Fast Company post by Rachel Gillett on better to-do lists, September 2014
1. Break projects into more manageable tasks
2. Tackle the task you hate first
3. do a do-done list to show what you have accomplished, including the things that weren't on your to do list
List of content curation tools with good graphic of tools. This is from March 2014 and there is a disclaimer that new tools are coming out all the time. The comments to this blog add Diigo and ScoopIt. Was interesting to me that Delicious was in this list, but not Diigo.
From Nonprofit Tech for Good blog, 1/11/14 Interesting to see how this list meshes with the list from 2015 from the business and not for profit side.
Top of the list is mobilizing online communications and fundraising campaigns. Although not free and costly to small not for profits, social media and responsive designs for websites, blogs, and e-newsletters will become common. Flat design - making sure everything is optimal for mobile is crucial.
Donate buttons on social media sites. Google Wallet will be integrated into Google+ pages. Already on YouTube Channels that participate in YouTube's nonprofit program.
Live reporting on social media of org events, maturation of mobile fundraising apps, and increased employment opportunities in new media jobs in the nonprofit sector are the other 2014 trends.
Depressing article from USAToday by Elizabeth Weise about how the US is now 28th on the list of global gender equality, behind Rowanda and some other third world countries.
Blog, June 19, 2013, Scoop.it, on how Most Popular leads into reading more in a webiste can be quite distorted to direct reads. Advocates for human curation.
"The solution: Human curation. We need to provide readers with lists and collections of content that are popular within a certain field because they are genuinely popular to those who know about or are interested in that field. Most Popular lists on websites are generated by algorithms, making them extremely easy to game (by clicking the same content repeatedly, for instance) which in turn leads readers to believe they've found good content when they oftentimes haven't. It's the job of the curator, as a human, to let other humans know what they (the curator) are finding to be the best pieces of content on a topic - as someone who knows about a specific subject or interest."
Can't find the date on this but Quertime lists 15 of the most widely used web forum platforms that we might want to explore. It does list BuddyPress as well. phpBB looks interesting, as does zetaboards, and maybe PunBB.
Excellent list of Diigo linked resources assembled by Elyse Eidman-Aadahl on traditions in adult and workplace learning. Has implications for how we structure the learning processes/places for WLS.
Access to NCWO's Membership List-serv is a key NCWO Membership Benefit. Only NCWO Member Organization staff and individual members are included. The list-serve allows members to quickly reach more than 240 member organizations and individuals through email and share Action Alerts when your letters require cosponsors, Members of Congress need constituent calls, or your upcoming event or most recent report can use widespread promotion.
Interesting and VALUABLE links-rich how-to blog post by Wade Foster at Zapier, a distributed company, June 27, 2013 on managing remote teams. Identifies excellent resources elsewhere assembled by practitioners in remote work places.
Identifies three key things: team, TOOLS (great list for work team), and processes for success.
Team--hire doers, hire people you can trust, trust the people you hire, hire people who can write, hire people who are okay without a social workplace
Tools--Campfire for virtual office; Sqwiggle, a persistent video chat room that takes a picture of you every 8 seconds which people can see on their computers and instant video chat; email, Trello for joint to-do list; GitHub for issues and pull requests; iDoneThis for daily digest of accomplishments--notes that "it is great for personal use as well because it can help build habits." Also Chrome profiles, LastPass Enterprise, Draft for easily versioning drafts, and Google Docs, Hello sign (for signatures without hassle of scanning, etc.), and Google Talk
Processes--everyone does support on regular schedule to stay close to customers; a culture of shipping, weekly hangouts, weekly learning, monthly one on ones, culture of daily feedback
from Zenhabits.net. Although from 2008, it has a great list of how to stay healthy when working from home. Most of this list can translate to office too!
"We couldn't be happier to present the fourth annual list of FORBES 100 Best Websites for Women than we are today-for this year more than any other this has been true collaborative effort by dedicated staffers, contributors and ForbesWoman readers. For that reason it just might be-dare we say it-the best list ever."
part of the interview with Sonia Simone and Jerod Morris at Copyblogger following their decision several weeks ago to close down comments on the Copyblogger blog site.
Excerpt:
"I don't put my business assets on a platform that I don't control. So I don't put my content on a platform I don't control unless I have it somewhere I can keep it and benefit from it. I wouldn't post original content to Facebook. I would just never - it doesn't make a lot of sense, other than just a post, a simple throw-away kind of a post. So our content lives on our domain, in our e-mail lists. These are assets we can control. "
I'm not sure exactly what she means by "content lives on our domain, in our e-mail lists." Maybe it's as simple as it's Copyblogger's stuff, they own it, it's only used to achieve their business purposes and it isn't original stuff that is published elsewhere or stored there on someone else's platform for digestion and use?
Blog post also introduces "digital sharecropping" to me.
Interesting note about Google-Plus, too.
"The nice thing about Google-Plus is I'm notified when someone actually mentions my name, or if I'm following that discussion then I'm notified within Gmail or Google-Plus, any one of the Google products. So it's nice in that way. There's a lot more ease of use. "
"These are our favorite female bloggers and career sites for women. The list is taken from our blog. It is in alphabetical order rather than priority. We could not include everyone. Please add your own favorites if yours is not included."
Blog post by Sylvia Browder at the Story Exchange--where women mean business.
"Challenge 2: Undefined Niche
To Niche or Not to Niche…that is the question. What is a niche? A niche business is one that targets a very specific group of people with specific shared interest. A business with an undefined niche is like a ship sailing in shallow water.
By creating a niche business allows you to market to your ideal clients. For example, if you were a behavioral psychologist targeting teens, you would market your services in places where parents are likely to find out about you; such as advertising in parent magazines, providing resources to local middle and high schools or joining organizations geared towards parents.
Solution: By understanding who and where your ideal customers are; it is easy to craft a marketing plan to target them. Here are three easy ways to target your potential clients:
* Improve your website's SEO with specific key words
* Generate exposure locally and virtually with professional speaking, seminars or publishing a book or articles.
* Craft a clear message that speak at the heart of your customer "
Challenge 4: No Social Media Plan
Random tweets and meandering Facebook posts will result in a lot of time devoted to zero results. Before making another useless post, sit down with pen and paper and make a list of what you want to achieve from social media. To which social media do you belong? What are some social media marketing strategies that you have noticed from other companies? What do you have that will offer value? You may find that your company is spread a little too thin across the social media spectrum. Quality truly is superior to quantity in this respect.
Solution: Create a social media marketing plan and stay the long haul. Establishing a strong presence can be a very time consuming process. It is unwise to expect your list of fans, followers or subscribers to grow overnight.