ReadWriteWeb

A headline from the Creative Commons blog caught our eye this past week: "New federal education fund grants $2 billion to create OER resources in community colleges." OER, or open educational resources, are those educational materials that are available with open licenses. Rather than "all rights reserved," these resources are available for users to take, adapt, and reuse - a way to make educational content more accessible and more usable by teachers and students.

Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter is publishing a look at the best projects the flourishing site has seen over 2010 and the award winners are really uplifting for the spirit. Journalist/cartoonist Ted Rall, for example, used Kickstarter to fund a month of reporting inside Afghanistan. His cartoons from the field were sent first to the 211 Kickstarter supporters who funded his trip.

Kickstarter helps people fund a project, almost any kind of project, by using its site as a platform for collecting donation pledges, publishing videos and updates and more. More than 380,000 people have now pledged over $30 million to fund home-recorded music projects, independent films and books and many other creative projects, in just 20 months since the site launched. Below are three of my favorite videos from Kickstarter's Best of 2010 collection.

Andy Baio is a man who gets things done, though his accomplishments are often quite unusual. Now he's taking that attitude straight to the nation's capital.

In 2008, Baio posted online, and refused to take down, the grainy video tape of Sarah Palin's participation in the 1984 Miss Alaska Pageant. He's received cease and desist letters from lawyers representing Disney, the Beatles and Bill Cosby. He made millions co-founding the early social calendaring website Upcoming.org and selling it to Yahoo. He interviewed the mysterious Italian factory worker whose video shattered all YouTube records without explanation, before its author deleted it. He commissioned an 8-bit cover of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue on the 50th anniversary of the album's release (Kind of Bloop). What else was left for Baio to do? Go to Washington, of course.

In just over ten days, would-be makers of The Glif iPhone tripod mount (and stand) have raised over $100K on their Kickstarter page - not bad, considering their goal was $10,000.

Dan Provost may have had minimal goals, but demand for The Glif from iPhone users turned his project pledge page into a swarming hotspot for pledge contributions from backers simply placing their own pre-orders. Glif's function is simple: increase the functionality of the iPhone as a camera by making it tripod-ready, and add a kickstand for hands-free use. With a snappy demo video and stellar product sample photos, Provost (and co) now have thousands of eager backers.

Whether or not you believe that venture capital is broken, the necessity of funding startups still exists. One alternative to traditional funding models is "crowdfunding" - crowdsourcing the fundraising process.

Like crowdsourcing, crowdfunding is based on the idea of the "wisdom of crowds." And crowdfunding contends that "the crowd" can be a better source for financial support than traditional funding avenues. As these traditional avenues are often criticized for being based on "who you know" as much as "what you do," crowdfunding promises fundraising that is more transparent, more collaborative, more accessible, and more global.

Since we broke the story about the Diaspora Project last week, the plans for an open source, distributed alternative to Facebook has seen widespread press. But just as importantly, funding for the undertaking has skyrocketed.

If you're familiar with the overseas micro-lending space, then you're familiar with Kiva. In 2008, ReadWriteWeb readers chose Kiva as one of their favorite Web 2.0 apps. In 2009, the company continues to thrive.

Kiva initially allowed users to lend to entrepreneurs in developing countries. However, due to the American financial crisis, the company recently extended its mandate to help US entrepreneurs gain access to micropayment loans. As millions struggle to execute on their dream projects, a number of crowd-based funding options have emerged. Below are a few of these tools.

When we interviewed Kickstarter advisor (and now CTO) Andy Baio last month, he gave us a sample or two of what could be done with the social fundraising software.

Kickstarter operates on an all-or-nothing principle: users solicit pledges from their friends online, and if their fundraising goal is met by the deadline, the money is collected. If not, then no one's pledge is withdrawn. Baio, whose past oddball projects have delighted and amused many, decided to put the Kickstarter platform to use in a novel way. He gathered funds to pay royalties for a cover album: Miles Davis' legendary Kind of Blue, in the grandeur and majesty of 8-bit recording.

After Andy Baio co-founded and sold social events listing site Upcoming.org to Yahoo! he could have spent the rest of his days doing whatever he wanted. He spent a year and a half writing, but this month he decided to join another startup (Kickstarter.com), because he loves building social software.

Baio is a thinker, a hacker of big social patterns and an admirer of the collective intelligence that emerges from groups of people acting independently on the web. We sat down with him this week and discussed some of his ideas about what makes good social software grow.