To quickly respond to the growing concern over so-called fake news, Knight Foundation is launching an open call for ideas to counter misinformation and help quality journalism become a more trusted and visible resource at a time when trust in the news media has hit a low.

At the heart of our work is the belief that informed and engaged communities are essential to a healthy democracy, so in mid-March, we will begin accepting applications for early-stage experiments that tackle concerns about trust and misinformation.

We have heard from many technologists, journalists, designers and others who are eager to develop technological solutions that would correct false or inaccurate claims appearing as news and now widely shared on social platforms.

The open call will be designed to test ideas and assumptions, and to attract a range of projects from inside and outside of our network. Through prototyping, we hope to quickly learn what approaches have the potential to be most successful for improving our news and media information ecosystem.

The details of this open call for ideas are still taking shape. We’re speaking with potential partners and listening to people across the country about how best to define the problem. 

In the coming weeks, we will be scheduling webinars and Twitter chats to answer your questions. You will also find us at MisinfoCon, the Hacks and Hackers Summit on Misinformation at the MIT Media Lab; the Investigative Reporters and Editors | NICAR 2017 conference; SXSW Interactive in Austin; and the Tech and Check conference at Duke University.

We look forward to hearing about many experiences from many perspectives. In the meantime, sign up here to be alerted when the call for ideas opens, and to get other updates.

John Bracken is vice president for technology innovation and Jennifer Preston is vice president for journalism at Knight Foundation.To get updates on the open call, please subscribe to Knight Foundation’s email list, and follow us on Twitter: @knightfdn, @jenniferpreston and @jsb.