To promote a broader public discussion and explore what collaborations might help achieve widespread digital literacy, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program has commissioned Professor Renee Hobbs to prepare an action agenda that addresses these needs. Hobbs' recommendations will be released as a white paper in the fall. 

Watch video coverage of the Aspen Institute FOCAS. The 2010 FOCAS, News Cities: The Next Generation of Healthy Informed Communities, was held in Aspen, Colorado from August 15-18, 2010. This year the Forum will engage Government officials, media and business executives, civic leaders, user representatives, and other thought leaders in roundtables and private working groups to arrive at specific action steps that communities can take to improve their information health.

In October, 2009, the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy (a project of theCommunications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation) released its report Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age. In it, the Commission makes recommendations covering a continuum of information needs, from good journalism to digital and media literacy, from universal broadband and open networks to transparent government and public engagement.