extension 337 - this feed has moved

Your monthly reminder

2005-06-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

This weblog is now at www.ext337.org. You'll find the RSS feed at http://ext337.org/?rss=1.

Just a reminder

2005-06-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

New domain; new feed.

You can find this weblog at:

Ext337.org

You can find the RSS feed at:

http://ext337.org/?rss=1

You can find the Atom feed at:

http://ext337.org/?atom=1

You can find the link blog feed at:

http://del.icio.us/rss/ext337

Restart your aggregators

2005-05-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

While the tweaking will surely continue, I've got most of the set-up on the new version of this blog set. That means that, with the exception of a few housekeeping announcements, posting here will stop. Here's the info you need:

Ext337 is now at, appropriately enough, http://www.ext337.org;
The RSS feed for Ext337 is at http://ext337.org/?rss=1;
The RSS feed for my link blog, now called "Briefly Noted" is at http://del.icio.us/rss/ext337.

The good news (for me) is that this change has both strengthened and simplified the mechanisms I use to publish my blog. Del.icio.us now handles the link blog entirely. Since Textpattern supports categories I'll no longer be posting all of my own entries to del.icio.us in a category-like hack. I've reduced, greatly, the amount of information that appears on the blog itself for those of who still visit the actual website.

Anyway. See you there.

Houston, we have a URL.

2005-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've purchased ext337.org for the next incarnation of this blog.

Let the tinkering begin.

2005-05-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

Well, as much as I like bryght (and I really like it), I've decided that I just can't foot the $40/month hosting bill right now for a personal site.

With that in mind, I've made the somewhat surprising decision to use an application called Textpattern to manage this weblog. I'll be hosting it at Textdrive. You can see the beginnings here: ext 337. I still have some more to do before I flip the switch and stop using this site completely. I will, however, be doing some updates to that site.

I'm using Textdrive to manage my link blog -- it's in the left rail -- as well.

I decided to go with Textpattern because, well, I wanted to. I like the way that it manages content, using tags, and focuses on the ease of writing entries. I also like the chance to broaden my experience with different applications.

If the posting here slows down, check that site.

Cleveland?

2005-05-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

As it stands, I'll be in Cleveland Saturday, May 14th until Wednesday, May 18th. It looks like Saturday and Tuesday nights are free. If you're in Cleveland and you want to talk nonprofits and technology send me a note.

(in: meet?)

They're dead. They'rethriving. Dead. Thriving.

2005-05-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Beth Kanter offers a nice round up of the conversation to date: Beth's Blog: The trail of discoverability ... take 2.

Lots of food for thought. The whole discussion -- and the way in which it has been conducted -- provides, to my mind, a good evidence that blogs are in fact different than websites. Could anyone imagine this happening on a bunch of organizational sites? Would they even recommend that it should?

Blogging is about personal voice. Beth's post (linked above) points to examples of the way that organizations do this. Microsoft and Sun provide two other examples. In neither case are their blogs on their main corporate site -- but clearly both are letting employees talk about their work on company time.

(in: nptech, blogs, blogging)

What do you need? | ConsultantCommons.org (beta)

2005-05-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

What do you need? | ConsultantCommons.org (beta). Let us know.

Blogs may be obselete, but blogging isn't

2005-05-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Ed Batista argues, in two posts, that blogs are obsolete. His point, if I understand his two posts correctly, is that we should just get on with it. Take what's good about blogs -- the voice, frequent updates, ease of use -- and let's convince people to incorporate that into their communications and let's stop talking blogs already.

And I might be persuaded to agree with him about blogs the artifact. Not, however, about blogging the activity. Blogging, the activity, includes linking, frequent updates that center around short bits of text, permalinks to content to make it easy for other people to track. It is not just about the communication style. It is about the activities that make the communications style work.

In my recent experience presenting on this topic, nonprofits are familiar with blogs. They aren't familiar with blogging.

I also believe that this activity allows things to go on that couldn't normally. Even in the most personable, well-written, frequently updated website.

My example? What Robert Scoble just did around Microsoft's decision to not support a Washington anti-discrimination law could not have been accomplished on any company site. The ensuring conversation and Microsoft's change of heart would never have happened on a company or organization site.

A nonprofit wants to turn part of its site over to employees? Blogging becomes an easy rubric in which to do that. Encourage people to talk about the organization? Blogging. Share links, in a news service-like fashion? Blogging.

Even with that, I'd love to get to blogging 2.0. What metrics are appropriate ones to follow on a weblog? Why? What are organizations successfully employeeing this medium doing? Stop talking more about the definition and start talking more about the practice.

Bonus link: Hammer, Nail: How Blogging Software Reshaped the Online Community

(in: blogging, blogs)

Explaining tagging

2005-05-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm preparing a presentation advocating the creation, for a particular group, of a an area we've taken to calling the commons (you can see ConsultantCommons.org for one view into what I'm talking about). Anyway, I've been trying to figure out how to explain tagging to a group of non-technical users. People who are interested in the outcome and impact on their efforts, not in the gee whiz aspects. Here's what I've settled on:

Tagging is a way to view information across silos. Users, web sites, categorization schemes and formal taxonomies all provide ways to dig deeper into information but they are not, necessarily, good at presenting the cross-view. Tagging provides a way to do that.

What do you think?

(in: tagging, nptech)

My walk to work

2005-05-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Bay Bridge,
originally uploaded by gorickjones.

Beth's Blog: Podcasting at NPOtech Events/Conferences

2005-05-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Beth Kanter has a terrific idea: Beth's Blog: Podcasting at NPOtech Events/Conferences. And one, as you can guess from my comment on her post, that is probably going to keep me up a little later tonight.

(in: nptech, podcast)

Am I a tag spammer?

2005-05-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

I use del.icio.us as a kludge to create my own categories on this blog. I write a post, figure out how I want to tag it, include the tags in the bottom of the post, and then, once it's published, I use del.icio.us to bookmark adding the tags that I've already decided upon.

I also use del.icio.us as a way to mark and share the URLs in which I'm interested. I use the nptech tag as a defined way of doing that. But I also republish the RSS feed (though a mechanism too convoluted to explain and much harder than it actually needs to be) in the right rail of my webpage. Effectively, this splices together the URLs in which I have interest and the postings on my own weblog.

While that's useful to me, it might not be useful to you.

In fact, some very informed opinions consider this kind of behavior tag spam.

If you look at del.icio.us as primarily a sharing tool -- a way to let others know about bookmarks in which you are interested -- then, yes, it is, in fact, spam. But if you look at del.icio.us as a mechanism for organizing your own data (no matter where that data actually lives) then it is not spam.

I tag plenty of non-me items words or phrases that are either opaque or, like @read only useful to me.

None of these uses -- deliberate sharing, self-organizing, or self-interested tags -- break the system which is the reason del.icio.us works so well.

But what do you think? Are any of those uses better than the others? What will lead to abuse? What will break the system?

(in: spam, tag)

Read/Write/Organize

2005-05-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

I agree with many of Dan Gillmor's thoughts about web 3.0. The first was the read-only web. It was all about what happened in the browser. Blogging tools drove, I believe, the move to version 2.0 -- the read/write web. Those tools are continuing to be matured. They are cropping up in easier and easier to use content management systems. In applications like flickr and the promised odeo and podshow. All those tools make it easy to publish -- words, pictures, audio -- to the web.

Where I part ways is on Web 3.0. He writes:

And then comes the latest web. This is where it gets really interesting.

The emerging web is one in which the machines talk as much to each other as humans talk to machines or other humans. As the net is the rough equivalent of a computer operating system, we’re learning how to program the web itself.

An operating system offers programmers something called an "applications programming interface," or API. The APIs are essentially shortcuts for programmers who want to use underlying capabilities of the operating system, such as displaying text or printing, and they help products interoperate with each other.

I think that's web 4.0 actually. Until it hits the web-savvy but non-programming user, I don't think we get to announce a version change.

I believe web 3.0 is about structure. It allows the average user to organize on the fly. It puts the tools for site navigation into the hands of the people using the site. I've said before that's what makes me so excited about both flickr and del.icio.us.

This movement is why I spend so much time talking about blogging. If we don't get diverse voice on the web -- and right now the diversity I'm concentrating on is nonprofits but other people take a much wider view of diversity -- there will be no diversity built into the structure of the web. The navigational cues will be so culturally specific as to be useless to people who aren't already on the Internet.

(in: web3, folksonomies)

You know your viewpoint is skewed when....

2005-05-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with someone on the ferry this morning when I realized she was wearing a shirt that said, "Basecamp."

Oh, I said. I've been playing with Backpack. And I love Tada lists. We use 'em for running our all our household stuff." And I just kept chatting and chatting and I realized that, well, she was looking at me weird.

Because the "Basecamp" on the shirt meant, you know, base camp.

(in: duh)

Busting through my PowerPoint walls

2005-05-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of Powerpoint. I don't have list of media reasons (dumbing down, bad design). I don't like it because I enjoy public speaking, I like interacting with the people in the room and my Powerpoints of lists have gotten in the way of that.

I'm preparing for a meeting in Cleveland and decided, because I need to keep more than just myself on track, that I should turn to the standby. I've been reading Cliff Atkinson'sbeyond bullets blog for a while and decided to take it for a spin.

I downloaded the PowerPoint add-in and fumbled my through it based on what I'd read on the blog. And just that made my presentation a radically different thing. So yesterday, I decided to fork over for the book. I read it last night and I felt my PowerPoint walls come tumbling down.

The two really a-ha moments for me?

