Drumbeat/MoJo

What is this? A three-year partnership between Knight and Mozilla to harness open web innovation for journalism. Through innovation challenges and 15 embedded fellows, we will yield new tools, ideas, and news experiences that benefit both readers and newsmakers—all using open technologies.

Why?

<video width="320" height="240" poster="" controls preload> <source src="http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/webmademovies/mojo_intro.mp4" type="video/mp4"> <source src="http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/webmademovies/mojo_intro.webm" type="video/webm"> <source src="http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/webmademovies/mojo_intro.ogv" type="video/ogg"> [There's an HTML video here—load this post with your open-video enabled browser.] </video>

• The news industry is at a crossroads. Big technology decisions, large budgets for implementation, massive user reach means the choices they make will impact the web's future as a whole. News is at the center of many people’s experience of the web.

• We will introduce attractive open alternatives into this space. Demonstrate that the open web is better, faster, and cheaper than the alternatives. Surface clear direction on standards, then help drive adoption that results in real innovations. Present viable alternatives to monocultures & toll booths on the open web.

• Generating great ideas through design challenges & open conversations.

• Supporting people who will take ideas from concept to code, through in-person workshops and 15 fellowships that will embed great news innovators within news organizations for a year.

Project tools

• Mailing list: sign up for the mailing list here
• Twitter hash tag: #Drumbeat#MoJo
• Chat room: #mojo on irc.mozilla.org
• Social media tracking: http://www.netvibes.com/drumbeatmojo

MoJo Volunteer Mission Bank

We're looking for a few enthusiastic MoJo Fans to roll up their sleeves and pitch in.

• Wiki gardener.

The vision

The next time there's a major story—like the recent events in Tunisia or Egypt—news organizations around the world will be using people, software, and ideas that came out of Knight and Mozilla's collaboration with news organizations. Stories and maps will be rich with semantic data and location aware. News will adapt to different devices and screen sizes instantly. And video will be interactive, searchable, and multilingual -- all thanks to open web technologies.

To make the partnership work, we need a thriving community involved at every step. We want to involve:

• Creative thinkers who care about journalism and journalists who are using technology to learn, network and build a community around their interests, develop their careers, and take leadership at the intersection of news and technology.

• News organizations to explore the fullest possible range of open solutions to their technology challenges, at a key moment in the history of journalism.

• The Mozilla community, to share our open web technology, practices and values with an important population: newsmakers, news users, and those making valuable contributions to journalism.

The Team

Mozilla

	Nathaniel James	News Technology Program Manager	@james_nathaniel

	Phillip Smith	News Technology Innovation Consultant	@phillipadsmith

	Desigan "Dees" Chinniah	Mozilla Labs guru	@cyberdees

	Ben Moskowitz	Media Team Lead	@benrito

	Mark Surman	Executive Director	@msurman

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Learn more about this project and the journalism program here. 

Our news partners

We are joined at this early stage by the following news organizations, who will help shape our innovation challenge and ultimately host 4 of our 15 fellows:

	BBC
	The BBC is the largest broadcasting organization in the world. Its mission is to enrich people's lives with programs that inform, educate and entertain.

	Boston.com
	One of the top online newspapers in America, the Boston Globe's online edition has won numerous awards, particularly for its video work.

	The Guardian
	One of the world's leading online newspapers, guardian.co.uk contains content from The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work.

	Zeit Online
	The most widely-read German nationwide weekly newspaper, and a leader in data journalism.

If your news organizations would like to consider joining the initaitive as a news partner, please get in touch!

Supporting orgnizations and advisors

• Medill School at Northwestern University
• The Media Consortium
• American Public Media
• Hacks/Hackers 
• Karim R Lakhani, Assistan Professor at Harvard Business School and Innovation wiz, @klakhani on Twitter, soudaiospaizen.net
  

Roadmap

Detailed roadmap

Visual roadmap

Major Deadlines/Milestones

• March 23 - launch innovation challenge #1
  • launch challenges 2 and 3 in 2 week intervals
  • challenge close 1 month after: earlier if we go with phases
• June 15 - announce & showcase innovation challenge winners
• June 29 - learning labs begin
• late August: in person hackathon (MoJoCamp?)
• mid- September: begin fellowship offers (first 5)
• mid-October: first fellows begin
  

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)

• Draft in progress. Please add your questions here: http://etherpad.mozilla.com:9000/MoJo-FAQ-draft

MoJo in the News

We're getting great coverage. Check out our growing list of stories here.

Contact

[form]