Nov 09
Joe Clark Micropatronage
2006 at 01.14 pm posted by Veerle
A few days ago I learned about Joe Clark’s ambitious plans. Joe is an accessibility expert from Canada and his idea is a big one! Joe would like to write a standard for captioning and dubbing, develop training courses for those and last but not least design and create new fonts specifically for captioning. It’s called the “Open & Closed Project”
There are almost no standards for accessible media. Technical standards are available: You can look up the exact file format used to add closed captions to a videotape, for example. But the practice of accessibility is unstandardized. So the goal is the creation of the first-ever unified set of recommended practices for the four disciplines of accessible media.
But like with all great ambitions Joe needs an income to achieve his goals. That's why he is turning to us and you for help. His idea was to set up "Joe Clark Micropatronage". I'll let Joe explain:
Micropatronage is a form of fundraising in which many donors give small amounts of money. You can donate as much or as little as you want to support me for a limited period of time (nominally, four months) as I try to raise about $7 million Canadian for an accessibility research project.
No, no Joe doesn't wants $ 7 million to live like a king, he only wants a modest $7,777 to live of for four months, a modest amount I think. Joe says:
You aren't funding the project; you are not contributing to the $7 million. You're funding me while I try to raise the money for the project. You are supporting me, not the project.
If you are anything like me and wants this project get of the ground I encourage you to contribute a little. There are several ways to show your support. You can donate something through Paypal or show your support by grabbing one of the funny banners written by Joe himself and designed by Antonio Cavedoni.
It is a good enough idea to try to make it happen. So I hope you too are giving Joe a vote of confidence.
13served
1
That’s a very reasonable amount, and easily obtained. The Internet is generous where you know when to look. I think it’s a great idea - the Internet needs innovations to sustain itself, and Joe’s on the fast track to something great. Best of luck to him!
2
I think it’s ok that he is doing this, but why does he need $ 7 million for the project?
I don’t know, but i think it’s a lot of money to get “just some standards"…
3
I was asking myself the same question …
4
good luck to him. I’d rather donate to the suffering children in Africa…
5
Wait, $7 MILLION? Maybe I read it wrong - that’s slightly less reasonable as a total.
6
Please your guys… Its about Canadian Dollars, not a American Dollars. Read again carefully there. The currency are very different. Smiles.
I think very good idea, hopefully that project be sucessfull for help many deaf and hard of hearing over world… Which are a LOT!
7
Joe Clark has done some great work. I wish him well.
8
The Canadian dollar is almost at par with the US. There is precious little difference between the two these days.
9
Hey Veerle, thanks for the link (and the Chalet redesign)!
P.S.: my first name is Antonio ;-)
10
Yikes. Veerle help him with his website. Kinda weak. If he expects to get monies he needs to present himself better.
11
Micropatronage??? What a joke. In the olden days people used to just save their own money to be involved in projects but thanks to the web and begging we can resolve ourselves of that tiresome responsibility by getting others to pay for our ideas instead.
12
I bought joe a dog and a coffee:
http://flickr.com/photos/luxuryluke/299103115/
13
Joe Clark is a pompous, ineffectual idiot and his request is absurd. I can only hope he goes down to ignominious failure in this as in all his other endeavours.