The notes section really is a part of the presentation. It's not just where I leave cues for myself -- I prefer index cards anyway -- but I can use it give the audience information (in the form of a handout) freeing up the slide itself.
Using the slide sorter view to see view the presentation across slides.

If you give presentations a lot, I can't recommend the book highly enough. It gives the presentation advice I'm used to but joins it with Powerpoint in a way that really heightens impact.

The downside? Everyone in my office is looking at me oddly. Wait, they're saying. A book about PowerPoint has changed your life?

(in: powerpoint, presentations)

My aggregator of choice

2005-05-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

In the comments on an earlier post, Beth Kanter asks why I use FeedDemon.

It's the ferry.

I was a big bloglines user. I would be perfectly happy to do all of my work in my browser. However, I moved an hour ferry ride away from my San Francisco office and I wanted to be able to work offline.

I looked at different stand alone applications (no integration with an email client for me) and settled on FeedDemon because it allowed me to process items easily.

I go through my feeds delete or store for later action. My later actions are:

to read
to comment
link blog
ext337
crankreport

I spend my morning ferry ride into the city processing all the information in my aggregator and then I can quickly act on it when I'm in the office later.

And, yes, I am a GTD geek. Why do you ask?

(in: gtd, aggregator)

RSS article up on TechSoup

2005-05-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

It started with this post. I got feedback from the good folks at the Digital Divide Network and Omidyar Network. I revamped it a few times using the wiki-like tools at Consultant Commons. Now, it's been combined with another Consultant Commons article to appear on TechSoup as RSS for Nonprofits.

Thanks for all the help!

(in: techsoup, mywriting)

SF Goodwill highlighted in N-TEN newsletter

2005-05-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

The May 3, 2005 issue of N-TEN's newsletter highlights Peter Campbell's work with San Francisco Goodwill. Congrats, Peter!

(in: nptech, stories)

Updated OPML file

2005-05-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

Prompted by an entry on Beth Kanter's blog, I just updated my subscriptions on bloglines to reflect my current reading. I've been using FeedDemon. And am, generally speaking, happy with it.

(in: housekeeping)

A little love for the nptech tag

2005-05-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

On:

(in: nptech)

I think it's going to be Drupal

2005-04-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

extension337 | Nonprofits, technology, seredipity and social change. I'm doing some more playing around. Let me know what you think.

One of the things that I really like about drupal is the integration of other RSS feeds into the site.

(in: housekeeping)

With her floppy hat

2005-04-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

With her floppy hat,
originally uploaded by gorickjones.

Consider this the monthly parental pride posting.

Go read it right now.

2005-04-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Jason's right: It's that important. Doc Searls' closing keynote from Les Blogs.

(in: blogs, definition)

So you wanna start a blog?

2005-04-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Okay. You're a nonprofit decision-maker.You've read the what's-a-blog articles (1,2, 3, 4). You saw the cover of this week's Business Week. And now you've decided to take the plunge. What are your next steps?

Choose your tool.
Are you wavering in your commitment and love of the form? Not sure if it'll work for your organization? You want this to be in "beta"? Beta like it might not work. Like you might decide not to go forward with it. Then blogger is the tool for you. Even the hosting can be free. And it's stable. Google owns it and they're not going away.

You feel more sure? You know that you want to do this and you've assigned someone to keep the blog up-to-date but you don't want to invest heavily in a technology infrastructure? Go Typepad. Typepad provides a few more options -- notably trackbacks and categories -- that adds to the managability and conversationality of your blog.

Feel strongly that you want this on your own servers? You want to be able to build and customize as you see fit? Two good options for you, both open source: WordPress or drupal, specifically the CivicSpace fork. WordPress can give be a good light-weight Content Management System. Drupal/CivicSpace is a big box of legos but gives you a powerful tool for organizing your website. I don't recommend either of these options if you don't have good, confident technology assistance (though, volunteers can be had).

Name your weblog.
Don't spend too much time on this but do spend some. Give it a name that you like, that fits somehow with your organization. You also have the opportunity to provide a description. Think of this like a title and a subtitle. Don't call it "My Blog" or something else similarly vague. I've named my own blog after my phone extension -- it's mine but still linked to my job. The name you choose for your weblog can help your position in Google (I haven't done a very good job of this). Including a word or phrase that you'd like to own -- something that, when plugged into Google, returns your site -- can be a good idea but don't get too artificial or too long.

Turn on RSS.
Don't worry about what it stands for. Don't even worry about what it is. Okay, worry a little bit. It stands for Really Simple Syndication. And you will need to use it. But don't worry about what it is technically. When you are setting up your weblog, one of the options will be to set up a web feed. This may also be referred to as a subscription option. Make it available. All you need to do is check the box and -- automagically! -- the weblog software will generate an additional page of code based on your weblog which will allow people to use third party aggregators to subscribe to your site.

When you do this, you will be presented with some options for your subscription. The wording will vary but typically these options are: headlines, headlines plus a few words, or the full posting. This refers to the content that people will receive in their aggregator. Only want them to know what you titled your post? Choose headline. Want them to get the first little bit of text or a few descriptive sentences that you provide? Choose the second option. Or do you want them to get all of your posted goodness straight into their aggregator? Choose the third.

I say: pick the third. Yes, I know. The first two force people to click-thru to your site. There, not only will they get your posted words of wisdom, they will also have the chance to prowl around. Heck, they may even decide to give you some money. Except you better be really good at writing those headlines because they may not decide to click. They may not link to you because they don't have enough information. They may even be using RSS to read weblogs while offline. In which case, they need to like what you gave them enough to fire up their computer later, when connected, and go back to your headline, click and see what's on your site.

Permalinks, permalinks, permalinks.
Permalinks are built into the weblog software that I recommend above. In fact, you'd have to make a bigger effort to turn then off then to use them. Essentially, these provide an individual URL for each post. They keep people from having to say, when forwarding your weblog URL, Okay, go to this page and then scroll down. Under the picture of the yak. It's the third headline. Permalinks give an individual URL to a chunk of your content. Folks can forward this and link to it as they desire.

Make it easy for people to share your content.
Okay. This is really just reinforcing the last two points. Full-feed RSS and permalinks make it very easy to share your content. People can email it, they can link to it. They can save it. They can even reprint parts of it. None of this is bad. It's allowing the power of the web to work in your favor.

Link.
Don't be afraid of links. Include them -- link to other organizations, weblogs, news articles -- in your weblog posts. Sure, some people will click on the first one and never come back. For other readers, though, you are providing a valuable service by pointing them to important information in your area of expertise. They may leave, but they'll come back. And they will come back because you will become a source of information for them.

But linking isn't just about providing a clipping service for your readers. It's also about sharing your wealth -- readers and web real estate -- with others. This sharing can increase their readership and some of those folks will share right back.

Read your referrer logs.
Website metrics are a tricky business (even more so for weblogs where, I'd argue, some of the traditional notions of stickiness don't apply and where RSS can obscure the number of viewers). I'm not talking about knowing how many people hit your site today, though that can be seductive. I'm talking about knowing who is linking to you. If you can't get at a referrer log easily, add a counter to the bottom of your site.

I recommend Site Meter and Stat Counter. Both are free. Both can be displayed in various ways and are very easy to insert into a page. And both will provide information on where your web traffic is coming from. Click through. Look at the pages.

Comment on other weblogs.
You can comment on other weblogs in two ways: on their site and yours. Both have value.

Comment on their site when you are really just adding a little bit to their post. When you want to say, Hey, I found this interesting and here's a little tidbit that I can add to that. You bring value to their site but you also show them that you are paying attention. And that you are willing to contribute to the web wide conversation -- not just the conversation happening on your own weblog.

Comment on your site if you have something really substantial to say and you think that it would be of benefit to your audience. If someone else's posts or thoughts are really just a jumping off place for you, make a post to your own site being certain to link to the site provided the catalyst. Not only does this give your readers a fuller sense of where you are coming from, it creates the links necessary for a wider conversation.

Use trackback if your software supports it.
Trackback provides a mechanism for others to -- automagically! -- alert and update your site when they make a post based on one of yours. This will show up in your referrer logs.

Turn on your own comments..
Let it be anonymous or not. Moderated or don't. But give people a chance to chime in. Just like your comments add value to their website, their comments add value to yours. And be prepared for people to disagree with you, to ask you for things, to express their opinions. That means you've hit something in them and it's not bad.

Delete the profane and spam as you will but leave everything else. If someone is harsh or rude, others will recognize it and they will recognize you for allowing conversations to take place rather than just accepting me-too comments.

Archives.
This implies that you are posting. Obvious? Maybe. But you've got to do it. Don't wait until you've perfected and polished that 1,000 word treatise. Post early and often. A little link will do you. Show up, on your weblog, every day. Ask for thoughts and then respond. Pay attention, both to your corner and the weblog world in general.

Archives, by month, provide a history. As such, they develop your credibility and show your investment.

[I just put this post up in ConsultantCommons.org. I made it available in book form which means you can edit it. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome]
(in: blog, npech)

Do you have anything to add?

2005-04-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Troubleshooting Strategies for deskside support. | ConsultantCommons.org (beta).

What's wrong with RSS for mailing lists?

2005-04-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Depends on the kind of list and the purpose.

Using it to republish publicly available lists on a website? Good. Using it to keep up with a list that is announcement only? Good. Using to keep on a list that requires members to communicate with one another? Bad.

Mailing lists that depend on their members sharing information and responding to one another are done a disservice by RSS. RSS tools don't make it easy to reply by email and that is what these mailing lists are all about.

