• Article

    Taking the next steps for open government

    Published May 13, 2014 by

    Waldo Jaquith is director of the U.S. Open Data Insitute, which Knight Foundation supports. With the input of Jaquith and other thought leaders, Knight Foundation is launching OpenGov and You, a companion to the 2013 Aspen Institute Forum on Communication and Society (FOCAS) that explores how we might tackle the obstacles to government openness and transparency. Not long ago, the working definitions of “open government” and “open data” barely overlapped. Open government was all about holding up government to public scrutiny via Watergate-era methods—namely, making sure that meetings were held in public and that agencies responded to requests for information. Open data was about providing information in formats that computers can understand. Today, open government and open data overlap so substantially that it’s routinely necessary to explain that they’re different. RELATED LINK "Understanding the citizen" by Ellen Miller on KnightBlog Open government increasingly means “open government data,” reflecting changes in how people receive information today. Open government laws require that people receive government information upon request, but today people expect to find many types of government information on demand, via Google. Open government laws permit officials to provide a municipal budget as a scanned-in document, but today people expect a spreadsheet. Open government laws require that meetings be public, but today people expect them to be live-streamed and the video archived for later viewing. The Internet mediates our communications with friends, family and businesses. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t mediate our communications with government too. Is a state legislative meeting really open if it’s held before dawn, hundreds of miles from thousands of the state’s citizens? Are thousands of government e-mails really open if they’re provided as scanned-in PDFs? Is providing a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to just one person—the person who requested the information—really opening up government meaningfully? In the average citizen’s experience, does information really exist if you can’t Google it? Not long ago, the working definitions of “open government” and “open data” barely overlapped. Open government was all about holding up government to public scrutiny via Watergate-era methods—namely, making sure that meetings were held in public and that agencies responded to requests for information. Open data was about providing information in formats that computers can understand. Today, open government and open data overlap so substantially that it’s routinely necessary to explain that they’re different. RELATED LINK "Understanding the citizen", by Ellen Miller on KnightBlog Open government increasingly means “open government data,” reflecting changes in how people receive information today. Open government laws require that people receive government information upon request, but today people expect to find many types of government information on demand, via Google. Open government laws permit officials to provide a municipal budget as a scanned-in document, but today people expect a spreadsheet. Open government laws require that meetings be public, but today people expect them to be live-streamed and the video archived for later viewing. The Internet mediates our communications with friends, family and businesses. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t mediate our communications with government too. Is a state legislative meeting really open if it’s held before dawn, hundreds of miles from thousands of the state’s citizens? Are thousands of government e-mails really open if they’re provided as scanned-in PDFs? Is providing a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to just one person—the person who requested the information—really opening up government meaningfully? In the average citizen’s experience, does information really exist if you can’t Google it?
  • Article

    Celebrating growth and innovation in Philadelphia’s arts community

    Published May 12, 2014 by

    I’m in Philadelphia this week, and am excited to join Vice President for Arts Dennis Scholl and Philadelphia Program Director Donna Frisby-Greenwood in announcing $780,000 in support  to 19 individual artists and arts organizations. Over the past year, we’ve been building on the success of our three-year Knight Arts Challenge – providing new funding to challenge winners that were ready to scale up or try something new. Those past winners also connected us to a few organizations we hadn’t met yet, whose work is furthering our goal of advancing cultural growth and innovation while engaging the community through the arts. When I look at the list below, what excites me most is the spirit of collaboration that shines through. At the grassroots level, for example,  The Bearded Ladies Cabaret and Opera Philadelphia are collaborating on a "Popera" that examines the legacy of Andy Warhol,  bringing  an internationally renowned opera company and an emerging experimental cabaret group together to create some of the most innovative musical theatre I’ve ever seen. While many of the awards on the list are for the work of grassroots organizations or individual artists, some of Philadelphia’s anchor cultural institutions are getting in on the spirit of collaboration as well. A project at The African-American Museum in Philadelphia, “Beyond Sustenance,” will present community meals prepared by the Center for Culinary Enterprises alongside two art exhibits on African-American cultural and culinary traditions. The museum will also collaborate with the storytelling masters at First Person Arts, which will invite community members to share their personal experiences. At Knight, we believe that when these organic connections are made, it leads to experiences that not only push an artist or organizations practice, but also make for very memorable cultural experiences for communities. It makes sense that we would see so much of this collaboration in the ‘City of Brotherly Love,’ and we look forward to seeing the innovative work it is sure to produce. Find the full list of awards below, and be sure to check out these incredible projects for yourself! - Nicole Chipi, arts program associate, Knight Foundation
  • Article

    AIRIE Fellow: May 2014 update

    Published May 12, 2014 by

    By Elite Kedan, AIRIE Fellow First night. Bringing in the Sabbath. And the Spirits   Week 1 (Setting Up) The first couple of days in my ‘Mission ‘66’ cabin, (aka Basecamp, the Field Office, the Outpost, or HQ), include cleaning, mopping, re-arranging furniture, de-cluttering and general...
  • Article

