Group items tagged

substantive new report out from the Knight Foundation that is worth attention: Connected Citizens: The Power, Peril and Potential of Networks.  The report notes: *It's important to listen to and consult the crowd in our work *We should create environments where connections can naturally form, including between people with different perspectives *It's good practice to support collective action so grassroots efforts can grow So how can nonprofits embrace these practices? 

This article was good at showing the different ways blogging can inflict cost. You can choose the method which matches your flexibility to pay. $12000 annually will still be more than some can afford to pay. Carrying a full-time employee to manage the blog is the bulk of the cost so some may consider adding this as a responsibility to someone capable in the organization in the interim.

After seeing the tragedy that has hit Japan, I found this story to be useful as a great example of how tech can really affect people's lives. Google has provided a system where you can search the name of a person in Japan and find out about their status in the country after the earthquake. This tool is so important for government to use during a national disaster because it allows families, no matter where they are across the globe, to better find out what has happened to their loved ones after such a tragedy. Governments or non profits such as the American Red Cross can use this technology in all types of different relief effort circumstances when a number of people somewhere in the world have been the victim of such a disaster.

Nonprofits can promote advocacy through new sources of technology

This website gives some good statistics on facebook and how non profits can use and benefit from it.

If you setup a file server at non profit this article outlines a good strategy for your files structure. The use of outside backup and a partition of disk drives should be done from the start. It is a good idea to determine what the activities will be and make the structure match to avoid over searching... Some seemingly simple structures can be a nightmare for maintenance.. A good file server setup promotes sharing which can produce efficiencies..

This is really server basics for some of the less technical but it's good advice

Microsoft Community Affairs and TechSoup recently hosted a webinar focused on how moving to the cloud can benefit nonprofits.

This blog addresses how sensitive issues can be kept private when used by nonprofits to form a community. Examples include how a nonprofit supporting the victims of human trafficking can story-tell their experiences to a wider community without endangering the privacy of the ones involved.

This is admittedly NOT nonprofit related.  But I thought some of you might be interested to know you can get Windows 7 Professional for just $30 from Microsoft.   If you're running Vista, BUY THIS NOW. Windows 7 runs noticeably faster in my experience than Vista on the same hardware. If you're running Windows 7 Home, it's not as big of a deal (if you're on XP, it can get messy to upgrade. Ask me if you have questions). Andy

Survey tools automatically collect and tally responses in "real time," which means you can watch the results come in as they're being submitted. Results are often organized and presented graphically using charts and tables. Most tools will even produce reports based on the survey results. You can share the results with members of your staff, and even with survey respondents. post date:  Feb. 1, 2011

This website lets you create videos with different characters, voices, backgrounds,and your own scripts. Any company, person, or nonprofit can make them. These videos are useful to get information out quickly, and can add humor to information that might not normally gain attention

A link to a weekly quiz to gather opinions about issues going on around the world. A cool example of how easily globalization can happen with the use of the internet. A short time ago people didn't know what was going on around the world, now they can gain information and contribute to discussion!

By Amy Potthast, Director, Service and Graduate Programs at Idealist "As a non-techie, I think I can safely say that a hiring nonprofit's current staff may have so little technical knowledge, they don't even know what skills are needed to do a job they want done. This lack of clarity on the employer's part can translate into some confusion and challenges on your part when you apply for a nonprofit job. I chatted with my colleagues on Idealist's web team for pointers to pass along."

As the cell phone becomes more affordable to the rest of the world, people with no bank accounts, or those who have to spend a lot of money to go to a bank have found an easier way to carry out transactions.

I think this is similar to what i have at my credit union its called audio teller where we have an automated number we can call during or after banking hours to manage our accounts, I love it and couldnt live without it!! : )

With over 500 million users, Facebook is the undisputed king of social media. Many users are now turning to Facebook first to learn about businesses and organizations. So, how can a non-profit make the most of Facebook?

A detailed list of things non-profits can do to improve the way they use facebook. I'm sure it is surprising for organizations to find out how much work is truly involved in keeping a social media account up to date and relevant.

In some states, walking, jogging, or riding bicycles while distracted can now take a hit out of your wallet. In New York, a bill that was shot down is now breathing new life again in the state government. The bill proposes fining bicyclists who are multi tasking $20 for each infraction.

In some states, walking, jogging, or riding bicycles while distracted can now take a hit out of your wallet. In New York, a bill that was shot down is now breathing new life again in the state government. The bill proposes fining bicyclists who are multi tasking $20 for each infraction.

At first I had no intentions of using this article as a bookmark, however, after I got to reading it I realized the implications it has in regards to public administration. As technology advances and becomes more prominent within society people are finding more uses for it for personal and emotional gains. As more technology is available, it is more likely that children will have access to these also. This article describes the schools and law enforcemenets efforts to combat the problems that technology can bring to our society. This article also suggests public policy involved in these types of cases and can also spark ideas into ways that policy can become better and more fine tuned to fit the needs of our society today.

Technology has been dramatically improving relief efforts in places like Haiti. For example, "crowd sourcing" can be used to get information on any medical emergencies and to track trapped victims and then it can be used to create an online map that can be used by relief workers. Volunteers have been using GPS on their phones to help them through unfamiliar areas.

some info on the secure content box which can popup over and over and over and over and over if somebody doesn't get a handle on it

The evil secure content popup box terrorizing websites going to the cloud can be stopped!

These topic seem are important on how its educated us about what technology does to the nonprofit or government. some of the things they Author point out were impactful, innovation, and tranformative all these words were used for the change a technolgy could do to the alter the nonprofit or government programs. i think that it useful to have these technology that support our ideas about negative impact that could damage nonprofit work in some ways.