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Category: Civic Engagement

Information Stories tell of personal stakes in healthy info communities

Posted by Amy Garmer on Apr 17, 2013 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Featured, Local Journalism, Open Government, Spotlight, Universal Broadband

“What’s at stake when local news and information flow doesn’t serve all members of a community equally well? How can people respond?”
These questions lie at the heart of Information Stories, a riveting series of twelve three-to-five minute videos that show how people can overcome the powerlessness caused by living in an information vacuum. Combining the [...]

Implementing the Recommendations of the Knight Commission

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 22, 2012 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Open Government, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband, White Paper Series

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy released its report “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age” in 2009 with 15 recommendations to better meet community information needs. Immediately following the release of “Informing Communities,” the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. [...]

Adam Thierer: Thinking about the Future of Informed Communities and Journalism

Posted by KnightComm on Apr 18, 2012 in Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, News, Open Government, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband

Democracy can likely get by with less information and civic engagement than some suggest. But that doesn’t mean we can get by without any.

Peter Levine: Creating good citizens

Posted by KnightComm on Apr 18, 2012 in Civic Engagement, News

Teenagers become good citizens–and improve their schools and communities–when they are given the chance to contribute

Richard Harwood: Beyond the Outrage: Turning Protest Into Positive Force for Change

Posted by KnightComm on Apr 18, 2012 in Civic Engagement, News

Communities must make sure there are enough entry points for people to engage in the public square, offering ways for people to come together and helping them stay connected over time.

Amplify accountability, technology to boost open government

Posted by Amy Garmer on Mar 12, 2012 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Open Government

What open government needs to look like in the coming decade and beyond involves at least three core considerations: 1) inclusive dialog around potential changes to laws on open records and open meetings; 2) the melding of Internet and mobile technologies with ideals of government accountability; and 3) nourishment for a reformulated news and information ecosystem to fulfill the public interest with robust accountability-driven reporting, teaching and collaboration.

Six Strategies for More Open and Participatory Government

Posted by Amy Garmer on Mar 11, 2012 in Civic Engagement, Open Government, White Paper Series

Americans are demanding more transparency and accountability from their governments at all levels, goals that are easier to achieve when governments have made a commitment to operating transparently and making public information truly open and accessible to the public. Government Transparency: Six Strategies for More Open and Participatory Government, a policy paper by Jon Gant [...]

New Round of Knight Community Information Challenge Now Open

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jan 18, 2012 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Public Service Media

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today opened a new round of funding for the Knight Community Information Challenge. The challenge provides matching grants to community foundations seeking to fund news and information projects.
To submit an application or for further information, go to www.informationneeds.org. Non-foundation community partners may participate, but they must partner [...]

Might the new web journalism model be neither for-profit nor nonprofit?

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 09, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Local Journalism

There’s a third option, Tom Stites argues: a co-op model that lets communities advance their own interests.

Layoffs and Cutbacks Lead to a New World of News Deserts

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 08, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Local Journalism

Perhaps an energizing frame like news desert can widen the aperture of thinking about journalism’s future and sharpen the focus on people’s and democracy’s needs – on journalism as public good.

Taking Stock of the State of Web Journalism

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 07, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Public Service Media

The buzz about how bloggers and citizen journalists will save the day, once almost deafening, has died down to a murmur, although the buzz about Twitter, Facebook and cellphone video cameras saving the day has picked up thanks to their powerful contributions to coverage of major breaking stories, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street. But the triumphant march to the digital future, at least when measured in terms of original reporting, has yet to lead anywhere near triumph.

Thierer: Thinking about the Future of Informed Communities and Journalism

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 05, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Universal Broadband

Adam Thierer’s most recent op-ed (“Thinking about the Future of Informed Communities and Journalism”) in his Technologies of Freedom column on Forbes.com is worthy of note– and not just because it mentions the work of the Knight Commission and the related series of eight white papers published by the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program. [...]

Assessing Community Information Needs: A Practical Guide

Posted by Amy Garmer on Oct 17, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Open Government, Public Service Media, Spotlight, Universal Broadband, White Paper Series

Free flowing news and information is essential to the health of democratic communities, but not all information environments are equally effective at meeting community information needs. What can a community do to measure the quality of its information environment, identify its information needs and take steps to build a more robust news and information ecosystem?
Assessing [...]

Roundtable on Assessing Community Information Needs

Posted by KnightComm on Oct 16, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Events

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On October 17, 2011, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation released the final in a series of eight white papers aimed at implementing the recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. The paper—“Assessing Community Information Needs: A [...]

Report Cites Need for More Public Engagement in Open Government Proposals

Posted by Amy Garmer on Aug 31, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Open Government

A new report out this month finds that, while President Obama’s Open Government Directive has been a catalyst for thinking about new ways to engage the public in governance and experiment with new tools and techniques to do so, the plans proposed by most agencies lack important elements and key features to fully and meaningfully [...]