Mozilla gives $100K grant to Democracy makers

Mozilla has announced that a $100K has been approved for the Participatory Culture Foundation, a Massachusetts-based non-profit that aims to make “watching internet video channels [..] as easy as watching TV and broadcasting a channel [...] open to everyone. Unlike traditional TV, everyone will have a voice.” Most notably, PCF is the maker of Democracy, an open source video player based on Mozilla among a variety of open source technologies. Democracy will soon be renamed Miro.

According to the announcement, “the Mozilla Board agreed to support them for the following reasons:

1. Their mission to ensure the continued rise of open source & open standards aligns with the Mozilla mission to encourage choice & innovation on the web.
2. They’re building something that can have influence on the way users browse web content, rich media, and desktop UI — and it’s based on Mozilla technology.
3. PCF is another example of that leverage we are looking for…they don’t have any venture backing, they’re running on a very lean budget, and they continue to seek creative resources to make a big difference in the way their users access content on the Web.”

You can read the full announcement here.