Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 29, 2008

This is where the role of nptech peeps like e-riders and so on can help support in an unbiased way to help groups to make the correct and informed choices (which is partly why I personally work with so many different apps). I help them to work out first what they want and why, then help find the right tool to do the job.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 25, 2008

What I learned about Linux back then was that it was a way (along with the help of a college) for a nonprofit organization to get on the web easily and relatively inexpensively. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2). Be Helpful. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 4, 2007

It seems to me that they could learn from the other successful projects out there – the really successful projects are supported by a wide variety of methods, whether it be a support model, a nonprofit foundation model, a hosted model, and others. Be Helpful. However, that won’t happen. Mitchell 10.25.07

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

FEBRUARY 5, 2008

It is a tool which is used predominantly in the open source world, for developers and users of open source projects to talk to one another, and get support. I like it because I can get fast technical help, and since I don’t have many people around me most days, it does provide a bit of a social atmosphere. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 15, 2009

at 1:09 pm Thanks so much for the shout out…take a look at the latest article [link] Thanks so much for the support! Be Helpful. 2 homefreeorg 05.01.09 at 4:21 pm We would love it if you’d add us (Home Free Organization) to your blogroll…we will do the same…thanks! 3 homefreeorg 11.06.09

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 17, 2007

I might try using Yugma on my Mac desktop (I actually haven’t tried that yet – I don’t know whether it’s supported,) because the interface on Yugma is clean and nice, and it seems bug free. I hope that information helps you in your analysis. This will help us make Dimdim better. One last thing.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 14, 2008

There are an increasing number of third party apps that can use it (it supports the Twitter API.) Be Helpful. I imagine, too, because it’s based on an open source platform, developers will begin to code in data portability (or have they already?) So I’m on identi.ca now ( follow pearlbear ).

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 17, 2008

This is going to make these projects better, and make support for them more available. Be Helpful. Open source is becoming mainstream, and people (that is, people with money) are starting to throw big bucks in the direction of open source projects, and companies that provide services for open source projects.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

DECEMBER 13, 2007

They’ve been supporting open standards for years. Be Helpful. I’m liking Six Apart more and more these days. They are really putting their money where their mouth is, in terms of working toward more openness.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MAY 29, 2008

at 7:56 am I have no idea if there is a Kintera User Society, but we at the Blackbaud User Society would be thrilled to have Kintera clients join us to get unofficial support for their products and join our growing community of Blackbaud clients and users. Be Helpful. 2 Anonymous 06.13.08 2 Anonymous 06.13.08

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 24, 2008

then:- - buy hardware that is supported (unless you are a developer or tinkerer) - use software that is not proprietary its easy. it is particularly sad because its still virtually impossible to spend grant money on GNU/Linux support, people like to fund shiny hologram boxes. Hardly going to buy much paid support!

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

It is very easy to install, and there are an increasing number of consultants and companies offering support for Moodle. Be Helpful. There are open source LMS, some of which are quite well developed, and some also geared toward (or developed by) colleges and universities. Moodle – probably the best known open source LMS.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 15, 2007

I’ve had a fair bit of experience with Drupal – nosi.net is run on Drupal, and I’d done a Drupal install once, and helped with some now and again. One thing that worries me about drupal is the pace of change, and the lack of a long term support release. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 26, 2007

It supports the open formats, and any book that is not DRMed is sharable. Be Helpful. Allows me to upload any open document format (.odt, odt, rich text, pdf) Allows any vendor of books (like Lulu, for instance) or any independent author to provide books for the device. Sorry, Amazon. Kindle is a bust for me. { at 1:52 pm Thanks!

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 15, 2006

But as I re-enter this field I love, I can’t help but think about this question again. Be Helpful. As someone who was a real rarity in my early years (how many African American women neuroscientists have you heard of?) I didn’t ask this question too often (it would just depress me.)

