view the smallest website or blog as easily as they can view a large corporation's website, preventing phone and Internet companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from charging additional fees or making it very difficult to navigate and load the websites you want to see and read. Only the big payers would get the fast "broadband" lane. The best way to understand net neutrality is to take 5 minutes and watch this new video. If you want to continue to have a free and open Internet (the way it is right now) then you you owe it to yourself to understand the principles of Net Neutrality before these companies spend enough on lobbying Congress to take away our free and participatory aspect of the Internet. If they do that, they take away our voices too. The Internet is an incredible Democratic resource for every citizen. We can't let the Internet become this generation's TV and Radio—as citizens will lose our power. Take notice --watch the video.

VOICES SELECT | AD CAMPAIGN | MILENIO

Milenio is a national newspaper in Mexico. Who says Mexico is poor? Here's a rich ad campaign with a sense of humor. Good or Bad?

“A very complex world needs a good explanation.”

WHAT ARE AVATARS?

Here's my avatar created at Yahoo.com. If you look on the blog's right column you will see more avatars. An avatar represents an internet user's online image in a digital form. AOL's instant messenger was the first to use these 'buddy icons.' Avatars have been used for some time in video games where the game user digitally alters the looks of their "character" in a similar fashion to traditional paper dolls. Starting with a basic template, avatars are created by interchanging face shape and features, hairstyles, physique, clothing and accessories. Create your own avatar or visit the 13 Most Beautiful Avatars exhibition, which captures the most visually dynamic and celebrated "stars" of Second Life. The Matteses have been living in the virtual world, Second Life, for over a year, exploring its terrain and interacting with its peculiar inhabitants. The result of their "video-game flanerie" is this series of portraits.

The 13 Most Beautiful Avatars images will be exhibited, in the real-world, at the Italian Academy in the Columbia University, New York. Nov. 30 - Dec. 19, 2006 at The Italian Academy, Columbia University (New York)