Being political animals, many of us Kossacks spend a hefty portion of our time at political events – Representatives' public meetings in their home district, candidate rallies, press conferences, VIP speaking engagements, fund-raisers, "popcorn" protests, deliveries of petitions. Some of us visit places that have important policy implications, such as geothermal installations and mountain-top removal sites. On the street we encounter the consequences of poverty and joblessness. As well as projects built with money from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. One or two of us may be in the capital of the next country that sends its dictator packing. Or in Afghanistan. And everywhere we go, we take photographs.
Except for a lucky, persistent and highly skilled few, however, our photos get shown to our families, posted for our Facebook friends, and maybe make a one-time appearance on this or that blog. End of story. Most never to be seen again.
With confidence that we can help change that, this week, we're starting the Daily Kos Photo Cooperative. It's one of several new administratively initiated and facilitated group projects that will be rolled out over the course of 2011 that we hope will serve as valuable resources and tools, making the most out of Daily Kos's new functionalities.
Long-time Kossack Citisven has graciously volunteered to take on the start-up administrative tasks of the Photo Cooperative, including developing a handful of parameters for participation. He will work together with a team of his choosing, and me as a partner.
Here’s the deal. With the knowledge that there will be only recognition, not remuneration, individuals will upload photos to our host site when they think these would be of interest and value at Daily Kos and other progressive blog sites. In other words, your sister surfing off Malibu is only likely to be of interest if she's planning to run for Dianne Feinstein's seat or has some other claim to fame. The photos will be loaded into the appropriately labeled folders for quick and easy access. Into each photo, using their own or the host site's software, individuals will provide a brief caption or information for one. And they will embed a standard credit line reading © 2011, Photographer's Name, Daily Kos Photo Cooperative, as in the example shown here:
All photos posted with the Photo Cooperative will be available royalty-free for non-commercial use at Daily Kos and other progressive blogs. Individual photographers will retain all rights of commercial use.
Citisven, his team members and I will frequently drop into diaries and any groups we are members of to "advertise" the Photo Cooperative and encourage diarists who are already posting relevant photos along with their text to add them to our collection for everyone's benefit. We will also encourage Kossacks and other progressive bloggers who aren't including original photos in their diaries to start doing so when appropriate. Our encouragement will also flow to Front Pagers at Daily Kos. If you're interested in being on the team, we can be reached at dkphotocoop@gmail.com.
Over time, the cooperative should build quite a collection of images, add more visual impact to progressive sites and give some attention to good amateur photographers. We're extremely excited about this project.
Beginning this week, Citisven will choose his team, set up the Daily Kos Photo Cooperative Group, open our user account on the host site and get started writing a brief how-to manual. The manual will contain terms of use, necessary details about how the host site works, trouble-shooting hints and possibly a handful of procedural rules that the participants themselves collaboratively determine are necessary.
We hope to have the cooperative humming by March 1.