Over the past year, Craigslist Foundation has been working on LikeMinded, a new online tool for local change makers. The site was launched on April 12th.

The idea is that people are doing great work in their local communities, but stories about their work frequently stay local or go untold. LikeMinded will collect stories of local innovations, success, and sometimes even failures and help information get where it needs to go, whether that is to other community activists, potential collaborators, or the media.

Last summer, Craigslist Foundation received a 3-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Technology for Engagement Initiative to build and develop LikeMinded.

The service is free and no login is needed to discover local stories. LikeMinded was built especially for people who want to change something in their community but don’t know where to start. It’s also designed for leaders of successful community projects to get credit for their good work and inspire others.

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Twelve media innovation projects have been named the 2010 winners of the Knight News Challenge, a contest that funds ideas that use digital technology to inform specific geographic communities.The winners will receive $2.74 million as part of the fourth round of the five-year international contest.

Nearly half of this year’s winners are private enterprises, up from 15 percent in 2009. Businesses are finding more ways to build on open source software, a requirement of the Challenge.Knight Foundation announced the winners at the Future of News and Civic Media conference at MIT, where Challenge winners past and present gather to exchange ideas and collaborate.Over the Challenge’s four years, Knight Foundation has reviewed 10,000 applications and funded 50 projects for $23 million.

The winners include :
CityTracking makes it possible for users to create embeddable data visualizations that are appealing enough to spread virally and that are as easy to share as photos and videos.

The Cartoonist creates a free tool that produces cartoon-like current event games – the game equivalent of editorial cartoons. The simplified tools will be created with busy journalists and editors in mind, people who have the pulse of their community but don’t have a background in game development.

Local Wiki will create enhanced tools for local wikis, a new form of media that makes it easy for people to learn – and share – their own unique community knowledge.

The rest includes WindyCitizen’s Real Time Ads, GoMap Riga, Order in the Court 2.0, Front Porch Forum, One-Eight, Stroome, CitySeed, PRX StoryMarket and Tilemapping

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