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News for April 2004
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 29 April 2004 |
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| Boardroom dramas |
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David Wilcox pointed me to this excellent piece in the Guardian: In Boardroom Dramas, David Walker writes about British leaders who argue that the contemporary emphasis on the governance role of nonprofit boards is misdirected. "Some of most dynamic and wonderful charities I have to deal with have crap governance on certain managerial and academic views," says Andrew Phillips. "But some of the most conformist and risk-free have got everything perfect in governance terms."
Posted: 4/29/04; 3:02:07 PM # |
| IRS Issues Guidelines for Groups Engaged in Public Advocacy |
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This is a year in which many branches of the U.S. government have been brought into partisan play by the Bush administration. I support the restrictions on electoral work by tax exempt organizations for the same reasons that I am appalled by partisan action by government agencies: In essence, both represent the use of public money for electoral purposes. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has issued guidelines for groups that engage in public advocacy. It will be interesting to see if they are fairly and evenly enforced.
Posted: 4/29/04; 3:01:54 PM # |
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28 April 2004 |
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| Videos from Social Computing Symposium 2004 |
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Microsoft has made videos of the presentations at their Social Computing Symposium available online. (Note: They are provided in a proprietary Windows Media format.) Topics include: Building Conversation in a Social Context, Designing for Informal Communication, and Instant Messaging and Weblogs in Work Environments.
Posted: 4/28/04; 5:33:03 PM # |
| Open Source CMS |
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Have you been considering a content management system or are you in the business of helping people select them for their web sites? You will find Open Source CMS a valuable resource. It provides you with access to many of the major open source systems, so that you can kick the tires and see what they are like.
Posted: 4/28/04; 5:32:17 PM # |
| Online Survey Best Practices |
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The folks at Websurveyor have compiled several documents on Online Survey Best Practices. I'm never pleased with the tired phrase "best practices", because it's usually used to describe a list of practices that may or may not have been evaluated against any criteria. But that said, there is some excellent material here for people who want to do online research based on surveys.
Posted: 4/28/04; 5:32:01 PM # |
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27 April 2004 |
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| A Prescription for Business Innovation |
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Dave Pollard's three part series entitled A Prescription for Business Innovation is a must read for anyone in the sector who wants to nurture new ideas, particularly in the area of communication technology. Part three looks at prescriptions for innovative organizations and some examples.
Posted: 4/27/04; 4:43:26 PM # |
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25 April 2004 |
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| Robustness in Social Processes |
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The Santa Fe Institute is at the cutting edge of the theory of networks. The Robustness in Social Processes (PDF) Initiative will take a systems approach to the question of why some social arrangements (treaties, customs, power structures, and others) persist and why others don't. This is exactly the kind of thinking we need to have in order to practice visionary social change in the age of networks.
Posted: 4/25/04; 11:30:38 PM # |
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23 April 2004 |
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| No Privacy for the Poor, Homeless |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 # |
| A Pattern Language for Living Communication |
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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 # |
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18 April 2004 |
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| Theory and Practice of Online Learning |
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Terry Anderson and Fathi Elloumi have made a PDF version of their book The Theory and Practice of Online Learning available online. The book covers so much more than the infrastructure and the technology. It looks at course development, teaching skills, supporting different forms of discussion, and copyright issues. I particularly liked the Value Chain Analysis that Elloumi presents as a strategic framework for understanding online learning.
Posted: 4/18/04; 6:09:56 PM # |
| Top Ten Reasons to Play at Work |
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I have never embraced the sad distinction between work and play that most of us have to live with because our culture and our economies reinforce it. So I was happy to read Linda Naiman's Top Ten Reasons to Play at Work. She says: 1. Play is the path to fun and profit. 2. "Fun is the new status symbol." 3. "Non-stop work is for losers" 4. Even God rested on the 7th day! 5. We need time to be idle. 6. Play helps us find our genius. 7. Play is crucial to attaining a work/life balance. 8. The bow kept forever taut will break (Zen saying). 9. Play is smart corporate strategy for solving problems. 10. Play keeps our passions alive in the workplace.
