Some of the brightest minds in new media, including luminaries such as investor and journalist Esther Dyson and Washington Post Managing Editor Raju Narisetti, convened at Knight Foundation in Miami for the final step in reviewing Knight News Challenge entries. Winners will be announced in June at MIT in Boston.

For full captions, please click on individual images.

Many of the reviewers are tweeting from the meeting. John S. Bracken (@jsb), of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, even created a Twitter list.

Community news startups and bloggers have begun to fill in the gaps left by traditional media but is it enough?

Two women in Los Angeles are taking a different approach: Devin Browne and Kara Mears have moved in with a Mexican family in the MacArthur Park/Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. They're renting an entryway in a townhouse, shared with 8 other people. They're learning Spanish. Their new neighbors are suspected gangsters (at least they claim to be - on MySpace). They've left the L.A. that's familiar to them to fully immerse themselves in a world most don't understand.

Browne and Mears have set up The Entryway, a blog that fuses photojournalism and first-person writing, to explore these very two distinct realities. They will also be providing traditional community reporting for various outlets, while holding down day jobs to pay rent.

Zach Behrens, of the LAist, writes:

The Entryway is one of Los Angeles' most important journalistic efforts at the moment and as immigration policy begins to take center stage, it will be one of the country's, too.

The Entryway is supported through Spot.us, a nonprofit community funded reporting startup and 2009 Knight News Challenge winner.

Note: A clause has been removed from this post. A related comment by Knight Foundation is posted below. The Entryway is not a Knight Foundation-funded project.

Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibarügen was awarded the Schieffer School of Journalism Ethics Award on Wednesday at Texas Christian University. This award recognizes individuals in journalism and strategic communications for their commitment to the highest ethical standards.

"Alberto Ibarügen could not be more deserving,' said John Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School of Journalism. 'His career is a model for ethics in our profession. I can say that from the perspective of the Schieffer School and also one who knew Alberto professionally in my former assignment with Associated Press."

Tom Fiedler, former executive editor at The Miami Herald while Ibarügen was publisher, says "Alberto [created] a culture of ethical decision-making that permeated the newspaper.' Of course that included an absolute insistence that the newsroom place fairness to all at the center of its journalism.' And it also included an insistence on inclusion and diversity in hiring and in newsroom assignments ' so much so that during his tenure The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald received numerous awards for having the most diverse news staffs in the United States, diversity that included race, ethnicity, gender and sexual identities.' To me, that bespeaks the essence of ethical leadership."

Read more about the Schieffer School of Journalism Ethics Award.

California Watch, a reporting initiative from the Center for Investigative Reporting, proved that its distribution model is working. '

Recently, California Watch released a report on California's public universities' slow approach to fixing buildings deemed a significant seismic hazard. Just a few days after the release, California Watch had added four new distribution partners to its list of more than 50 news outlets that have published or broadcast their content.

'Knight grantee Robert Rosenthal blogs about it here.

--Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism is awarding $1,000 to the journalist doing the most innovative environmental coverage.

If you've come up with a new idea that is changing the way environmental news and information is communicated -- if you are using social media or' iPhone apps.' to cover the environment or pioneering with a new economic model or type of coverage -- you are encouraged to apply.

To enter, fill out an application form.'The contest is looking for innovations that are actually being tried or experimented with. In no more than 1,000 words, write about your idea. Include three letters of recommendation. A panel of experts will evaluate the idea and determine the winner.

Applicants must submit a proposal by April 30, 2010 to the Knight Center via e-mail at ej@msu.edu or by mail to:

EJ Innovator of the Year Award

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Room 382

Communication Arts Building

East Lansing, MI 48824-1212

The winner will also receive an all expenses paid trip to speak about her/his idea at a conference in Michigan State University to celebrate the School of Journalism's 100^th anniversary the weekend of Oct. 22-24, 2010.

Frequently Asked Questions Q: What are you looking for in an entry?

A: We seek examples of new technology, journalism techniques or other innovative efforts that advance environmental reporting and the public understanding of environmental issues. It could be a new way of financially supporting environmental journalism.' It could be something that tells an environmental story that otherwise would not be told. It could be a new way of publicly reporting an environmental issue. It could be a new way of engaging people to help report credibly on the environment. It could be something else. We're looking for innovations and you may have tried something that doesn't fit into any neat categories.

