For all who have recently joined us here at The UpTake, I would like to personally welcome you to our effort.

We are a moving, growing, changing organization - and you are its backbone.

I helped start the UpTake with my co-founder, Jason Barnett (http://jason.users.theuptake.org/en/profile/)  because I was dissatisfied with media products and thought it might eventually be possible to compete with the legacy media by creating an organization run by citizen correspondents who publish and edit their work through an online social network. Also, I had formed the opinion that most people (including me) were interpreting our First Amendment rights of Free Speech as a simple lack of censorship, which is a very passive and entitled view of something that is so intrinsic to freedom. I came to believe that exercising one's right to free speech includes the ability to publicly communicate news stories to one's neighbors. In other words, it is the right to freely consume and *produce*, the news. Lucky for me, there are many people who hold similar beliefs that can actually work a camera . Our other founders are an awesome bunch:

Mike Mcintee - Executive Producer
http://mmcintee.users.theuptake.org/en/profile/

Chuck Olson - Executive Correspondent
http://chuckumentary.users.theuptake.org/en/profile/

Corrinne McDermid - Staff Correspondent - Colorado
http://clmcdermid.users.theuptake.org/en/profile/

Noah Kunin- Staff Correspondent - Minnesota
http://noahkunin.users.theuptake.org/en/profile/

Our site is a social network of people who want to build the news.  Every member here has the ability to participate in editorial decisions, to cover and publish stories, to discuss with the rest of the community what should or shouldn't be done, to shape our website.  This is a work in progress.  We are in early stages. Please help us get there.  Over the next few weeks, we will gradually flesh out the site, distribute more information about features, editorial processes, and ways you can help build community.

I am so glad you are here. Together, we can build  a new model for a free, strong, effective press.

Chris Dykstra
Chair
The UpTake

Awesome idea and awesome post. Thanks.  I was over at The Uptake facility in St. Paul last week.