Header Design for our new Social Politics Blog: "The Social Ballot"

First, thanks again to our regular readers who continue to be patient with our news network development.  While many organizations have the benefit of big development teams and multi-million dollar budgets, IVN.us has and continues to run off the sweat and ambition of a small, but talented young team.  What is seen on the surface of IVN.us is only a fraction of our long-term goal.

Under the surface of IVN.us is a complete network; a platform for communication where organizations, journalists, and legislators can participate in the news directly, without the conventional media filter that tends to reduce true opinion and analysis into "left v. right" or "red v. blue" partisan talking points.

We are happy to report that the first publicly visible part of this larger network development is the BETA testing of our "blogs" (like this Editor's Blog).  Most of us are familiar with blogs, and we surely aren't the first news network to have them.  The difference?  We are building blogs that can be fully administered and eventually upgraded into fully white-labeled websites.  These blogs can also be promoted to the main news website, which will eventually be determined in part by readers of IVN.us and IVN editors, who ensure that promoted content meets the non-partisan editorial guidelines.

In short, IVN is building platform that allows people to participate in the news directly, without being forever constricted to a blog.  As a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise the level of public dialogue, our goal is to promote quality content, not to simply profit from your hard work.

Coming soon, IVN will be launching a store with gear fit for independent-minded voters and implementing a new and more user-friendly layout and features.  Check out the site in the coming weeks as we work to create the first news website built specifically for independent-minded voters.