About

About the Center

The way we gather, create and share information is changing at a rapid, accelerating pace. Traditional news media are experiencing an incredible shift, driven by innovators from a variety of fields.

The Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship’s goal is to help students and entrepreneurs in digital media and become a valuable resource for media innovators – to inform, inspire and connect. We do that via this site, classes, student projects, workshops and through other methods.

The center has been funded by two leading donors in their respective fields: the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is aiming to sustain and improve journalism in the 21st Century, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which focuses on bringing the value (and values) of entrepreneurship to a wider swath of society.

Student Involvement

Starting in the Fall of 2008, the Knight Center will have two major thrusts. One is a Digital Media & Entrepreneurship course, in seminar format. The other is an independent study students who want to create their own products and services

These are not just for journalism students. We very much hope these projects will be cross-disciplinary efforts, involving people from a variety of studies including journalism, business, computer science, design and more. We prefer teams, but a great solo project is fine, too. Both the class and the independent-study course are listed in the undergraduate and graduate programs, and are (or will soon be) cross-listed with the W. P. Carey School of Business; Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering; and the ASU College of Design.

The Class

On the Arizona State University’s downtown campus, the center offers classes in “Digital Media & Entrepreneurship”—a survey of the cutting edge of new media plus an understanding of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. We have two main goals. First, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the best practices, trends and issues— including business topics such as product development and media economics—that are challenging and redefining journalism—all in the context of carrying traditional journalism’s best principles and practices will carry over into 21st Century media. Second, you’ll get a sense of why entrepreneurial thinking and activity are essential not just for people who’ll create new-media startups but also employees of media companies.

Student Projects

For students who want to create their own products and services—whether they’re in the category of traditional for-profit businesses or “social entrepreneurship” enterprises, we are launching a new course in which we’ll help you develop your project. This is a cross-disciplinary program involving people from a variety of discliplines, including journalism, business, computer science, design and more. We prefer teams, but a great solo project is fine, too. This course is listed at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

This Site

We'll have several goals here on StartupMedia.org. (Here's how we came up with the domain name.) First, we want to highlight what's going on the the field of media entrepreneurship. Second, we will use this site as a place where students showcase the work they're doing. Beyond that, we have many ideas -- and would love to hear yours.

The site was originally designed and built by students in the Digital Media & Entrepreneurship class during spring semester, 2008, and was redesigned during the summer by ASU students Kahley Emerson, Honal Shah and Josh Sprague.

Faculty

Dan Gillmor, Director
Dan Gillmor is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship and Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School. Dan also directs the Center for Citizen Media, a project to enhance and expand grassroots media and its reach. A nationally recognized leader in new media, Dan is author of “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” a book that explains the rise of citizens’ media and why it matters. He served as a columnist at the San Jose Mercury News and wrote a weblog for SiliconValley.com. He also worked at the Detroit Free Press, the Kansas City Times and several newspapers in Vermont.

CJ Cornell, Entrepreneur in Residence
CJ Cornell is Professor of  Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship. CJ brings over 20 years experience as a veteran media industry executive and entrepreneur, with a long history of creating and marketing products in cable television, broadband, and other consumer media platforms. He has worked with companies such as Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, Canal+, Universal Television, Sony, Microsoft and Sun, and founded four pioneering ventures in interactive television and video-on-demand. CJ’s strategies, techniques and technologies in media and behavioral programming are being used by some of the largest media companies in the world today. CJ Cornell holds degrees in engineering, management and a Ph.D. in marketing and strategy. CJ is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, an advisor to Silicom Ventures, LLC., one of the largest Angel/Venture funds in the United States, and sits on the board of 4 high-tech companies.