Idea Lab

Beanstockd Is a We Media Game Changers Award Finalist

by Sandra Ekong
2008 Knight News Challenge Winner

We are happy to announce that Beanstockd has been named one of 35 finalists for the We Media Game Changers Award, which recognizes people, projects, ideas and organizations leading change and inspiring a better world through media. We're honored to share the finalist list with major digital influencers such as Twitter, Digg, Huffington Post and of course the Knight Foundation. We Media defines Game Changers as individuals and projects which "inspire involvement and action through media" and we think that Beanstockd fits the bill. If you agree (or disagree!) we'd love to have your support and feedback; cast your vote...

• November 14, 2008
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No Returning to the Cult of the Expert

by J.D. Lasica
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

In response to this week's Newsweek article Revenge of the Experts suggesting the expert is back and user-created content is on the wane, columnist Tom Regan offers this in today's Christian Science Monitor: Credible Web? It's where we click most. Expertise is essential online, but the Internet's real 'killer app' is choice. (Jay Rosen and I are quoted in the piece.) An expert in the Newsweek article said, the world is "too dangerous a place for faulty information." People can deal with vetting information in two ways: rely solely on experts and authority figures. Or become a fact-checker, treating unverified...

• March 19, 2008
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Tips to Win a Knight News Challenge Grant

by Amy Gahran
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Earlier this week I was at WeMedia 08 in Miami, where I was on a panel about the Knight News Challenge. (Last year, Adam Glenn and I won a Knight News Challenge grant to fund our community journalism project, the Boulder Carbon Tax Tracker.) Also on the panel were Gary Kebbel, director of the News Challenge progam for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and fellow grantee Nora Paul of the University of Minnesota. Here are five points I think are useful to anyone considering applying for a News Challenge grant, based on Adam's and my experience so...

• February 29, 2008
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