"Chancellor Kirwan brings a collaborative and cooperative leadership style to higher education welcoming all viewpoints," said Stephanie Bell-Rose, Managing Director and Head of the TIAA-CREF Institute. "This coupled with his forward thinking makes him one of the nation's most dynamic and effective higher education leaders and we are so pleased to honor him today."

Knight Foundation would like to congratulate Kirwan on this very prestigious honor. You can read more about Kirwan on the Knight Commission website. More information about the award is available here.

This is the first time the city of Miami takes part in the International Cities of Refuge Network—an organization that provides a safe haven to writers who are persecuted in their home countries.

In Zimbabwe, Hove is ranked No. 17 on the government’s Enemies of the State list and his life has also been threatened several times.

Hove is working on a memoir examining how violence came to be such a regular part of Zimbabwe’s political system.

He is best known for his 1989 novel, Bones, which tells the story of a poor farm mother who loses her son in the Zimbabwean war of liberation.

--Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

FCC/Knight America's Digital Inclusion-Mignon Clyburn from The Newseum on Vimeo.

The FCC recommends the creation of a three-part National Digital Literacy Program. During the America's Digital Inclusion Summit, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, at right, emphatically lauded the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps, to help tackle the digital divide locally. Face-to-face training will help ensure that Americans who do not regularly use computers or the Internet are no longer handicapped.

When asked by her daughter to enroll in computer training, Florence Pearson admits to having backed out initially. But after finally attending a class, with her daughter in tow, Pearson's fears vanished:

"I was handicapped. I had to have someone else type my work for me. [After training,] all I can see are possibilities for myself and my family. I went in with fear and came out with the motivation to tackle the computer and make my children proud," says Pearson, Education Director of Head Start in New York, NY.

Pearson, pictured above with her daughter, was one of five speakers from the Voices of Inclusion series that shed light on how broadband access and digital literacy have personally improved the lives of Americans.

The National Broadband Plan is scheduled to be presented to Congress by the FCC on Wednesday, March 17. You can read more about the plan at http://broadband.gov/.

During the opening remarks of America's Digital Inclusion Summit, Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen announced a new contest to develop web apps that would access government and community data and services. The Apps for Inclusion Challenge is a joint-effort by the FCC and Knight Foundation to tap the power of broadband and increase transparency in American government.

"Knight is teaming up with the FCC to create the Knight/FCC Apps for Inclusion Challenge. The concept is straightforward: Both Knight and FCC believe in transparent government and universal digital access as democrative ideals. To prove it, we'll be offering cash prizes to the software developers who can invent the best technological solutions to create easier online access to government services and information," said Ibargüen.

Details of the contest will be announced soon. Read the official press release here.

In opening remarks at today's America's Digital Inclusion Summit, Knight Foundation's President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen said:

"The FCC believes, as we at Knight Foundation do, that you cannot have a healthy American democracy with only 60% of Americans having access to modern means of commercial, civil and social communication. And that's the actual figure we live with today. That means that almost 40% of Americans are on the other side of the digital divide."

There is an increasing need for access to information via broadband. According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Internet has now surpassed newspapers as a primary way that American get news making it the third most popular news platform. Something must be done to narrow the digital divide.

To that end, the FCC is previewing it's recommendations for the National Broadband Plan today at the Newseum, in Washington, D.C., in preparation for delivery of the plan to Congress on March 17. The plan aims to have broadband in the homes of 90% of Americans by 2020.

Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman, said:

"In order to ensure long term American competitiveness and prosperity, we must not leave one-third of the nation behind. The National Broadband Plan provides a vision for federal, state, and local leadership and partnerships with private and non-profit communities that will bridge the digital divide and transform America into a nation where broadband expands opportunities for all."

We'll post more about America's Digital Inclusion Summit as it happens.

Knight Foundation realizes that the community information ecosystem is not limited to news and information itself, but also access to news and information and the ability to engage with it. Community foundations have the opportunity to play an important role in this evolving landscape.

As the application period for the third Community Information Challenge is closing (the deadline to apply is March 8), Knight Foundation has released a study, Reports From the Field: Place-Based Foundations and the Knight Community Information Challenge, about how place-based foundations are incorporating community information needs into their work.

