This morning, our Mozilla partners announced the “retooling” of the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership under a new name, OpenNews. We began talking with Mozilla in 2010 and launched the project a year ago to advance media innovation and the open web. As Project Lead Dan Sinker says in his post today, “two years is an eternity on the internet.”

Here at Knight Foundation, some of my colleagues have begun to make fun of me for my frequent use of the term “pivot.” I probably have been over-using the word – but I’ve been using it emphasize the need for us (the foundation, our partners – all of us working in the field, really) to adjust what we’re doing based on what we learn. At the orientation for the 2011 Knight News Challenge winners, I urged them not to hesitate to come to us with proposed re-directions of their projects. I’m less concerned by projects that come to us proposing tweaks and re-directions than I am by those that stay the course from proposal to completion.  And this need for flexibility and retooling applies to our own work: later this week, we’ll announce our own “pivot” of the Knight News Challenge. As for OpenNews, this year it will do more – and be faster and better than before. A series of hack days and fellowships will be the core of the project. If you’re a news organization, here is your chance to accelerate the use of code in your newsroom. If you’re a developer with an interest in helping to ensure people remain informed and engaged in the world around them, apply to be a Knight Mozilla Fellow. And keep an eye on OpenNews and @knightmozilla’s ongoing attempts to “help journalism thrive on the open web.”

By John Bracken, director/journalism and media innovation at Knight Foundation