Grants Reflect Fund’s New Focus on Technology

The John and Mary R. Markle Foundation this week unveiled four new grant-making program areas focusing on technology.

ALSO SEE:

Taming the New Frontier

New Internet Focus Reaffirms Markle’s Commitment to Mass Communications

The John and Mary R. Markle Foundation at a Glance

It also announced that it had made the following awards, which it says demonstrate the direction of its grant making in the next three to five years:

* $3,538,000 program-related investment over three years, plus a $1,000,000 grant to create a new corporation that will be jointly owned by Markle and Oxygen Media, a commercial Internet and cable company. The corporation will create a new World-Wide Web site known as “The Pulse” that will provide information about women’s opinions on a broad range of civic and consumer issues, as well as general data about the state of women in America.

* $500,000 to Internews Network (Arcata, Cal.) to develop a round-the-clock, interactive channel devoted to international-affairs programs on two major Direct Broadcast Satellite systems. The channel is designed to serve as a model for ways that video and interactive media can be combined, and will be available to both television viewers and computer users.

* $400,000 for “New York: Learning Adventures in Citizenship,” an Internet-based curriculum developed by the public-broadcasting station WNET (New York). The program seeks to teach children about civic participation and responsibilities. It is intended to accompany New York, a five-part documentary by Ric Burns tracing the history of New York City that will be broadcast on Public Broadcasting Service stations this fall.

* $200,000 to expand “Web White & Blue,” a public-service campaign on the Internet that was started during the 1998 elections. At that time, the central “Web White & Blue” site offered links to 45 non-profit and commercial sites that provided non-partisan information on issues and on candidates and their platforms. Markle now plans to revamp the site for the 2000 elections; the foundation will work with America Online to run this program.

* $157,000 over two years for a two-part project by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing) to develop mass-communications law in China. The first phase involves the identification, translation, and publication of important books on communications law and free-speech issues. The second phase provides for an international symposium on the news and entertainment media and the courts.

* $140,000 to enable the University of Texas at Austin to assemble a team of researchers who will conduct a literature review to determine what is known about the effects of interactive technology on children’s cognitive, emotional, physical, and social development. A conference will then be held to outline key issues for future research; findings are intended to aid the development of interactive technologies that can improve children’s lives.

* $76,500 for continued support of the Programme on Comparative Media Law and Policy at Oxford University (Oxford, England), which studies the way governments have developed policies and regulations to respond to media globalization. The program also examines the implications of those strategies for democracy and human rights.

* $50,000 for the International Rescue Committee (New York) to develop and run the “Child Connect” program for refugees, with a focus on those in the Balkans and West Africa. “Child Connect” is a software system that helps humanitarian-aid workers find the families of children who have lost their parents.

* $25,000 to Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools (New York) to develop an on-line resource for teachers and administrators so they can learn to use technology effectively in teaching and have an easy way to share their experiences with other educators.