News21 an encouraging effort by journalism schools and journalism students

I got the following e-mail from Jody Brannon a couple of weeks ago and just had time to check out the project she directs.

I hope everybody will take a look. This effort is encouraging. Here are some journalism schools and journalism students diving into the future.

The following is the e-mail.

Now in its fourth year, News21 is a network of eight university newsrooms, the last of which concluded its summer reporting Friday. Today we're proud to officially announce the new News21.com.

New this year:

* Twice as many schools: Arizona State, Maryland, North Carolina and Syracuse joined Berkeley, Columbia, Northwestern and Southern California as newsroom incubators. Each chose its own approach, design and CMS to foster innovation.

* An increase from 44 to 93 fellows, each pushed to present their in-depth reporting projects in innovative ways,

* A broad theme that allowed each school to explore the way America is changing politically, socially, economically, technologically, environmentally, etc.

* 20 RSS pages that slice the content for users and prospective publishers interested in narrower categories, such as religion, employment, poverty or immigration.

* An innovation blog where fellows explain their inventions and approaches; postings to this will continue so please consider adding us to your blog roll.

* A Ning community where the reporting and collaborative process allowed for transparent learning and production.

See the BusinessWire press release here.

I hope you'll explore the site, which is still being polished, follow us on Facebook and Twitter and share the news of our re-launch with your social and professional circles.

Several sites will be updated into the fall. Please visit the site often to enjoy its depth and breadth. We look forward to your feedback.