Q: That's hard to envision. You got an example?

A: Hey, if it were easy there wouldn't be an award for it. But maybe this will give you a bit of the flavor: Last year journalism students at Northwestern University developed a measure of how green the Congressional elections were swinging as the votes came in. Something like that would have been given consideration if we had the award then.

Of course, if you figure out a new way to financially support environmental journalism, all of us win much more than this award.

Q: What don't you want?

A: This is not a contest for the best environmental news story of the year.

Q: Can it be an idea for an innovation?

A: No. It must be something that has been actually put to use between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of 2009.

Q: Must it be created by a news organization?

A: It can be. But we also encourage entries from people or organizations that are not necessarily affiliated with journalism. Anyone is eligible to enter.

Q: Can it be a Web site?

A: C'mon, we're looking for innovation. The Web has been around more than a few years. A Web site might be the delivery platform, but the winner will have to do more than simply report environmental stories online.

Q: What can I win?

A: $1,000 and a handsome plaque.

Q: Will this contest continue in the future?

A: We hope that it will be an annual event. A lot depends upon what happens this year and whether we can obtain funding to support this competition in the future. This year's contest is being supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Q: Will I win anything else?

A: Yes. Winners will be asked to discuss their innovation with students and faculty at Michigan State University's School of Journalism during the J-School's centennial celebrations the weekend of Oct. 22 to 24, 2010. All of your expenses will be paid.

--Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

Rsearchers from'Intelligent Systems Informatics Lab (ISI) at Tokyo University have developed a robot that explores its environment and reports what it finds. The robot can independently detect changes in its surroundings, decide if they are relevant and take pictures. It can also ask people for information and search the Internet to find out more about a topic. Newsworthy findings are written up by the robot and posted online.

Scared yet?

For more information, read this article.

' Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

As new nonprofit investigative reporting startups like ProPublica and Voice of San Diego are working towards sustainability, Boston University's New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR) is working to create a model that will work nationally.

With the help of a two-year, $400,000 grant, NECIR will be testing the ability of a university-based investigative reporting collaborative to sustain itself long term through funds generated through a series of multimedia journalism projects, including student workshops, paid content delivery, newsroom training and client research services.

'Investigative reporting is one of democracy's most important tools for providing citizens with the information they need to hold the powerful accountable and make informed decisions,' said NECIR Director Joe Bergantino. 'Our goal is to create a national model for ensuring the long-term survival of this important type of journalism.'

Read the full press release.

Eric Newton is vice president of the journalism program for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

It's good that the FCC has put forward the nation's first real broadband plan. Having a good plan is an essential first step in bringing high-speed Internet access to all Americans ' and that is an essential first step in achieving the recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, which argued that people must have digital access to be first-class citizens.

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/)

It found that in our democratic republic, information is essential to the civic health of communities as good streets or clean water. People need (1) the information itself, (2) access to it and the ability to use it, and (3) ways as communities to engage with the facts we need to improve our collective lives.

The FCC's plan is a start to the nation taking the issue seriously. Why is it so important? Let's consider what's at stake:

In the digital age, countries without high-speed broadband will be left behind, their citizens able to vote but not knowing why they should; able to work but not knowing how to find a job online.

In the past, we grew because we built the railroads and highways we needed to haul people and their physical things across this vast continent. Today, we will not grow unless we build the technology we need to haul our ideas and innovations around the world. Nearly two dozen other nations now rank ahead of the United States in high-speed broadband. That just won't do.

That's why Knight Foundation's President and CEO Alberto Ibarügen says: 'Broadband access for all is essential to meeting the information needs of communities in a democracy. Without it, we'll end up with a new category of second-class citizens. With it, everyone will be able to harness the social and economic opportunities of the digital age.'

Digital cities, the connected ones, will be the best environment for local news products, the most interesting laboratories for new ideas, the perfect places to chase the American Dream.

Knight Foundation has awarded a two-year, $800,000 grant to the Aspen Institute to commission policy papers and follow-up activities to make Knight Commission recommendations actionable. (Read those recommendations here.)

