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Current News

No Privacy for the Poor, Homeless
	Nonprofits that serve the poor and the homeless in the United States have been required by the federal government to implement new database systems by October 2004. Professionals at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference have expressed serious concerns about how much this will violate the privacy of the people these organizations serve. Posted: 4/23/04; 11:51:32 AM #

The Patent Busting Project

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has started The Patent Busting Project. They want to help reform the patent system to prevent such patents as online shopping carts, internationalizing domain names, paying with a credit card online, and affiliate linking. I hope to encourage them to bring some attention to bad patents that affect nonprofits and civil society organizations. Posted: 4/23/04; 11:51:18 AM #

Thirteenth Annual Pioneer Awards

I have been deeply alarmed by the corruption in the evoting market and the vulnerabilities of our democracy to bad technology. So, I was happy to see the winners of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's 2004 Pioneer Award. The honors went to Kim Alexander, David Dill, and Aviel Rubin for "spearheading and nurturing the popular movement for integrity and transparency in modern elections". Posted: 4/23/04; 11:51:05 AM #

The Problem, the Balloon, and the Four Bedroom House
	In The Problem, the Balloon, and the Four Bedroom House, Joe Di Stefano presents a delightful analysis of realities of project management and what he calls the "balloon phase" in which most of the work on a project gets done. He uses the example of Habitat for Humanity building a four bedroom house in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 59 seconds. Posted: 4/23/04; 11:50:51 AM #

A Pattern Language for Living Communication

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility has been going through some exciting changes recently. They have been looking for a way to tap into and present the vast expertise that resides within their membership. One way they are doing this is with the fascinating Pattern Language for Living Communication project, which uses the concept of design patterns to present papers on social issues and computing. Not all of the 253 papers stick to the pattern language framework, but there are many familiar names and topics that are worth reading. Posted: 4/23/04; 11:50:35 AM #

ePortfolios and Weblogs
	David Tosh's paper on ePortfolios and Weblogs (PDF) presents a compelling analysis for the use of weblogs for knowledge management and learning. Posted: 4/23/04; 11:50:15 AM #

The Role of Intranets in Knowledge Management
	I find that people in the nonprofit sector are continuing to repeat the same old mistakes, confusing technology with communication and thinking that an intranet is all you need for knowledge management. So I'm digging up Dick Stenmark's 2002 paper on Information versus Knowledge: The Role of Intranets in Knowledge Management (PDF). Posted: 4/23/04; 11:49:54 AM #