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Life on the Line
The Markle Foundation, Oxygen Media, WebMD and the Foundation for Accountability collaborated to produce Life on the Line, an engaging initiative that uses a combination of media-cable TV and the Web-to inspire and enable women to be active participants in their own health care. Life on the Line has provided valuable insights into how these media can influence the public's knowledge of and attitudes toward health. (more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: March 2003

Bridges.org
Grant to Bridges.org for their mission in promoting Real Access to information and communication technology (ICT) by researching, testing, and promoting best practices for sustainable, empowering technology use to help people in developing countries improve their lives. Through this grant Markle will be provided with some of the research underpinning the work of the Global Digital Opportunity Initiative (GDOI).

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: July 2002

Connecting for Health
A public-private collaborative addressing the challenges of mobilizing health information in the US to improve quality, conduct timely research, empower patients to become full participants in their care, and bolster the public health infrastructure. (more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: June 2002

Markle Telemedicine Clinic in Cambodia
In collaboration with American Assistance for Cambodia, Partners Telemedicine, and the Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope, Markle established a clinic that uses the Internet to bring the expertise of some of the most highly trained and respected American doctors to a remote Cambodian province that suffers from a lack of access to health care services. The clinic provides an innovative model for remote care in the developing world. (more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: May 2002

Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age
The Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, comprised of a diverse and bipartisan group of experienced policymakers, senior executives from the information technology industry, public interest advocates, and experts in privacy, intelligence, and national security, is designed to inform the policy judgments of the federal, state and local governments about the collection and use of information as it relates to national security.

Program Area: National Security
Initiated: March 2002

Interaction - American Council for Voluntary International Action:
To expand nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs) use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to facilitate their humanitarian relief and development work.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: March 2002

METAWEB (Applied Minds/The Knowledge Web)
Markle is supporting innovator Danny Hillis in an exploratory project designed to further his vision for a technical architecture that can facilitate the public's access to relevant, trustworthy electronic information. This effort considers the feasibility of an "intelligent" network that would build on the existing Internet to help the public to find information. Mr. Hillis hopes to explain how building the technical capability to adjust to a user's individual preferences and knowledge levels can provide enhanced value and relevance for content. The project draws upon Mr. Hillis' prior work and incorporates the expertise of several health and technology advisors such as Martin Greenberger, Katrina Heron, Alan Kay, Clay Shirky, and Vic Strecher.(more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: February 2002

Terrorism: Questions and Answers
The Council on Foreign Relations, in cooperation with the Markle Foundation launched an online encyclopedia of terrorism to give the public an up-to-date, easy-to-read, authoritative primer on what the experts know - and don't know. The website also features This Week in the War on Terrorism summarizing new events in key areas such as the Investigation, Homeland Defense, New Legislation, and Global Repercussions of 9/11. (Go to website)

Program Area: National Security
Initiated: January 2002

The Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI)
The project is leading consultative, coalition-based efforts to identify country-specific legal and regulatory impediments to Internet development, and is working with local initiatives to integrate open Internet principles.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: January 2002

World Resources Institute
This grant to the World Resources Institute (WRI) is generating greater understanding within the business sector about the potential of information and communications technologies (ICT) in developing nations.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: January 2002

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University of Maryland's Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM)
This grant supports the first stage of the "Leadership in a Digital Age" project to conduct original research and new analytic work on the vital role that leadership practices play in expanding access to the Internet and other information and communications technologies in developing nations.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: November 2001

United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force
Project focus has been to narrow the economic and social divides within and among nations, advancing the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to address some of the most important development challenges faced by societies around the world.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: November 2001

TEDX Markle Challenge
Support for the Rhode Island School of Design's (RISD) Universal Web Project, which worked to explore the notion of universal design, a worldwide movement based on the concept that all products, environments, and communications should be designed with consideration for the needs of the widest possible array of users.

Program Area: Health
Initiated: November 2001

Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS)
In partnership with the National Cancer Institute, Markle supported a study to evaluate the efficacy and scalability of an interactive, computer-based patient support system among underserved women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer, CHESS provides users with up-to-date cancer information, software to help weigh treatment options, and 24-hour support from cancer experts and other patients, all via an Internet connection from home. The program has expanded from a pilot project at the University of Wisconsin to include a significant implementation in rural areas of Wisconsin and inner city neighborhoods of Detroit. (more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: October 2001

CHESS (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System)
In partnership with the National Cancer Institute, Markle supported a study to evaluate the efficacy and scalability of an interactive, computer-based patient support system among underserved women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer, CHESS provides users with up-to-date cancer information, software to help weigh treatment options, and 24-hour support from cancer experts and other patients, all via an Internet connection from home. The program has expanded from a pilot project at the University of Wisconsin to include a significant implementation in rural areas of Wisconsin and inner city neighborhoods of Detroit.