Earlier this week, the FCC presented the National Broadband Plan to Congress. Both the National Broadband Plan and the Aspen Institute's new project echo the findings and goals of the Knight Commission.

'With the release of the National Broadband Plan, the national conversation on the information needs of Americans in the 21st Century takes a giant step forward. It is gratifying to see that the Knight Commission's efforts to foster a nationwide dialogue have had such a significant impact already,' said Charles M. Firestone, executive director of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program.

The new policy papers will focus on local journalism, public media, government transparency and information portals, digital and media literacy, open networks, civic engagement, community self-assessment and universal broadband.

'This grant helps move to the question of exactly how public policy can bring about more informed, engaged communities,' said Alberto Ibarügen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation and a member of the Knight Commission.

Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, recently explained that the newspaper is now as much a technology company as a journalism company.

This year's South by South West Interactive (SxSWi) indicates he's not the only one thinking that way. When the conference started 16 years ago, it was strictly tech, a convening of engineers, software developers and coders. But this year, everywhere you turned, it seemed, there was another journalist and or media organization. And there were many panels about technology and the future of news.

It demonstrates how far media organizations have come in embracing technology and using it in 'digitally native' ways to inform and engage their communities.

-- By Jose Zamora, Journalism Program Associate, Knight Foundation

With political leaders pledging great transparency, do we still need Sunshine Week to promote open government?

Absolutely.

This year's Knight Open Government Survey, done by George Washington University's National Security Archive, found that only'13 of 90 surveyed federal agencies have made any concrete changes to their Freedom of Information practices even though the president directed them to do so a year ago.

The day after the survey'story appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and elsewhere, the White House chief of staff and the counsel to the president wrote a memo to the agency heads noting "more work remains" and asking them to "take action" to ensure "full implementation" of President Obama's Jan. 21 2009 memo.

Other highlights:

• This year's presidential statement marking Sunshine Week, citing the progress since last year.
• The Scripps Poll, showing that 70 percent of U.S. adults believe the federal government is'secretive.
• Headlines from around the country marking the week.

Sunshine Week started in 2005 as a project of'the American Society of News Editors along with dozens of other groups,'with funding from'Knight Foundation. The foundation later endowed the'annual event, which promotes the importance of open government and freedom of information.

By Eric Newton, Knight Foundation Vice President

Earlier this week, William English "Brit" Kirwan, co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, was awarded the 2010 TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence. Kirwan is Chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

"Chancellor Kirwan brings a collaborative and cooperative leadership style to higher education welcoming all viewpoints," said Stephanie Bell-Rose, Managing Director and Head of the TIAA-CREF Institute. "This coupled with his forward thinking makes him one of the nation's most dynamic and effective higher education leaders and we are so pleased to honor him today."

Knight Foundation would like to congratulate Kirwan on this very prestigious honor. You can read more about Kirwan on the Knight Commission website. More information about the award is available here.

Zimbabwe novelist Chenjerai Hove will be calling Miami home for at least the next two years. As a guest of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Hove will give guest lectures to Miami Dade students, and also interact with the general public by attending a variety of community events. His stay was coordinated by the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College.

This is the first time the city of Miami takes part in the International Cities of Refuge Network'an organization that provides a safe haven to writers who are persecuted in their home countries.

In Zimbabwe, Hove is ranked No. 17 on the government's Enemies of the State list and his life has also been threatened several times.

Hove is working on a memoir examining how violence came to be such a regular part of Zimbabwe's political system.

He is best known for his 1989 novel, Bones, which tells the story of a poor farm mother who loses her son in the Zimbabwean war of liberation.

--Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

Earlier this week at America's Digital Inclusion Summit, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn detailed the recommendation for a National Digital Literacy plan, including the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps. Here are her complete remarks:

FCC/Knight America's Digital Inclusion-Mignon Clyburn from The Newseum on Vimeo.

The National Broadband Plan aims to have broadband in 90% of American households by 2020 (currently, the number is somewhere around 65%). Affordable access is only a piece of the plan, however.

The FCC recommends the creation of a three-part National Digital Literacy Program. During the America's Digital Inclusion Summit, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, at right, emphatically lauded the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps, to help tackle the digital divide locally. Face-to-face training will help ensure that Americans who do not regularly use computers or the Internet are no longer handicapped.