Just in case you thought I was all RSS, all the time.

(in: mailinglists, currency, consumption)

And we're up.

2005-04-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

ConsultantCommons.org (beta) | Sharing Tools for Nonprofit Technology Support. It's working again. There may be some other changes over the weekend so the site might have some down-time.

We're working on it.

2005-04-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

ConsultantCommons.org is down. We're working on moving the current site over to it's own account (it was previously in a development account) and setting it up so that we can have a production instance and a development instance. Looks likes it's taking a little longer than we thought.

You see? We meant it when we said "beta."

(in: consultantcommons, housekeeping, themeaningofbeta)

Running your [nonprofit] on web apps

2005-04-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I shot evhead: Running your company on web apps to an internal mailing list and asked what folks saw as the implications from nonprofits.

Michael Shcrecker responded with a thoughtful email which I'm reprinting (with permission):

I've been thinking about this. First, it's important to realize that the risks a tech startup is willing to take with it's IT systems are different than an NPOs. A startup is likely to put up with more downtime than a NPO with clients to serve. There is also the inherent assumption that many startups have about their employees tech skills. A startup is likely to assume it's employees can maintain adequate broadband links to these web applications systems, where an NPO would be more likely to be crippled by a balky DSL connection. Also, a startup is more likely to have the resources available to evaluate the different web application offerings effectively.

Aside from that, I think the author is pointing us towards a future that, once some of the infrastructure and staff training issues are dealt with, NPOs will start moving towards as well. I think it is likely that a set of successful web applications will become available to non-profit organizations in different sectors in the medium term. I can imagine a set of arts organization management applications that a new theatre company can easily plug into, and quickly have the back office and development functionality they need. As it is now, an organization can use a commercial service like Get Active for large portions of their work.

My personal bias sees this arising out of the free and open source movement, as the economic and cultural advantages of a free tool such as CivicSpace are very strong. There is most likely a niche for a web services provider (WSP) that focuses on using open source tools for NPOs in specific sectors. This also ties into the "NPO in a box" ideas that [we've] kicked around, as well as the fifth "support" layer that some of us have envisioned as a resource to the four layer technology model.*

What do other folks think? What promise is there for nonprofits? How does this mesh with Sonny Cloward's vision for a web-based resource for the Craft Art Community? And how does it fit in with the responses to that?

*The four layers of technology may have to be another post. It's one of the ways we've been presenting technology in organizations.

(in: future, schrecker, hosts, webbased, webapps)

TechSoup Event: Welcome to Online Learning Communities and Collaboration!

2005-04-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Today begins a weeklong TechSoup.org event: Online Learning Communities and Collaboration. Here's the agenda:

Tuesday: What are some free or inexpensive tools for teaching, training and building learning community?

In addition to our discussion on TechSoup on Tuesday, we will have a live synchronous meeting to demonstrate a real-time communication tool. The meeting will be at 11 am PDT (see the World Clock to calculate your time at http://www.timeanddate.com.) Register on the ICT Literacy Community (free) and log in at http://www.ictliteracy.info/ICT-Community.htm. In the Member Offices area, you will see my office (Janet Salmons.) When you hit the button “Enter Now” you will download the bit of Java you need to participate on the Elluminate platform. If you have a mic you will be able to talk using voice over Internet, otherwise you can chat.

Wednesday: How can we build learning community through meetings and conferences? We'll look at some best practice examples from the Tutor/Mentor Connection and KnowPlace.

Thursday: Going from f2f to online learning...what does it take? We'll explore some factors to consider when teaching or training online.

Friday: Any more questions? Summary and resources.

I'm looking forward to participating in this conversation. Through one of our grants, we've been doing some on-line training and I know that we can improve in that area. I'm also interested in the intersection between online communities and learning. I wouldn't necessarily bundle these together in the same way. I'm looking forward to understanding more about how they relate.

(in: techsoup online_event, community)

We need better stories

2005-04-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

I had lunch with Amy Luckey of Blueprint R&D yesterday. We talked about a lot of things: babies, technology, Omidyar, ConsultantCommons.org, our upcoming joint session (with NPower) at the Alliance for Nonprofit Management conference, the Nonprofit Emerging Technology Exchange, and what's possible with technology.

Of all of the things we discussed one has really set up shop in my brain: We need better stories.

We need to find a way, as Amy said, to engage the busy, visionary nonprofit exective director. This ED has a stable organization, good funding, a solid technology infrastructure and a clear idea of what he wants to do with his organization. He's never going to go to NTC. He's not even going to send someone on his staff. And he doesn't keep up with technology. He keeps up with what's going on in his mission area. This is the person, Amy said, we need to reach because he's the person that provide the subject-matter expertise, the drive, and the deep networking that can make some of what's possible with technology happen.

But it's not just finding those people and trying to get an hour of their busy time -- whether at a conference or in their own offices -- to listen to someone talk about the possibilities of things like tagging or RSS or the value of a bullet-proof open API. It's also about providing examples of innovation. Providing a way for these organizations to see themselves taking this leap.

I recently ended a concept-paper to a funder like this:

The potential [...] seems tremendous but, as yet, unknown. We do know, however, that it will take work: a committed [subject]-matter expert to drive the effort, a funder prepared to both champion and seed the work, a group of knowledgeable experts who can be available to demonstrate the possibilities, help populate the toolsets, train and motivate users, and encourage and document the possibilities, successes, and lessons. A technology platform, upon which this can be built, and which is continually made more robust, is simply the enabling device of this effort.

It's the demonstrate the possibilities part. The document the successes and lessons part.

Our stories, right now, are disaster-based. They talk about the horrors of not doing back-ups, of the need for anti-virus, of the monster spreadsheet that could be eliminated by a database. On good days, we can trot out the one about the organization who started making data-driven decisions once they got a good case management system in place.

But there's something beyond that. A place, and I believe now is the time, where nonprofits can push into innovation. When they can set themselves up to take advantage of and harness the unknown. But we need to give them examples of how this can happen. We need to build -- cobble together, really -- prototypes that demonstrate what we are saying. We need to seed the waters with things like a nonprofit-branded feedreader.

How do we do this? How do we start this effort? Gather the stories and make them available? Is this even the right place to start?

(in: storytelling, innovation, possibilities, nptech)

Or maybe Cleveland in May?

2005-04-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

I'll also be in Cleveland this May, tentatively 15-17. Not sure, yet, if I'll be there long enough to try and get together with anyone but if anyone is interested in getting together it could certainly influence my trip plans. If you do want to get together for dinner/breakfast/coffee, drop a message in the comments.

(in: meet?, cleveland, 2005may)

I hear Chicago is lovely in July

2005-04-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be in Chicago July 13-17 for the Alliance for Nonprofit Management annual conference. Anyone interested in getting together for dinner on one of those dates? Drop a note in the comments or send me an email. I always love the opportunity for good, old-fashioned face-to-face time.

(in: meet?, chicago, 2005july)

The value of tagging isn't in search

2005-04-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

Tim Bray in Still Wondering About Tags writes:

Are tags useful? Are there any questions you want to ask, or jobs you want to do, where tags are part of the solution, and clearly work better than old-fashioned search? I really want to believe that tagging is big, a game-changer, but the longer I go on asking this question and not getting an answer, the more nervous I get.

Yes tags matter. But I don't think they have anything to do with search.

I'm coming to believe that tags matter in two ways:

discovery

aggregation

And in those two ways. Tags do help me in my work.

Discovery. I discover two things: knowledge and people. Finding a tag -- whether in flickr or del.icio.us or any of the other sites that are starting to implement tagging -- allows me to discover new information. That information can lead me to people. Certainly, this has been true of the nptech tag. I consistently add contributors to my aggregator and I consistently find links to share with my colleagues and that help inform my work.

It's serendipity. But tags help me harness that.

Aggregation. One of the problems, at least with nonprofit staff, in getting them to contribute content to the web widely is about time. If I'm posting to newsgroups, they say. I'm not posting to my own site. And my site is where my brand is. In the world of scarce resources, these folks make the decision to build what they own. Tags can be a way past this problem.

Look at the technorati tag page for Oakland. It's using the tag word "Oakland" to pull together content that's been sprinkled on the web -- on flickr, on del.icio.us and furl and on something like a gazillion weblogs.

That's pretty powerful.

It promises the ability to pull together distributed content and make that content available in a way that makes sense.

For the beleagured nonprofit staff member that can mean that time spent on a listserv, a message board, contributing to another space on the Internet can build their local content.

(in: tim_bray, tagging, tags, value)

Wrap-up notes from Penguin Day Bay Area

2005-04-13T07:59:00.001-07:00

Penguin Day Bay Area was, as is my experience with Penguin Days a lot of fun. Aspiration (which means Gunner and Katrin) does a good job of keeping the energy high, making sure there's space for everyone and meeting their number one goal: getting people to talk to one another. Also, they are doing an increasingly good job of capturing the events on the Penguin Day Wiki. Community knowledge archives are always a good thing.

I took open-computer notes during one of the morning sessions. Throughout the day, though, I used my Hipster PDA to capture the happening. And here are those notes, straight from my oft-mocked index cards:

#1 goal of event: to get people to talk to one another, make connections
This is not only a nice goal; it's nice to get the goal of the event out in the introductory session. Helps people to meet it and participate in it.

Why isn't F/LOSS ready? The large number of unknowns.
-support
-documentation
-options
-how to choose between the options
-solutions to problems often begin with the phrase "You just need to write a piece of code..."

