Do it yourself grassroots media Web sites

If you're looking to start up your own online media publication but want something more sophisticated than a blog, check out the latest release of the NewsCloud Open Source Media Platform. NewsCloud.com is a social network for news, like Digg but open source with a greater emphasis on building grassroots networks for collaborative journalism.

For $20 per month, you can set up a Linux Virtual Private Server account and install your own grassroots media site with these detailed Debian installation instructions. You can download the code here at SourceForge. NewsCloud maintains a Wiki, blog and discussion forum to help developers keep in touch. If you already have a site but want to integrate more social networking features, NewsCloud has an extensive Web Services API.

If you don't feel comfortable running your own Linux distribution, you might get your feet wet with a NewsCloud Journal or Group which you can customize with Smarty templates. NewsCloud promises more sophisticated hosting and customization options in the near future.

NewsCloud also offers a guide to bloggers for those that want to integrate more news content on their existing blog or promote their writing on NewsCloud.

NewsCloud is distributed via the GPL license.

If you want to get involved in development of the open source platform, visit the Wiki or email Jeff.

Related links:
NewsCloud Platform Overview
NewsCloud Mission Statement
Sign up at NewsCloud.com

Technorati Tags: debian, grassroots media, media platforms, newscloud, open source