Project Title : Citizen Matters
Organisation: Oorvani Foundation
Country : INDIA
Website : www.citizenmatters.in
Language: English
Email: meerak@oorvani.in

: Launched in March 2008, Citizen Matters is a Bangalore-based, city-focused, citizen-oriented web-based media platform, covering public affairs, community and culture. It uses a hybrid model of local journalism combining the work of professional and citizen journalists. In many cases news articles or news leads submitted by citizens are further developed by professional journalists. All content is checked for authenticity and accuracy and edited by a professional editorial team. It uses social media for outreach and communication. Its content includes (a) in-depth, investigative and watchdog reporting to highlight violations and scams that adversely affect citizens, environment and governance in the city covering such topics as water crisis, migration, infrastructure, waste management etc., (b) interpretation, analysis and commentary on key governance, legislative, infrastructure and environment topics that impact all citizens, (c) citizen/community information resources, with guides and FAQs, on topics like property, water, electricity, etc. plus community improvement projects, like waste segregation and lake rejuvenation, (d) a citizen forum to share concerns and issues, and (e) in-depth information and analysis on elected representatives, constituencies and candidates during elections together with regular tracking of the work of local MPs, MLAs, Councillors and data on major government projects. The Citizen Matters website receives around 110,000-150,000 monthly visitors of which 90,000-120,000 are unique visitors (2013 average). Most visitors are citizens of Bangalore. Many of the published stories have catalysed citizens into taking action and in several instances the government too has responded positively. A non-profit Oorvani Foundation raises funds from philanthropists and readers to run Citizen Matters.

Project Title : EnvironmentMove.com
Organisation: Environment move Communication.
Country : Bangladesh
Website : www.environmentmove.com
Language: Bengali or Bangla
Email: tawhidhossain13@gmail.com

Going live in September 2012, www.environmentmove.com is a web portal that provides organised news and information on environment, nature, wildlife and agriculture with a special focus on Bangladesh. It publishes news items, articles and other content primarily in Bangla or Bengali, the national language of Bangladesh, as also in English. A group of committed and dedicated students of the Department of Soil, Water and Environment of the University of Dhaka launched the project when they found that 2.5 million people out of a total population of 8.4 million in Bangladesh were interested in these topics but there was no source on the Internet that provided organised information on these subjects, especially on local issues, news and events and in the local language Bangla. Apart from creating content and collecting news and information on its own, the editorial team of the website also actively encourages crowd sourcing and citizen journalism to generate content. The website is updated regularly and in less than 2 years has already published more than 2000 articles. According to Google analytics data, over the last one year the website reached over 75000 people with a 33.3% returning rate of visitors. The operations are now entirely self-funded and rely heavily on voluntary work and the owners of the website are looking for investors and sponsors.

Project Title :Magzter Stay Informed
Organisation: Magzter Inc.
Country : India
Website : www.magzter.com
Language:English
Email: girish@magzter.com

Founded in June 2011, Magzter is the world’s largest and fastest growing global, digital, multi-platform newsstand and magazine store that digitally delivers over 4500 magazines and books from more than 1500 publishers from 50 countries all over the world to over 21 million readers across the globe. Providing users instant access any time anywhere to diverse content; magazines and books, is Magzter’s prime attribute. Users around the world can access the Magzter digital newsstand via its free to download app for iOS, Androids, Windows 8 and on the web through PCs and Macs at www.magzter.com. Today, approximately 750,000 downloads take place every month. Magzter has a presence across the globe – New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam, Cape Town, and Singapore. Its entire global back-office operations are run out of Chennai. Digital publishing platforms and newsstands are less expensive to setup with no overhead costs, no printing costs and no delivery costs. This is hugely beneficial to small publishers and new authors as also publishers who do not have the capital for a conventional printing setup but want to publish their content. The platform is beneficial to makers of exclusive digital books as well. Magzter’s zero upfront fee policy and revenue share model encourages publishers to opt for the digital route instantly. Its motto is Tap, Read, Enjoy and to do this it uses its proprietary OREY Click Publishing® System which enables one single upload to reach millions of readers across the world.