The reason I am contacting you is to propose a new model in which to make positive changes in Detroit from the ground up. I have developed a model for a website that could easily be applied and help in spearheading the Renaissance of Detroit.
I think by now most of us are familiar with Facebook and Instragram. These two sites alone have hundreds of millions of members sharing images and text in what today we call social media. The difference is that this model proposes to upload photos by theme and category. In this mode the actual residents of Detroit from all age groups will compile a visual demographic of Detroit. Example: Theme; homeless/street people…photos that document the homeless are uploaded to a specific Folder and shared on the site as are images that document the outreach programs that take care of the needy, doctor care, shelter, meals etc. shared to its own specific Folder.

There is lots more to it than that. I am going to include a fairly simple summary of the project and how it works. This Model is meant to dovetail into social media like photo-sharing but with an end goal. That goal is to put the people of Detroit all on the same page and funnel the power of change back into the hands of the people.

Greetings:
I am hoping you can help me get the word out or point me in the right direction to collaborate with like minded people who are interested in helping to get the Motor City back on track. I have designed a website that would be perfect to facilitate a grass roots strategy in which to get the citizens living in Detroit involved in sharing their plight of life at a personal level. The site is designed for people to upload and share images via their mobile phone that document from their point of view the conditions in and around their neighborhoods. Images can be uploaded by theme and category to specific folders and shared with others working on the same project. This mode of photo sharing will enable the general public to understand city life in Detroit from the resident’s point of view, not from the point of view of documentary or professional photographers creating images for magazines or newspapers. The images made by Detroiters' will be more poignant, more powerful and truthful than any images made by outsiders.
The site is also designed for participating members to have their own profile page connected to all social media outlets. Members can also set up special interest groups, post blogs as well as being connected to all others on the site. The idea is for members to upload images and leave a detailed account along with the photo describing the location as well as any other pertinent information that would be important to documentation. This documentation process is open to all residents no matter what their age is. Imagine 8th graders documenting and sharing their life experience living in Detroit’s inner city as well as their ideas, hopes and asperations. After a period of time maybe weeks or months depending on the project theme the images will be edited and turned into a eBook / hard cover coffee table book for sale. Books sales will help to fund this endeavor and to support ongoing artistic projects that are involved in jump-starting positive change in the city of Detroit.
The site design has lots more to offer in the ways of bells and whistles but the basic premise is to have the documentation process done by the residents of the city of Detroit. I am pretty sure this has not been done as of yet anywhere and there is lots more to discuss but hopefully the premise is clear and the site is pretty much ready to go. The potential is enormous and change is not something that happens easily especially in a city like Detroit. A dynamic website designed as a collaborative source for change can put the power in the hands of the people and pass it along to the rest of the world via the internet one cell phone at a time. The cell phone and Internet are the common denominators enabling an army of 700,000 residents living in Detroit to unite and make change happen.

I hope to hear back from you.. I am a native to Detroit but haven't lived there in many years, I am ready to move back and get this project going with a just a little bit of outside funding. This site can also work with video uploads and editing takes into short movies. It won't take much as I have made the original investment in building the site over a period of one year. I have been a professional photographer and artist my entire life, having attended CCS and Oakland University Rochester. I am a proponent of mobile imaging and my website now called www.phonagraphy.com is ready to morph into a site for social change.

BEST HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU DAVID HOPTMAN