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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.

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 [...]

Hobbs: Info literacy must be a community education movement

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jan 17, 2012 in Blog, Digital Literacy, Spotlight

Renee Hobbs, national expert on digital and media literacy who leads the Media Education Lab founded at Temple University, this month took the helm of the new Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island. The Media Education Lab also moves to URI. Hobbs is the author of the Knight Commission-inspired [...]

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 [...]

FCC’s Public-Private Broadband Initiative Emphasizes Adoption, Digital Literacy

Posted by Amy Garmer on Oct 12, 2011 in Blog, Digital Literacy, Universal Broadband

Today, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will announce a national public-private partnership program designed to increase broadband adoption, elevate digital literacy and assist Americans in searching and training for jobs. The public-private partnership seeks to overcome the top obstacles to broadband adoption, including digital literacy, relevance and cost. Representatives from partner companies, non-profits and think tanks [...]

What are the Information Needs of Communities?

Posted by KnightComm on Aug 15, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Featured, Local Journalism, Open Government, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband

In the digital age, technological, economic and behavioral changes are dramatically altering how Americans communicate. Information is more fragmented. Communications systems no longer run along the same lines as local governance.

Journalists and Librarians Finding Common Ground

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jul 01, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband

What can journalists and libraries do to create opportunities for local news and civic engagement?
Leading-edge thinkers in both fields have come together recently in several different venues to explore answers to this question. The early feedback on these discussions is that this is a worthwhile topic to discuss at a critical time for both institutions.
In [...]

Chicago Roundtable to Launch New Report on Reviving Civic Communication

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 08, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy

This Friday the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation release the sixth in a series of white papers aimed at implementing the recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. The paper—“Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to Revive [...]

NAMLE Summer Conference on Digital and Media Literacy

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 08, 2011 in Blog, Digital Literacy

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) Summer Conference, June 22-25 in Philadelphia, moves into action a key recommendation of the Knight Commission Report, Recommendation 6, calling for the integration of “digital and media literacy as critical elements for education at all levels”. The conference is offering over 150 workshops, demonstrations, and presentations [...]

New Online Hub for Digital Literacy Debuts

Posted by Amy Garmer on May 13, 2011 in Blog, Digital Literacy, Universal Broadband

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the launch of a new government initiative aimed at promoting digital literacy resources and collaboration. The federal Digital Literacy Initiative represents a major advance toward implementing the Knight Commission’s recommendations for enhancing the information capacity of individuals through new collaborations, public policies and investments in [...]

Invest More, Innovate More, Say Public Media Leaders

Posted by Amy Garmer on Apr 29, 2011 in Blog, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Public Service Media

The fierce rhetoric surrounding the debate over federal funding for the current fiscal year gave the appearance that public broadcasting is a partisan issue. But public broadcasting clearly enjoys more support across the country than the recent debates and media coverage over the funding battle and the controversies swirling around NPR would suggest.

The Community Information Toolkit, Version 1.0

Posted by KnightComm on Mar 04, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Open Government, Public Service Media, Spotlight, Universal Broadband

At the 2011 Media Learning Seminar, an annual gathering hosted by the Knight Foundation, hundreds of community foundation leaders and journalism and technology experts previewed the beta version of the Community Information Toolkit, a set of tools and steps designed to help communities take stock of their news and information flow and take actionable steps [...]

A Sensible Approach to Universal Broadband

Posted by Amy Garmer on Mar 04, 2011 in Blog, Digital Literacy, Spotlight, Universal Broadband, White Paper Series

The Knight Commission recognized that for there to be healthy news communities, all Americans need access to diverse sources of news and information. In the future, that means that all Americans will need access to broadband networks, and public policy should encourage broadband adoption. Yet current government programs to assure communication networks are available to [...]