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» CloseUp: Youth Media
» Do Two Things - Just Two!
» Call for Research: Volunteerism
» Internship Opportunities

IssueLab eNews

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Issue 14 — March 6, 2008

Maybe it's something in the air - but IssueLab just can't stop growing! Each day we welcome new research, new features, new subscribers, and new partners.

This month there are two things in particular that we just can't wait to share with you!

1. Ahem, we launched IssueLab 2.0!

Thanks to our in-house technical wizardry, IssueLab just took about ten steps forward. Just-released features include:

» A new user-community that allows you to tag research, rate it, comment on it, and save it to your own personal library. Create an account today.

» Enhanced search and browse capabilities that allow you do things like search research by "intended audience" or browse listings across up to three issue areas at once.

» Thirty-five issue-specific news feeds. All you have to do is create an account and you can subscribe to any or all of these.

» New custom data and conference services for foundations.

2. Our CloseUp on the issue of Youth Media

This month's special feature truly speaks to the diversity and dynamism of research being produced by the third sector. The incredibly committed and deeply informed, Mindy Faber, served as our guest editorialist - culling through this emerging body of research to identity the most relevant pieces for practitioners, funders, and rese archers working in the field of youth media. Dig deep - because this is a good one!

» We Need You To Do Two Things, Just Two!

As someone who cares about research and/or about social issues we have two challenges for you.

1. Take ten minutes this month and just click through on one of the titles featured in this eNewsletter. We predict that you might just lose yourself in "the stacks". When's the last time that happened?
   
2. Join our user-community by becoming a LabRat. LabRats are smart, industrious, and social. It takes two minutes to join and once you are part of the rat pack your keywords, your comments, and your ratings are what help all of us to best identify the research we are looking for.

» March CloseUp: Youth Media

Over the last few decades, the rising proliferation of low cost digital media production tools has given rise to a vibrant, yet somewhat under-researched field in the non-profit sector, youth media.

This month, with the help of guest editorialist Mindy Faber, we bring you an expansive set of research materials that touches on everything from digital literacy to after-school programming to media democraticization.

The full collection includes work from foundations, small community-based nonprofits, policy think tanks, and everything in between.

If you see research that is particularly useful (or not), let your fellow IssueLab users know. Don't be shy, speak up and comment on the relevancy, quality or implications of what you are reading.

» Call for Research: Volunteerism

With the help of guest editorialist Nancy McDuff, IssueLab will be focusing its lens on the topic of Volunteerism during April. As a "nation of joiners", the United States has a long history of volunteerism, with at last count nearly 61 million people volunteering through or for nonprofit organizations. But recent calls for a national volunteer corps have again brought the issue to the forefront.

If you are a nonprofit and are doing work in the field of volunteerism -- please register at IssueLab today.

Our Volunteerism CloseUp will include research on the following topics:

National and regional trends in volunteering;

Evaluation and analysis of strategies for volunteer management and recruiting;

The motivations for volunteering;

The relationships between giving and volunteering;

Virtual volunteering;

Case studies on volunteering.

Register your nonprofit with IssueLab today and begin listing the research you have done on the topic of Volunteerism.

» The Few, the Smart, the Tenacious

If we weren't so busy we would be stapling posters to the nearest telephone pole saying: Help build one of the largest libraries of research on social issues. Connect with innovative and influential researchers. Hone your own research or online marketing skills.

If you know someone who cares about social issues, and is hard working and tenacious - point them in our direction. IssueLab internships are a great opportunity to gain experience in a wide range of areas including: online research, online marketing, and digital publishing. We are now accepting applications for summer interns.

If you have received this email by mistake or would like to be removed from future mailings, you can unsubscribe easily by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the footer of this email. We'll be sorry to see you go, but we respect your wishes!

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