As an organizations, CompuMentor needs to be much better about capturing a visual record of our work.
-Bring (and use!) a camera

IRC channel for outside conversations on the same topics
-I know that they want folks to meet but would it help if people could have topics on IRC that match the topics at the Penguin Day? Maybe the IRC sessions have a leader too and are logged and added to knowledge repository. Doesn't compete or necessarily provide a back channel for the day but can be support? A way of virtualizing (is that even a word?) the conference?
-Maybe IRC conversations before hand (rather than conference calls) as a way to set the agenda. More people can participant and get a sense of what is going to happen. Might be a way to bring in the local user community?

Check on Meyer Memorial Trust (from Oso Martin of FreeGeek).
-A community foundation that explicitly encourages nonprofits to examine open source when making technology decisions.

Make our speed geek pitch for ConsultantCommons.org available for anyone else who may want to present it.

Speed Geek participants and quick hit:
- Martus: privacy
- Activist Mobilization Platform (AMP): out of the box display and mapping options
- Civic Space: Spread Firefox campaign
- CiviCRM: building a strong API
- Open Office 2.0: interface updated
- ConsultantCommons.org: trickled out rather than released (disclaimer: this project is from my organization)
- FreeGeek: 111,000+ volunteer hours
- WebMin: context-sensitive help on every screen
- xVNC: good remote system to support user coaching
- HOSEF: open source in the education system to institutionalize freedom

Open content session:
- I facilitated
- for the future: start with how nonprofits can use open content; add how they can contribute
- key concern for member orgs: if we give the content away, what's our value to our membership

Off the Record (OTR): IM encryption for AIM, gAIM

[General disclaimer: CompuMentor was a co-organizer of this event.]

(in: penguinday, bayarea, 2005april, aspiration, nptech)

Ready to take the plunge

2005-04-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've decided to keep the weblog. I've been posting here for a few months and my interest isn't flagging. The blog's been helping me. When I went to NTC, my conversations, in many cases, started at a deeper level because of the weblog; I've made or deepened some relationships; and, it's certainly helped get me in the habit of articulating and sharing my thoughts.

I want to continue to work in the medium -- and maybe even try my hand at podcasting, work on longer pieces of writing, and in general play around with this communication means -- but I need to go past blogger. I've played with a beta account on bryght which is a hosted version of drupal. That feels like a little too much for me but it may be the way to go because of the options it gives. After all, I don't have to turn everything on. I've also been using WordPress on my personal blog. It certainly has growth capability because of the various plug-ins. And it's easy-peasy to use and install.

So here's my question: on either of those systems -- drupal or WordPress -- is anyone out there willing to help me to get the site to look good? I have zero graphic design skills but I don't like the out of the box template of either system. I'm looking for a volunteer. All I can offer is design credit on the site but there you go. If anyone's willing, leave me a note in the comments or drop me an email at marniewebb@gmail.com.

(in: housekeeping, volunteer?, drupal, wordpress)

Notes from this morning's Introduction Free Open Source Software

2005-04-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

PenguinDay: Introduction Free Open Source Software: I took 'em. Which is a typo warning.

(in: penguinday)

Today is Penguin Day Bay Area

2005-04-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Penguin Day San Francisco Bay Area: Free and Open Source Software for Non-Profits and that's where I'm at.

Since I recently posted about the nonprofit technology support sector's need to step out of their inboxes and share knowledge, I'm going to try and practice what I preach.

Though Penguin Day events, in general, try and keep people in the room and out of the computers, I'll be posting notes or wrap up thoughts as I can.

The Penguin Day wiki is always a good source of event notes and other information.

(in: foss, open_source, penguinday, 2005april, event, nptech)

You know what I really like about del.icio.us and flickr?

2005-04-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

They put the navigation in the hands of geeky but non-technical users. It's more than just the tagging.

(in: del.icio.us, flickr, tags, navigation)

Not a lot of postings

2005-04-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

But I've been keeping up with the links. You can subscribe here: link blog.

(in: housekeeping, feeds)

San Francisco Bay Area celebrates "Penguin Day"

2005-04-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

The upcoming Penguin Day is in the news: San Francisco Bay Area celebrates "Penguin Day". Still a few spots left. If you're interested in attending, we'd love to see you there.

Penguin Day San Francisco Bay Area.

I'm looking forward to it.

(in: penguin_day, penguinday, open_source, foss, 2005april)

NTC: A collection of post event thoughts

2005-04-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

There was some talk on the nptech IRC channel and on a few blogs about the lack of outbound news at N-TEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference. This despite the conference wiki, del.icio.us and flickr tags.

And this is contrast to the wealth of outgoing information from many other conferences. So why?

I can give excuses (laptop battery drained, too much presenting, general exhaustion) but the truth is, I don't think I place enough of a priority on this kind of real-time knowledge sharing. And I believe that reflects the community as a whole. We tend to live in our inboxes.

We can't live by email (some the richest post NTC exchanges I've seen have been on the NOSI discussion list) alone throughout the year and then expect that people will step out of their inboxes and onto web communication platforms.

A group of earlier adopters (and I hear there's someone who's ready to rally those particular troops) has to take this on and begin communicating and knowledge sharing on a regular basis now. That way, when next year's NTC rolls around, it isn't something extra and unexpected. It's what we habitually do.

It seems to me that a community is beginning to develop around knowledge sharing outside of listservs (which can be a difficult way to archive and collect content even though it's a great way to get a connection to a broader community). These effort show up in the del.icio.us/tag/nptech, in the fledging effort to start keep an IRC channel going. Certainly, it's a part of what N-TEN seems to be thinking about in their rigorous and admirable efforts to collect and maintain a collection of materials from the various conferences. Aspiration is trying to keep this going in the Penguin Day wiki. NPOBlogs.net also helps to support this effort. It's absolutely some our own motivation in setting up ConsultantCommons.org.

But it's not going to happen over night. And it's not going to happen because of the efforts of a few people. It's only going to happen if people keep going to these channels and participate, if these channels bring information, comradeship and connection into the post conference realm. And then, then, if someone does the hard work of bringing them together during a conference.

nten, ntc, nten05, networks, online_communities, knowledge_sharing)

Register for Penguin Day Bay Area

2005-04-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

More than any other event I attend, I feel that Penguin Day gives me an opportunity to listen to the reflections of the other attendees, trade concerns, talk about work and learn about new projects. I always come back with a host of contact and new, excellent, content to fill my feed aggregator. Even more, I feel that the I can carry a little bit of the perspective of the other attendees into the work I do and the problems I face. Enough of the pitch: sign up. Penguin Day San Francisco Bay Area: Free and Open Source Software for Non-Profits.

(disclaimer: CompuMentor, the organization for which I work, is co-organizing this event. I like it anyway. I went in Philadelphia last year and Chicago this.)

(in: foss, open_source, penguin_day, aspiration)

Subscribing to new ConsultantCommons.org content

2005-04-01T06:58:00.000-08:00

I find the best page to subscribe to is this one: recent posts | ConsultantCommons.org (beta). Of course, since we're using civic space almost any possible page has an RSS subscription.

(in: consultantcommons, knowledge_base)

We've launched a little website

2005-03-28T14:41:00.000-08:00

We've been doing a little bit of planning at CompuMentor. You can see some of it in our website and the new name of our direct service program: TechCommons. More about that in a day or two.

In doing all of this planning, we started talking about our own knowledge sharing, the way in which we each use email to archive all kinds of information, word processing documents to collaborate with colleagues. And then it struck us: why not just put up a knowledge sharing site and skip the whole step where we put a password on it. The result is ConsultantCommons.org: Sharing Tools for Nonprofit Technology Support.

The site is very beta. In the really we mean it beta way and not in the Google beta way.

Our goal? Simply put: share our own knowledge about our consulting practice in a way that creates an explicit path to reuse, collaboration, and re purposing. Do we hope that other people share their knowledge? Yes. Absolutely. Do we know, entirely, what is going to come out of this? Not yet. But I'll tell you what, you'll know as soon as we do.

(in: nptech, consultantcommons, commonscoalition, consultants)

Who's using the nptech tag?

2005-03-27T20:55:00.000-08:00

One way to find out: join the IRC chat: Almost Famous - nptech chat.

Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth: Last Night's Boston Digital Divide Meetup

2005-03-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth: Last Night's Boston Digital Divide Meetup. This post is during a session.

Mena Trott's keynote

2005-03-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

I'm listening, typing but also listening, to Mena Trott's keynote on blogging. I have a session about blogging right after this, so I'm spending some time doing a little bit of revamping to take advantage of the information she's sharing here.

But it's also captivating to me that she's talking about the social phenomenon of bloggin -- something I very often leave out when I am talking about weblogs.

Generally, she's talking, and using examples, of how easy it is for information to spread like wildfire -- once you get bloggers to pick that up. She used the Star Wars kid has one example of this.

There is still a huge hurdle though -- how do nonprofits put out information that will get picked up by bloggers?

One way, and this came out of the blogging dinner last night, was for nonprofits to be prepared for "the teachable moment." So, the election, the tsunami, the Iraq war, 9/11. These all were "teachable moments." They were times when, if a nonprofit had positioned itself with a history of publication, personal voice, and publishing, their information could have provided deep source material to webloggers, journalists, and the public in general in those times.

But the positioning can't happen 10 seconds after the "teachable moment." It has to start now so that there is history of expertise in a certain area and helps position the nonprofit to take advantage of the energy that can often swell around an issue.

