UNC journalism school's Knight News Challenge project to help rural newspapers

The UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication will help rural newspapers develop sustainable business models around hyper-local news that can be produced using public information and open source software, with a $275,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Assistant professor Ryan Thornburg is leading the project that was one 16 winners of the 2011 Knight News Challenge.

Thornburg is aggregating data from state, county and municipal governments in North Carolina -- making it useful to rural newspapers and their readers -- through customization of the OpenBlock Web application that can display news and data onto local maps. Popular applications of the technology include crime maps, real estate transactions, birth and death notices, and restaurant inspection scores.

The project will help local newspapers to develop a significant source of new online revenue that can help sustain and enhance their news and information gathering.

The Knight News Challenge is an international contest to fund innovative ideas that develop platforms, tools and services to inform and transform community news, conversations and information distribution and visualization.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• UNC
• journalism
• mass communication
• Knight Foundation
• Knight News Challenge
• Ryan Thornburg
• newspaper