Institute of Interactive Journalism Moves to American University

By: E&P Staff The Institute for Interactive Journalism announced Wednesday that it had moved to American University's School of Journalism, where it hopes to expand its operations following a $2.4 million grant by the Knight Foundation.

The Institute, also known as J-Lab, was started in 2002 by Jan Schaffer at the University of Maryland-College Park. The move to American became official in June.

"I am excited that we have the opportunity to expand our programs in a place as full of energy and focus on innovation as AU's School of Communication," Schaffer, J-Lab's executive director, said in a statement. "Our new affiliation is a good fit for J-Lab's mission, which is to help transform journalism for today and reinvent it for tomorrow."

Since its beginnings in 2002, J-Lab has distributed approximately $700,000 in award and grant money to 66 news organizations, journalists, and citizens.

In announcing the move, J-Lab said it will use the Knight Grant to renew the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism (the four finalists were announced Tuesday); fund 16 "New Voices Citizen Media" projects; create eight to 10 Knight Citizen News Network learning modules; launch five Networked Community News pilot projects, teaming five newspapers with citizen media outlets in each of their communities; build a Community Media Toolkit to help foundations support local media projects, and launch a Re-imagining Journalism project.

"Jan Schaffer's J-Lab is a great fit for AU's School of Communication,"
Larry Kirkman, dean of the School of Communication, said in a statement. "The mission and achievements of J-Lab reflect American's intense focus on interactive and converged media and our deep commitment to public service and public affairs."

The American University School of Communication was one of the first schools to offer a master's degree in interactive journalism. Its faculty members have developed several online modules for J-Lab's Knight Citizen News Network. Faculty member Amy Eisman has also developed modules on Web journalism for the 5,500 newsroom employees of Gannett Company, publishers of USA Today.