(in: blogs, mena_trott, ntc, 2005march, NTEN05)

Last night's blogger dinner

2005-03-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

The food, though Cajun in Chicago seemed a little, well, odd, was very good but the company and conversation, ah, that was excellent.

We talked about links as currency, the issues of privacy, organizations ability to stay on message when using blogs, the impact of spam, nonprofit branded feedreader, and other things that I couldn't hear because we had about 15 people and a bunch of small conversations going on.

Here's the post dinner photo:

(in: blogger_dinner, ntc, 2005march, NTEN05)

Tagging the NTC?

2005-03-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

del.icio.us/tag/nten05: Use NTEN05 to get it onto the list.

(in: ntc)

Are you blogging NTC?

2005-03-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

Add your blog to the N-TEN wiki: nten - Blogging NTC.

(in: NTEN05, ntc, 2005march)

N-TEN : 2005 NTC: Tag this! Some NEW NEW stuff on the Web, and how it will affect you

2005-03-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

N-TEN : 2005 NTC: Tag this! Some NEW NEW stuff on the Web, and how it will affect you. I just realized that I'm going to miss this session because it conflicts with another, on which I'm a panelist. I'm very, very bummed about it. I'm looking forward to the session notes.

(in: tagging, folksonomy, ntc, 2005march)

Go read it. Really.

2005-03-23T06:20:00.000-08:00

Movement as Network: Three Pillars of Social Source. I linked the other day before I read it. Now I'm linking after I've read it. Go read it. Really. Read it so you can talk to people about it -- on your weblog, on listservs, in your office. Because, in so many ways, that seems to me to be the purpose of this document to start a conversation. And Gideon Rosenblatt has done an excellent job of that.

I like the way that Gideon explicated the application developers, application integrators, and the application hosters. It provides a nice way to think about how to develop an expertise as a provider of services and how to look for what is missing in the sector. And, by and large, I believe that deep, meaningful integration between those groups is a huge part of what is missing. Regularized integration that can be tracked over time.

But that isn't what really caught my attention. What really caught my attention was this:

n much the same way, the nonprofit technology sector must also come to see itself as something greater than the sum of its individual parts, for it too is a network - a network with the potential to become a movement. What holds it back from its potential as a movement is the lack of a unifying mission. Yes, the nonprofit technology sector does exist to serve the technology needs of the nonprofit community. But that in itself is not unique. Microsoft plays this same role every time a nonprofit organization uses Word to write a letter or Excel to create a spreadsheet. What is it that makes the nonprofit technology sector greater than the sum of its parts? What is its vision - its reason for existence? What, in short, would turn it from a sector into a movement?

We've been talking about that at CompuMentor. We haven't framed the question that way; we've framed it in a much more internal way at first. We framed it as: what can we do to have impact on the sector that is unique to an organization, our organization. And that lead us, because we have publishing platform and a distribution platform, to begin to think larger. Movement was never the language we used but we started thinking in those terms.

And we are at a point now where we have something of an answer. A way to organization ourselves, our work, our relationships and the power that exists in this vast field of ours that we think can raise the bar for technology in nonprofit organizations.

And I'm not going to tell you about it right now. Here's a teaser: my business card no longer says "consulting services." It says "TechCommons."

I'm going to talk about it at a lunchtime meeting at NTC and then write about it after that. If you're at NTC and you want to hear more about what we're working on, please join me at:

Thursday, March 24th from 12:45PM-1:30PM (second half of lunch)
The Cook Room, located on the 3rd Floor of the Chicago Marriot
Water, Coffee, Brownies, Candy, Milk & Cookies will be provided

I'll write more about our new service direction after this meeting.

I'll tell you though, and no kidding, I wish I'd had the language in Gideon's piece as a way to think about this going into our planning process. It would have elevated the discussion right away.

(in: social_source, movement, compumentor, techcommons)

See you in Chicago!

2005-03-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving for Chicago today and N-TEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference. I'll be at CompuMentor/TechSoup's science fair booth. I'll also be participating in a Wednesday night dinner for nonprofit bloggers. I've got a session on Blogs and RSS up my sleeve as well. I'll be participating in that session with my colleague, John Kenyon.

If you're at any of those locations, say hi!

(in: ntc, 2005march, meet)

Three Pillars of Social Software

2005-03-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jon Stahl's post on the Nonprofit Emerging Technology Exchange listserv, I heard about Gideon Rosenblatt's new thought piece: Three Pillars on Social Source. It's in my @read pile. I'm looking forward to it.

(in: social_source)

A proud parent moment

2005-03-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

lucinda 190,
originally uploaded by gorickjones.

I restrain myself. Not more than one a month. Here's the baby picture update: LucyBeck flirting with the mommy behind the camera.

Follow up materials for the my blogs and RSS session at NTC

2005-03-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

I have a few materials for my upcoming NTC session that are, and this is putting it kindly, in beta. I'm hoping that the session itself will provide me with some ideas and resources for completing these drafts. And, frankly, I'm hoping it provides me the raw material for future drafts. If you interested in seeing the documents as they are now, you can look at them here: Blogs and RSS | Consultant Commons (beta).

(blogs, RSS, NTC)

Is podcasting the next big thing?

2005-03-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

Driving home from Ventura, we were listening to kcrw -- they make their content available via podcast. It's getting into the mainstream. People are developing companies. But is it hype? Is it useful for nonprofits?

Deborah Elizabeth Finn wonders if her own skepticism about new technologies gets in the way of really biting off this trend. I don't know. I don't know if it's the next big thing.

I do think that it's a new channel for nonprofits to explore. From distributing PSAs to channeling material to stakeholders, it seems like a good way to help get content out.

(in: podcasting, nonprofits, communication)

Linky goodness

2005-03-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

Get 'em via the RSS feed. All links, all the time: Marnie's link blog.

Non-Profit Use of Open Source | Doc Searls' IT Garage

2005-03-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

Non-Profit Use of Open Source | Doc Searls' IT Garage by Taran Rampersad: "What is happening within groups working on the Digital Divide is an increase in the awareness - and use - of Open Source software."

(in: foss, open_source)

Blogger dinner at NTC?

2005-03-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

It look slike i'll be hosting a blogger dinner at this year's NTC in Chicago. It'll be Wednesday night. There will be sign ups at the conference. So, if you're a nonprofit blogger or have an interest in nonprofits and weblogs, come to the dinner.

And if you can't make that and you see me around the conference, please stop me and say hi.

(in: ntc, blogs, nonprofit_blogger_dinner, 2005march)

Google Groups : Nonprofit Emerging Technology Exchange

2005-03-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

Leading up to this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference, Mark Carr, Sonny Cloward, Greg Ewing and me spent some email energy talking about blogs and the associated sessions and how to give good information without duplicating it in our sessions. That conversation merged, naturally enough, into a way to keep the conversation going after NTC.

And so Sonny started the Google Group: Nonprofit Emerging Technology Exchange. The focus of the group is to talk about blogs, wikis, rss and other forms of online communications, group and/or collaborative applications. Sonny documented the early email exchanges in this background post.

One of the first things we launched into was a discussion of a nonprofit branded feedreader.

If you're interested in this topics, join the group. We're looking forward to the conversations.

(in: nonprofit_groups, community_technology, nonprofit_emerging_technology_exchange)

Bay Area Penguin Day

2005-03-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Penguin Day: Free and Open Source Software for Non-Profits. Nonprofits, consultants and developers will meet in Oakland, CA to work together around issues of open source and nonprofits. It's a chance to network, learn and share.

Bay Area Penguin Day is one of a successful series that began after last year's NTC.

I found that it was a terrific opoprtunity to meet people and, also, to broaden my understanding of the nuances of open source. I look forward to this year's Bay Area event.

(disclaimer: CompuMentor, the organization for which I work, is co-organizing the event. I'd attend even if we weren't.)

(in: open_source, foss, penguin_day)

PSAs in podcasts

2005-03-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

Audio Activism has started delivering public service announcements. This is, I think, a terrific opportunity. Not only to have a PSA delivered to someone's audience but as a concept.

When combined with a $25 podcatching device, organizations could easily distribute their PSAs at relevant events.

(in: podcatching, podcasting, psa, nptech)

Rest in peace.

2005-03-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

Shirley Nadine (Cowden) Beckwith was a sister to six, a mother to three, and a grandmother to five. For 64 years, she was a wife to Wilbur Harvey Beckwith. She has four great-grandchildren and, she just found out, a great-grandson due near her August birthday. To her many nieces and nephews, she was Aunt Ney. To me, she was grandma and a terrific example of what it means to care for and love your family.

She died this morning, at about 5am. I will miss her.

1/3 of the way through my aggregator

2005-03-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

I've been without a home Internet connection since last Thursday. Today's ferry ride to work brought me a third of the way through my aggregator. I'm not emphasizing the "new" in "news," is what I'm saying. But here's a handfull o' links: Marnie's link blog. It's all about the RSS.

(in: housekeeping, web_feed, and link_blog)

TechSoup - RSS Feed Launch Page

2005-03-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

TechSoup - RSS Feed Launch Page. That's right, kids. You can now subscribe to TechSoup. Go to town.

(in: nptech, techsoup, rss)

A technology mash-up

2005-02-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

I use iPodder to subscribe to AudioActivism's mp3 podcast RSS. I download it to my iPod and using my iTrip, I listen to an interview with Marty Kearns via $15 pocket radio. I took pictures with my Canon PowerShot SD200. I posted them to as a flickr set and group. And now, this.

I'm just saying.

