About J-Lab

Mission

J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism is an incubator for innovative news experiments that use new technologies to help people actively engage in critical public issues. Its core mission is to improve public life by transforming journalism for today and re-inventing it for tomorrow.

J-Lab spotlights dynamic news experiences and helps to develop interactive news ideas that not only educate people about public affairs but also invite their participation.

It rewards cutting-edge innovations through the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism funded by the Knight Foundation. It spotlights the creative assets of women with the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs project. It funds pioneering hyperlocal citizen media ventures through its New Voices project and administers the community media e-learning sites Knight Citizen News Network and J-Learning.

J-Lab is a center of the American University School of Communication.

To reach us, please visit the Contact Us page.

J-Lab Projects

New Voices, offering start-up grants to new citizen media projects.
J-Learning, a how-to site for community publishing.
Knight Citizen News Network, helping citizens and journalists amplify community news.
McCormick Foundation New Media Women Entrepreneurs, addressing issues of opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism.

Funders

J-Lab’s projects have been supported with grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the William Penn Foundation and the McCormick Foundation.