When asked by her daughter to enroll in computer training, Florence Pearson admits to having backed out initially. But after finally attending a class, with her daughter in tow, Pearson's fears vanished:

"I was handicapped. I had to have someone else type my work for me. [After training,] all I can see are possibilities for myself and my family. I went in with fear and came out with the motivation to tackle the computer and make my children proud," says Pearson, Education Director of Head Start in New York, NY.

 

Pearson, pictured above with her daughter, was one of five speakers from the Voices of Inclusion series that shed light on how broadband access and digital literacy have personally improved the lives of Americans.

The National Broadband Plan is scheduled to be presented to Congress by the FCC on Wednesday, March 17. You can read more about the plan at http://broadband.gov/.

America's Digital Inclusion Summit has concluded. Video from the Summit will be posted later. In the meantime, you can view tweets about the event by following #BBplan.

During the opening remarks of America's Digital Inclusion Summit, Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibarügen announced a new contest to develop web apps that would access government and community data and services. The Apps for Inclusion Challenge is a joint-effort by the FCC and Knight Foundation to tap the power of broadband and increase transparency in American government.

"Knight is teaming up with the FCC to create the Knight/FCC Apps for Inclusion Challenge. The concept is straightforward: Both Knight and FCC believe in transparent government and universal digital access as democrative ideals. To prove it, we'll be offering cash prizes to the software developers who can invent the best technological solutions to create easier online access to government services and information," said Ibarügen.

Details of the contest will be announced soon. Read the official press release here.

America's Digital Inclusion Summit has concluded. Video from the Summit will be posted later. In the meantime, you can view tweets about the event by following #BBplan.

In opening remarks at today's America's Digital Inclusion Summit, Knight Foundation's President and CEO Alberto Ibarügen said:

"The FCC believes, as we at Knight Foundation do, that you cannot have a healthy American democracy with only 60% of Americans having access to modern means of commercial, civil and social communication. And that's the actual figure we live with today. That means that almost 40% of Americans are on the other side of the digital divide."

There is an increasing need for access to information via broadband. According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Internet has now surpassed newspapers as a primary way that American get news making it the third most popular news platform. Something must be done to narrow the digital divide.

To that end, the FCC is previewing it's recommendations for the National Broadband Plan today at the Newseum, in Washington, D.C., in preparation for delivery of the plan to Congress on March 17. The plan aims to have broadband in the homes of 90% of Americans by 2020.

Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman, said:

"In order to ensure long term American competitiveness and prosperity, we must not leave one-third of the nation behind. The National Broadband Plan provides a vision for federal, state, and local leadership and partnerships with private and non-profit communities that will bridge the digital divide and transform America into a nation where broadband expands opportunities for all."

We'll post more about America's Digital Inclusion Summit as it happens.

Earlier this week, Knight Foundation hosted the Media Learning Seminar to help inform community foundations about the information needs of communities in a democracy. As traditional local news sources and investigative reporting decline, citizens are increasingly involved in the co-creation of new information sources, including online news startups, localized Twitter feeds from political candidates and community leaders, and blogs.

Knight Foundation realizes that the community information ecosystem is not limited to news and information itself, but also access to news and information and the ability to engage with it. Community foundations have the opportunity to play an important role in this evolving landscape.

As the application period for the third Community Information Challenge is closing (the deadline to apply is March 8), Knight Foundation has released a study, Reports From the Field: Place-Based Foundations and the Knight Community Information Challenge, about how place-based foundations are incorporating community information needs into their work.

Michael Marsicano, CEO of the Foundation for the Carolinas, says:

"You cannot conduct meaningful civic work without good information. Engaging citizens without data bears little fruit. Engaging citizens with poor data compromises all future community leadership activities."

What have we learned in the first two years of the Knight Community Information Challenge?

• Foundations are committing significant financial resources to address information needs through and beyond KCIC.


• To be effective, place-based foundations are building capacity to' manage their projects.


• Foundations are increasingly engaging in multiple community leadership activities to increase the impact of their KCIC projects.


• Foundations are engaging in informations initiatives in addition to their KCIC projects.


