We’re reporters before we’re programmers. I think we’re putting wheels on suitcases, or at least on the road toward doing it. But that’s for you guys to decide, eh?

Innovation can be defined in two different ways.

1.As invention, meaning new digital platforms that nobody has seen before; and

2.As a combination of platforms and processes that already exist to do something new or to reach new audiences.

The contest is very interested in both kinds of innovations.

Everybody likes seeing inventions, but we always say that the most interesting thing and what everybody likes the most is seeing a combination of things that already exist to improve and change the world. And we always use the following example: “We like the person who invented suitcases, because it makes traveling easier. And we like the person who invented the wheel, because it makes locomotion easier. But what we love is the person who put the wheels on suitcases, revolutionizing the industry and the way we travel.”

I’m on a team that has a project still in the running for the News Challenge. We considered applying to the Community Information Challenge, but we held off. Local nonprofits are some of the biggest players in business and politics in our area, and we don’t want to compromise our independence.

I see why they want to restrict the News Challenge to people building new gadgets, but I also wonder how many online community news organizations fall into the crack between the Knight’s two types of grants.