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News for March 2002

26 March 2002

John Seely Brown Interview
	This Forbes interview with John Seely Brown is short but full of insight. Brown is the former head of Xerox PARC and the author of The Social Life of Information. He talks about technological tunnel vision and the transformative power of email. Posted: 3/26/02; 12:18:15 PM #

American Communication Professionals March 2002 Newsletter
	The March 2002 Issue of the League of American Communication Professionals has a few nice tips, including how to deal with critics. I like the emphasis on integrity. Posted: 3/26/02; 12:12:54 PM #

25 March 2002

Building Online Communities for Professional Networks
	In Building Online Communities for Professional Networks, Janine Bowes of the National Quality Teacher Information Exchange Project looks at the issue from several perspectives, including asking what the indicators of a successful online community might be. Posted: 3/25/02; 11:15:24 AM #

Advocacy Tipsheet
	Stephanie Vance writes the Advocacy Tipsheet, an occasional publication of news and resources for people who want to influence the U.S. government, with an emphasis on electronic advocacy. Posted: 3/25/02; 11:15:12 AM #

22 March 2002

Preventing the Nonprofit Spam Epidemic
	It's become increasingly clear to me that we are on the verge of an epidemic of nonprofit spam, which I explore in my latest feature. The potential damage to the reputation of individual organizations and to the public's trust in the nonprofit sector concerns me deeply. Posted: 3/22/02; 5:08:30 AM #

21 March 2002

Self-Organization and Identification of Web Communities

I'm preaching the gospel of emergence in a lot of knowledge management projects I'm involved with. I'm constantly running into people's inclination to create more portals or to choose definitive experts in a subject, which I feel displays a lack of vision. Here is a great example: In Self-Organization and Identification of Web Communities, NEC scientists demonstrate how you can identify communities of practice and knowledge through the self organizing properties of the web. Posted: 3/21/02; 10:57:19 AM #

The Myth of Interactivity on the Internet
	In The Myth of Interactivity on the Internet, Gerry McGovern takes a hard look at, among other critiques, how we have devalued the concept of community by assuming that all we need is a bulletin board and we have instant community. Posted: 3/21/02; 10:56:58 AM #

18 March 2002

The Replication of Social Venture Partners
	The Replication of Social Venture Partners (PDF file) is a report that documents the growth of the Seattle based philanthropy into a nation wide, multi organization network. Posted: 3/18/02; 12:20:12 PM #

Social Ecology's Content Management System
	The content management system that we use at the Gilbert Center is part of a platform that our sister organization Social Ecology is now offering more broadly. Posted: 3/18/02; 12:19:48 PM #

15 March 2002

After the Bubble
	After the Bubble (PDF file), Jason Scott's report on Internet-based social enterprise, is available in full at the Flatiron Foundation web site. Posted: 3/15/02; 12:14:09 PM #

Electronic Filing for Nonprofits
	The Form 990 Project has been resurrected as the very exciting Electronic Filing for Nonprofits project, a collaboration of several national organizations to move toward electronic nonprofit data collection by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Posted: 3/15/02; 12:13:50 PM #

Review of Small Pieces Loosely Joined
	Tom Matrullo reviews David Weinberger's new book, Small Pieces Loosely Joined. I love the title and I think it has some profound lessons for the ecosystem that is the nonprofit sector, although it is about the web. Posted: 3/15/02; 12:12:04 PM #

The Internet is Missing
	In The Internet is Missing, Bricklin, Frankston, and Reed provide some clear directions for renewing the environment that fostered so much innovation and growth. I firmly believe in this kind of thinking. Posted: 3/15/02; 12:11:10 PM #

14 March 2002

The Price is Right
	In The Price is Right, Michael Schrage points out that "innovators are usually overinvested in understanding their own learning curves and underinvested in learning about their customers". What this means for the implementation of new tools in a nonprofit context is very interesting. Posted: 3/14/02; 11:37:44 AM #

Electronic Journal of Social Work
	The inaugural issue of the Electronic Journal of Social Work is out. Posted: 3/14/02; 11:36:37 AM #

13 March 2002

A Nation Online
	The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics Administration have published A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use Of The Internet, documenting many interesting demographic shifts. Too bad Sonia Arrison chooses to frame her review of the research as the end of the digital divide. Posted: 3/13/02; 5:07:28 PM #

Creative Email Tips
	Kris Oser offers a few tips on what sort of email copy generates the best response. Very solid advice. The article was recommended to us by one of the consultants in the Nonprofit Email Study. It will be interesting to compare results! Posted: 3/13/02; 5:07:13 PM #

ARNOVA Conference 2002
	The 2002 Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action will be held in November in Montreal. Posted: 3/13/02; 5:06:54 PM #

Volunteering: The Human Face of Democracy
	The Social Policy Research Centre of University of New South Wales has published Volunteering: The Human Face of Democracy (PDF file), which looks at the rise and importance of volunteering. Posted: 3/13/02; 5:06:20 PM #

12 March 2002

Britain well on its way toward nonprofit eFiling
	It seems that the British government is well on its way to electronic filing for nonprofits, except then I learned that this was not about nonprofit filing at all. Posted: 3/12/02; 11:19:33 AM #

Cool Design Won't Save a Dud Product
	Nonprofits are as easily taken in by shallow but flashy design as anyone else. In Cool Design Won't Save a Dud Product, Bob Parks looks for ways out of this continuing disaster. Posted: 3/12/02; 11:19:12 AM #

7 March 2002

GEO Conference 2002 Agenda
	I just finished the second day of the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations conference. Definitely one of the better conferences I've been to in some time. Very well run, lots of structured opportunities to connect with people, and well prepared panelists. I did a piece on knowledge management this morning. Posted: 3/7/02; 9:55:10 PM #

Advocacy Grapevine
	The structure is a little confusing to me, but the content looks good at the Michigan Nonprofit Association's Advocacy Grapevine, Stories of Nonprofit Advocacy Promoting Best Practices. Posted: 3/7/02; 9:54:51 PM #

5 March 2002

ePhilanthropy Conference 2002 Snapshot
	I'm sitting at a table in the plenary room of the 2002 ePhilanthropy conference and I'm about to listen to the Tuesday morning panels, starting off with a retrospective on September 11. Posted: 3/5/02; 6:39:14 AM #

Discover the Fun of Work
	Bernie Dekoven, whose interview you may recall, has written a piece for Executive Update called Discover the Fun of Work. Posted: 3/5/02; 5:22:01 AM #

1 March 2002

Measuring Foundation Performance
	The Center for Effective Philanthropy has released Toward a Common Language (PDF file), with 14 ways to measure foundation performance. I'm a big believer in measurement, but I also believe it can be very dangerous. Recommendations of this kind are wonderfully thought provoking. Posted: 3/1/02; 1:43:01 PM #

eCommerce Awards 2002
	The British 2002 eCommerce Awards now include a category for the Voluntary & Community Sector. Posted: 3/1/02; 1:42:46 PM #