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Informing Communities:
Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age
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Overview
The time has come for new thinking and aggressive action to ensure the information opportunities of America’s people, the information health of its communities, and the information vitality of our democracy. Information technology is changing our lives in ways that we cannot easily foresee. Critical intermediating practices—journalism perhaps most obviously—are facing challenges of economics, organization, and values. As dramatic as the impacts have been already, they are just beginning. How we react, individually and collectively, to the information challenges and opportunities now presented to us will affect the quality of our lives and the very nature of our communities. The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy has created what it hopes will be a helpful framework for seizing these opportunities and providing a vision for “informed communities.” Informing Communities is the Commission’s articulation of community information needs and the critical steps necessary to meet them.
Table of Contents
Foreword | Statement by the Co-Chairs | Executive Summary
Introduction
Part I: What are the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy?
Part II: Commission Findings and Recommended Strategies
__A. Maximizing the Availability of Relevant and Credible Information
__B. Enhancing the Information Capacity of Individuals
__C. Promoting Public Engagement
Conclusion and a Call to Action
Endnotes
Appendices
__Taking Stock: Are You a Healthy Information Community?
__Executive Director’s Memo: Potential Action Items
__Speakers at Meetings of the Knight Commission
__Speakers at Knight Commission Community Forums
__Informal Advisors
__Members of the Commission
[This comment appears in two parts.] 1-A: Access to electronic information is extremely critical in this day and age. I live in what some would call a rural area. I’m 30 mile from DC (many people would not consider this rural). Because of this, there is no broadband access available in my area. I’ve resorted to using the only satellite internet provider available. This is an expensive alternative and does not provide adequate broadband access. This service is much slower than a land line service because of the latency involved with satellite transmission. Also, this provider restricts the amount of data that can be downloaded in a 24 hour period. It is so restrictive that I cannot download more than a couple of news video clips during the day. If I exceed the limit, the company punishes me by restricting access to a level equivalent to dial up for 24 hours.
[This comment appears in two parts.] 1-B: I run a home business that relies on the internet. Because of the limited access to the internet, my ability to do business over the internet is restricted. For example, it is nearly impossible to do collaboration over the internet because of the lack of speed and the restrictive download capability. This lack of access is restricting commerce within the US. Even land line options have very restrictive speeds and download capacities. Basically, the US service providers are providing internet speed of a third world country. Speed in countries like France and Germany are at least two times greater than in the US. We should be embarrassed at our lack of technical capability. I sometimes believe that lack of speed and capacity is intentional on the part of the internet servie providers. It is essential for all people to have equal access to the information available on the internet. It is essential that government and businesses realize that many people in the US have inadequate internet service. I hope that this initiative will correct this situation.
good report !… s.o. might be interested in http://eups20.wordpress.com/the-open-declaration_... collaborative document across EU citizens concerned with e-participation and access to informations for individuals and communities to be presented at Malmo EU interministerial conference on e-gov in a few days.
Folks might be interested in a new study by The Media Consortium
The Big Thaw: Charting a New Future for Journalism
http://www.themediaconsortium.org/thebigthaw
If you post tweets on Twitter about the report, please use the #knightcomm hash tag to make it easy to aggregate all comments about the Commission's report.
As a person young in my career, I bristle that anyone would recommend less than a living wage for community building work. At least, this is how I interpret this statement:
The pay would not be overly generous. The unique quality of the opportunity would make up for the low level of income in the short-term.
As an AmeriCorps alum and now manager of a national service program, I believe that the poverty-level stipend is the reality but not the solution. The current funding environment is difficult, but any serious recommendation to undervalue this critical work will lead to less capacity in the sector, not more.
[...] – a recommendation that echoes in large measure the findings of the Knight Commission report, Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age. Comments (0) [...]
[...] The commission’s report, done with the Aspen Institute, is titled “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age." (You can access it at http://knightcomm.org/) [...]
[...] Although the Downie-Schudson report has gained most notoriety for its recommendations regarding government support for journalism, the report also calls on philanthropy to increase its support for news organizations and accountability reporting. In addition, it urges academic institutions and public broadcasters to step up their local news reporting activities. And perhaps its least controversial suggestion is that journalists, nonprofit organizations, and governments should all do more to increase the accessibility and usefulness of government information—a recommendation that echoes in large measure the findings of the Knight Commission report, Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age. [...]
[...] it is an absence of engagement,” stated in the Knight’s Commission 2009 report on “Informing Communities.” It’s the innovative ideas on the transference of information, like Gaper’s Block , [...]
[...] Read Report ▼ [...]
[...] completely concur with your position as do institutions like the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy and scholars like Dr. Deborah Brandt. Recommendations Six and Seven from the Knight Commission [...]
[...] off with Knight Foundation consultant Vince Stehle highlighting some of the key elements from the Knight Commission report “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age.” He talked briefly about the specific recommendations to maximize the availability of relevant [...]
[...] Read Report ▼ [...]
[...] to explore information needs in communities. “Information needs,” as explained in the Knight Commission Report, means everything from journalism as we know it (conventional print and broadcast) to the [...]
[...] Read Report ▼ [...]
[...] Read Report ▼ [...]
[...] on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. This high-level commission produced a report that was among the major future-of-journalism treatises to emerge in 2009. While journalism does [...]
[...] helped write “Informing Communities,” the report issued by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a [...]
[...] models for investigative reporting. See the grants from the initiative here. In 2009, the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities highlighted the need to maximize “the availability of [...]
i’m not a great fan of online education coz for me there must be some interaction between teacher and students.`’
Folks may be considering new research through the Media Consortium. The Big Thaw: Charting a whole new Future for Journalism.