[NV Greens] Fw: Greens blog

[charleslaws at att.net]

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
FMI, contact Serena Blaiz, stblaiz at yahoo.com


Website created by and for Green Party grassroots
party-building

Green Commons -- A community forum  
for the community-minded  

A new participatory web site designed to inform and
inspire members of the Green Party, debuted in August.
Designed by and for the grassroots of the growing
third
party, Green Commons (www.greencommons.org) provides
anyone who creates an account the ability to publish
their own news- or opinion-based content and to
participate in an online conversation with other
registered members through community-moderated
comments. An additional mission of Green Commons will
be to specifically promote Green candidates, their
platforms and highlight their accomplishments at all
levels of government. 

The site was conceived and established by Oklahoma
Green Serena Blaiz, and grew out of discussions on Ken
Sain's blog (www.kensain.com), currently the best
known
and most popular of all Green news sites on the
Internet. "After the recent Green Party Annual Meeting
in Tulsa, several of us where disgruntled about being
increasingly sidelined at partisan Democratic sites
and
lacking an acceptable alternative to fully explore our
own concerns and points of view," Blaiz said. "Green
Commons was created in order to enhance the visibility
of Greens on the Internet, provide a forum to increase
the number of Green voices and better prioritize party
perspectives."

Green Commons joins a growing movement, based
primarily
on the Internet, for citizen-based news gathering and
distribution, as well as editorializing about current
news stories on sites known as "blogs." Blaiz points
to
opinion polls that indicate the stature and influence
of what she calls "mainstream media's old-school,
elite
pundit class" is decreasing. "The cyber media, with
its
ability to empower those traditionally without power
in
this society, is still in its infancy, but it is
growing up fast; the Greens will now be an integral
part of that information revolution."

Blaiz thinks that the site will also play a positive
role within the internal dynamics of the Green Party.
"We've already had members suggest that Greens in
positions of leadership, both within the party itself
as well as in elected offices, can use the site to
maintain more direct contact with the grassroots
movement that constitutes the party's foundation. This
is the type of participation, interaction and activism
Green Commons will be actively striving to promote in
its daily operations."

In conjunction with Green Commons, Blaiz started a web
ring called Green Bloggers (www.greenbloggers.org)
where Greens with personal blogs can link to and
promote each other's sites. Blaiz envisions the two
sites as part of the same mission of outreach and
publicity for Greens on the Web.  "Essentially, once
we
have accomplished our initial goals and are actively
contributing to the growth of the Green Party and
support for its agenda, we will feel quite satisfied
with our work." Where it goes beyond that, she says
can
be "as far-reaching as the vision of its participants,
which, knowing Greens, will be far indeed."