I am an active member in Open Austin which has been working to re-do the City of Austin’s Web Site. Here is an excerpt from the Austin Go Blog: “AustinGO will release a new RFP on Monday, July 27, 2009. The new RFP is the result of invaluable outreach and feedback from the Austin community and industry experts.

Here are some screenshots (click on the pictures to see a larger version of the screenshot) ( UPDATE 7/25/2008 : Due to privacy concerns, earlier screenshots have been replaced by pictures of someone named David Neff praising the Mighty Hall of Printed Web Screenshots): For more information, here’s a look at the short case study they produced.

Flickr Photo by Cursed Thing Last year at this time, I was in Austin, TX doing a keynote workshop for Legal Services Corporation on the ROI of Nonprofit Technology.   Numbers need context - and that context - insight - can help with improvements.  The basics include: benefits, value, metrics, and financial calculations. Do you agree?

It was an Austin Meetup.com online community and monthly meetings that allowed us to stop dreaming about chickens and actually jump into building a coop and adopting seven pullets (young hens). Then I found a reason to be especially interested in backyard chickens in Austin, TX and I joined one of these small communities. Yep, Yelp.

This was an initiative that began in the city of Austin, Texas with the municipally owned utility company, Austin Energy. In September 2006, Marin County soft ordered 22 Plug-in Hybrids Electric Vehicles. In October the City of Berkeley soft ordered 40 plug-ins and in December the city of Alameda soft ordered 98. What's going on?

Once we learned all flights were grounded, we quickly arrived at the decision to abandon our plans and drive back to Austin at once. I’d have taken a picture and figured out TwitPic. was also surprised that El Paso, TX is only the half-way point between LA and Austin. Pictures. And, so quickly, ways to help.

The project that I volunteered at with fifteen other Convio employees was a classroom makeover for a local Austin school, Gus Garcia Middle School. Communities in Schools works with other nonprofit organizations to bring programs into schools to help students with academics, social issues, counseling, mentoring, and financial support.

One of them @peoppenheimer   was kind enough to critic and help my own poem's meter and rhyme!  Collected hundreds of “thanks” from people affected via Twitter and regular channels saying the info we provided on newsroom helped them navigate their situation better. We asked our chapters if it helped them get info out. Thanks!

After 5 jam-packed days at SXSW Interactive in Austin, the Beaconfire contingent is back in the office, catching up on email and trying to process everything we saw and learned.  While is was occasionally helpful or entertaining, most of the time it kept me looking down at my phone instead of up at the panelists or the people around me. 

DB: Well, I was working with a recycling nonprofit at the time, and we would give guys jobs out of shelters and help them move into apartments and whatnot. So instead of getting a truckload of winter coats, they could just say, "Well, I need a bed, I need a chair," and the local communities everywhere were able to help them.