The Knight News Challenge accelerates media innovation by funding breakthrough ideas in news and information. Winners receive a share of $5 million in funding and support from Knight’s network of influential peers and advisors to help advance their ideas. The first round of 2013, which opens in February, will invite innovators from all disciplines to focus on tools for open government. In 2012, three challenge rounds, each focused on an emerging trend, drew more than 2,500 entries.
Challenge 1 - on NETWORKS: Winners were announced June 18.
Challenge 2 - on DATA: Winners were announced Sept. 20.
Challenge 3 – on MOBILE: Winners were announced Jan. 17.
Anyone, anywhere can apply for the challenge - whether for-profit start-ups or non-profit ventures. For more information on a variety of topics - from guidelines for for-profits, on intellectual property licensing, open source software and more - visit our FAQ.
We put players into roles of authority, and they must make the same decisions as those closest to the news as it unfolds.
Like news, decisions are not scheduled. The phone is the primary means of reaching the “decision-makers” through SMS, push notifications and phone calls as news happens and a decision is needed.
We are targeting reluctant news consumers who want to be informed and will play because they can prove (or seek to prove) their expertise of current events through games.
The first connection we need is to a partner in the gaming industry – located nearby in the RTP area - because this concept is a cross between news and role-playing games. Then, we’d need to find a local media company interested in piloting the program to its users.
Currently, the project has only been scoped out and tested internally to prove the theory with several examples of how users would go through an event. During these tests, we walked through the scenarios like the Aurora shootings, Hurricane Isaac and a basketball game.
People will understand the importance of information and the difficulty of decision-making because they will be participants and not merely bystanders.
Success is measured by the number of users who play the game during multiple events and by the time spent by those people consuming news.
We need at least one partner in the gaming industry and one partner in the local news industry. Beyond that, we’re looking for the resources to help build the role-playing system.
Additional details:
Please list who is on your team:
Expected number of months to complete project:
Estimated Project Cost: $250,000
Name: John Clark
Twitter: @johnclark
Email address: johnclark@unc.edu
Organization [if applicable]: Reese News Lab at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication
City: Chapel Hill, NC
Country: USA
How did you learn about the contest? Social media, email and colleagues.
