Knight Foundation

Scribe Marika Lynch, consultant to Knight Foundation, recorded the proceedings of a breakout session led by President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami. During the session, community foundation board members identified common challenges to addressing information needs on several fronts. 

Scribe Beth Probst, Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, recorded the proceedings of a breakout session at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami facilitated by Jeff Reifman, Founder, NewsCloud.  NewsCloud, founded by session facilitator Jeff Reifman, is a Knight-funded Facebook application that helps engage readers in the news. On NewCloud, the comments tend to be very civil because people are using their real identities to post comments. One can see who is making the comments. All in all, it is a virtual community but it connects real people and real communities.

Scribe Roberta King, Grand Rapids Community Foundation, recorded the proceedings of a breakout session at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami facilitated by Kinsey Wilson, NPR Digital.    Our relationship with media is changing; there are many more competing entities. What do we pay attention to, what do we ignore or give something to or become involved with? People have to distinguish between types of media in different marketplaces. Two groups might be broadly described as: commercial business models like Yahoo and Google with reviews and aggregation reviews and the other side is news. At this point there is money on one side. Sides used to be bundled, in the newspaper model. When classifieds dropped out of newspapers it was the beginning of the end. The portals sites are are trying to put the bundle back together.  

Scribe Susan Knudten, Rose Community Foundation, recorded the proceedings of a breakout session at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami facilitated by Charles Firestone, Aspen Institute.  Information is as important to a community’s health as safe streets, clean air, etc. How do you evaluate it? How do you improve it? Information serves many purposes:  

Scribe Nancy Jones, of The Miami Foundation, recorded the proceedings of a breakout session at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami facilitated by Dirk Beveridge, 4th Generation Systems.  Knight President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen asked at this morning’s plenary: “What can we do to get donor advised funds focused on community engagement?” The group agreed that this is why we gathered for this session. What can we do tomorrow when we leave Miami to make a difference in our projects and in our community?

Scribe Christine Beddia, Coastal Community Foundation of S.C., recorded the proceedings of a breakout session at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami facilitated by Heidi Williamson, of Berks County Community Foundation.    Are community foundations (CF) responsible because they are unbiased brokers of local information or should CFs just serve as silent supporters?  If the for-profit business model was broken, why would the nonprofit sector have a better model?  Should CFs fund third-party entities or try to offer journalistic guidance?  One answer: CFs can help with the business model because civic engagement is a priority in CF agendas.  Also, there are some obvious local community partners that can create opportunities including local universities, county governments and place-based foundations.  There is also a layer of local sites ready to do more work to build revenue.  They are ready to dive in deeper.  Voice of San Diego is doing good work. 

Scribe Carolyn Torgersen, VP Marketing and Communications, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, recorded the proceedings of a breakout session at the 2011 Media Learning Seminar in Miami facilitated by Joaquin Alvarado, Sr. Vice President, Digital Innovation, American Public Media Scribe: Founded in 2003, American Public Media's Public Insight Network expands community input in local journalism, and reporters’ source bases. How it works: People sign up for the network and identify their areas of knowledge and expertise. Participating journalists then search the database for knowledgeable sources, query them to test hunches, identify trends and support production of major projects.  The network has nearly 100,000 sources around the country engaged with more than two dozen media partners, including ProPublica, The Miami Herald, WNYC public radio in New York, and KQED public radio in San Francisco, among others.