From the press release:

J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism has moved to American University’s School of Communication, where it will expand its operations with the help of a $2.4 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to American University.

J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways of participating in public life. J-Lab provides award and seed money to professional journalists, citizens, and new media entrepreneurs for innovations in journalism and community news startups; builds e-learning Web sites for interactive and citizen journalism; and engages in training and research.

‘I am excited that we have the opportunity to expand our programs in a place as full of energy and focus on innovation as AU’s School of Communication,’ said Jan Schaffer, J-Lab’s executive director and one of the nation’s leading journalism reform thinkers. ‘Our new affiliation is a good fit for J-Lab’s mission, which is to help transform journalism for today and reinvent it for tomorrow.’

At its new home, J-Lab will use the Knight grant to:

* Renew the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism. * Fund 16 additional New Voices citizen-media projects. * Create eight to 10 Knight Citizen News Network learning modules and update J-Learning, J-Lab, and J-New Voices Web sites. * Launch five Networked Community News pilot projects, teaming five newspapers with citizen media outlets in each of their communities. * Build a Community Media Toolkit to help foundations fund, vet, support, and measure local media projects. * Ramp up knowledge sharing with a Re-imagining Journalism project.

J-Lab’s J-Learning and the Knight Citizen News Network are Web-based, comprehensive community journalism instruction programs; its McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs project provides seed funding and support for original news ideas proposed by women; and the New Voices project provides start-up funding and instruction for pioneering community news ventures in the United States. The Knight-Batten Awards recognize innovations in journalism and are one of the profession’s most prestigious honors.

What do you think J-Lab should prioritize?