(in: technologymashup, podcatching, podcasting, flickr, photos)

NPTech: Updated Summary Information

2005-02-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Brian Del Vecchio, we have updated summary information on the nptech tag usage.

total unique links posted with tag 'nptech': 585

total unique users tagging with 'nptech': 44

top 10 users posting to nptech:

emtx09 (194)
DEF (183)
ext337 (53)
zac (49)
technophobic (47)
Framis (23)
sasslov (21)
geilhufe (19)
rlweiner (16)
alcovest (15)

top 10 links posted to nptech:

popular related tags:

nonprofit (357): DEF(181) emtx09(49) technophobic(46) Framis(23)
sasslov(21) alcovest(15) HeyMan(9) danteusel(2) araucaria(2)
Hybernaut(2) ext337(2) kellan(1) katrinskaya(1) goWILD(1) tedernst(1)
philklein(1)
technology (339): DEF(181) emtx09(101) technophobic(46) HeyMan(4)
danteusel(2) philklein(1) katrinskaya(1) goWILD(1) tedernst(1)
ext337(1)
tech (198): DEF(172) Framis(22) emtx09(3) cozimek(1)
ict (183): DEF(173) emtx09(7) HeyMan(1) zac(1) ext337(1)
mission-based (173): DEF(171) HeyMan(2)
npo (154): DEF(137) alcovest(15) HeyMan(1) RelentlesslyOptimistic(1)
charity (149): DEF(123) Framis(23) araucaria(2) goWILD(1)
ngo (140): DEF(137) kellan(1) katrinskaya(1) ext337(1)
charitable (125): DEF(124) lighten_up(1)
charities (124): DEF(123) emtx09(1)
nonprofits (115): emtx09(112) ext337(2) cozimek(1)
advocacy (50): DEF(19) emtx09(15) tbishop61(8) Framis(2) ext337(2)
alcovest(1) technophobic(1) zac(1) lighten_up(1)
blog (40): emtx09(22) DEF(9) zac(6) technophobic(1) goWILD(1) Tropology(1)
activism (39): DEF(19) emtx09(4) ext337(4) rubyji(3) Framis(2)
kellan(1) strudeau(1) alcovest(1) lordrich(1) technophobic(1) zac(1)
lighten_up(1)
community (38): emtx09(19) DEF(14) ext337(4) Framis(1)
consulting (35): emtx09(25) DEF(9) geilhufe(1)
training (34): emtx09(26) DEF(4) zac(4)
web (30): emtx09(26) DEF(2) lordrich(2)
planning (27): emtx09(17) DEF(9) ext337(1)
software (26): emtx09(17) ananarchivist(2) DEF(2) geilhufe(1)
katrinskaya(1) zac(1) RelentlesslyOptimistic(1) remh(1)
philanthropy (26): DEF(19) emtx09(4) Framis(3)
fundraising (25): emtx09(20) DEF(1) goWILD(1)
remh/Civil_Society_IT(1) ext337(1) remh(1)
online (24): DEF(15) emtx09(5) induhvidual(1) technophobic(1)
goWILD(1) ext337(1)
digitaldivide (24): emtx09(23) goWILD(1)
onlinecommunity (23): Framis(21) zac(2)
activist (23): DEF(16) ext337(5) katrinskaya(1) zac(1)
organizing (22): DEF(18) Framis(2) ext337(2)
communication (21): DEF(17) emtx09(4)
database (21): emtx09(20) ext337(1)
techsoup (20): zac(10) DEF(5) emtx09(2) ext337(2) Hybernaut(1)
management (20): emtx09(18) tbishop61(1) DEF(1)
blogs (19): DEF(8) emtx09(6) ext337(3) geilhufe(1) rubyji(1)
internet (18): emtx09(17) ext337(1)
atech (18): geilhufe(17) tbishop61(1)
ctc (18): emtx09(13) ext337(3) DEF(2)
information (18): DEF(16) emtx09(1) remh(1)
email (17): emtx09(11) DEF(5) tedernst(1)

(in: nptech, nptech_data, folksonomy)

Busy

2005-02-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

Work is hectic. I'm buying a house. We have a two month old baby and we've proven Ogden Nash's definition of "family" by pushing the same cold around the house three times. Yikes! Oh yeah, and on something like a whim (though a thought out and long-time whim) I installed WordPress and switch over my other blog. Once I feel more comfortable with it -- mainly with the plugins -- I expect I'll be moving this little blog to a home of its own.

All this to say, postings here may be light but keep checking out the bookmarks: del.icio.us/ext337.

(in: housekeeping)

del.icio.us/ext337

2005-02-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

del.icio.us/ext337: uploaded some linkage.

What makes a website interactive?

2005-02-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, answering that question, I would have said "An opportunity for users to communicate with other users." This could have been via message boards, by posting content, by participating in a chat or even on a site-sponsored and archived list serve. My point, then, was that a site wasn't interactive if it was a series of one way communications: website owner to visitor; visitor to website owner.

But the bar has been raised. Now, I'd say that the minimum requirement of interactivity is the ability of users to directly contribute permanently archived and linked content to a site. But that's the minimum.

The gold standard is that users can change the navigation of a web site and/or the order and visibility of content on a site.

For example, in del.icio.us, users change the second level navigation via the displayed tags. This happens from page to page.

On flickr, for logged in users, the front page content changes depending on recent submissions and a low level of navigation changes based on tags.

Wikipedia? Big changes. Adding pages and even categories to the site.

(in: interactivity, website, interactive, community_created, user_created)

The meme spreads: another nptech tag sighting

2005-02-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

Non-Profit Websites. Scroll down and you'll find the link to the del.icio.us page. Nice to see this getting out!

(in: nptech_sightings)

nptech tag information

2005-02-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

nptech tag information. Emily's made a blogspot blog for the nptech tag project. Good deal!

(in: nptech_about, nptech)

Whoops.

2005-02-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

If you got that, you see what happens when you mix your blogs.

I was wrong; Technorati is about aggregation

2005-02-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

A while I back I wrote Frankly, I think Google is all about aggregation. Maybe it's just that Burningbird's tagback posts are starting to sink in. But it seems that you could the Technorati tag to track you various comments any place html and web enabled and then RSS-to-html to pour that into a constantly updated webpage that can serve as a personal portal into the Internet.

Actually, you could just use the technorati tag page for your personal tag -- dropped into posts to public listservs, comments on weblogs and websites, etc -- to pull the information together.

(in: aggregation, personal_portal, tagback)

And still more data from the nptech project

2005-02-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

Again, this is from Brian Del Vecchio:

Here's another view, filtered for tags used 10 times or more by more than one poster,
with detail on uses per poster:

technology (251): DEF(170) emtx09(76) danteusel(2) philklein(1)
katrinskaya(1) ext337(1)
nonprofit (220): DEF(170) emtx09(41) danteusel(2) araucaria(2)
kellan(1) philklein(1) katrinskaya(1) Hybernaut(1) ext337(1)
ict (178): DEF(170) emtx09(6) zac(1) ext337(1)
tech (174): DEF(170) emtx09(3) cozimek(1)
ngo (140): DEF(137) kellan(1) katrinskaya(1) ext337(1)
npo (138): DEF(137) RelentlesslyOptimistic(1)
charity (125): DEF(123) araucaria(2)
charities (124): DEF(123) emtx09(1)
nonprofits (70): emtx09(67) ext337(2) cozimek(1)
advocacy (41): DEF(19) emtx09(12) tbishop61(8) zac(1) ext337(1)
activism (32): DEF(19) emtx09(4) rubyji(3) ext337(2) kellan(1)
strudeau(1) lordrich(1) zac(1)
blog (30): emtx09(15) DEF(8) zac(6) Tropology(1)
community (28): DEF(14) emtx09(13) ext337(1)
training (22): emtx09(16) DEF(4) zac(2)
planning (22): emtx09(12) DEF(9) ext337(1)
activist (21): DEF(16) ext337(3) katrinskaya(1) zac(1)
philanthropy (21): DEF(19) emtx09(2)
web (20): emtx09(16) DEF(2) lordrich(2)
consulting (19): emtx09(10) DEF(8) geilhufe(1)
online (19): DEF(15) emtx09(4)
communication (19): DEF(17) emtx09(2)
software (17): emtx09(11) DEF(2) katrinskaya(1) zac(1)
RelentlesslyOptimistic(1) remh(1)
fundraising (17): emtx09(13) DEF(1) remh/Civil_Society_IT(1) ext337(1) remh(1)
information (17): DEF(16) remh(1)
email (16): emtx09(10) DEF(5) tedernst(1)
open_source (16): ext337(8) DEF(7) katrinskaya(1)
techsoup (16): zac(10) DEF(4) ext337(2)
management (16): emtx09(14) tbishop61(1) DEF(1)
blogs (13): DEF(6) ext337(3) emtx09(2) geilhufe(1) rubyji(1)
foss (13): DEF(7) ext337(3) zac(2) katrinskaya(1)
computer (13): DEF(8) emtx09(5)
ctc (13): emtx09(9) ext337(3) DEF(1)
education (12): emtx09(10) DEF(2)
compumentor (12): zac(8) DEF(3) ext337(1)
volunteer (12): DEF(6) emtx09(6)
nten (11): DEF(9) tbishop61(1) emtx09(1)
npower (11): emtx09(9) DEF(1) ext337(1)
riders (10): DEF(9) zac(1)
database (10): emtx09(9) ext337(1)

(in: nptech, data, nptech_data, folksonomy)

More on NPTech Related Tags

2005-02-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

(Again, credit for this goes to Brian Del Vecchio)

tags related to 'nptech' used 10 or more times:

(in: nptech, nptech_data, folksonomy)

NPTech Experiment: A Description

2005-02-14T07:12:00.000-08:00

The nptech is experiment came out of the Nonprofit Taxonomy Creation thread (which, in itself, was spawned by a previous thread which in itself -- but I won't go there).

