Amy Sample Ward

FEBRUARY 19, 2011

Yahoo set up 100 Internet-linked computers at the Astrodome and developed a meta-search of evacuee registration websites. Problems were that many survivors had no internet access, let alone electrical power, let alone computers or even computer literacy.

Disaster 206

Disaster Social Media Haiti Media 206

Tech Soup

DECEMBER 16, 2015

In this edition of nonprofit tech news, TechSoup shows new ways your nonprofit could harness mobile and killer apps in 2016! In 2016, video will continue to be the most interesting media on the Internet. These are toys like Mattel's Internet-connected Hello Barbie that can have a truly interactive conversation with a child.

Tech 36

Tech Change Mobile Images 36

Byte Technology

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Tech professionals and Internet security specialists call out four main reasons why keeping WordPress updated at all times is important: security, performance, bug fixes and compatibility. Obviously, for most of us, security is of paramount importance.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 19, 2007

First is the wholesale movement toward the three major open source CMS platforms/frameworks, Drupal , Joomla and Plone. 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.

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Gift Open Source Typepad Open 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 15, 2007

They are going to release an open source version later this year, which is wonderful, but I also would have had to pony up another $149 for a year of a Pro account, and that seemed excessive, since I could just as easily set up a Wordpress blog on the host I’m already paying for. One such platform was Typepad. Now, there is.

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Typepad Open Source Ubuntu Platform 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

We may be a nonprofit, but we’re also a tech company: in ten years, we shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today! The process took us longer than we anticipated, but that is due in large part to the great things we’ve been able to achieve from the collaboration between the technology and the analytical sides of our work.

Analysis 174

Analysis Project Open Source Analytics 174

Saleforce Nonprofit

APRIL 12, 2021

org to educational institutions like University of Massachusetts Amherst , new climate tech startups like BlocPower , and established global brands like Bentley Motors , learn how organizations across these sectors have taken meaningful climate action. From nonprofits like 350.org

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Organization Massachusetts Org Africa 98

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 13, 2008

Basically, it seems the motivation is that open systems allow them to upgrade their capabilities rapidly, and they need to be able to share data freely. The process of governments in Europe starting to shift to open source software, and software that used open standards, rapidly increased the use of FOSS in Europe.

Open Source 111

Open Source Europe Software System 111

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

An LMS, or learning platform, is a system that is designed to facilitate some sort of learning process over the web. There are both proprietary and open source LMS. There are open source LMS, some of which are quite well developed, and some also geared toward (or developed by) colleges and universities.

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Platform Blackboard Learning Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MARCH 10, 2008

Both reflective practice – that is the process of reflecting on what you do, and how you do it, as well as conscious, deliberate evaluation of projects, are things that are not very common in our field, nor things that are valued or encouraged. Unfortunately, none of them had an answer to that question.

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Evaluation Reflection Open Source Journal 111

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 8, 2007

But it’s only been in the last few years that mega storage, and mega processing power were available to organizations to power big web applications and the like. And now, there is E2 – Elastic Compute Cloud – use only the storage, processing power and bandwidth you use. 2 Brian 11.23.07

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Hosting Web Ubuntu Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 30, 2007

It’s also really interesting to see how free and open source fits into all of this. My role has been to gather up the use cases (specific examples of translation processes). What are the tools like? How do we replace proprietary tools? How does this all get paid for? Check out the wiki.

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Bhutan Learning Open Source Open 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 5, 2008

I’ve been helping a client hire a temporary project manager, and so in the interview process one of the questions I ask is how people keep up with change in the field. In some ways, I have been blessed with the gift of osmosis. I’m a fantastic book learner, which means I’m a great blog/twitter learner, too.

Open Source 124

Open Source RSS Journal Tech 124

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 10, 2008

This is also an ongoing process. One of the most important roles I play is educating clients about the technology that they will be engaging with, based upon what I’ve heard while I’ve listened. Intermediation. 2 comments… read them below or add one } 1 Michele Martin 07.11.08 at 6:06 am Michelle, I love this!

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Practice Open Source Consultant Articulate 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

MAY 18, 2007

Microsoft this week has started saber-rattling against Linux and other open source projects, by suggesting that they infringe on 235 patents that they hold. Just threatening to sue, threatening to get license fees (which, for some open source projects would be a major problem) is enough to make people doubt the future of open source.

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Open Source Open Software RSS 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 15, 2007

I’ve been rather impressed by how easy Wordpress was to set up and use, and how easy the migration process was. July 15, 2007 As you will have undoubtedly figured out – this blog moved! I’ve moved it off of Typepad, and onto Wordpress. I’d recommend it to anyone.

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Typepad WordPress Open Source Badge 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 9, 2006

I’ve been learning about some interesting examples of the use of APIs in nonprofit organizations, as well as learning what vendors (both proprietary and open source) are thinking about the issue. I’m looking forward to getting into the meat of the writing. That’s a good thing.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

SEPTEMBER 13, 2007

Actually, even if they have, for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, it’s really great. It’s stable, feature rich, uses open standards, reads and writes MS files, and, did I mention it’s free? Outside of the US, OpenOffice.org adoption is growing fast. I imagine that will begin to happen here as well.

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Open Source License Adopt Database 100

Tech Soup

JULY 31, 2017

In a recent blog post , in which our nonprofit, TechSoup, advocated for Net Neutrality, there were several responses that have an interestingly identical structure: (a) Government should stay out of the Internet; (b) There are technical issues involved that TechSoup does not understand; and. (c)

Asia 54

Asia Indonesia Poland Government 54

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 16, 2006

I’m reading this book at the same time as I’ve been working on the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative. I’m realizing that all of the justifications for why I am so into open source and free software is right here in this book! It gets chewy, for sure, but it feels like every chew is worth it.

