Idea Lab

Changes in Media Over the Past 550 Years

by David Sasaki
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Sergii Danylenko and Anna Prymakova asked me to speak about "changes in media over the past five years" at MediaCamp Kyiv last week. It's a pretty standard topic of discussion for me, but I felt that it would be more interesting and more useful to look at changes in media over the past 550 years. What follows is a hyperlinked version of my talk. I recently received an email from NowPublic, a popular citizen journalism website in North America, with the subject "Now Hiring." This is a rare thing in the field of journalism these days - citizen or traditional...

• November 14, 2009
• 6 comments

Other fun stuff Beanstockd is up to..

by Angela Antony
2008 Knight News Challenge Winner

Each week, we look forward to keeping you apprised of changes, developments, and progress happening with the Beanstockd Game. But, this week, I wanted to amend our weekly report card with some of the fun stuff happening on the media side of Beanstockd! This month, we were able to send several of our writers to the Presidential Inauguration, and even got a special invitation to attend the Green Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC. Our writeup of the event can be found here: Beanstockd Goes to Washington: The Green Inaugural Ball After the inauguration, a few of our team members flew...

• January 28, 2009
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Community-Owned Media: What Does It Mean?

by Jessica Mayberry
2008 Knight News Challenge Winner

Many people today who work in social change are convinced that the typical 'top down' approach to development, where bureaucrats and international agencies design large-scale social programs and then impose them on millions of poor people, isn't working. Instead, they favor the idea of 'community-led development', in which communities themselves design the social programs, and interventions only arise from the stated needs of the communities. The goals of all these programs is the idea of eventual 'community ownership' of programs themselves and of the social change process. It means that communities won't only participate, but they will be able to...

• December 24, 2008
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Denver Open Media Close to Selecting Beta Sites

by Tony Shawcross
2008 Knight News Challenge Winner

If you know of a Community Technology Center, Public Access TV station, University Media Program, or other non-commercial, community media outlet who may be interested in participating, please invite them to apply at http://deproduction.org/ombeta.

• October 5, 2008
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Reforming Media Will Help Reform Conferences

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

At Journalism That Matters "The New Pamphleteers," held earlier this week in Minneapolis, every session meant horizontal communication: no one on a stage, a circle of chairs with the facilitator at the same level as anyone else. John Nichols is most certainly one of my favorite organizers of the National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR), going on now in Minneapolis. He visited the earlier, far smaller New Pamphleteers and represented what is wrong with the NCMR model of conference. He dropped in without having attended the rest of the New Pamphleteers, without having had the experiences all the rest of...

• June 7, 2008
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A Collage of Business Models from NewsTools2008

by Paul Lamb
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Some of the most interesting discussions and demonstrations at last week's NewsTools2008 conference Silicon Valley centered around making the changing news landscape sustainable. Here are some of the ideas I heard, along with a few of my own: 1) News Consultancies: Leveraging local information channels & relationships to connect average people with local influencers and experts. Examples: -An online/offline service which people pay journalists to help them navigating local political/business channels. i.e, the fastest way to get a building permit approved or knowing which local developer to talk to about a project. -recommending a trustworthy plumber of mechanic. This idea...

• May 5, 2008
• 8 comments

Web 2.0: Blogtropulus vs. the Legacy Press Room

by J.D. Lasica
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

One of the most telling juxtapositions at this week's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco is taking place on the third floor of the Moscone Center, where the traditional press lounge and the bloggers lounge (dubbed Blogtropolus, above) were set up side by side. As someone who inhabits both worlds, I was fascinated by the study in contrasts. Both rooms have wireless access, but there the similarity ends. Enter the press lounge and it's akin to stepping into a public library: about 18 tech reporters are hunkered down at their laptops, sitting around small tables with nary a whisper....

• April 25, 2008
• 6 comments

Jumping Back on the Entrepreneurial Horse

by Dan Gillmor
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

The irony was deliberate when Steve Outing and Steve Kearsley soft-launched their new online comic strip, techGRL, a week ago today. It's a humor site, yes, but the goal -- "not just a comic strip, but also an online community" -- was no April Fools joke.Reinventing comics online is an expanding arena. Mark Fiore and other talented folks have been blazing digital paths to revive a once-tired form. Adding online community is a natural extension of going digital.Before I continue, several disclosures: Steve Outing (pictured at left) is a longtime associate and friend in the online journalism world. He's written about my work, and vice...

• April 8, 2008
• 1 comment

What Drives News Decisions (What Are They Thinking)?

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Senator Barack Obama mischaracterized statements of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. To be charitable, there's only so many media narratives any one person or even campaign can try to change at one time. That's my question for today: how are these media narratives formed in the first place, and why? Easier question: Did you see the videos below? The seven and ten minute versions, not the seven and ten second versions? Obama, in his speech, chose to defend Wright as a person and a leader, but he denounced the statements as divisive and reflecting a static view of progress in history. In...

• March 25, 2008
• 2 comments

The State of the News Media Is Troubled

by J.D. Lasica
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

On Monday the Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual State of the News Media report. It's worthwhile reading for anyone who's interested in the major trends affecting not just the news industry but the culture of information dissemination in this country. I've been reading the report since last night and find myself agreeing with just about all its major observations. Here are some especially noteworthy snippets. From the Introduction: The state of the American news media in 2008 is more troubled than a year ago. And the problems, increasingly, appear to be different than many experts have...