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 23, 2007

They saved some in cost from a proprietary PBX system – but then they had to spend more on support and the like – it was a wash cost wise. Be Helpful. I just had a great conversation with a IT manager at a medium-sized nonprofit that had implemented Asterisk for their call center.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

For example, for typically less than $1000 / year, most average sized non profits can depend on their vendor for UNLIMITED support. For open source, that translates into 10-15 hours of a consultant’s time- less than 2 days- where a vendor can provide unlimited support for an entire year. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 19, 2007

Providers seem to be surviving (or thriving) with this model, free and open source software projects are getting the support they need, and clients are getting the software solutions they need. Be Helpful. This may be where the gift economy rubber meets the road. This is a model that is impossible with proprietary software.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 14, 2009

As mentioned below, the most solidly supported functions are those related to mail.&# I’m not sure that you can support the argument that they should be a religious check box for meeting the needs of CiviCRM’s target constituents– small and mid-sized charities. Be Helpful. 8 Judi Sohn 01.22.09 13 Eoin 06.25.09

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 29, 2007

Not knowing how to use IRC to get support for your OS, for example, is a really big barrier to using Free/Libre software — because you are missing out on the network support system that makes open source work. Be Helpful.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 10, 2006

And even though this is probably heredical, I do not see a lot of good software for nonprofits out there that is not supported by scaleable, sustainable, seriously capitalized, and professionally run (and mostly for-profit) companies. Be Helpful. Katrin 3 Michelle Murrain 10.11.06

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 16, 2008

As more foundations move to supporting organizations only if they use open source tools, I think part of the onus for starting, and maintaining quality conversations about open source use in nonprofits falls on the foundations. Be Helpful. You can’t make everyone happy all of the time. 2 Amy Sample Ward 01.17.08

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

It is an internal assessment tool which helps organizations figure out what parts of their online strategy are working, and what parts might need tweaking. How does giving resources to nonprofits to help them understand how to use web stats to do internal assessment of web strategy inconsistent with choosing not to publish raw web stats?

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 7, 2007

It’s supports a distributed social networking, uh, network. Be Helpful. But I imagine that’s not necessarily true of everyone. 3 KJ 08.09.07 at 8:47 am Hi, I floated over from NTEN. You might want to keep your eye on The Appleseed Project.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

I saw a call for a ColdFusion developer on an email list I’m on, and I couldn’t help but think about technology choice and change, particularly in the website world, and how nonprofits deal with technology change (or, don’t deal with it.) And, they depend on geeks to help them get things done. Here’s why.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 4, 2011

Check out Idealware’s newish comparison of the four – it can help you figure out what’s best based on your needs.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 3, 2012

So I'm going to help you take a tiny baby step in this direction today. . Feel the support of the pew under you. That fear of yours has helped you. Maybe it helped you to survive an abusive childhood. Perhaps it helped you to leave a damaging or traumatic relationship. It might have helped you get sober.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 7, 2007

[emphasis mine] I think it is incumbent upon knowledgeable leaders to provide models for how to do things differently – provide tools that foster social change in ways that foster social change, not in ways that help to sustain the status quo. If you want to help figure it out, I would be very grateful. Below is his response.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 23, 2007

This was for all the good reasons: computers are cheap, support is expensive, and it would cost more time and money to diagnose and fix a computer than replace it – so replacing computers on a regular schedule would actually decrease IT costs. Be Helpful. I’ll be announcing it, for sure.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 14, 2008

1 trackback } Wild Apricot Blog : Tech Support for Free and Open-Source Software 08.20.08 The “no support&# myth is very prevelent as well. Vendors of proprietary softeware will tell you that open source software has no support. Thank you for helping me articulate it. Be Helpful. This of course is rubbish.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 6, 2007

One already exists that needs support and development to make it ready to compete with the big guys. It may not happen quickly at first, but make no mistake- Blackbaud has a proven history of acquiring products and forcing people to upgrade to more expensive support and services- here’s a funny video explaining their strategy.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 3, 2012

So I'm going to help you take a tiny baby step in this direction today. . Feel the support of the pew under you. That fear of yours has helped you. Maybe it helped you to survive an abusive childhood. Perhaps it helped you to leave a damaging or traumatic relationship. It might have helped you get sober.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 8, 2007

So I hate to throw cold water on the whole enterprise – but if the core issues that most nonprofits are facing haven’t changed, and the situation isn’t getting better, how is it that have we helped? Be Helpful. I also saw the conference with some different, post-seminary eyes. In what ways have they not?

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MAY 29, 2008

Most people (57%) also want ongoing support. Be Helpful. There is some great food for thought, although in some ways, the results aren’t so surprising. Most people (67%) want an easy to use interface. The single largest CMS used was Drupal, at 15%, followed by Plone and Joomla (approx 8% each.)

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