MiStory: A media impact sourcing platform

By allowing disadvantaged young people to share their stories through a global digital market platform, we aim to connect them with incomes. Our tools, training and advocacy will foster a new generation of digital media professionals from communities experiencing conflict and poverty, building lasting peace and prosperity.

Digital media technology is creating a global community. But those who lack access lack a voice: their stories are not being told and they are missing out on critical opportunities. As a result, the people experiencing the greatest adversity are further isolated from education, employment and participation in decision making.

Social and economic marginalization contributes to billions of dollars in lost productivity worldwide. Without opportunities or means of expression, unemployed youth comprise a lost generation. While there is technology to connect them with training and employment, they need training and support to harness the tools available for reaching their potential. 

We aim to change the narrative in marginalized communities from isolation to active engagement in economic empowerment and productive asset building. Several Human Development Reports have shown the need for youth engagement in work for the future.

Ethical outsourcing companies like Digital Divide Data and DataMotivate are successfully training and employing vulnerable youth. Our own experience demonstrates that combining digital media training with youth employment empowers success. miStory will enable young adults worldwide to access employment opportunities through digital storytelling.

miStory will enable poor and marginalized peoples to reach a global audience with digital media using their smartphones. MIRA will aggregate their media, connecting them with employment opportunities in the media sector while instilling cutting-edge skills.

By making digital stories freely accessible to journalists, film makers and other industry professionals we will provide access to fact-based media that is representative of all communities’ voices. In the process, we will cultivate the next generation of professionally trained and experienced digital storytellers, creating a more diverse and democratic global media. 

Track number of registered users that have submitted media. - the miStory platform is utilized by 1,000 people worldwide to upload digital media.

Track number who complete MIRA's digital storytelling training courses. - At least 500 people (half of them women) in at least six countries are trained in digital storytelling and ethical information sharing.

Track payments to individuals providing additional media upon request through the miStory platform. - In the first year, at least 20 news organizations, independent journalists, film or documentary production companies request and are provided with additional high-resolution media by participants, who are paid for their services.

Social media and mobile technology have broadened the digital divide between those with a voice and those without. Unlike social media, which often sidelines vulnerable and marginalized people, miStory aims to amplify the voices of poor and marginalized populations. 

With miStory, anyone can upload digital video and photos with a smartphone. MIRA will train and promote the stories of those in marginalized and remote areas to major media partners, making low-resolution versions available to them for free. miStory will charge media outlets for high-resolution versions and additional materials, providing users with income while they gain experience and a supportive network.

MIRA was founded to give a voice to those marginalized by poverty, social exclusion and geography. We have tailor designed miStory to guarantee the maximum inclusiveness in making their voices heard and providing opportunities for skillbuilding and work. 

This technology solution is simplified enough to include anyone with smartphone access in a global media ecosystem based on equal access. By empowering marginalized people to contribute their own experiences, miStory will integrate undeserved communities into the global media and broader dialogues about the issues they face. By providing equal access to information, miStory will make its users' voices heard.

The miStory platform will be free to anyone with a smartphone or tablet via the internet. A simple registration process will enable users to establish basic identifying information, including geographic location (all users will be mapped for easy georeferencing). Users will receive payment for high-resolution versions of media and additional materials requested by media outlets. 

MIRA will promote the platform through its network of partnerships with NGOs. We will train young adults in target underserved communities in digital storytelling. On the demand side, we will establish an inclusive digital outsourcing ecosystem by promoting miStory to  media outlets, journalists and filmmakers. 

MIRA aims to promote marginalized peoples' self-reliance and resilience by creating an Inclusive Business ecosystem based on digital media outsourcing. Impact outsourcing is a proven market-based approach to sustainably empowering vulnerable people through a scalable market-based approach. 

Also known as socially responsible outsourcing, impact sourcing is a sub-sector of business-process outsourcing that employs vulnerable people. Media process outsourcing is a subset of outsourcing that provides a range of services to global media organizations, journalists and independent filmmakers. MIRA's innovation is to combine these two business concepts.

We will achieve this is by providing a free service that makes our users visible, then offering their services to media clients on a paid basis. Users will receive decent wages for the images they provide through the miStory platform while a small percentage of these fees will be retained by MIRA to ensure its financial sustainability and scale.

The main risk limiting our ability to succeed is a lack of seed funding and support for developing the concept. We need access to top-tier professionals who can develop the most user-friendly and efficient information platform and user experience, and funding for outreach to populate and utilize it. In addition to financing, we need access to a supportive ecosystem to nurture this inclusive business. 

A lack of consistent follow-up investment will prevent the business from reaching scale and sustainability. This risk can also be mitigated by accessing a supportive ecosystem that links us to impact investments and impact monitoring.

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Young people in marginalized communities need opportunities to generate income. We want to leverage existing technology to link them with the global digital media market. The demand is already there, especially in remote and conflict-affected areas, where access to established professionals is limited.  

We have innovative learning tools to develop the needed skills, and will engage the digital marketplace to increase demand for participants' media products and guarantee fair pay. Only Solve's ecosystem of change-makers has the resources and knowledge to help us scale our solution, keeping in mind that critical business development takes place in the scale-up phase.

We have partnered with the NGO Henry Street Settlement one of the oldest New York NGOs serving immigrant populations. Financial partners include Citizens Committee of New York City and the City Parks Foundation. Our tech partners include digital media professionals John D'Ulisse & digital curator James Carter.

Our concept is novel and the media-outsourcing industry is in its infancy; we see no conflicts.