Michael Marsicano, CEO of the Foundation for the Carolinas, says:

"You cannot conduct meaningful civic work without good information. Engaging citizens without data bears little fruit. Engaging citizens with poor data compromises all future community leadership activities."

What have we learned in the first two years of the Knight Community Information Challenge?

• Foundations are committing significant financial resources to address information needs through and beyond KCIC.
• To be effective, place-based foundations are building capacity to  manage their projects.
• Foundations are increasingly engaging in multiple community leadership activities to increase the impact of their KCIC projects.
• Foundations are engaging in informations initiatives in addition to their KCIC projects.
• Foundations are attracting considerable outside support from funders and sponsors.
• Foundations are also aligning the necessary partnerships and expertise to address their own capacity gaps.
• Through their project experience, foundations are learning more about other projects in their communities and the overall information ecosystem.
• Although for more grantees it is still too early to see evidence that residents are changing their attitudes and behaviors, foundations are putting in place evaluation activities to collect data.

Reports from the field: Place-Based Foundations and the Knight Community Information Challenge provides further insight into these findings, as well as presenting challenges that grantees are facing, what Knight Foundation is learning from the challenge, and a guide on how to address information needs in your community.

Click here to download the PDF of the study.

Many of journalism's innovators and big-thinkers will be speaking at the conference this year, including Jeff Jarvis, Ana Marie Cox, Adrian Holovaty, David Cohn, and Jay Rosen. We scoured the schedule and compiled a list of journalism-related presentations, to help those of you who may be attending:

Saturday, Mar. 13

9:30 a.m. Community Funded Reporting

The news industry is dying but in its wake are new business models to support investigative journalism. One of these is "community funded reporting" which is being pioneered by Spot.us but is happening around the country by various individuals. What is it? How does it work? What are its pitfalls? Where does it surpass the traditional advertising model? This will be a conversation that explores the changing media landscape and how the web can rise to the challenge of supporting our communities and their information needs.

Presenters: David Cohn, Spot.Us. Lyn Headly, Rapid News Awards.

11 a.m. Citizen Journalism Brigade - Making Your Voice Matter

The future of Journalism lies in your hands. Citizen journalists from coast to coast are launching websites so THEY can write about their interests. But does it work? Can you make money? Where is it going and will it be around in a few years?

Presenters: Colin Alsheimer, LevelTen Interactive. Rondo Estrello, In-This-Economy.com.

11 a.m. Are Content Farms Good or Evil? Yes.

Our multiple choice quiz for today: Demand Media, AOL's Seed.com and other "content farms" are: (a) a natural and essential outgrowth of our new media ecosystem. (b) a fine way for new writers to actually get paid (if not very well) for their work instead of providing for free to others who make all the money. (c) worrisome given that the content the create is often mediocre, and therefore can semi-pollute search results. (d) cynical verging on evil. The answer is all of the above, in varying degrees.

Presenter: Dan Gillmor, Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University

11 a.m. iPad: New Opportunities for Content Creators

With the launch of the iPad, Apple is creating a third category of mobile devices positioned between smartphones and laptop computers. Utilizing the successful iPhone operating system coupled with a tablet form factor, the iPad has the ability to deliver content in a variety of formats - from native apps to web sites to eBooks and more. Hear from experts in the interactive, book publishing, periodicals, and video gaming industries about the impact of the iPad in regards to content packaging and distribution.

Presenters: Raven Zachary, small society. Bill Jensen, Village Voice Media. Shervin Pishevar, SGN. Jason Grigsby, Cloud Four.

3:30 p.m. Media Armageddon: What Happens When the New York Times Dies

We've entered The Last Days of Media. Traditional publishers' economics can't stand up against the overwhelming volume of new content and ad inventory being manufactured by the likes of blogs, Facebook, Myspace, Craigslist et al. What will New York City and the nation look like without the New York Times?

Presenters: Greg Beato, Reason Magazine. Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos. Amy Langfield, NewYorkology LLC. David Carr, New York Times. Henry Copeland, Blogads.com.