Program Area: Health
Initiated: September 2001

Center for Internet and Society, Stanford Law School
Grant that supports the development of law school-based clinics and related academic clinical institutions that allow law students and others to work with seasoned advocates to promote the public interest in the area of the Internet and other new information technologies. Part of the Internet Clinical Advocacy Project.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: September 2001

Markle Forums on Children and Media
The Markle Foundation held three forums about toys (Leapfrog), television (Nick, Jr.'s "Blues Clues") and software (Sim City) at its headquarters in Rockefeller Center to engage leaders in the fields of media development and production; marketing and licensing; manufacturing and retailing; child development; health; and education.

Program Area: Interactive Media for Children
Initiated: September 2001

Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic, Washington College
Funding the clinic which has a primary focus on intellectual property issues, including those which involve conventional, non-digital media. Many of the matters to be handled involve legislative and administrative advocacy. Part of the Internet Clinical Advocacy Project.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: August 2001

One Economy Corporation
This project helped One Economy, a national non-profit organization, to identify resources that can help underserved communities connect to key financial services that will allow them to save and manage their money and create financial literacy. Part of the Domestic Digital Divide Initiative.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: August 2001

Western Governors' University
Markle supported the Institute for State Studies at the Western Governors' University in organizational development and project planning, principally in the area of Governance in the 21st Century."

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: July 2001

Olympic Security Review Conference
The Markle Foundation, along with Siebel Systems and the Utah Department of public safety, was a conference sponsor of the Olympic Security Review Conference in Salt Lake City on October 24 and 25, 2002. More than sixty participants from the private sector and from the state, local and federal public safety community attended. Most of the participants were people who played a ceentral role in developing and executing the Olympic security plan. (Download related report - PDF 1.4MB)

Program Area: National Security
Initiated: June 2001

Patient Accessible Electronic Medical Records, Brigham & Women's Hospital
Together with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Partners HealthCare System, and the Foundation for Accountability, Markle is studying the implications of enabling patients to access their own medical information online and analyzing the potential value of involving patients in reporting on the health care services they receive. More than 15,000 patients are now accessing their records through the Partners Patient Gateway. (more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: June 2001

The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)
The NCLC is a leading expert on the appropriate balance between facilitation of e-commerce and consumer protection. This grant assists the National Consumer Law Center in conducting essential analysis and advocacy support in approaching battles over consumer protections in e-commerce.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: June 2001

Uniform Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) Tracking
This project provided funding for the design and implementation of a uniform, public database, providing free access to an online compendium of archived decisions regarding domain name dispute cases.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: June 2001

Markle Fellows at Oxford University, United Kingdom
The grant is designed to encourage individuals and institutions to develop comparative approaches to communications law and policy issues. Among the goals of the program are increased sharing of information on comparative institutions, developments, and best practices; maintaining a global governance network; and identifying new leading thinkers on policy from around the world who can contribute to the Markle network.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: June 2001

Nearlife: Robot Garage
Robot Garage was funded with the following goal: To develop a marketable product that supports creativity and learning; promotes creative problem solving by allowing children to interact with characters of their own making; illustrate the viability of an interactive multi-platform approach; and create a platform that can grow and continually engage children.

Program Area: Interactive Media for Children
Initiated: June 2001

Educational Netcasting Foundation: Support for the Martin Luther King After School Program 2001
The Markle Foundation provided funding for the Martin Luther King, Jr. After School Program, a pilot program designed to introduce low-income youth to basic computer skills through high-quality educational content about black history and culture. Part of the Domestic Digital Divide Initiative.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: June 2001

Domestic Digital Divide Initiative
A project geared toward the development of online content and services for low-income communities. Grantees included in this project are: The Children's Partnership, The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, The Educational Netcasting Foundation, and, One Economy.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: June 2001

Voxiva
This project supported Voxiva, a social venture that works to expand services to poor communities in developing nations, with a particular emphasis on public health information. Voxiva provides an effective means for isolated developing country populations to send and receive information needed for monitoring diseases and epidemics, and distributing medication.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: June 2001

Contentbank.org
Following rigorous research with regard to Online Content for Low-Income & Underserved Users, The Children's Partnership built a web portal (Contentbank.org), which included critical online resources targeted at staff of community technology programs, after-school programs, libraries, and other places where low-income families can be assisted in the use of digital technologies. Contentbank.org now also provides site-building tools and robust content on jobs, housing, health care, legal and educational services to the growing number of community-based. Part of the Domestic Digital Divide Initiative.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: June 2001

Discovery
Supporting a partnership between the Markle Foundation and Discovery Channel in order to plan a commercial, interactive media business, founded on developmental research, which examines the impact of interactive technologies on children, ages pre-school through twelve.