• March 18, 2008
• 1 comment

Fragmentation of Media is Democratization of Media: Retaining Reach

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Oso uses a German pilot's statement that he would not have shot down the author of the Little Prince, had he known, to ask: Will Global Voices' coverage of Iranian bloggers have any influence one way or the other on a potential US invasion? It is comforting to think that it could, but realistically, I doubt it. (I'm going to project a little there and clarify that it's comforting to think it could prevent a U.S. attack- which would probably be in the form of Guernica-esque bombing, rather than a land invasion.) Oso concludes: the fragmentation of media is part...

• March 17, 2008
• 1 comment

The San Jose Mercury News and Gary Webb

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

The San Jose Mercury News' location in Silicon Valley is not the first reason it should have become the newspaper of record in the Internet age. Reading about this year's round of layoffs and cutbacks, I think about the journalist the Mercury News cut off twelve years ago during boom times. In 1996, a series of articles by Gary Webb showed the Central Intelligence Agency's complicity in bringing crack cocaine into Los Angeles. Profits from the new, highly addictive, and illegal drug supported the U.S.-backed Contras' war of terror against the people of Nicaragua during the 1980s. In those first...

• March 11, 2008
• 2 comments

National Awareness Days are a Cry for Help

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Today, March first, is National Self-Injury Awareness Day. You may not know much about this issue. A Google news search turned up one article, in the independent Charleston Gazette. I am meaningfully aware that people self-injure only through a friend's yearly blog post to mark self-injury awareness day: "We are male and female. We are artists, athletes, students, and business owners. We have depression, DID, PTSD, eating disorders, borderline personalities, bipolar disorder, or maybe no formal diagnosis at all. Some of us were abused, some were not. We are straight, bi, and gay. We come from all walks of life...

• March 1, 2008
• No comments

Every Nonprofit Tries to Give People Information, Which is Power

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

At this year's SalesForce.com Foundation gathering, "Innovation for Nonprofit Success," the recurring theme was less the SalesForce software than the broader topic of the social web.  This is to SalesForce's credit; Suzanne DiBianca, cofounder and director of the Foundation, set the tone when she introduced Holly Ross, Executive Director of the Nonprofit Technology Network, as the keynote speaker. "What I really want to talk about is power," Ross said early in her presentation.  "Because powerful people can make change." "At the heart of every nonprofit you are trying to give people information, and information is power." Ross and other presenters...

• February 20, 2008
• 8 comments

The Year of Mobile Media Ahead?

by Paul Lamb
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Many are already proclaiming 2008 to be the year of mobile media. (Apparently 2007 was the Year of Social Media?). That means that more people will be using their cell phones and other mobile devices to access the Internet, view content, and make purchases, respond to ads, do banking, etc. Here a good discussion 7 major mobile content headlines for 2007 that helped to push or delay the mobile trend. One of the most interesting bellweather points raised in this posting is that "in just five months since its commercial debut, the iPhone has secured a 0.1 percent share of...

• December 28, 2007
• 1 comment

Old World Meet New World: Exploring History with New Media Tools

by Paul Lamb
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Here's an interesting post about a mobile game called Amsterdam 1550 that was designed to teach local students about the old city of Amersterdam. "The game uses 3G cell phones and network to allow students to compete in finding answers to questions about the old city of Amsterdam, for history class excursion and assignment. Frequency 1550 explores the social potential of location-aware devices, inspired by the use of tracking technology and wireless media, human relationships, movement and identity; the project seeks to extend and re-appropriate the functions of locative technologies by exploring ways in which they can be socially constructive...

• November 18, 2007
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Bursting the Social Bubble and Getting Outside Your Sphere

by Dori J. Maynard
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Once again, the issue of social networks versus social bubbles has been on my mind since I attended the Online Newspaper Association. While I was there, several people either asked me directly or raised the issue of diversity in online social networks during panel discussions. I think what they were really talking about is how to burst their social bubble and actually create a social network. A network, particularly on the hyperlinked web, suggests to me a vast series of connections that naturally lead you away from your comfort zone and into the home of those you might never encounter...

• November 7, 2007
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Newspaper Circulation Continues to Decline...

by Paul Lamb
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

A good post on declining circulation and what that means in the context of the Web in this TechCrunch posting. "Readership of newspapers has continued to decline in the United States as more readers turn to online sources for news, according to the NY Times. The Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show that newspaper readership dropped 3% compared with the year before. Some newspapers fared better than others, with the US Today recording a 1% increase in circulation, along with the LA Times 0.5% and the Philadelphia Enquirer at 2.5%. We've written about the decline in print media many times...

• November 6, 2007
• 4 comments

Report from Digital Hollywood Confab

by J.D. Lasica
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

When my book Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation came out in 2005, the Hollywood studios were still doing everything in their power to resist the onrushing wave of the personal media revolution. These days, it's a far different story. Hulu, the online video portal backed by NBC and News Corp., is about to launch, and talk in the hallways at Digital Hollywood this week is all about how to embrace our digital destinies. Talk during the panels is not about how to build a better Facebook but how to build a widget that gains traction on Facebook. Will...

• October 31, 2007
• 6 comments

FCC's Short-Notice Localism Hearing

by Benjamin Melançon
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced the upcoming hearing on localism with less than a week notice. Though there's still time to speak up for local news and localism in media, this short notice shortchanges the public. Don't take my word for it- here are two of the five FCC members stating their view: JOINT STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONERS MICHAEL J. COPPS AND JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN IN RESPONSE TO FCC'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF LOCALISM HEARING WITH ONLY ONE WEEK'S NOTICE Tonight's Public Notice doesn't bode well for the future of the Commission's localism and media ownership proceedings. Over two weeks ago, we agreed...

• October 27, 2007
• 6 comments