Essentially this experiment was to encourage participants to:

sign up for del.icio.us accounts
include the tag "nptech" when bookmarking anything of interest regarding nonprofit technology

This had three goals:

collect interesting/relevant URLs;
find other users interested in the same topic; and,
jump start the creation of a taxonomy.

We wanted, as an initial pass, to pull the following data out of the collected bookmarks:

Total number URLs tagged with "nptech";
Total number of users employing "nptech";
Weighted list of URLs where weight is determined by the number of times a URL was bookmarked; and
Weighted list of tags associated with each unique URL.

If you'd like to participate, just sign up for an account and use the nptech tag when appropriate. Please tag the nptech links vigorously: the extra words help with the project.

(in: nptech, nptech_about, folksonomy)

NPTech Experiment: Prelimary Results

2005-02-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some prelimary results from the NPTech Experiment courtesy of Brian Del Vecchio:

total unique links posted with tag 'nptech': 479

total unique users tagging with 'nptech': 31

top 10 users posting to nptech:

DEF (170)
emtx09 (139)
zac (47)
ext337 (43)
geilhufe (18)
rlweiner (16)
tbishop61 (11)
remh (10)
rubyji (9)
kellan (5)

top 10 links posted to nptech:

top 10 related tags:

technology (212)
nonprofit (186)
ngo (135)
non-profit (133)
npo (132)
not-for-profit (130)
tech (127)
charity (125)
charities (124)
nonprofits (70)

In addition, Tim Bishop has sent a spreadsheet containing the nptech data.

More raw information will be coming.

(in: nptech, nptech_data, data, folksonomy)

Because I never ever want to listen to that station

2005-02-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

So, I get an iPod for Valentine's Day. I know, it's early. But I wheedled and put on my best cute, I've been working hard look and held the baby and the cutest of the dogs. It works every time. And an iTrip. She did good.

Anyway.

I'm excited and I immediately start dumping a bunch of podcasts on it. I'm up too late dumping podcasts on it. But I was happy because I had to drive the work the next day which meant I could play with the gadgets and listen to podcasts.

And so I hope in the car the next morning, swing by casual carpool to pick up a rider and take off into the city.

And through the radio "blah, blah, blah blog blah blah rss blah blah mix blah blah www.blah.com." But, of course, I don't notice because it all sounds wonderful to me.

Until I drop the rider off. She sticks head back in and say, "Ummm. What radio station were we listening to?"

(in: podcast, blah, ha)

Whew! Catching up is hard to do.

2005-02-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

del.icio.us/ext337 -- just uploaded a whole lotta links.

(in: none)

A blog gives you a bullhorn

2005-02-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

NevOn: The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #6: February 7, 2005 is a good listen all around. The money spot, though, appears about 24 minutes in. Noah Acres from BigHa talks about responding to a newspaper editorial on his blog. He said* that he thought about the fact the newspaper can print what it wants without contact him, so why can't he? He pointed out that the blog was his platform and so he decided to use it.

That, right there, that blogging removes the gatekeepers and gives you an opportunity to respond to issues, news, comments about yourself is huge reason for nonprofits to have weblogs.

*That's half memory and half a scrawl across an index card but I'm pretty sure I got the gist right.

(in: podcast, marketing, pr, outreach, why_blog)

Lessons Learned: Getting data about the "nptech" tag

2005-02-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

After poking around and convincing myself I couldn't find the answer on the web, I posted a request for tag analysis help to the del.icio.us discussion list. I wanted the helped I'd asked for here.

I found that I couldn't get what I wanted. At least not in some highly elegant organized way. I can port the html of the nptech pages into CSV and go from there with some initial analysis.

But I got a lot more.

Through the discussion (I have 30 emails in the thread though some of them were off-list), I learned a lot about a big flow in the experiment and ways to think about getting past to that flaw.*

The flaw, at least as I read it, is the relative obscurity and arbitrary nature of the "nptech" tag excludes any users who don't find out about the tag directly (via listserv or blog posts, for example) or who don't tag surf to it and then begin to use it.

So the initial project goals:

collect bookmarks having to do with nonprofit technology;
find unknown users;
provide a weighting, represented by the number of users bookmarking an item, for bookmarks; and,
collect descriptive words to inform a more formal taxonomy project.

are undermined by the exclusive nature of the proposed unifying tag.

This leads me to the conclusion that, once some tag analysis has been done, we should do some analysis on the most bookmarked URLs to stretch beyond the users who use "nptech." That will certainly inform the first three goals. But it will really inform that last. We will be able to collect additional words and word groups for the taxonomy process.

Today was, in my book, an absolutely fabulous learning day.

*~~It's my policy not to quote anything that I haven't been given express permission to quote and/or can't be linked to on the web.~~
update:Thanks to a hybernautics I found the delicious-discuss archives. You can view the thread tag analysis help that provided much of the thought behind this post.

(in: nptech_about, tagging, classification)

Tagging behavoir and quality

2005-02-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

There have been, for a while now, a lot of data points and conversations about folksonomies swirling around in my head. Those have been added to by the nptech experiment, Rebecca Blood's recent comments about offensiveness and tagging, and a recent read at Darren Barefoot's site, Accentuating the Positive in Metadata and Folksonomies. I'm also thinking of my own use of tags which happens, primarily, at del.icio.us and flickr. I use tags to:

gather information from a wide variety of users;
organize material for my own benefit;
organize material for the benefit of a defined group of friends and family; and,
deliberately try to share things I think are interesting and/or useful with other, unknown, people who might be interested in the same topics.

What's lacking is any type of quality control.
The reason, I think, that these systems work so well is because they have figured out how to harness self-interest in the service of group benefits. So, quality control by ranking things (in the way that Stumbleupon does or even the Omidyar Network and eBay do) does not catch that particular tiger by the tail.

But what if tags functioned as a kind of vote?

That is, the number of times that something was tagged with a given word placed that something higher on the list.

Here's an example using flickr. Or anyway based on flickr.

Trying to invest users in a community while maintain the motivating factor of self-interest.
Right now, on flickr, you can set the ability of others to add tags to your photos. The default is that you allow your contacts to add tags. But this can be pulled in closer -- only contacts identified as friends and family can add tags -- or pushed out -- all flickr users can add tags. And, when tag gets added, I can see the list of current tags and, (presumably) it gets added for all users. That is, if I add "nptech" as a tag to an image, all users will find that image when looking at the "nptech" tag.

But what if that worked a little bit differently. What if the default is that any flickr user can add a tag to any public photo? And what if I can ignore tags that aren't mine?

For my own self-interest, I might tag other people's photos to be able to organize them myself. I might do this just because I want to, I might do it because I'm assembling collections of photos for various reasons. And I might want to ignore other tags because I don't want someone else's ad hoc taxonomy added into mine when I'm working with images within my own organization schemes. I might choose to this because I'm using a tag differently than other users, for example.

So, I'm tagging my own images and others. And when I'm tagging other images I'm not seeing the previous tags.

But this organizational aspect of flickr is only one of the benefits and completely ignores the social benefit. The ability to looks at everyone's tags and to tag surf images, to subscribe to tags etc.

So, when you move to everyone's tags, in fact, all of the added tags are there. But now, because users aren't looking at a list of tags and adding to it, but rather putting their own tags on an image, the tags have a natural weighting factor that is provided by the number of users that have chosen the same tag for an image. In many cases, that will be a single tag -- the tag provided by the images owner. So, now you can view the photos within a tag in two ways -- newest to oldest (that's how they are viewed now) or by weight. That is, if many users have used the particular word in tagging an item please show me that item first.

That provides a sort of quality control. I can tell that many people have felt a given word applied to an image. It also gives the community an opportunity to respond to what they may feel are inappropriate tags and they can do that by tagging an image with words they are feel are more appropriate. The image will fall to the bottom of the pile in one tag -- presumably the inappropriate one -- and will rise in another tag.

So, now tags are also a kind of vote. I can choose to view a collection of images -- including images that aren't my own -- in three ways: by my own organizational schema; by the organizational schema of all other users, newest first; and, by the organizational schema of all other users, weighted within a tag by the number of users who have chosen that particular tag.

It seems like -- seems like -- this continues to harness self-interest and doesn't interfere with the organizational or social aspects of these kinds of applications and begins to provide an opportunity for some sort of quality, editorial function via tag choices.

(in: tags, tagging, folksonomy, metadata, quality_control)

Influence a CRM software project

2005-02-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

From a post to the Riders-Talk listserv:

CiviCRM is seeking input on the design documents for our open-source (GPL) relationship-management application for the NPO/NGO sector. Four full-time developers will start coding CiviCRM to the design documents on 2/14/05. Get your input in by then!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT IS CiviCRM?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CiviCRM is a LAMP-based, open-source project to create relationship management software for the nonprofit and nongovernmental sectors. CiviCRM stores information on the universe of people associated with a nonprofit organization and on their interactions (emails, donations, petitions, events, etc.).

http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/CRM+Project+One+Pager

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INPUT ON WHAT?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CiviCRM manages contacts and relationships for other software applications. Initially CiviCRM will manage contacts and relationships for the Drupal/ CivicSpace platform (www.civicspacelabs.org).

