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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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 23, 2011 in Blog, Local Journalism, White Paper Series

Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World, a new policy paper by Michael R. Fancher, identifies five strategic areas and specific ideas for promoting experimentation, collaboration and public engagement that are critical for reforming local journalism. The paper calls upon a variety of stakeholders in business, the nonprofit sector, government and community institutions, and [...]

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 [...]

Five Strategies to Revive Civic Communication

Posted by KnightComm on Mar 01, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Open Government, White Paper Series

Promoting greater civic engagement and investing in the capacity of citizens to engage with civic information and one another to solve public problems are among the recommendations made by the Knight Commission. Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to Revive Civic Communication, a new policy paper by Peter Levine, calls on community and elected [...]

Creating Local Online Hubs: Three Models for Action

Posted by Amy Garmer on Feb 25, 2011 in Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Open Government, White Paper Series

Access to relevant, high-quality information about the community is a key ingredient to a vibrant civic culture and, as the Knight Commission observed, a necessary element for fostering robust civic engagement. Finding that information can be difficult in a fragmented media environments that often fluctuate between extremes of too much or too little information, and [...]

Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 08, 2010 in Public Service Media, Spotlight, White Paper Series

At a time when government funding for public broadcasting is hotly debated, Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive, a new policy paper by Barbara Cochran, offers five broad strategies and 21 specific recommendations to reform public media. The strategies include strengthening local news operations, sharing digital platforms among public entities, recruiting more [...]

Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action

Posted by Amy Garmer on Nov 10, 2010 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, White Paper Series

The Knight Commission recognized that people need tools, skills and understanding to use information effectively, and that successful participation in the digital age entails two kinds of skills sets: digital literacy and media literacy. Digital literacy means learning how to work the information and communication technologies in a networked environment, as well as understanding the [...]