• Foundations are attracting considerable outside support from funders and sponsors.


• Foundations are also aligning the necessary partnerships and expertise to address their own capacity gaps.


• Through their project experience, foundations are learning more about other projects in their communities and the overall information ecosystem.


• Although for more grantees it is still too early to see evidence that residents are changing their attitudes and behaviors, foundations are putting in place evaluation activities to collect data.

Reports from the field: Place-Based Foundations and the Knight Community Information Challenge provides further insight into these findings, as well as presenting challenges that grantees are facing, what Knight Foundation is learning from the challenge, and a guide on how to address information needs in your community.

Click here to download the PDF of the study.

South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive, the year's most anticipated tech conference, is just around the corner - kicking off on Friday, Mar. 12 in Austin, Texas. Many of today's biggest web and mobile apps were launched during SXSW, including Twitter (2007) and Foursquare (2009). There's a lot of speculation about what this year's big hit will be.

Many of journalism's innovators and big-thinkers will be speaking at the conference this year, including Jeff Jarvis, Ana Marie Cox, Adrian Holovaty, David Cohn, and Jay Rosen. We scoured the schedule and compiled a list of journalism-related presentations, to help those of you who may be attending:

Saturday, Mar. 13

9:30 a.m. Community Funded Reporting

The news industry is dying but in its wake are new business models to support investigative journalism. One of these is "community funded reporting" which is being pioneered by Spot.us but is happening around the country by various individuals. What is it? How does it work? What are its pitfalls? Where does it surpass the traditional advertising model? This will be a conversation that explores the changing media landscape and how the web can rise to the challenge of supporting our communities and their information needs.

Presenters: David Cohn, Spot.Us. Lyn Headly, Rapid News Awards.

11 a.m. Citizen Journalism Brigade - Making Your Voice Matter

The future of Journalism lies in your hands. Citizen journalists from coast to coast are launching websites so THEY can write about their interests. But does it work? Can you make money? Where is it going and will it be around in a few years?

Presenters: Colin Alsheimer, LevelTen Interactive. Rondo Estrello, In-This-Economy.com.

11 a.m. Are Content Farms Good or Evil? Yes.

Our multiple choice quiz for today: Demand Media, AOL's Seed.com and other "content farms" are: (a) a natural and essential outgrowth of our new media ecosystem. (b) a fine way for new writers to actually get paid (if not very well) for their work instead of providing for free to others who make all the money. (c) worrisome given that the content the create is often mediocre, and therefore can semi-pollute search results. (d) cynical verging on evil. The answer is all of the above, in varying degrees.

Presenter: Dan Gillmor, Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University

11 a.m. iPad: New Opportunities for Content Creators

With the launch of the iPad, Apple is creating a third category of mobile devices positioned between smartphones and laptop computers. Utilizing the successful iPhone operating system coupled with a tablet form factor, the iPad has the ability to deliver content in a variety of formats - from native apps to web sites to eBooks and more. Hear from experts in the interactive, book publishing, periodicals, and video gaming industries about the impact of the iPad in regards to content packaging and distribution.

Presenters: Raven Zachary, small society. Bill Jensen, Village Voice Media. Shervin Pishevar, SGN. Jason Grigsby, Cloud Four.

3:30 p.m. Media Armageddon: What Happens When the New York Times Dies

We've entered The Last Days of Media. Traditional publishers' economics can't stand up against the overwhelming volume of new content and ad inventory being manufactured by the likes of blogs, Facebook, Myspace, Craigslist et al. What will New York City and the nation look like without the New York Times?

Presenters: Greg Beato, Reason Magazine. Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos. Amy Langfield, NewYorkology LLC. David Carr, New York Times. Henry Copeland, Blogads.com.

Sunday, Mar. 14

9:30 a.m. Process Journalism: Getting it First, While Getting it Right

Iterative journalism, process journalism, wiki journalism -- call it what you want -- the 'first draft' of history is rapidly changing with digital reporting and immediate delivery. In this panel, we'll investigate technological tools, best practices from bloggers to NYTimes.com, transparency and ethical challenges faced report accurate news in the social media age.