Program Area: Interactive Media for Children
Initiated: May 2001

Markle Foundation / Internet Governance Project II (IGPII)
The IGPII addresses the increased need for inclusion of the public voice in Internet governance-making processes. Continuing the work from the first IGP.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: March 2001

Center for Democracy and Technology: Internet Standards Bodies
This grant supported the Center for Democracy and Technology to enhance the representation of the public interest in Internet standards bodies. The project focused on emerging technical and policy decisions that concern free expression, privacy, and access on the Internet.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: March 2001

Benton Foundation
This project supported the Benton Foundation in developing OneWorld US, the United States-based website for one of the largest international networks devoted to sustainable development and human rights.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: March 2001

Voxiva
This project supported Voxiva, a social venture that works to expand services to poor communities in developing nations, with a particular emphasis on public health information. Voxiva provides an effective means for isolated developing country populations to send and receive information needed for monitoring diseases and epidemics, and distributing medication.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: February 2001

PBS
Developing educationally-oriented children's media.

Program Area: Interactive Media for Children
Initiated: February 2001

Markle Foundation / Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
This grant will lay the groundwork for future discussions and action around the reform of Chinese media law. The first phase will be the identification, translation and publication in Chinese of preeminent western books addressing issues of free speech and communications law.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: January 2001

University Of California, San Diego: For Institute on Global Conflict & Cooperation
Provides funding for the International Communications Policy Workshop, allowing experts on communications economics, technology, law, and policy to work with policy makers in developing countries to alleviate policy problems.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: January 2001

Understanding Healthcare
A book designed to present health information in a way that is both appealing an understandable for anyone struggling with the often-overwhelming process of researching reliable health and health care information. Richard Saul Wurman developed Understanding Healthcare, with support from Johnson & Johnson, the Markle Foundation and the UnitedHealth Group, to present complex health related information ranging from how the human body works to how the health care system works in a way that encourages and allows people to play a more active role in their own health care. (more)

Program Area: Health
Initiated: January 2001

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The Digital Opportunity Initiative (GDOI)
GDOI is a global public-private partnership between the United Nations Development Programme, the Markle Foundation and a broad set of North-South private and public sector experts and organizations committed to increasing the impact of information and communications technologies to achieve development goals. It will focus on a diverse set of developing countries, selected to represent a range of geographic, cultural and economic circumstances, as well as on the basis of the initiative's potential impact, sustainability and demonstration value.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: November 2000

Global Digital Opportunity Project (GDOP)
GDOP seeks to enhance developing countries' ability to fully participate in and benefit from the networked economy and society. This project is working to narrow the economic and social divides within and among nations, advancing the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to address some of the most important development challenges faced by societies around the world.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: November 2000

The Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Funded to enable students, working under close faculty supervision, to represent clients before courts, legislatures, administrative agencies, and international tribunals. The Boalt Hall clinic will promote the interests of underrepresented groups in society. It will also work to create new models for public-interest legal practice related to the Internet and new technologies, a field which hardly exists today. Part of the Internet Clinical Advocacy Project.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: November 2000

Youth-e-Vote: Student Vote 2000
Supported the Freedom Channel in developing Youth-e-Vote, the first national opportunity to register and vote online in American history. The project was designed to involve young people in the electoral process and to help ensure that they become future voters.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: July 2000

Educational Netcasting Foundation: Support for the Martin Luther King After School Program 2000
The Markle Foundation provided funding for the Martin Luther King, Jr. After School Program, a pilot program designed to introduce low-income youth to basic computer skills through high-quality educational content about black history and culture. Part of the Domestic Digital Divide Initiative.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: June 2000

Leadership Conference On Civil Rights
This grant helped The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) to develop a comprehensive program to educate and activate the nation's leading civil rights groups on Digital Divide issues. Part of the Domestic Digital Divide Initiative.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: April 2000

Markle Foundation / Accountability Framework For The Internet
This project launched a public opinion research effort that will focus on the question of accountability for Internet policy. This research was the basis for development of an "Accountability Framework" to help policymakers, the press and the online community understand what Internet users and non-users alike expect from the full range of public and private sector actors who shape, regulate, or use the Internet environment.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: March 2000

Salzburg Seminar: ICANN Travel Grants
This initiative, with matching funds provided by the Ford Foundation, enabled individuals and non-profit groups particularly from developing countries to more fully participate in Internet governance by assisting them in attending international ICANN meetings. Part of the Markle Foundation's ICANN related efforts.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: March 2000

