Adam Klawonn and Aleksandra Chojnacka developed a service called The Daily Phoenix, which will offer news and information as well as social networking capabilities and games for light rail commuters on a stop-by-stop basis.
Klawonn and Chojnacka developed the idea as students at the Knight Center at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, according to a news release from Arizona State University officials.
Their project was among nine recognized during the 2009 Knight News Challenge.
The projects "use crowd sourcing, mobile technology and digital investigative journalism to bring news and information to communities in new ways," according to a news release on the Knight Foundation website.
“The future of news is being tested, strengthened and advanced everyday by News Challenge experiments and the innovators behind them,” said Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president and CEO, in a press release.
Eric Newton, vice president for journalism programs at the Knight Foundation, said the light rail project stood out.
"A lot of projects that have to do with digital media don’t relate well to the places where people live, work and commute," he said. "We were very interested in the intersection of cyberspace and physical space."
Chojnacka has a master’s of business administration degree specializing in strategic marketing from ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
Klawonn, managing editor at Phoenix magazine, is a Cronkite graduate and former reporter for The Arizona Republic and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
He started ZonieReport.com in 2006 to cover statewide issues in Arizona and has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the Cronkite School.
This year the Knight News Challenge is funding $5.1 million in news projects, including investments in 17 winners from 2007 and 2008 who continue to receive funding.