Presenters: Moka Pantages, Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Monica Guzman, Seattlepi.com. Robert Mackey, The New York Times. Will Sullivan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Charles Latibeaudiere, TMZ. Jesus Diaz, Gizmodo.

11 a.m. Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data

Presenter: Clay Shirky, ITP/NYU.

11 a.m. Influence and Innovate: Transforming Media Education

The future of media relies heavily on the mindset of those willing to study and enter the field. Professionals, professors and students will discuss transforming the goals of communication education to develop graduates, not only comfortable and fluent with online media, but who can also innovate and influence the profession.

Presenters: Cindy Royal, Texas State University. Tyson Evans, New York Times.

11 a.m. Online News of Tomorrow

Whether newspapers are dead or not, the media is innovating online. Rather than debate journalism's future, let's look at where we're headed, and what the online news sources of tomorrow might look like. This panel will survey some of the most exciting experiments and propose some interesting new directions.

Presenters: Adrian Holovaty, EveryBlock. Andrew Huff, Gapers Block. Brad Flora, Windy Citizen. Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine/CUNY. Jeremy Zilar, New York Times

Monday, Mar. 15

9:30 a.m. Future of Context: Getting the Bigger Picture Online

Conventional wisdom calls us attention-deprived, constantly seeking the next scrap of info. But Google reveals our true desire: Context. (Wikipedia entries, This American Life's financial crisis explainer, Gizmodo's definitive guide to smartphones, etc.) We'll explore how journalism and media must adapt to meet our insatiable hunger for the bigger picture.

Presenters: Jay Rosen, New York University. Matt Thompson, NPR. Staci D Kramer, ContentNext Media /paidContent. Tristan Harris, Apture.

1:10 p.m. Hyperlocal Focus: Growing A Vibrant Community Media Ecosystem

Filmmakers, videobloggers, podcasters, pirate & low-power radio jocks and public access TV producers are all creating content in your local community, but they often don't collaborate or even talk to each other, despite using the same tools and sometimes even seeking the same audiences. A 15 year-old videoblogger and a 50 year-old technical director at a local network TV affiliate may have a lot to learn from each other, but in what context would they ever meet? How can you engage local content creators and build a vibrant media community? This session is about how to create (and utilize) healthy, sustainable user-generated media scenes in local communities, using community media centers, creative salons, non-profit media arts foundations, citizen journalism organizations and grass roots organizing principals.

Presenter: Bill Simmon, VCAM.

Tuesday, Mar. 16

3:30 p.m. How to Save Journalism

Much has been said about the death of journalism, but little has been offered in way of solutions. This panel will focus on solutions instead of problems, consensus viewpoints from both old and new media, and offer new insights into the operational structure of journalism and media for the 21st century.

Presenters: Drew Curtis, Fark.com. Jeff Webber, USAToday.com. Kelly McBride, The Poynter Institute. Matthew Palevsky, The Huffington Post.

5:40 p.m. The Effects of Twitter on News

Presenters: James Cox, Smokeclouds. Brian Stelter, New York Times. Ana Marie Cox, GQ Magazine.

Living just 90 miles apart, the lives of a dozen young Cuban women and men, six in Havana and six in Miami, are being chronicled in an online documentary project, Havana-Miami.

In an article in the Miami Herald, Ilan Ziv, executive producer of the project, says:

The idea behind Havana-Miami is to use human experiences that are very similar to help connect audiences and overcome their political alienation ... The stories from Havana are very similar to the Miami stories: People trying to survive and dreaming about their future. When you explore the huge cultural and human connection that exists between Miami and Havana, the commonality of people's experiences outweighs their political differences.

The project is being produced by University of Miami School of Communication graduate students Mark Shumow and Mark Mocahbee, with the help of undergraduate students who are filming the Miami participants and a Cuban film making team in Havana. The project is funded by Arte, a French-German TV network, and in association with the Knight Center for International Media at the University of Miami.

This three-month web series is comprised of six short (2-minute long) video updates each week and will be completed in May. Viewers can watch the web series as it unfolds' at http://www.havana-miami.tv. A stand-alone documentary will be produced upon completion of the series.

