Stepping Boldly Into the Big, Bright Digital Age

The Knight Digital Media Center is expanding its reach to help community foundations shape their strategies to inform and engage communities in the digital age.

To reflect this new emphasis, we have redesigned and refocused the KDMC website as a learning resource for community foundations and others seeking to develop and sustain local news and information.

On November 14, KDMC will present “Three Digital Revolutions,” a webinar about the dramatic change in the way information is woven into our lives. Sara Goo, senior digital editor at the Pew Research Center, will discuss the trends—how we’re more connected, more mobile, and more social than ever—based on data gathered since 2000 by Pew’s Internet & American Life Project. The webinar is free and begins at 2 p.m. ET. All you have to do is register to participate.

On the KDMC website, you will also find other self-directed learning modules on topics such as partnerships, metrics, and developing a technical strategy. In addition, the website provides examples of successful news and information projects, news on innovation strategies and technology, event calendars, and other features of interest to news entrepreneurs and community foundations.

The new website is a natural expansion of KDMC’s expertise in guiding news entrepreneurs as well as helping news organizations transform in the digital landscape. For more information on upcoming KDMC learning opportunities and events, sign up on our homepage for the center’s weekly newsletter. It provides updates on new KDMC articles as well as training opportunities for community foundation leaders and program officers.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is supporting this mission with $1.66 million through the Knight Community Information Challenge, which engages community and place-based foundations in supporting news and information projects. KDMC at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the Knight Foundation announced the effort in September at the Council on Foundations Fall Conference, where the center hosted a digital strategies workshop for foundation leaders.

We hope you will join our growing KDMC community and give us your ideas and feedback for future webinars and topics you would like to learn more about.

Vikki Porter is director of Knight Digital Media Center at USC Annenberg.