May 23, 2007, 11:53 AM ET
A new journo-programmer scholarship
Along with my own big grant announcement, I'm excited about many of the other Knight News Challenge winners, most notably the grant given to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Medill received a grant to offer full journalism scholarships for geeks. Essentially, they're looking to train the next generation of journalist-programmers, and I'm really excited to see that. If you're a computer scientist looking to get into journalism (a rewarding and important field), you would do well to check out the scholarship and apply.
May 23, 2007, 11:45 AM ET
Knight Foundation grant
I'm thrilled to announce some huge news: I've been awarded a grant by the Knight Foundation, as part of the Knight News Challenge program.
I'll be founding a Web startup, EveryBlock, that focuses on making local news and information useful. I've been feeling the entrepreneurial itch for a while and can't wait to start hacking on this with a crack team of Web developers. Expect to hear much more about this from me, including job ads.
The sad part of all this is that I'm leaving my job at washingtonpost.com. I've had a fantastic time there and recommend it wholeheartedly as a place to work. They gave me an incredible amount of freedom and a chance to work on substantial, meaningful projects with brilliant people. Washingtonpost.com is the best mainstream news Web site, with equal attention devoted to preserving quality journalism and inventing new forms thereof. I'm grateful, proud and honored to have been associated with it.
Now, it's time to start a new chapter.