Sunday, Mar. 14

9:30 a.m. Process Journalism: Getting it First, While Getting it Right

Iterative journalism, process journalism, wiki journalism -- call it what you want -- the 'first draft' of history is rapidly changing with digital reporting and immediate delivery. In this panel, we'll investigate technological tools, best practices from bloggers to NYTimes.com, transparency and ethical challenges faced report accurate news in the social media age.

Presenters: Moka Pantages, Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Monica Guzman, Seattlepi.com. Robert Mackey, The New York Times. Will Sullivan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Charles Latibeaudiere, TMZ. Jesus Diaz, Gizmodo.

11 a.m. Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data

Presenter: Clay Shirky, ITP/NYU.

11 a.m. Influence and Innovate: Transforming Media Education

The future of media relies heavily on the mindset of those willing to study and enter the field. Professionals, professors and students will discuss transforming the goals of communication education to develop graduates, not only comfortable and fluent with online media, but who can also innovate and influence the profession.

Presenters: Cindy Royal, Texas State University. Tyson Evans, New York Times.

11 a.m. Online News of Tomorrow

Whether newspapers are dead or not, the media is innovating online. Rather than debate journalism's future, let's look at where we're headed, and what the online news sources of tomorrow might look like. This panel will survey some of the most exciting experiments and propose some interesting new directions.

Presenters: Adrian Holovaty, EveryBlock. Andrew Huff, Gapers Block. Brad Flora, Windy Citizen. Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine/CUNY. Jeremy Zilar, New York Times

Monday, Mar. 15

9:30 a.m. Future of Context: Getting the Bigger Picture Online

Conventional wisdom calls us attention-deprived, constantly seeking the next scrap of info. But Google reveals our true desire: Context. (Wikipedia entries, This American Life's financial crisis explainer, Gizmodo's definitive guide to smartphones, etc.) We'll explore how journalism and media must adapt to meet our insatiable hunger for the bigger picture.

Presenters: Jay Rosen, New York University. Matt Thompson, NPR. Staci D Kramer, ContentNext Media /paidContent. Tristan Harris, Apture.

1:10 p.m. Hyperlocal Focus: Growing A Vibrant Community Media Ecosystem

Filmmakers, videobloggers, podcasters, pirate & low-power radio jocks and public access TV producers are all creating content in your local community, but they often don't collaborate or even talk to each other, despite using the same tools and sometimes even seeking the same audiences. A 15 year-old videoblogger and a 50 year-old technical director at a local network TV affiliate may have a lot to learn from each other, but in what context would they ever meet? How can you engage local content creators and build a vibrant media community? This session is about how to create (and utilize) healthy, sustainable user-generated media scenes in local communities, using community media centers, creative salons, non-profit media arts foundations, citizen journalism organizations and grass roots organizing principals.

Presenter: Bill Simmon, VCAM.

Tuesday, Mar. 16

3:30 p.m. How to Save Journalism

Much has been said about the death of journalism, but little has been offered in way of solutions. This panel will focus on solutions instead of problems, consensus viewpoints from both old and new media, and offer new insights into the operational structure of journalism and media for the 21st century.

Presenters: Drew Curtis, Fark.com. Jeff Webber, USAToday.com. Kelly McBride, The Poynter Institute. Matthew Palevsky, The Huffington Post.

5:40 p.m. The Effects of Twitter on News

Presenters: James Cox, Smokeclouds. Brian Stelter, New York Times. Ana Marie Cox, GQ Magazine.

In an article in the Miami Herald, Ilan Ziv, executive producer of the project, says:

The idea behind Havana-Miami is to use human experiences that are very similar to help connect audiences and overcome their political alienation ... The stories from Havana are very similar to the Miami stories: People trying to survive and dreaming about their future. When you explore the huge cultural and human connection that exists between Miami and Havana, the commonality of people's experiences outweighs their political differences.

The project is being produced by University of Miami School of Communication graduate students Mark Shumow and Mark Mocahbee, with the help of undergraduate students who are filming the Miami participants and a Cuban film making team in Havana. The project is funded by Arte, a French-German TV network, and in association with the Knight Center for International Media at the University of Miami.

This three-month web series is comprised of six short (2-minute long) video updates each week and will be completed in May. Viewers can watch the web series as it unfolds  at http://www.havana-miami.tv. A stand-alone documentary will be produced upon completion of the series.