Idea Lab

Why PRX, Knight Created an Accelerator for Public Media

by Jake Shapiro

We announced PRX's partnership with the Knight Foundation to create the Public Media Accelerator about a month ago. Since then, it's become clear that the accelerator concept is new to many people in the non-profit and public media worlds, even as tech folks fret that accelerators have jumped the shark. Our tagline for the Public Media Accelerator is "seeking mission-driven entrepreneurs changing media for good." We're in a time of remarkable technology innovation, and our goal is to channel the forces driving that growth towards public service media. The two forces, the tech sector and public media, need each other:...

• January 19, 2012
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Public Media Should Mind the Developer Gap

by Jake Shapiro

Early on in PRX's history we faced a critical decision. Do we outsource the development and maintenance of our main web application, or take the plunge and bring all coding in-house and become a technology-driven company? We took the plunge, and since then have grown an award-winning tech team, responsible not only for PRX's web-based services but for a growing portfolio of successful mobile apps. I'm not myself a developer, have not written a line of code, and other than being a super user and obsessive early adopter, I have little claim to true tech skills. But as a non-profit...

• November 30, 2011
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iPhone or Android? Key Tips for Publishers Considering Apps

by Jake Shapiro

2011 is already seeing Android and Apple battle it out for ascendancy in sales of smartphones and tablets and, more interestingly, in the world of apps and app makers. Media organizations navigating this terrain have a lot of factors to weigh before taking the plunge and creating a serious presence on these increasingly important platforms. Thanks to some hard-won experience from PRX's own successful iOS and Android adventures, I'm going to tackle common questions and concepts related to media apps. (This post is Part 1 of a two-part story.) For a deeper technical dive I recommend visiting labs.prx.org, where our...

• February 3, 2011
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Remix Radio Re-Imagines Public Radio as Interactive Collage

by Jake Shapiro

While we continue to delve into code-level collaboration with Spot.Us to get our Story Exchange crowdfunding project launched later this year, I'll take the opportunity in my next couple posts to give updates on other emerging PRX services that are helping reshape public radio, and that ultimately will amplify the results of Story Exchange. First up is Remix Radio, an entirely new sound for public radio. Remix Radio The basic idea of Remix is to create a story-driven radio format that aggregates and curates remarkable audio -- short-form documentaries, features, podcasts, interviews, archives, "found sound" -- and rotates it through...

• November 12, 2010
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PRX Story Exchange, Spot.us Bring Crowdfunding to Public Radio

by Jake Shapiro

Story Exchange (formerly Story Market) is a way for local public radio stations, producers, and listeners to pitch, find and fund documentaries and stories on important local issues. We're also one of this year's winners of a Knight News Challenge grant. Here's how we envision it working: Let's say that in Kentucky the issue of mountaintop mining needs a deeper investigative look. On Story Exchange, the Louisville public radio WFPL station can invite producers to bid on reporting the story, ask listeners to contribute funds as well as ideas, and see the story through to completion for broadcast and digital...

• September 15, 2010
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