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 9, 2007

Michael Stein talks about three different kinds of mistakes that one can make in technology consulting, including some errors of process, and the “Hot Dog&# syndrome. A great read for anyone who does development for clients. I’ve made most of the mistakes outlined in all three of these brave blog postings.

Open Source 100

Open Source Consultant RSS Tech 100

Nonprofit Tech for Good

AUGUST 24, 2011

A free, open-source software program that enables users to send group text messages from computers or mobile phones. Google Internet Stats :: google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/internetstats. Internet Archive Wayback Machine :: web.archive.org. FrontlineSMS :: frontlinesms.com. intl/en/landing/internetstats.

Fun 277

Fun Resource Audio Stats 277

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 30, 2007

I hope that in the process of doing projects for clients, I am able to ask those deep questions, and help them ask “why&# much more often. My blog and my advising practice don’t quite have the same mission. My advising practice is much more about educating and helping people with concrete technology tools, and concrete projects.

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Open Source RSS Articulate Tech 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

FEBRUARY 8, 2008

They describe a process where 99% of the people involved get close to nothing for their efforts, the authors gives away right and the publishers just get to sit on their pot’ogold of academic knowlege and get student to pay inflated prices to use these works in school.

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Journal Open Source RSS Tech 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JULY 27, 2007

I’ve been re-reading a book that I read early in the decision-making process about becoming a consultant way back in 1996. This will be my last tech blog entry until at least August 6th. I don’t know what the next couple of months will bring, but I’ll try to generate some pithy blog posts for y’all.

Open Source 100

Open Source Massachusetts Consultant Tech 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 6, 2007

But I think the larger question about folksonomies is important: is efficiency all there is, and in what ways are folksonomies a way for the “folks&# (rather than “experts&# ) to have access to the process of categorizing their own content, and content they care about? What do those guidelines look like?

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Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

NOVEMBER 28, 2006

November 28, 2006 Well, both in the process of learning about all of the very cool web 2.0 Unfortunately, the nptech world hasn’t yet caught on to the “Planet&# phenomenon of the open source world (see Planet Ubuntu Women.) It’s a great idea, I think.

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Web Stumbleupon Ubuntu Open Source 100

Non Profit Quarterly

AUGUST 25, 2022

Tech nonprofit” is an emerging term that refers to a tech startup that is building software or web applications using a nonprofit model for social impact. Fast Forward, a tech nonprofit accelerator, highlighted a few such organizations during their Demo Day 2022 event. Using Tech to Reduce Barriers to Education.

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Tech Digital Build Tools 98

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JUNE 24, 2008

On the Windows side the hardware manufacturers make proprietary drivers for Windows, and very few make drivers for Linux, or open source their drivers so that Linux developers can use them. And, of course, there are some other situations where Linux also shines: kiosks, internet cafes, computer labs and email/web workstations.

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Ubuntu Open Source Software Laptop 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

DECEMBER 17, 2007

Now, I admit there are cases where people may have been confused about the process and accidently invited other people. If you felt that the process was confusing and sent invites when you did not plan to, I am sorry. If you felt that the process was confusing and sent invites when you did not plan to, I am sorry.

Web 113

Web Experiment gMail Open Source 113

Tech Soup

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Joy Neal (right) is the library director and Lane Fernando (below) is their tech support person. She became the library tech person by default. She is a favorite on TechSoup for Libraries because she is always open to new technology. She is a favorite on TechSoup for Libraries because she is always open to new technology.

Library 40

Library Case Study Studies Instruction 40

Tech Soup

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Joy Neal (right) is the library director and Lane Fernando (below) is their tech support person. She became the library tech person by default. She is a favorite on TechSoup for Libraries because she is always open to new technology. She is a favorite on TechSoup for Libraries because she is always open to new technology.

Library 40

Library Case Study Studies Instruction 40

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 10, 2006

I know it was sort of in process when I was fading out, but I wasn’t much aware of it. I also tend to think that while the paradigms differ, a donor, a member, a constituent in the end is not that different in terms of business processes from a client or customer. And why do we think about business processes?

Open Source 100

Open Source Software Profit Process 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

OCTOBER 21, 2007

I picked it up by happenstance, I think because I had NOSI on my mind, and I was thinking about how to talk to people about open source and nonprofits. His examples are things like saving millions by reducing employee turnover, increasing profits by streamlining processes, etc. I’ll have to look for it.

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Review Open Source Consultant Profit 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

APRIL 3, 2009

You might think that comparing four different open source packages that, in essence, do pretty the same thing (in a broad sense) would be a cakc walk. First, a simple metric relating to security reports, and second, what processes are in place in the communities to deal with security. More on that in a bit.

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Drupal Comment Report Metrics 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

JANUARY 14, 2009

If you are in the process of reassessing your CRM or CMS or both, now is a very good time to think hard about how you want these two to talk with each other. I’ll have follow up posts on specific examples of this integration using open source tools (on one end or the other, or both.) at 8:53 pm Loraine Lawson 02.16.09

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Integration API Drupal Open Source 100

Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

AUGUST 17, 2007

Home About Me Subscribe Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology Thoughtful and sometimes snarky perspectives on nonprofit technology The search for good web conferencing August 17, 2007 I decided, perhaps rashly, that one way of exposing people to, and training people on, open source software, was by doing web conferencing.

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