Upcoming Knight Foundation News Challenge to Focus on Libraries in the Digital Age

UPDATE: September 2, 2014 Knight Foundation has shared a few more details about next News Challenge in this new blog post. The challenge formally launches next Wednesday (September 10, 2014).  For the next week, you can continue to share your “inspiration” on the Knight Challenge web site by answering the question: “How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities?”
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Original Post (August 25, 2014)
Some very exciting news from the KF. Spread the word!!! More soon.
From a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Blog Post by John Bracken:

On Sept. 10, we’re opening the next News Challenge, on libraries. Our 12th News Challenge, it will build upon the 19 projects we funded with $3.47 million in June through the News Challenge that sought ideas to strengthen the Internet.
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We’re hoping to hear ideas for leveraging the assets that libraries have built: physical spaces open to anyone; professional staff trained in how to seek, retrieve and share information; and a legacy of aiding new readers, new entrepreneurs and new Americans. In recent years we’ve seen libraries leverage the Internet and digital approaches for education, entrepreneurship, the arts and “making.” In a digital age we see libraries–public, university, archival, virtual–as key for improving Americans’ ability to know about and to be involved with what takes place around them.
We’re finalizing details of the challenge over the next two weeks. For now, a couple of points to highlight:

• The News Challenge is about libraries, but you don’t have to be one to apply or to receive funding. Do you have an idea for making libraries better at informing and engaging Americans? Are you a school, business, journalist, designer, parent or artist who wants to work with a library to improve their ability to leverage its assets for your neighbors? If so, we want you to apply.

• Our emphasis in on libraries in the U.S. While this challenge, as with previous ones, will be open to ideas from anyone anywhere, the goal is accelerating U.S. libraries. We’ve determined this focus because, as a U.S.-based organization, that’s what we know.

• We’ll start the challenge on Sept. 2 with an inspiration phase. That will be an opportunity for you to share what excites you–or bothers you–about libraries, and to inspire us to come up with tools or approaches to advance that excitement or solve those problems.

• We’ll open the challenge for entries on Sept. 10 and close it at 5 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 30

• In between, we’re planning to hit the road to talk about the challenge and ideas for libraries. Stay tuned here and @knightfdn for details on those events.

See Also: Projects from New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and DPLA Awarded Knight Foundation “News Challenge” Grants
See Also:  Jason Griffey’s LibraryBox Project Awarded Knight Foundation Prototype Grant

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News, Public Libraries, School Libraries