Institute on Higher Awesome Studies

Thanks to Jose Zamora of Knight for catching this great write-up from the International Journalists’ Network of a Poynter chat we did last week about how the Awesome Foundation model can work with journalism. Margaret Looney summarized the chat into five main points, including:

Be prepared for big results. Chancellor of the Institute for Higher Awesome Studies, Christina Xu gave the lowdown on microgrants to the Poynter Institute in a recent live chat. She explains that a microgrant is “enough to encourage someone with a great idea to build a prototype which they can then show to bigger funders.” That’s exactly how the Serval Project worked out, a project that started with a US$1,000 Awesome grant to build a Mesh Potato mobile network giving off-the-grid communities a voice, especially in natural disaster events. The prototype garnered ABC’s attention in Australia and the project’s founder earned a US$360,000 grant to continue research.

Catch the rest of the article here and share it with all your journalist friends! And keep your eyes peeled for some exciting news from Awesome News Taskforce: Detroit in the next month!

We’re starting an experiment in community-driven microgranting in Detroit, and we need your help!

Detroit has a long history of exceptional journalism and community organizing, and the Awesome News Taskforce wants to make the ecosystem of projects circulating important civic information around the city even more impressive. Every month, the Taskforce’s 10-15 trustees will give away $1000 to anyone in the community who can come up with a worthy idea that supports and improve the civic media and news infrastructure within the city, whether it’s a useful gov 2.0 app for citizen reporting or a timely and underexposed story. If done right, the funded projects will set off ripples of inspiration and engagement throughout the city. In the past, we’ve seen $1000 has developed prototypes for decentralized phone networks, a project to interview 100 strangers, and a comprehensive database of hip-hop lyrics for research; we can’t wait to see what it can do for local news.

We are looking for 10-15 AWESOME Detroiters to serve as trustees: these individuals will deliberate monthly on the most awesome news-related project to give $1000 to. We are looking for bloggers, journalists, artists, community organizers, technologists, academics, and businesspeople who have a fierce love of Detroit and are interested in improving the way Detroiters get the information they need to make the city even greater. Ideal trustees are innovative, enthusiastic, hard-working, and widely-connected people. In assembling this taskforce, IHAS seeks a balance of diverse professional backgrounds and sectors, genders, races, and ages that reflects the city it intends to serve. Benefits of the job include having an ear to Motown’s wildest ideas and dreams and the ability to make them come true.

To organize all of the logistics of the fledgling Awesome News Taskforce, we’re also looking for a superhero organizer. The Dean of the Awesome News Taskforce is responsible for overseeing its internal logistics, scheduling meetings and planning events, and doing outreach within the community. As this will be a significant time commitment (~20 hours a week), we are offering a competitive stipend for this position. The ideal candidate is well-connected within the community, enthusiastic, and detail-oriented. After a one-month trial period, the candidate will be asked to make a 1-year commitment to the project.

If you’re interested in applying to serve as a trustee or a Dean, please click on the links to apply or email detroit-news@awesomestudies.org with a bio (including how you’re involved in news/information/community action & your history of the city), a short blurb about why you want to be involved, and a resume, portfolio, or list of projects you’re involved in. Applicants for both MUST be based in Detroit.