Winners of the second annual Shorty Awards were announced Thursday night at TheTimesCenter in New York. CNN's Rick Sanchez (@richsanchezcnn) hosted the ceremony, which featured acceptance speeches by Cory Booker, Suze Orman and Rachel Maddow, as well as an appearance by Sesame Street's Grover.

The Shorties honor the best in real-time short form content, and in keeping with this theme, acceptance speeches were limited to 140 characters. William Shatner congratulated winners via video and read some of his favorite tweets from @shitmydadsays (the popular Twitter account which is being turned into a TV pilot by CBS with Shatner in the lead role).

This year's winners demonstrated the varied uses of Twitter: Newark Mayor Cory Booker (@CoryBooker), who won a Shorty Award in the government category, used his account to help constituents with timely snow removal. Brazilian pop superstar Ivete Sangalo (@ivetesangalo), a winner in the music category, stays connected to her fans through Twitter. Writer Arjun Basu (@arjunbasu) won in literature for his self-contained stories on Twitter, and travel category winner Paul Miller (@twitchhitcher) was able to make his way around the world through his followers' generosity.

Nominations were open in January, and all Twitter users were invited to cast their vote in 27 official categories. The Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences selected winners from the top five finalists in each category. The academy included leaders in technology, journalism, business and culture, including Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibarügen.

The awards were created by Sawhorse Media and made possible with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

"The Shorty Award winners show that you can make a big impact with few characters," said Gregory Galant, the CEO of Sawhorse Media, which created the Shorty Awards. "We're thrilled to see so many concise communicators fly in from around the world to accept their awards."

For a full listing of winners, visit ShortyAwards.com.

Vince Stehle,'Knight Foundation contributing blogger Philanthropy New York recently convened a debate and discussion about the future of journalism and the vital role of news and information in healthy communities. Columbia J School professor Michael Schudson, co-author with Leonard Downie of the The Reconstruction of American Journalism, elaborated on the controversial report's call for increased government support for news gathering activities, pointing out that there has long been public support of publishing activities through postal subsidies and many other streams of support. Besides which, he argued, many liberal democracies ' United Kingdom, Sweden and France among them ' have shown that robust public media can flourish without political pressure and influence.

Ford Foundation Program Officer Calvin Sims acknowledged some appropriate roles for government support of media, but cautioned against rash reactions. Sims, a longtime reporter with The New York Times, with significant experience in multimedia production, agreed that journalism is a field in transition, but did not concede that we have reached a crisis point demanding dramatic federal intervention. Despite some differences in emphasis, Schudson and Sims agreed that there is a role for some government support of media.

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.

Web pages referred to in Alberto's remarks:

Facilitator: Dirk Beveridge, president, 4thGeneration Systems

Scribe: Larry Meyer, Meyer Communications

This session incorporates sales strategy in how community foundations (CFs) can build their donor bases, especially in attracting funders interested in helping to meet information needs in their community. Dirk read three statements gleaned from community foundations’ web sites describing the customized, tailored work they do.

Facilitator: Diana Mitsu Klos, American Society of News Editors

Scribe: Susan Knudten, Rose Community Foundation

Introductory Remarks:

• News literacy is being able to assess what’s true. 

• Media literacy and digital literacy: What are the tools and means of conveyance? How do we give everyone equal access to tools and knowledge of how to use them? 

• Civic literacy is giving people the skills so that they fulfill their role as individuals in a democracy. 

Facilitator: Carolyn Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks

Scribe: Nancy Jones, Community Foundation of Broward County

How do you move from information to action?

The group defined for itself what it wanted to accomplish out of the session. Each of the small groups reported back the following:

Facilitator: Jerry Wareham, President and CEO WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN Ideastream

Scribe: Carolyn Torgersen, VP for Communications, Community Foundation for the Lowcountry

Facilitator: Esther Thorson, Missouri School of Journalism

Scribe: Megan Brownell, Arizona Foundation

The Indexing Community Information Needs checklist is the taxonomy of communications and services in local communities. This tool can help you understand and realize the areas of your community in which communication is the key.