    Studio explores ideas for successful cities

    Published May 12, 2014 by

    Photo credit: Flickr user Norio NAKAYAMAOne hundred civic innovators from across the country are gathering in Miami through Wednesday to tackle some of the thorniest questions on the future of cities.How might we advance opportunity by economically integrating neighborhoods in the next five years? How might we harness talent as the definition of work becomes increasingly fluid? How might we make robust acts of citizenship normal in our cities?RELATED LINKS"Putting ideas into action to build better cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog"Learning Lab gathers ideas on promoting community engagement" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog"Learning Lab gathers ideas on making the most of talent in our cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog"Boston adopts new tools to engage residents in civic life" by Nigel Jacobs on KnightBlog"Scaling an Etsy Economy for a changing workforce" by Dana Mauriello on KnightBlog"Harriet Tregoning, identifying ideas to expand opportunities in cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog"Encouraging more robuts acts of citizenship" by Adam Royalty and Scott Witthoft on KnightBlog"Studio explores ideas for successful cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlogThese are some of the questions the Civic Innovation in Action Studio will address. No one really has answers. That we know because we’ve talked to the best minds in the country. But there are plenty of clues on where we might start to experiment.  That’s the purpose of the studio — to consider the research, bring a lot of wisdom and practical experience into the room, suspend judgment about our limitations, and design new approaches to test in Knight communities.For many of us, the studio will be a reunion of sorts.  We follow each other on social media. Our paths have crossed over the years at multiple conferences. A few of us have even worked together on rare occasions. But a gathering of this particular mix of colleagues in this unusual setting with this daunting task, that’s a first for all of us.We have two days of hard work ahead. Guided by our facilitators from Stanford d.school and IA Collaborative, by Tuesday afternoon participants will have captured 75 new ideas and by midday Wednesday, we expect to have 15 of those built out and polished. In between, there will be a little fun, including drumming, hand massages, and a lot of conversation.We’ll be blogging here from the studio. And we’ll be tweeting the proceedings at #knightcities.
  • Article

    Encouraging more robust acts of citizenship

    Published May 12, 2014 by

    Adam Royalty and Scott Witthoft, facilitators from the d.school, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, will lead work sessions on robust engagement at the Knight Foundation Civic Innovation in Action Studio on May 12-14, a workshop where civic innovators from across the country will develop ideas to improve cities by harnessing talent, advancing opportunity and promoting civic engagement. Photo credit: Flickr user ion-bogdan dumitrescu. How might we encourage people to engage in more robust acts of citizenship? That is one of the questions that participants will explore during Knight Foundation’s Civic Innovation in Action Studio. This is an exciting, and somewhat overwhelming prospect. In order to scope this challenge for the time available, we are asking the participants’ to consider four things. RELATED LINKS "Putting ideas into action to build better cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog "Learning Lab gathers ideas on promoting community engagement" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog "Learning Lab gathers ideas on making the most of talent in our cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog "Boston adopts new tools to engage residents in civic life" by Nigel Jacobs on KnightBlog "Scaling an Etsy Economy for a changing workforce" by Dana Mauriello on KnightBlog "Harriet Tregoning, identifying ideas to expand opportunities in cities" by Carol Coletta KnightBlog "Studio explores ideas for successful cities" by Carol Coletta on KnightBlog The first is that designing for engagement is different than designing a solution. For example, if public transportation in a city is broken, brainstorming ways to improve the bus system might lead to some interesting concepts, but it does not address the issue of engaging people as citizens. Instead, it is important for this track of the studio to focus on helping people take responsibility for the common good. In the case of our example, this might lead to redesigning how community meetings around public transportation take shape. The second consideration is that when it comes to civic action, there is a difference between utilizing existing structures and inventing new ones. Engagement depends on the tools available for achieving a goal. When a person sees a potential solution, a subsequent step is asking, “How can I make it happen?” The difference between utilizing and inventing tools is a unique factor affecting the outcome of engagement. In fact, the real or perceived difficulty with inventing tools for change is critical to the outcome scenario where someone takes action or sits stagnant. Tools that already exist allow for participation based on utilization. Someone can dig in using systems that are within reach and can be activated immediately—”I can do this because I have the means.” Rather than dealing with the barriers, someone can take action.
  • Article

    The LAB Miami evolves as a platform for innovative ideas

    Published May 12, 2014 by

    Wifredo Fernández is co-founder of The LAB Miami, a co-working space in Wynwood, in which Knight Foundation invested to provide a place for South Florida’s entrepreneurs, makers and technologists to explore ideas and build connections.  Where do you go when you have an idea in Miami? How do you find talent, connect with like-minded people or investors, get advice from other entrepreneurs and learn new skills? Those questions motivated Danny Lafuente and me in the spring of 2011 when we created a space to experiment, a LAB if you will, for Miami. We’ve seen that grow into an incredible space for innovation. Now, we believe it’s time for someone else to bring a new perspective, and new ideas, to what has become an essential part of Miami’s startup community. Danny and I are stepping back, though we will remain involved in The LAB as ambassadors-in-residence, and I will join the board. Our fundamental vision, though, remains very much a part of The LAB’s future. Entrepreneurs set out to solve problems that they themselves experience. From the beginning, we wanted to provide a place that would help when they encounter those obstacles in Miami. In the summer of 2011 we brought on our third co-founder, Elisa Rodriguez-Vila, a brilliant creative mind who gave our concept a unique identity, developing a beautiful brand, to facilitate this. At the time there were many signals of a strong, budding community: RefreshMiami, Incubate Miami, the Launch Pad, the Americas Venture Capital Conference, and the perennial institution of transformational leadership, Knight Foundation. For the next year, we waded into the community to determine local needs, hear feedback and validate that people actually wanted such a space. After countless meetups, events, coffees, beers and mentorship sessions, we found a resounding yes.
  • Article

    Infatuated with Thaïs

    Published May 11, 2014 by

    By Sebastian Spreng, Visual Artist and Classical Music Writer The orchestral and melodic sumptuousness of Jules Massenet’s craft cannot disguise the fact that Thaïs is a derivative work by the composer of Manon and Werther; a typical product of an era when Orientalism invaded Paris and left its mark on...