The aim of Karmacino is to provide open, user driven content relating to Buddhism of all traditions, and also be accessible to non-Buddhists and other people of other religions. Updated daily, there are categories of News, Teachings, Science & Arts.
There are already several hundred stories in the archives built up over the last few months highlighting recent Buddhist world stories - from the Burma protests to the Dalai Lama's controversial US visit.
In Film and Music too, stories about the award winning film 'Buddha's Lost Children' to interviews with Radiohead's Thom Yorke and the influence of Buddhism in his life, are recent submissions by users to Karmacino.
Located on opposite sides of the world, both Sol Hanna (Perth, Australia) and Glenn Marshall (Belfast, Northern Ireland) have been long time enthusiasts of Buddhism spreading in the West and the use of technology to advance this.
Sol, a teacher, historian and former novice monk, and Glenn, an award winning computer graphics artist, have merged their skills and experience in a unique way to create Karmacino.
The name was conceived as a fusion of 'Karma' and 'Cappucino' - and apt description perhaps of a Buddhist's 'middle way' lifestyle in today's world.
It was also a pointer to how the creators envisioned people using the site: sitting down with a cup of coffee to find out about the latest from the Buddhist world.
Getting the logo and artwork right was important also. The graphic creation of a Bodhi leaf and a Coffee/Latte embodies the 'Karmacino' philosophy, but also steers away from religious symbolism and gives the site a unique, fresh, modern aesthetic.
The graphics and artwork are a good example of Glenn's skills in 3d and 2d digital graphics, enlivening the idea of modern Buddhist art on Karmacino's facade.
Sol, who guides the technological and WWW strategy of the site, is passionate about keeping Buddhism up to date with the latest internet technologies, connecting and networking like minded people around the world.
Both Glenn and Sol met online and through their discussions discovered that they shared a common vision to use emerging web technologies to connect Buddhists across the globe regardless of nationality or tradition. With inspiration they created their own modern Buddhist website to help monks and Buddhist leaders have their teachings shared and distributed via web 2.0.
Thus Karmacino was born, the 'Digg' of Buddhism - where users openly and democratically share their discoveries of great teachings and inspirational stories, so that they may benefit and help each other on the modern, spiritual path.
Glenn & Sol.
(Apologies if this email has inconvenienced you, you are not on a mailing list, this is a one off message announcing the launch of the site, thank you.)