Moderator: Steve Gunderson, President and CEO – Council on Foundations

• Speakers: Josie Heath, President, Community Foundation Serving Boulder County

• Leslie Lilly, President and CEO, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin County

• JoAnn Turnquist, President, Central Carolina Community Foundation

• Mayur Patel, Director, Strategic Assessment and Impact, Knight Foundation

Mayur Patel presented the report "Community Foundations and the Knight Community Information Challenge."

Part 1:

Facilitator: Susan Mernit, Consultant/Entrepreneur, founder Oakland Local

Scribe: Roberta King, Grand Rapids Foundation

How can people who are not journalists tell their stories? Simply by being in a place when things happen and reporting on it. Many people (news users) are not getting news and information from traditional sources anymore.

Facilitator:  Kim Marcille Romaner, Founder, Possibilities, Inc.

Scribe:  Heidi Williamson, VP Communications, Berks County Community Foundation, Reading, PA

Kim Marcille Romaner is working with the Miami-Dade Broadband Coalition to close the digital divide in the county and to improve broadband access in public anchor institutions like libraries and community colleges. In their work, the coalition has discovered that it is disingenuous to rely on broadband penetration studies, which do not show the whole picture because the surveys are done using land-based phone lines.

Panelists: Trabian Shorters; Colleen Macklin; Frank Lantz; Jennifer L. Dorn.

Links: What is Budgetball? | Budgetball video on YouTube | http://www.budgetball.org/

Part 1 of 3

Introduction by Paul S. Grogan

Featured Speaker Bob Schieffer

Part 1

Part of Media Learning Seminar 2010

Gary Kebbel moderated this session with panelists Amy Webb, and Warren Webster.

• Warren's handout: Patch Media presentation.pdf.
• Amy's handout: "Social Media Action Plan for Community Foundations".
• Amy's resources page: Infoneeds 2010 resources.

Part 1: Gary Kebbel and Warren Webster

additional videos follow... 

Presenters: Eric Newton and Terry Mazany.

Eric Newton's handouts: 

• MLS Eric Newton Media Ecosystem-talk.doc

• MLS Eric Newton Media Ecosystem talk.pptx

Part 1a

Part of Media Learning Seminar 2010

Facilitator: Dirk Beveridge, president, 4thGeneration Systems

Scribe: Larry Meyer, Meyer Communications

Just like a business with a product to sell, CFs need to continually ID potential donors, ID the needs of the community, then match them and build solutions together.

Dirk asked: What role does a sales orientation play in building a donor base? Can we apply what we’ve learned from business to helping CFs develop their donor bases? He shared three sales principles from business for broadening donor pool:

Facilitator: Anders Gyllenhaal, Executive Editor, The Miami Herald

Scribe: LuAnn Lovlin, The Winnipeg Foundation

Facilitator: Susan Mernit, Consultant/Entrepreneur, founder Oakland Local

Scribe: Roberta King, Grand Rapids Foundation

Facilitator: Carolyn Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks

Scribe: Nancy Jones, Community Foundation of Broward County

How do you move from information to action?

The group defined for itself what it wanted to accomplish out of the session.  Each of the small groups reported back the following.

Facilitator: Esther Thorson, Missouri School of Journalism

Scribe: Megan Brownell, Arizona Foundation

Indexing communication needs in your local community means defining the variables you need to look at in order to understand needs and begin the mapping process.

Many scholarly assessments exist about flow, amount and quality of information, which drive many aspects of quality of life. Information is a huge predictor of how well a community thrives –  and how well citizens cope –  in communities throughout the world. Despite the existing research, we don’t know what all the variables are and how they vary in different communities. 

Facilitator: Jerry Wareham, President and CEO WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN Ideastream

Scribe: Carolyn Torgersen, VP for Communications, Community Foundation for the Lowcountry

Facilitator: Diana Mitsu Klos, American Society of News Editors

Scribe: Susan Knudten, Rose Community Foundation

This conversation is about literacy, not in a language sense, but in a news sense. How do I know what to believe?  What do I need to know to be an engaged citizen?

Facilitator:  Kim Marcille Romaner, Founder, Possibilities, Inc.

Scribe:  Heidi Williamson, VP Communications, Berks County Community Foundation, Reading, PA

Kim Marcille Romaner is working with the Miami Dade Broadband Coalition to close the digital divide in the county and to improve broadband access in public anchor institutions like libraries.