Yesterday OpenNews launched the search for five Knight-Mozilla Fellows in 2014. In just 24 hours, we already received eight applications. Applications came in from six countries on four continents. We heard from Argentina, Belgium, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, and the U.S. From coders who, in addition to English, speak five other languages. From people who want to use their skills to hack and experiment with some of the best news organizations in the world.
It was a tremendous way to kick off the 2014 Fellowship search. The tweets streamed in all day and throughout the night yesterday, first from the OpenNews, Mozilla, and Knight Foundation communities and spreading from there. But we're just getting started. We're accepting applications until August 17 and have two months to hear from as many people as possible who love to code and want to spend 10 months working on journalism problems while changing the world.
So, we need your help.
- Are you someone who loves to code and is interested in journalism? Apply. Not sure if you should apply? Read more about the Fellowship. Still not sure? Ask us.
- Do you know someone who you think you should apply? Send them some info. Or, introduce us to them, and we'll chat with them about the Fellowship.
- Are you a part of a technology community? (online, virtual, hybrid, language-specific, geography-specific, gender-specific, anything) Let us know the best way to reach your community. Twitter is great for reaching a lot of people, but not everyone uses Twitter. What are the lists, IRC rooms, Meetups, or coffee shops we should be participating in to reach the awesome people you know?
It's going to be an exciting summer. The Knight-Mozilla Fellowship community is doing amazing things with their host news organizations and as program alumni. All the 2013 Fellows and several 2012 alumni will be hacking together this weekend at the Knight-Mozilla-MIT hack day. I can't wait to see who will be the next five Fellows to join that group.