OpenNews/FAQ

What is OpenNews?

Knight-Mozilla OpenNews (previously known as MoJo for "Mozilla + Journalism") is a 3 year project that will place creative thinkers with open web skillsets within news organizations for ten-month, paid fellowships. Knight-Mozilla Fellows will be tasked with developing new journalism tools built on open technologies.

In addition, OpenNews is dedicated to strengthening and growing the community around journalism code through the sponsorship of hack days, organizing learning labs, our community calls, and the soon-to-be launched website Source.

Who's involved?



Currently, the Knight Foundation and Mozilla are the primary partners. In 2012, we have Fellows at five host news organizations: BBC, Boston.com, the Guardian, Al Jazeera English, and Zeit Online. In 2013 we will expand to include the New York Times, ProPublica, Spiegel Online, and La Nacion. In addition to those partners, we are working closely with the Hacks/Hackers network, with many universities, and with numerous other news organizations. We welcome any individual or organization interested in solving journalism's technology challenges to get involved in the growing community that is supporting the project.


Who is the Knight Foundation?


The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.

Why is Mozilla interested in media and journalism?


The news industry is a major player in the web space, and it is at a crossroads. Many players are making important web technology decisions and investments that will shape how we experience the web for years to come. We want to provide news organizations with open technology options as they make those decisions.
Because news it as the center of many people's web use, this is an opportunity to reach a huge population with Mozilla's open web values and working open technology.

Is this initiative intended primarily for journalists, developers, or both?



To be successful, we'll need a diverse set of minds coming to the table and offering ideas. While our cohort of fellows comes from tech backgrounds, this program is not successful it it doesn't engage everyone from developers to journalists and all points in between.

Who is eligible for a Knight-Mozilla fellowship? How do I apply for a Knight-Mozilla fellowship?



The first step in the process to become a fellow for the 2012-13 term involves filling out an application. The deadline is August 11. The fellowship page on MozillaOpenNews.org includes additional details about the fellowship, benefits, and information about the first cohort of fellows.

What kinds of organizations are eligible to host Knight-Mozilla fellows?



We want to place our fellows at host organizations where they will experience day-to-day production of original news content. The first criterion for organizations that will host fellows is that they are news-producing. In today's world, that could include a lot of organizations. People who complete the fellowship will not only demonstrate their technical chops, but they will also become experts in implementing innovations within the news-production context.

How can I get involved?



The first step is to visit the Get Involved page at mozillaopennews.org.

Are you concentrating on large news organizations or small ones?


Our fellowships are generally (though not exclusively) with larger news organizations. This is because we want our fellows' year to be spent innovating and experimenting and that means that they need to be placed at organizations that have the capacity for and investment in innovation to set them up for success. That said, we are also working with many different sized news organizations on our Hack Day initiatives, feature the work of smaller news organizations in our forthcoming Source project, and have many other ways that smaller news orgs can get involved in OpenNews--drop us a line.


I don't speak English very well or live in the U.S. Can I still participate?


While there are aspects of our program that may be challenging to participate in without a working knowledge of English, we are an inclusive community and welcome participants from around the world.
 We strive for OpenNews to be an international program. In fact, four of our five partners in 2012 are hosting fellows outside of the US and we have helped with hack days on four continents.

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