[Printer Friendly Version]

Current News

Communication Centered Technology Planning Workshop

We're pleased to announce our second open registration workshop of the year: Communication Centered Technology Planning. If you are in any way responsible for decisions about technology, whether as a consultant, an executive, or someone who influences technology decisions, you owe it to your organization to take this workshop. It's a one day intensive on May 14th, in Seattle. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:14:43 PM #

Ten Conversation Starters on Community Tech

I'll be teaching a workshop this Summer in collaboration with the Community Technology Centers Network and so I am paying attention to the larger trends in the field. As usual, David Wilcox offers some great insights with his Ten Conversation Starters on Community Tech. The major bullet points are: (1) Community groups and nonprofits are not the strongest leaders towards "digital inclusion". (2) Community web sites are today seldom a good investment of time and money. (3) Technology centres - as such - should no longer have a strong claim for public money. (4) Many people don't want to use the Internet. Why should they? (5) Social exclusion in the Information Society is just part of wider exclusion. Spend the money on more basic programmes. (6) Blogs may kill the buzz in online communities - but that's no bad thing. (7) People are buying mobile phones and digital cameras when they can. Go with the flow. (8) Inclusion is about who you know - so focus on helping people reinforce relationships and make new ones. It's about networks, networking, networkers. (9) Communities are networks of networks. Networks are connected people. Communication devices are personal. Therefore use technology to build community from the personal upwards and outwards. (10) Mix communication methods, respect and favour personal differences. Nurture communication ecologies - not communication monocultures. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:14:27 PM #

Spinning Stories
	In his short piece on Spinning Stories, Michael Lenczner makes an important observation: One of the great benefits of volunteering is the stories that volunteers can tell about themselves and their work. Stories, therefore, are a kind of currency. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:14:12 PM #

The Power of Technology Social Enterprises
	I'm a fan of Jim Fruchterman, the founder of Benetech. I found his recent piece on The Power of Technology Social Enterprises to be a nice introduction to the field. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:13:51 PM #

Reflections On Evaluating Our Grants
	Over the years, I have made much of the fact that most organizations are very shy about their failures and not terribly rigorous about evaluation in general. So, it's with some pleasure that I see Reflections On Evaluating Our Grants, a retrospective of grantmaking by the California Wellness Foundation. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:13:38 PM #

TechFinder
	N-TEN and TechSoup have launched the beta version of TechFinder, a directory of vendors, consultants, and other providers of nonprofit technology services. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:13:16 PM #

Handbook on Counter-Terrorism

InterAction and others have published a Handbook on Counter-Terrorism: What U.S. Nonprofits and Grantmakers Need to Know. It's focus is not on terrorism per se, but rather on how organizations can avoid being caught in the crossfire of new regulations. I'm dissappointed that it doesn't address the privacy and free speech issues that are affecting so many organizations, but the financial and management advice is sound. Posted: 4/6/04; 12:12:59 PM #

The Memory Hole
	The Memory Hole is a new nonprofit project, the mission of which is to preserve and spread material that is in danger of being lost, with emphasis on material that exposes things that "we're not supposed to know (or that we're supposed to forget)". Posted: 4/6/04; 12:12:44 PM #