For other software developers to use CiviCRM, they need to know the data model and the public API. The data model defines what is available (individuals, households, organizations, relationships, groups,
actions) and the API defines how developers access and manipulate that data.

To review documents, follow the hyper link, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the "add a comment"hyper link.

Feature overview (high level):
http://objectledge.org/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=592
Data model:
http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/Data+Model
Public API:
http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/CRM+v1.0+Public+APIs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HEY, I"M NOT A CODE-HEAD!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the documents above make your head hurt, you can still make a valuable contribution! Write a user narrative for us about how a NPO/NGO would store, group and manipulate information about individuals, households and organizations.

User narratives are plain English stories about what a NPO/NGO would do with CiviCRM.

To contribute a user narrative, follow the link below, read the examples, scroll to the bottom and click the "add a comment" hyper link.
http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/User+Narratives

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS IS COOL, HOW CAN I HELP IN MY COPIOUS SPARE TIME?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CiviCRM is an open, community process. We encourage broad participation. The more you contribute time and effort, the more impact you will have on CiviCRM.

Find out how to participate here:
http://objectledge.org/confluence/display/CRM/How+to+Participate

Alternatively, drop me, David Geilhufe, an email at dgeilhufe AT-yahoo DOT-com. We'll find a good way for you to contribute and get all your questions answered.

Please distribute this announcement to anyone that you think needs to know about CiviCRM

(in: crm, open_source, foss, nptech)

Some del.icio.us API help

2005-02-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we've gathered a lot of bookmarks in the nptech tag in del.icio.us. Now, I'd like to see if we can get some information out and I'm having some trouble. I can figure out how to get data out of my own user account, I'm having trouble across user account, however.

I'd like to know the following across the nptech tag in del.icio.us:

The total number of URLs tagged
The total URLs orderd by number of users who bookmarked that unique tag
The total number of participating users
The words associated, via tags, with each URL.

Everything else can -- I think -- be got at by manipulating that basic data. Anyone available to help on this?

updated: Ah, I should have thought of asking the Lazy Web for help.

(in: delicious_api, nptech_about, help)

More on nptech

2005-02-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

[This is a version of a comment I made on the Omidyar network]

The question at hand is: How can we use the nptech tagging project.

So here's my thoughts on the potential outputs/outcomes for this project:

A collection of bookmarks. As Emily's noted, this project has resulted in 400+ bookmarks. This can provide a basis for people delving into the topic of nonprofit technology.
A collection of interested users. From my standpoint, this is also interesting. Via the users, I've found weblogs and projects that I didn't know existed. It feels like, at a base level, the start and/or extension of a community.
Weigthed importance of links. This is very rough but the number of users who link to any given URL provide a "weight" for this URL. I'm reluctant to translate this directly to "importance" but it's a judge of reach, need, and interest.
A collection of words. This one requires more of a leap and I'm not sure if I'm making the right leap or explaining the jump very well. So, if we pull together all the words that different users used to tag a single link, we'll get an interesting collection of descriptive terms. Some of those words will have been used more than once. Those words become highlighted -- these are the words users (even if they are relatively geeky users) are using to describe a parrticular link. Begin to link those together and this can provide the hierarchy for the directory that Emily talked about. It can also begin to provide the basis of a nonprofit taxonomy.

The real question for me is about that last one. How realistic is that? Can a folksonomy be mined to begin a taxonomy? And what, exactly, are the uses of this taxonomy?

(in: folksonomy, nptech_about, nptech_outcomes)

Technology, Serendipity and Social Change

2005-02-03T21:21:00.000-08:00

The common wisdom is that nonprofit executives are overworked, busy with the details of running their organizations and, when they think about technology, they should concentrate on the appopriate uses of it. Often, that translates into thinking about technology infrastructure, a basic web presence and some fundraising and outreach.

I'm starting to think that isn't the right answer.

I'm starting to think that maybe nonprofits should be on technological edges. They should, in fact, purposely position themselves so that they can take advantage of potential for the benefit of social change.

What potential? I have no idea.

I try and parse out my own attraction to bright shiny things in thinking about this. And that's hard. Actually, it's very hard.

By making sure that nonprofits are taking advantage of innovation, they have the opportunity to move technologies and change in specific directions. Certainly, this happened with the Dean Campaign and their use of DeanSpace, now CivicSpace Labs. Technology, and being open to it, helped to take the campaign in ways in would not have gone without it.

I'm not arguing, here, that serendipity is a technology plan. I'm thinking that it is an opportunity that should be considered in addition to proven benefits.

So how can nonprofits position themselves to take advantage of potential:

Open APIs. If they develop a web presence that has any application functionalities (this could include a database), they should make sure that they are using a CMS that allows for an openAPI so that it is possible to interact with their content, data and any applications that might be available on their website.
XML, RDF, Atom, RSS, Syndication. Any of these batch of words may be used to explain a process by which people can subscribe to a website with an aggregator. It also allows the publication of headlines on others sites. In one way to set content -- and your ideas -- free. You never know how people are going to use stuff.
Utilize a Creative Commons license. People using your stuff spreads your ideas and that is a huge part of engaging with all of the different available constituency. And, this is of course a serendipity key, you never know how they are going to use it.
Open Source your internal applications. You have a specialized database that you've build to handle case management functions? Open source it. Give it a license that allows it to be used and modified by others and then, just like everything else in this list, set it free. People may build on it in interesting and beneficial ways.
Encourage others to experiment with your data. This is, in my opinion, what OCLC is doing with their software contest. Again, they don't know what the results will be but there is a good chance they are going to be interesting.

How else can nonprofits position themselves, technologically speaking, to take advantage of the unexpected, of opportunity?

(in: opportunity, potential, social_change, technology)

Link upload

2005-02-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Tossed a bunch of links into the link blog (RSS). Enjoy.

(in: link_blog, housekeeping)

A Community-based Tagging Project

2005-01-31T23:11:00.000-08:00

So, I've been thinking and talking a lot about tags lately. Not just the nptech tag in del.icio.us. Or even its use in flickr and, as Katrin suggested, 43things. I've also been thinking about the ways in which they can be used to build and support community in local geographies.

I've been talking with my colleagues about the kinds of projects that can be developed with tagging. Here's an example of the kind of thing we've been brainstorming.

So imagine this: you send out 100 digital cameras to each of ten libraries. On a specific day, the libraries bring together volunteers and community members. They teach the community members -- kids maybe or...? -- to use the cameras. They send them out to take pictures. The volunteers help the community members to get the photos from the camera to the web using the public access terminals in the libraries. Then they put all the photos up on flickr.

Everyone in all ten cities uses one common tag for their photos -- say "community project" -- and then they add the city name. From then on, the tags are whatever the photographer thinks is appropriate. At the end of the day, the participating photographers keep the cameras and their newly setup flickr account.

So what comes of this?

Well, the libraries get to meet some interested volunteers. The community members get introduced to the library as a resource beyond shelves of books. The public access terminals get some play. The community members get to produce and share some content.

Now, the common tag can be used to call up all photos taken as a part of this project. Interesting -- maybe you can make an Internet art show out of this. Combined with the city name, local community-based organizations can have access to community created images. Who knows what comes of that? Maybe the library does a place-based art exhibit (people rank the photos as "favorites" those photos are printed and hung in the library).

I don't know all the possibilities but it seems interesting.

What would be required? An organizing partner to do project management, develop the training, help recruit volunteers, and provide assistance with outreach and fundraising. The ten libraries. A corporate partner to donate the cameras. That one or others to provide a hook to volunteers. A funder or two to provide the dollars necessary to support the participating organizations' involvement.

Does anyone know of any projects like this?

(in: proposal, half_baked, tagging, tags, folksonomy)

Updated: A Nonprofit Guide to Getting Started with RSS | extension337

2005-01-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

A Nonprofit Guide to Getting Started with RSS | extension337. I've added some more detail to this outline. If you have any comments, please feel free to add them. If you sign up for an account, you can edit the page.

(in: rss, nonprofit_guide, how-to)

Extension 311 - Tech for Arts Orgs

2005-01-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

Greg Beuthin joins the blogosphere: Extension 311 - Tech for Arts Orgs. This should be good.

(in: nptech, arts_organizations, compumentor)

Recycled Computer Lab

2005-01-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

Recycled Computer Lab,
originally uploaded by xurtum.

So, I'm looking at Zac's flickr stream and I start wondering, What if we apply the nptech tag to photos, too?

(in: nptech, tags, photos)

3 URLS podcast from audio activism

2005-01-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Audio Activism: 3URLs 01/23/05. This podcast is an interview/discussion with Ruby Sinreich. She talks about RSS, the end of objectivity, and three interesting URLs. In the course of it, she helps to push the nptech meme.

Thanks!

(in: podcast, rss)

Contact me.

2005-01-26T14:47:00.000-08:00

Really. I mean it.

marniewebb@gmail.com
415-633-9300 x337
AIM: wbb204
ICQ: 318636276
Yahoo: GorickJones
Jabber: marniewebb@jabber.com
MSN: marniewebb@gmail.com

linkalicious

2005-01-24T22:28:00.000-08:00

Get yer red hot link feed:

Link blog feed

A Nonprofit Guide to Getting Started with RSS | extension337

2005-01-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

A Nonprofit Guide to Getting Started with RSS -- I've created an outline on a test version of a bryght site. If you have any edits, go for it.

(I'm thinking of moving over to bryght because of the more robust tool set -- particularly the ability to host wiki-like editable pages)

(in: nonprofit, rss)