“How can you pretend you’re actually educating people to live in the 21st century if you’re not making them smart digitally?” asks Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen.

That’s why more than 500 kids received brand-new laptops this morning at a school in Miami.

The distribution of the laptops at the Liberty City elementary school are part of an ongoing effort to level the digital playing field for its students.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, Rodrigo A. Halaby, chairman and chief executive officer of One Laptop Per Child, and Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen presented 525 laptops - one per child - at Holmes Elementary this morning.

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Code for America

The following is written by Tracey Ross, program associate at Living Cities. It is crossposted from Living Cities' blog.

Over the past few years there has been a significant amount of energy and technical expertise focused on identifying and solving urban problems within the technology community. According to Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America, nearly 550 people applied for one of their 26 fellowships to help cities create web-based solutions to civic problems. With hundreds of civic-minded web developers interested in improving cities, there is a growing sense of the untapped potential to use technology to drive civic change. On Thursday, Jan. 19, Living Cities hosted its first Trends in Focus forum to better understand how technology can increase the capacity for civic engagement, collective problem-solving and improved service delivery in cities for the benefit of low-income people.

On Monday, just in time for the Florida primary, The Wesleyan Media project will release its first analysis of campaign ads in 2012 – shedding light on those attempting to influence the presidential election.

Knight Foundation is funding the project, the first in a series of grants to be announced this year to support new ways to deepen Americans’ engagement in elections and foster more informed communities.

The support for the projects is emerging from a meeting last fall, where Knight gathered a group of media thought leaders for a discussion about new ways for people to participate in elections through digital tools and content. 

We’ll be announcing more projects soon here on Knightblog.org and @knightfdn.