The Town Square

Designers, storytellers, friends:

I write to commission a story. A compelling, narrative,
interactive story from anywhere in the world -- to be
published in the online magazine Six Billion.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'll tell you the site is unlike any
other: It's not a new media gallery, it's not a photo
magazine, it's not a sound archive, it's not a journal of
nonfiction. Instead, it's all of these, a space where
competing forms of narrative journalism and
documentary are joined into one conversation, where
amateur and professional storytellers alike come to
perfect their craft.

The name, Six Billion, comes from renowned filmmaker
Albert Maysles. When asked if he was frustrated with
the glut of documentary projects and the onslaught of
reality everything, he said: "No. There are six billion
people in the world, and at any given moment, at least
ten thousand of them have a story to tell." With that, the
septuagenarian hoisted camera to shoulder and went
looking for one.

Stories are what Six Billion is all about. As a nonprofit
endeavor, the project aims to exist independently of the
marketplace -- to support, if modestly, free agents like
yourselves who wish they could drop those corporate
clients and spend more time telling stories. Important
stories.

For Issue One, we asked contributors for an "obituary"
-- whether for a person, a village, or a way of life. The
result was a collection of eulogies told by text, comics,
video, sound, photography, and interactive design, from
places as far as Afghanistan and as small as Rhode
Island. See it at http://sixbillion.org.
The organizing principle for Issue Two will be "veterans
of foreign wars." With your stories, tell us what that
means -- and know that our commitment to the
intersection of journalism, documentary, and interactive
design is strong.

The deadline for proposals is July 15. Send a written
pitch with sample images. Point us to stories you've
done in the past. Tell us how the story will be collected:
Will you do it yourself? Will you work with filmmakers,
reporters, writers? Will you work with existing nonfiction
material? Submit a proposed schedule of completion
for your project, and suggest payment for your work,
keeping in mind we are a nonprofit.

Show us what you've got. And keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Kelly McEvers

Six Billion co-founder