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Most Hated Advertising Techniques (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

Nonprofits keep looking to the business world for inspiration, which sometimes reflects a sad (and inaccurate) elevation of businesses as the more sophisticated and professional sector. Jakob Neilsen gives us a great example from the world of online advertising, when he describes the Most Hated Advertising Techniques. I wish that fundraising professionals would stop looking for the immediate buck and pay more attention to things that don't undermine trust, as many of these loathsome advertising techniques do. After all, trust is our sector's most precious resource. Posted: 12/23/04; 11:28:20 AM #

Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system

In the next few months, I will be exploring systems that nonprofits can use to protect their communication from the prying eyes of organizations and governments that oppose our work or are willing to have us be casualities in their quest for ever more power. One of those systems is Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system, which is being supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If one out of every ten nonprofits with a reliable Internet connection ran a Tor server, the sector would have a worldwide, secure communication network. Posted: 12/23/04; 11:18:05 AM #

New European Research Project in Software Development
	The European Union is taking a clear and tangible interest in tackling the opportunities presented by open source software. A new European research project in software development will look at some of the very same issues that have been facing U.S. funders of nonprofit open source efforts, such as the complexities of interdependence among projects. Posted: 12/23/04; 11:17:52 AM #