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News for July 2003

25 July 2003

Free Culture
	As the current intellectual property climate gets more and more authoritarian and restrictive, arts and cultural organizations would do well to review Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture, an essay about the alternative. If we truly want another Renaissance, this is the vision we must embrace. Posted: 7/25/03; 12:43:06 PM #

The Web Rewires the Movement
	In The Web Rewires the Movement, Andrew Boyd looks deeply at the evolution of online organizing, from the WTO Battle in Seattle, the current U.S. presidential campaigns, the peace movement, and international examples. It's a superb survey of the field. Posted: 7/25/03; 12:42:35 PM #

As volunteer programs face cuts
	Amanda Paulson looks at the possible impacts of cuts in U.S. volunteer programs. Although these programs have wide support, it seems there is an undercurrent that we "shouldn't pay people to do what they should do for free." That sentiment angers me. Isn't that precisely what we should do? Reward people who do good? Posted: 7/25/03; 12:42:13 PM #

20 July 2003

Declaration of Digital Democracy
	I find myself in substantial agreement with the ten principles of the Declaration of Digital Democracy. This should be one of the checklists against which every large scale digital divide or nonprofit sector wide technology initiative is assessed. Posted: 7/20/03; 11:44:13 PM #

Opposition builds to ecommerce patent in Australia

We need to see more leadership of this natures in the United States. An overreaching ecommerce patent has run into opposition in Australia. This example is particularly important because it begins to tread on nonprofits by touching on credit card gateways and other such transactions. Of course, there are even more insidious patent applications lurking out there waiting to pounce on the nonprofit sector. Posted: 7/20/03; 11:43:57 PM #

15 July 2003

The Nonsense of 'Knowledge Management'
	I'm charmed by T.D. Wilson's scholarly and accessible paper on The Nonsense of 'Knowledge Management'. He concludes that the term is "an umbrella term for a variety of organizational activities, none of which are concerned with the management of knowledge". Posted: 7/15/03; 5:09:19 PM #

13 July 2003

Micro Philanthropy Prototype
	I'm still mulling over the implications of this. Tom Munnecke is working on a prototype of a communication system for small scale philanthropy. It deals in matters of trust and reputation in some fascinating ways. Posted: 7/13/03; 11:06:01 PM #

Software sharecropping
	This link is for all my colleagues who are developing software for the nonprofit sector. Tim Bray argues convincingly that developing on closed, proprietary platforms is like being a sharecropper. Posted: 7/13/03; 11:05:50 PM #

Europe may adopt extreme patent laws
	This is a dangerous development: The European Union may be on the verge of adopting some of the same extreme patent laws that have caused so much trouble in the United States, opening the door to even greater pressure on open source software by commercial interests. Posted: 7/13/03; 11:05:38 PM #

10 July 2003

The Basics of Nonprofit Email

For years, our readers have encouraged us to publish more formal documents and resources. Our trial effort in this direction was The Best of Nonprofit Online News 2002, which was downloaded by thousands of people, forwarded to thousands more, and about which we received rave reviews. Today, we are venturing even further by offering our first report for sale: The Basics of Nonprofit Email: Essential Papers and Resources. Posted: 7/10/03; 1:20:17 PM #

6 July 2003

Open Government Information Awareness
	The Open Government Information Awareness is a suite of software tools designed to give U.S. citizens a framework for keeping tabs on those with power. I believe that the revolutionary founders of this country would have been pleased. Posted: 7/6/03; 5:39:41 PM #

Mencken translation of Declaration of Independence
	More than once I've enjoyed H.L. Mencken's translation of The Declaration of Independence. Posted: 7/6/03; 5:39:30 PM #

4 July 2003

The Declaration of Independence
	Today is the anniversary of the first grassroots movement in the United States. I wonder if American rulers are reading the Declaration of Independence today. It's still a document worth taking to heart. Posted: 7/4/03; 10:48:04 AM #

3 July 2003

A Social Network Caught in the Web
	In A Social Network Caught in the Web, Adamic, Buyukkokten, and Adar look at all the things we can learn about real world relationships by examining the patterns to be found in an online community. Posted: 7/3/03; 12:23:18 PM #

Wireless Internet Opportunity for Developing Nations
	The Conference Manifesto of the Wireless Internet Opportunity for Developing Nations is a short and simple introduction to the potential of wireless communication. Posted: 7/3/03; 12:23:01 PM #

2 July 2003

Web loggers and others get libel protection

In a move that puts Nonprofit Online News and other weblogs in the same category as traditional journalism, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish. This is good news for any nonprofit organization that runs an online community. Posted: 7/2/03; 3:55:34 PM #

NCVO on Budget planning
	The UK's National Council for Voluntary Organisations has an excellent timeline for doing regular budget planning. Posted: 7/2/03; 3:55:26 PM #

Man Charged with Threatening the President, for Protest Sign

I wonder how many thousands of nonprofit organizations send people out to the streets with signs, as a form of political speech? Well, if you do, evidently in today's America your volunteers can be charged with threatening the President. This is not a joke. The U.S. Justice Department is charging Brett Bursey with the federal crime of threatening the president's safety for simply holding a sign that read "No War For Oil" outside of a George Bush speech. Posted: 7/2/03; 3:55:17 PM #

Spam blocking is blocking the blind
	I'm no fan of over zealous spam filters. Now it seems that new spam blocking tools would silence blind people, because they rely on human visual judgement to get past the filters. This is nuts. Posted: 7/2/03; 3:55:05 PM #