Markle Foundation - Internet Clinical Advocacy Project
This project allocation supports the development of law school-based clinics and related academic clinical institutions that allow law students and others to work with seasoned advocates to promote the public interest in the area of the Internet and other new information technologies.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: March 2000

The Children's Partnership
Part of Markle's Domestic Digital Divide Initiative, which focuses on the development of on-line content and services for low-income communities, this matching grant provides continued funding for The Children's Partnership (TCP) over a three-year period. In the past year, TCP has continued its significant work, which began with the release of the report, "Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans: The Digital Divide's New Frontier" in March 2000.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: March 2000

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Web White and Blue 2000
Web White and Blue 2000 built on the 1998 success of Web White & Blue to support and improve individuals' election experience and to demonstrate ways in which multiple sectors can create important Internet services for the public during elections.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: November 1999

Markle Foundation: Effort To Promote Awareness Of Civic Issues Through "Understanding USA"
This project was designed to increase public awareness of civic issues through a book and web site. Developed by information architect Richard Saul Wurman and leading designers and policy professionals, "Understanding USA" uses graphic design to make difficult statistical information more accessible.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: November 1999

Markle Fellows at the New America Foundation
In conjunction with the New America Foundation, the Markle Foundation funded numerous "Markle Fellows" who wrote and published original works about policy problems and possibilities of information technology in society.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: November 1999

Markle Foundation / Internet Governance Project
This project is designed to promote the public interest in nontraditional, international venues where decisions are increasingly made and standards are set that affect the Internet. These venues -- NGO's, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WTO and the World Intellectual Property Organization - consider such issues as electronic commerce standards, intellectual property, consumer protection, privacy, content regulation, taxation and online jurisdiction.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: November 1999

ICANN-Related Work
This grant to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is designed to make the Internet's first international oversight body more accountable to all users of the Internet. In particular, the grant will help ensure that the election of ICANN's board of directors is representative, fair and credible.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: October 1999

The Berkman Center for Internet and Society
This grant supported the "Pressing Issues II: Understanding and Critiquing ICANN's Policy Agenda" conference on November 12th, 2000, which preceded the ICANN Board meeting. The conference examined many of the new challenges and issues on ICANN's agenda.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: September 1999

Markle Foundation/The University of Texas at Austin
Support of a research team led by Dr. Ellen Wartella, Dean of the College of Communication at the University of Texas. This research resulted in a comprehensive review of work done on interactive media and its effects on children.

Program Area: Interactive Media for Children
Initiated: July 1999

WorldLink / Internews Network
The Markle Foundation assisted Internews Network, Inc., in developing a license application and strategy for an innovative, interactive 24-hour live channel dedicated to quality, international affairs programming on two major Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) systems.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: July 1999

Markle Foundation / Oxygen Media, Inc.
Working with Oxygen and WebMD, this project combines the powers of the Internet and TV to inspire and enable women to take control of both their health and their health care. The TV show, which airs on the Oxygen Network(tm), is a dramatic series about real women who've improved their health care and the overall quality of their lives by being proactive and working with the health system. The website on WebMD, 'Life on the Line,' gives women the tools they need to do the same.

Program Area: Health
Initiated: July 1999

Oxford University: Programme on comparative Media Law and Policy
This grant continues Markle's support of the Programme on Comparative Media Law and Policy that was created in September 1996 to address the need for detailed study and analysis of the various policy and regulation strategies that nation-states follow in response to media globalization, and the implications of these strategies for democracy and human rights.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Policy Participation
Initiated: June 1999

Mouse: Web-Based Resource for Teachers
Markle Foundation provided funding to the organization Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools (MOUSE) to develop a Web-based online resource for teachers, administrators, and educators. This resource helped educators best utilize technology in schools while providing a forum to share their expertise and experiences with others in the field.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > Public Engagement
Initiated: May 1999

Child Connect Refugee Tracing Project - International Rescue Committee
This project developed and implemented the Child Connect program for refugees as well as the Kosovar Family Finder, a project that provided refugees from the war in Kosovo with location information for displaced family and friends.

Program Area: Policy for a Networked Society > IT for Development
Initiated: May 1999

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Markle Foundation/Thirteen/WNET: "New York: Learning Adventures in Citizenship"
This curriculum-based Internet project, created as a tie-in with Ric Burns's five-art documentary chronicling the history of New York City, used the Web to teach children about their responsibility in the community and ability to act on it.

Program Area: Interactive Media for Children
Initiated: December 1998

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