NpTech Tag Summary: Penguin Day in New Orleans, Fondling the Tools, and More

Photo from LolNPtech.org (Registration is here)

Mashups, Meatballs, and New Orleans

Do you look at all of the data available online, and imagine ways to combine and connect it to increase awareness about an issue?  Then enter The Netsquared Mashup Challenge!  Applications will be available form Feb 1 to March 14, 2008.  (Wonder if smashups are eligible?)

NTC will take place in New Orleans March 19-21.  There's going to be a Netsquared Meetup (recommendations for restaurant or location are needed)

How will your nonprofit avoid the Meatball Sundae? asks Rich Reeder.  Of course, referring to the newish book by Seth Godin called Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?


Social Media: Adoption, Strategy, and Measuring Success

ZUP4Nonprofits has a two-part post (pt. 1 and pt.2) that discusses how to lay the groundwork for board signoff on an organization's social media in initiatives.

I Collaborate blog has a post about how to lobby for skype in your organization, if you're working internationally.

Nancy White answers a question posed by Laura Whitehead "Getting the most from social media for nonprofits: what would you recommend?"as part of a LASA Panel she is planning.  Nancy raises a few questions about whether a distributed presence for organizations - splitting the attention of members between an organization's web site and social networking profiles is a liability or an asset.   What I wonder is whether difference audiences are being reached? 

David Wilcox has been doing a lot of thinking about re-inventing membership organizations or associations given that one can connect and meet people who share their interests online more easily with social media tools.

JournaMarketing has a post called "Why Your Blog Is Worthless without Connectedness" which harkens back to an ongoing debate we've had in this space -- is a blog just a web site or a community?

Network-Centric Advocacy blogs points to a new feature at Alex's Lemonade Stand called "From the Mail Bag."  Interesting site from NRDC called "itsyournature.org"

An article about new features coming from social network sites that will prevent your personal and professional life colliding and resulting in embarrassment.

This post traces the evolution of social networking sites from the 80's to present time, although missing a few major early players.

KM4Dev has a section devoted to Social Network Analysis process and tools.

Jeremiah Owyang's "Why Your Social Media Plan Should Include Success Metrics" post might help nonprofits identify some realistic short-term outcomes for social media implementation.  I love the term "fondling the hammer"  which is about focusing on the what the tool can do, not  the tool.

Let's Fondle The Tools the Right Way

Chris Brogan's A Sample Social Media Toolkit describes a few sample tools and what they can be used to accomplish.

Michelle Murrain is doing a post about 100 free and open source software tools.  Her selection criteria. Here's here write up on word press.  By my calculations, she have almost completed the series before the NTC in March.  Meanwhile, across the pond, Susie muses about GIMP.  There's also the DiSo Project, an umbrella for a group of open source implementations of distributed social networking concepts.

NTEN's monthly roundup of tech resources called "Things We Like"  (and I'll add to "fondle.")

Okay, now we're onto fondling APIs, google's to be exact. Via NTEN blog Google moves one step closer to making desktop applications obsolete with the release of the Google Chart API.  The Wild Apricot blog offers a tutorial and a list of sites currently using the API. 

Speaking of Google, check out this new doc uploader and this bookmark service that aggregates all social bookmarking sites in one click (for those of us tool fondlers who need more than one tool for each type.  Guess you can't have too many social bookmarking applications.)


Philanthropy, Fundraising, Disasters, and Video

Good corporate citizenship was highlighted at Davis this past week.  Bill Gates gave a speech on "creative capitalism."  Gates Foundation also announced grants to programs aimed at helping small-scale farmers in Africa and Asia.     Intel unveiled its support for the Global Education Alliance's pilot program to create an education framework in Rwanda.

Reacting to the Chronicle's Direct Mail is Dead, the Donor Power blog says not so fast.

The Nonprofit Blog reviews InStedd.

This spring, Video Party, in association with Art Matters 2008 and Apathy Is Boring, will be presenting a selection of films about creating a world that we want to live in. "Whats Your Revolution?  Share Your Stories and Change the World" is accepting submissions until February 7th.   

MasterNewMedia has published an awesome Video Beginner's Guide written by Michael Pick.

New(to me) Blogs

Good Works Grapvine covers social media and strategies for Non-Profits.

The NpTech Tag started as an experimental community tagging project in 2005. A loosely coupled group of nonprofit techies and social change activists decided to use the tag "NpTech" to identify web resources that would create an ongoing stream of information to promote and educate those working in nonprofit technology. Many individuals tag hundreds of resources each week. Through TechSoup's Netsquared project, blogger Beth Kanter, was commissioned to write a weekly summary.

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Comments

[Nathan Ketsdever]

Awesome post as always! On the issue of Google, I just ran across this resource that draws on the wisdom of crowds from Google reader... http://readburner.com/
Its kind of like the front page of delicious or digg.

Cheers!

[New Orleans News Ladder]

Hey Thanks for the heads up, Beth. You rock big dogs.
As to the NTC Conference Meet-up in March, House of Blues is only a couple of blocks away in the Quarters on Decatur and is a wonderful meeting place with a great Happy Hour and restaurant.
http://www.hob.com/venues/clubvenues/neworleans/
However, The Rising Tide 2 NOLA Bloggers conference had our meet & greet at Buffa's Lounge on Esplanade at the bottom of the Quarters.
http://risingtidenola.com/
Very local, they really set us up right in their little party room. Excellent Food. Great Drinks, the whole show and we wanted for nothing! We had our own space but could also go the to the old bar and stroll around outside. Beautiful.

We look forward to seeing y'all!
Thank you, Ms. Beth, for keeping the lights on in New Orleans.
Bruce
editor~New Orleans News Ladder