Apply to Knight News Challenge

[mitar]

The Knight News Challenge on Libraries is giving out $2.5 million to teams who can answer the question "How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities?

As libraries nationwide redefine their role in the digital age, the need for ideas that build on their potential to spark innovation and spread information is urgent... The challenge aims to attract a broad range of ideas, not just from the library community but also from schools, businesses, journalists, designers, artists and others who believe in the transformational power of libraries.

Deadline is September 30, 2014, 5 PM Eastern Time.

See official brief with longer explanation of the call.

We applied to Knight News Challenge and got to the semi-finalists. I think we can try now because this is even more centered at us. We could explain how libraries could become virtual and offer their content in away PeerLibrary is doing. An example is academic literature. So we can present PeerLibrary as a project which addresses this issue globally, not just locally, by moving library concept online.

We have multiple stories we tell people what PeerLibrary is:

1. open platform vs. silo proprietary platform
2. group collaboration around academic papers, if you are researcher or teacher, it can make your life easier, you should start using it for your work
3. (my personal favorite) bridge between those in academia and those outside, making open access publications not just open access, but accessible as well

If we get 1.) and 2.) right (and get researchers from institutions into the system), then we will manage to do also 3.), which is the one I am personally really interested in.

So the story I explain for 3.) is. If I am at the institution (in a developed world with big budget) and I am trying to read the academic publication, I don't have so many issues: I can access them even if they are closed access, if I do not understand something, I can easily find a peer or professor to help me understand it. But what I was outside of academia? Or in some less prestigious university which does not have people who could help me. Then I cannot get much help.

So here PeerLibrary comes into play, it provides a peer learning experience around academic publications. Even if in your local environment there is nobody to help you understand the paper, globally, there is definitely someone (especially if we get 2.) to work). Then, you can ask questions and others can help you understand.

It is in some way similar to StackOverflow. If you don't have access to university, in StackOverflow you can easily get help on even the hardest questions. In PeerLibrary, this is made all around the papers, so that you can do this questions in context and have easier time to point to exactly the parts you have issues understanding.

But even more. By creating those questions and other public notes, they stay available for future readers. So future readers have easier time understanding the paper, without having to ask questions anymore. (We call this "collaborative layer of knowledge around the papers, where a paper is a seed of knowledge and then community builds around it".)

And there is even more. :-) Even if paper is closed access and only researchers at rich institutions can access full-text, people without access can still read all the public annotations made (they are not under the same copyright), determine if this is paper useful for them, they can even still ask questions: "I am doing this and this and don't have access to the paper, does anybody who has access think that the paper would be helpful to me, or can anybody explain how it would apply to what I am doing".

(So the trick is that PeerLibrary has to appeal both to researchers at institutions and be useful to people outside.)

(How PeerLibrary is currently made technologically, requires quite modern web technologies. So it is not really suitable for developing countries. There are many other challenges there as well, like language barriers and so on. But it is a step further, I believe.)

Question is: are they interested in what libraries as current institutions can do, or are they also interested in maybe libraries which have no physical space at all, but try to create a virtual (global) space with similar properties and which allow similar human interactions: reading clubs, serendipitous discovery, browsing, teaching, etc.

I think we should assume the latter and just present it in that way. This is similar how Internet Archive is. And nobody can say that they are not a library. And we upgrade: we provide also other facilities which libraries traditionally provided in physical space.

[mitar]

This is our previous application for ideas and content to be reused.

[mitar]

We should also think about what to use for video. So we can also post a video and I think that is very powerful. Maybe we could create new screencast of our interface with recent version and keep the voice? (Or maybe just create a similar, but more updated voice content. I don't remember anymore how valid still is.)

[mitar]

I created Google Docs for it.

[kocakafa]

According to the announcement, we have to focus on American citizens. http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2014/8/25/news-challenge-explore-role-libraries-digital-age/

''Our emphasis in on libraries in the U.S. While this challenge, as with previous ones, will be open to ideas from anyone anywhere, the goal is accelerating U.S. libraries. We’ve determined this focus because, as a U.S.-based organization, that’s what we know.''

So we need numbers!

• Number of young people who can reach internet.
• Number of young people who can reach academic material.
• Ratio of U.S. population to number of U.S. libraries.

[mitar]

@kocakafa: Good call! Thanks for finding this. I think it is good that it is focusing on American citizens because our technology is not really made for global use, we require quite modern browsers.

[mitar]

This ticket is related to #6.

[mitar]

OK. I made a draft of what I am proposing as an application. It is in the Google doc and is in blue. I also wrote quite long essay under "fill in the details" about PeerLibrary. Check it out. It probably needs some language cleanup, but I think it is strong and presents few important ideas.

[mitar]

@nataliadreyes, @michaelkonrad, @ciaobrian, this is the ticket which is for Knight Challenge. Let's have all discussion about it here.

What is the current status of this? I saw some changes and comments. So please tell me here when you want me to update what we have on the challenge page. Sooner we do that, better it is. Their people are reading it as we are speaking and deciding what goes to semi finalist.

[nataliadreyes]

@mitar Hi! I made all of the edits that Mitar approved on the google doc for the challenge. The language is ready to be updated on the actual site. Let me know if you have any questions, and sorry for any inconvenience due to the delay.

[mitar]

Thanks! I updated the submitted proposal. "Briefly describe the need that you’re trying to address." section is not three sentences, which is the limit. Can you look into that? I left it as it was.

[mitar]

We didn't get into semi-finalist. Here is their explanation:

Thank you for reaching out and for your contribution to this challenge cycle. Looking at the notes shared by our readers, there was a feeling that the entry would not provide the type of impact desired for this particular Challenge. The project itself stood out as very interesting to the readers, particularly the commenting aspects. Please remember as there were over 680 entries and limited semi-finalist spots this is not an indication of the quality of the work itself. If you believe it would be appropriate, I would encourage you to look at another one of our funding mechanisms, The Prototype Fund. The deadline for this is November 1st. I wish you the best of luck in this project and sincerely hope you remain engaged with the Challenge.

I think we should apply to that The Prototype Fund.