Posted: 4/18/04; 6:09:21 PM # |
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13 April 2004 |
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| 21st Century Fundraising Resources |
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In the process of developing the curriculum for our Frictionless Fundraising workshop, we learned that we were sitting on a substantial database of fundraising resources that had never before been compiled into a single publication. Today, we are pleased to announce the availability of that publication: 21st Century Fundraising Resources. It comes with a license for full corporate use and costs only $9.95. We have collected 94 annotated resources about modern fundraising and sorted them into nine key categories, including the use of Email, Community Building, and so forth.
Posted: 4/13/04; 7:15:58 PM # |
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8 April 2004 |
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| Social Origins of Good Ideas |
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Nonprofit Online News is a publication that bridges multiple communities. It is therefore with some interest that I read Ronald Burt's paper on the Social Origins of Good Ideas (PDF), in which he shows that good ideas happen at the intersections of communities, rather than at the center of any given community, where thoughts tend to be more homogeneous. I see this phenomenon all the time in my work with grantmakers.
Posted: 4/8/04; 11:55:03 AM # |
| Nine Rules for Good Technology |
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Stephen Downes offers his Nine Rules for Good Technology: (1) Good technology is always available. (2) Good technology is always on. (3) Good technology is always connected. (4) Good technology is standardized. (5) Good technology is simple. (6) Good technology does not require parts. (7) Good technology is personalized. (8) Good technology is modular. (9) Good technology does what you want it to do. Sadly, most of these rules are not followed in the nonprofit sector.
Posted: 4/8/04; 11:53:07 AM # |
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7 April 2004 |
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| Community Network Analysis and ICTs |
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I have long been an advocate for designing technology based on community ties and assets. (Indeed, our upcoming workshop focuses on the practical application of this principle.) So I was pleased to learn about the Community Network Analysis and ICTs project, which takes this principle and applies it to community technology initiatives.
Posted: 4/7/04; 10:37:41 AM # |
| The Perils of Strong Copyright |
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Jason Griffey has written a great piece on The Perils of Strong Copyright (PDF). He explains the issues facing the American Library Association with the emergence of a new model for the publication of academic articles, where authors publish their work under very unrestrictive licenses and then pay for peer review, rather than relying on the very expensive system of academic journals.
Posted: 4/7/04; 10:37:25 AM # |
| Community Networkers Oath |
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Check out the Community Networkers Oath, a proposed set of principles to abide by in working on community technology. It's very rough right now, but I like what is emerging. For example: "I shall not attempt to patent, copyright or otherwise own the knowledge gained in my work."
Posted: 4/7/04; 10:36:48 AM # |
| Common Knowledge |
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Nancy Dixon delivered a keynote address at the Learning Summit back in 2001 and I have only now come across the highlights of her talk. Her four pieces of advice are: (1) Start with the seekers of knowledge, not with the providers. (2) Knowledge can only reside in the mind. (3) To acquire new knowledge, the seeker has to connect it to existing knowledge. And (4) people are delighted to share what they know.
Posted: 4/7/04; 10:36:28 AM # |
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6 April 2004 |
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| Ten Conversation Starters on Community Tech |
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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 |
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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 # |
| Reflections On Evaluating Our Grants |
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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 |
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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 # |
| The Memory Hole |
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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 # |
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1 April 2004 |
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| NON turns seven |
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It was seven years ago today that Nonprofit Online News was unveiled to the public. There were a total of three news items in April of 1997. Since then, there have been over 5000 more. Thank you all for your engagement and support. With your help, we're looking forward to an exciting eighth year.
Posted: 4/1/04; 1:40:28 PM # |
| April Fools Day 2004 |
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From time to time, we've engineered an April Fools prank of some kind, the most popular being our launch of Nonprofitabletech.com. This year, I decided that I was going to point to all the other nonprofit related jokes. Guess what? I couldn't find any. Not at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, not at the Nonprofit Times (although some of their headlines did look like they might be jokes), and not even in the nonprofit technology field. I don't know what to make of this. But instead, I will point you to Topix.net's April Fools Day headlines.
Posted: 4/1/04; 1:40:08 PM # |
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