Volunteer

There are several important ways that you can further the work of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) ... from the comfort of your own home!

SourceWatch

SourceWatch is an online encyclopedia of people, issues and groups shaping the public agenda. It runs on "wiki" software, which means that anyone -- including you -- can contribute. There are a series of introductory pages, including a "welcome" for newcomers, editing instructions and frequently asked questions, to help you get started.

The philosophy behind SourceWatch is that an online community can research, track and report on influential people like Rupert Murdoch, issues like climate change, groups like the Heritage Foundation and the actions of public relations firms more accurately, thoroughly and rapidly than any individual person or organization could. Community members also strengthen SourceWatch by fact-checking, editing and updating others' contributions. CMD staff -- including SourceWatch editor Bob Burton and TobaccoWiki editor Anne Landman -- are part of the SourceWatch online community.

If you enjoy doing research, reading the news and writing, we encourage you to add information and articles on areas of interest to you. The SourceWatch home page highlights articles in the news and lists research priority areas, to help direct your work. SourceWatch also has special collections, or "portals," on issues including tobacco, climate change, coal, front groups and global corporations.

There are vital roles that we need volunteers to take on. These include fact-checkers (verifying and adding references to articles), editors (improving the structure, flow and wording of articles, including condensing large sections of text cut and pasted from other sources), and categorizers (ordering articles by topic).

Take some time to get acquainted with SourceWatch and think about how you can help us. If you have questions you can't find the answer to, leave a message on Bob's or Anne's SourceWatch user talk pages or email them at bob(AT)sourcewatch.org anne(AT)sourcewatch.org (replace (AT) with @).