Knight Foundation Expands Neighborhood News Project - Knight Foundation

The major goal of the projects is to simplify and accelerate adoption of the open source code from a previous Knight-funded project, EveryBlock.com, a $1 million experiment in online journalism that offers geographically relevant news feeds on public records, news articles and other web content for every block in 16 cities. These field tests proved that "hyper-local" civic data can be successfully aggregated by attracting hundreds of thousands of citizens wanting to better understand their neighborhoods by seeing everything from crime reports to restaurant inspections on easy to read maps.

The new open source software, called OpenBlock, will be developed by the non-profit OpenPlans and installed at different-sized newspapers, The Columbia Daily Tribune and the Boston Globe.  The Tribune, in Missouri, will use OpenBlock as a stand-alone website.  The Boston Globe will test widget integration with their broader digital product suite. OpenPlans is a New York-based non-profit which helps build civic infrastructure through open source software. Founded in 1999, OpenPlans partners with forward-thinking organizations and public agencies to develop software initiatives and technology strategies that make cities work better.

via www.knightfoundation.org