So I had this idea.

It's pretty simple really, and I think it should interest most if not all of you - you being everyone.

The idea is this:

I want to publish a book filled with the best of the best that Newsvine has offered us in 2008.

To do that, I'm going to need you, the readers and contributors to nominate 3 articles for publication. Of course it's not THAT simple, there are specifications.

They are:

• The articles MUST be original works, not seeds with an attached opinion or epic comments.
• The articles MUST follow the CoH (inciting, racist, hateful, spiteful, anything that would blatantly hurt another - is not allowed)
• The articles MUST be from 2008 *and / or* 2007
• The articles MUST have been published to "All of Newsvine" (i.e. Meta articles are not permitted)

This is non-negotiable.

These articles can range from poetry, politics, sports, breaking news (like Rob Ballews war coverage or Killfiles VA shooting coverage), or any category that you can publish to on Newsvine.

There is a format for submitting, which I'll explain.

Please (because it'll make my job with this much easier), follow the format.

• Article 1 (linked)
• Article 2 (linked)
• Article 3 (linked)

There is a reason why I only want 3 nominations per user - if 100 users submit 3 articles then there are potentially 300 articles to vote upon. The top 50 would be selected to print. If the book it too big, it will be too expensive. Remember, this is to showcase and archive the BEST of the best. There is one exception - politics. I don't think it would be fair to publish more of one partisan leaning than another - it defeats the idea of "fair", so to make this happen, the poll for political articles will be split into "left', "right" and "middle" so that they are represented equally.

After a week or two of submissions (and after weeding out repeats), I'll create a series of polls for people to vote upon. I will then seek written permission from the authors of those articles to publish them. The vote will last for 7 days and what the poll tells me will be added to the book (if permitted). Authors who's articles received the highest number of votes would be asked to write a two to three paragraph section forward introducing the book section - for example, the "business' section article leader would write a few paragraphs summing up the year in business and the "entertainment" section article leader would do the same for the year in entertainment. Each could cover the section in broad terms or focus on a certain aspect - their article would have earned them the right to choose how and what they write for it.

Photos. Yes, I'm sure you're wondering "what about if the article has photos?"

Well, if the photo was taken by the article author, then obviously it will be included. If the photo came from flicker, then I'll have to track down the photographer and get permission (written) just as I would for the top articles to be published in the book. If I am unable to get photo permissions, then obviously the article will be published sans photo. Of course, anyone who is willing, may submit section photos - a photo that would visually represent that section, say... a line of American flags for politics, but the photo has to be of something that gives the idea of that section in a broad sense. A picture of video game set up for 'entertainment' is too focal.

Now, as with anything there exists a cost. The good news is that it isn't going to cost you or I to make it. I do the hard stuff, compile data and articles and you just feed that data to me. But, the service - Blurb, who I'm using for this and their program "booksmart" make us pay to actually print the book. The distribution is pretty simple. Peson A orders book from their website and they get it to their door. They have a base price for the book, which is determined by dimension and number of pages, so I can't tell anyone what it is as I don't know. Now, there is an option for profit, which I want none of. It's not my work in the pages therefore I deserve none of the money.

I'd like to, if a profit is involved, use the profit for a donation to where the authors collectively decide. I'd like to limit the choices to the same options that Newsvine has listed on the earnings page. The other idea is to have the profits go directly to Newsvine under the idea that they would support implementation of new features or other such stuff we like. Either way I'd like to steer clear of 'making' money on this in an individual sense - it's a community project so the money belongs to the community. The next question is, what should we agree the mark-up to be? percentage or set dollar?

If you'd like more information on the pricing and all thing money related, Blurb has a FAQ dedicated to that here.

I think in the end, it'll serve as a great asset in preserving and archiving the great articles on Newsvine (I'd like to, if this works out well, make this an annual project) that over time get pushed and forgotten in the growing sea of information while at the same time giving back to a community or our community (charity donation or supplemental features fund).

I thank you all for your time and apologize if this had a "scatterbrained" feel to it.

If you have suggestions or questions regarding this, just ask.

CLOSING DATE:

NOVEMBER 15, 2008

3 DAYS

To look back and see the progression of this idea, Go to PhaseII and III