NEWS RELEASE — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 5, 2011, FREDERICK — A new journalism project called Dakotafire will pool the resources of community newspapers and rural experts to report on issues of importance to rural communities.
The three-year project will receive $240,000 in support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and $60,000 from the South Dakota Community Foundation, with additional support coming from other foundations as well as corporate and individual sponsors.
The funding is part of the Knight Community Information Challenge, which encourages community and place-based foundations to support …

How will the Dakotafire project pay its bills in the new shaky media environment?

The Daily Yonder had an interesting post last week: “Do Rural’s Best and Brightest Back Away?” The post discusses a new University of Michigan study that found that rural students are less likely than suburban or urban high school graduates to attend the nation’s top schools.
It presents one side of the mixed feelings that many in rural areas have as they watch their local high school graduation ceremonies this time of year — on the one hand, we worry about whether our graduates are as well prepared to succeed in …

“Viral” was not something that has had a positive connotation for me — it brought to mind ill-covered sneezes, noisy nose-blowing and wadded-up tissues. That is, until I finished reading “Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves” by Adam Penenberg. Apparently, being viral is not only a good thing, it’s the key to self-sustaining success in the digital age.

It’s not a surprise to anyone who lives in the Dakotafire region that the population is declining — but it may be a shock even to those who have deep roots in this prairie soil just how drastically the population has dropped since 2000.