Participatory Culture Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
whose mission is to “enable and support independent, non-corporate
creativity and political engagement.”
Its primary project is a free
and open-source
Internet television
platform called Miro (previously known as Democracy Player).
. The Downhill Battle
project precedes PCF.
PCF has received financial support from the Rappaport Family Foundation, Mitch Kapor
's Open Source Applications Foundation
, the Surdna Foundation, Knight Foundation, and other private donors.
On May 29, 2007, the Mozilla Foundation
announced that it had awarded PCF a grant to continue their work on its open-source video projects.
s of downloadable audio and video.
The Channel Channel: A project which provides one-minute previews of internet channels. Last updated in January 2007.
Video Bomb: folksonomy
-driven video directory.
Broadcast Machine: Desktop application allowing producers to easily publish video files and updated internet television channels. last updated Feb 21, 2006.
Miro Video Converter: an application for converting any video to MP4, Theora
or formats compatible with Android, iPod, iPhone OS
and PSP
-based devices.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
whose mission is to “enable and support independent, non-corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
creativity and political engagement.”
Its primary project is a free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
and open-source
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
Internet television
Internet television
Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet...
platform called Miro (previously known as Democracy Player).
History
It was founded in February 2005 and is based in Worcester, MassachusettsWorcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. The Downhill Battle
Downhill Battle
Downhill Battle is a non-profit organization based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It launched in August 2003 and argues that the four major recording labels have an oligopoly that is bad for both musicians and music culture...
project precedes PCF.
PCF has received financial support from the Rappaport Family Foundation, Mitch Kapor
Mitch Kapor
Mitchell David Kapor is the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of Lotus 1-2-3. He is also a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and was the first chair of the Mozilla Foundation...
's Open Source Applications Foundation
Open Source Applications Foundation
The Open Source Applications Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Mitch Kapor whose purpose is to effect widespread adoption of free software/open-source software.-OSAF Mission:The mission of the OSAF is stated this way:...
, the Surdna Foundation, Knight Foundation, and other private donors.
On May 29, 2007, the Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. The organization sets the policies that govern development, operates key infrastructure and controls trademarks and other intellectual property...
announced that it had awarded PCF a grant to continue their work on its open-source video projects.
Projects
Miro: a free/open-source broadcatching software application which allows for subscription to web feedWeb feed
A web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an aggregator...
s of downloadable audio and video.
-
- Miro Guide: a web-based directory of audio and video web feeds, integrated by default into the application.
- Miro Community: free web hosting service for user-submitted video. Hosts mostly TheoraTheoraTheora is a free lossy video compression format. It is developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container....
-formatted video in HTML5-compatible web browsers.
The Channel Channel: A project which provides one-minute previews of internet channels. Last updated in January 2007.
Video Bomb: folksonomy
Folksonomy
A folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging...
-driven video directory.
Broadcast Machine: Desktop application allowing producers to easily publish video files and updated internet television channels. last updated Feb 21, 2006.
Miro Video Converter: an application for converting any video to MP4, Theora
Theora
Theora is a free lossy video compression format. It is developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container....
or formats compatible with Android, iPod, iPhone OS
IPhone OS
iOS is Apple's mobile operating system. Originally developed for the iPhone, it has since been extended to support other Apple, Inc. devices such as the iPod Touch, iPad, and Apple TV. Apple, Inc. does not license iOS for installation on third-party hardware...
and PSP
PSP
PSP most commonly refers to the PlayStation Portable, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment.PSP may also refer to:-Computing and programming:*Corel Paint Shop Pro, a graphics editor...
-based devices.