In a recent speech, Knight CEO and president Alberto Ibargüen announced a new media innovation strategy and four projects that are part of this strategy.

You can read the entire speech here; abbreviated descriptions of the four projects (they share similar names) are below.

Knight News Challenge (newschallenge.org)

The Knight News Challenge funds ideas that use digital media to deliver news and information to geographically defined communities.

This is a yearly contest about the future of local news delivery (and includes projects in a range of media areas such as mobile, video, and microfunding).

Knight Commission on Information Needs (knightcomm.org)

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, in partnership with the Aspen Institute, will propose public policy that will facilitate meeting those needs.

This is a new group with fifteen members that will make recommendations in 2009 about core community information needs.

Knight Center of Digital Excellence (knightcenter.info)

The Knight Center of Digital Excellence is a not-for-profit consultancy to help communities across the United States ensure digital access to every citizen.

This is sometimes called “universal access,” and the goal is to accelerate digital access projects across the U.S.

Knight Community Information Challenge (informationneeds.org)

Community Foundation initiatives to meet the information needs of their communities are matched by funds from Knight Foundation.

This is to help community foundations use media and technology to deliver information to their communities.

Questions? Leave a comment below.

Youth digital culture scholar danah boyd is one of the fifteen members of the new Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.

Today, she is at the Newseum for the Commission’s first meeting; below, she talks about her work and the information lifestyle she hopes to voice for the group:

Video by V.P. of Communications Marc Fest

You can watch the Commission’s live webcast until 5 pm ET today here.

What questions do you have for danah and the other members of the Commission?

Today, the fifteen members of the Knight Commission on Information Needs of a Community in a Democracy meet for the first time at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. to discuss democracy, economics, human behavior, and technology.

A joint project of Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program, the meeting will be webcast live from 10 am to 5 pm ET from the Commission Web site. Go to the webcast >

Yesterday, Michelle P B Ferrier of MyTopiaCafe wrote a post for Poynter Online’s E-Media Tidbits about social capital and research she hopes the Commission will build on:

I hope that this commission examines the groundwork already done by the Saguaro Seminar folks, as well as research by the Saguaro short-form survey instruments could be adapted to be deployed on hyperlocal online communities and blogs to test whether the content, functions, design, architecture and personalities create a rich exchange — and growth — of social capital.

What do you think the Commission should discuss today on the topics of democracy, economics, human behavior, and technology?

(The next meeting, August 9th, will focus on journalism.)

Yesterday, fifteen members of the new Knight Commission on Information Needs of Community in Democracy were announced.

Focused on information flows, the Commission is a joint project of Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program, led by co-chairs Ted Olson, former Solicitor General of the United States, and Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google. Peter Shane, a distinguished law professor at Ohio State University Law School, is the executive director. The other Commission members are listed here.

From the press release:

“Information is a core community need,” said Walter Isaacson, president and CEO, The Aspen Institute. “We are fortunate to have such a diverse, open-minded and innovative group of individuals assembled to address this topic which is so important to our democracy going forward. We believe we can put the power of technology to use in strengthening community information, and through that information, communities themselves.”

“The charge of the Commission is straightforward,” says Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation. “Articulate the information needs of communities in this democracy; determine where we are today; and propose public policy that will encourage market solutions.”

On June 24th, the Commission will meet in the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. to discuss “the integration of technology and the future of community information, economic sustainability, and the changing media landscape.”

The meeting will be web cast live on the Commission’s Web site: www.knightcomm.org

What questions do you have for the Commission?