UCI-based institute to administer digital media competition

The University of California Humanities Research Institute, led by UC Irvine’s David Theo Goldberg, will administer a $2 million open competition for ideas on using digital media to transform learning. The challenge was announced Nov. 23 at a White House event in partnership with National Lab Day, an effort to revitalize science, technology, engineering and math in schools. Designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers and others are invited to submit proposals for creating digital media experiences. Previous winning ideas include a video blogging project for young women in India, a mobile phone application that lets children conduct digital wildlife spotting and a project that leverages low-cost laptops to help indigenous children in Mexico.