NetSquared Tech Innovation Fund Balloting Opens
Voting is open this week (only) on around 150 projects in the
NetSquared Technology Innovation Fund project pool. Twenty of them will divvy up $100,000-plus in cash and services and take part in this year's NetSquared conference.
Only thing required is to register with NetSquared (free), vote for at least five, and abide
a few other simple rules.
The full roster of projects gives an interesting glimpse at some ideas that could sprout into tomorrow's way of doing business online for nonprofits, and a few that could probably be cribbed today. I haven't had a time to digest the entire list, but there are at least
three four from the DIA community I noticed (and if I missed any, please let me know and I'll add them):
Read more...
02:29 PM Apr 09, 2007 -
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An NTC Kaleidoscope
With apologies that fatigue and connectivity issues (I think every tech conference I've been to this year has had wireless problems ...), a few random snippets from the Nonprofit Tech Conference.
Wednesday, April 4
Vendor fair. No iPods won (note: for a Nano, I'll link to Satan himself), but an adequate haul of swag --
GoLightly has the stroke of genius with shot glasses for which their moniker is singularly apt.
(But why do they come containing jelly beans?)
DIA and
PICnet collaborate on a good way to use them:
the unofficial NTC drinking game (.pdf), readily adaptable to all manner of similar events.
Our table gives away Salsa.
With a smile.
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11:50 AM Apr 06, 2007 -
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NTC is Here!
I've got one foot out the door to the
Nonprofit Tech Conference, where several of us will be spending a good portion of the next three days.
It's not too late to
register, and for anyone in D.C. still feeling asea with some of the tech issues -- whether elementary or advanced -- it's well worth it if you can possibly squeeze out the hours. Free for everyone, registered or not, there's a free "science [vendor] fair" this afternoon -- lots of software/consulting/similar companies with drawings for free iPods. We'll be there as well, and with (I daresay) some intriguing raffle offerings courtesy of several members of
our user community --
WITNESS,
Flex Your Rights and
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting.
Or, just skip the product placement altogether and get straight to the free libations by hitting one of the
several evening socials tonight, including
DemocracyInAction's own open house.
We even cleaned up for the occasion, and improved the effect with selective photographic cropping:
 |  |
I hope to put a lot of faces to names there. Naturally, there'll be plenty more from this highlight of the nonprofit tech calendar over the coming days. Read more...
11:52 AM Apr 04, 2007 -
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Tuesday Tips: A Dozen Tips for Sprucing up Your Website
(Susan Finkelpearl of former DIA roommates Free Range Graphics has this week's Tuesday Tips entry on a little spring cleaning for the web site. This post is also available as a .pdf, and will be one of her handouts at the Nonprofit Tech Conference this week. We could probably stand to take note of a few of these tips ourselves ... thanks, Susan! -jrz)
Have you given your website some design love lately? Here are some fast tips for taking your site to the next level.
1. Don’t forget the fold. Just as old-fashioned newspapers have a fold line, if a web page gets too long, people will have to scroll to see all of the content on the page. When designing your home and interior pages, make sure to put important items such as news features, donate buttons, and e-newsletter sign-ups above the fold, where they can be seen easily.
2. Be a creative conformist. The web works because key site elements appear in consistent locations across all well-designed web sites. While you want your website to have a look and feel that is unique to your organization, make sure you also follow design conventions. For example, people have come to expect that search bars be placed in the top right of a webpage while logos are most often in the top left position. Nine times out of ten you should stick with these conventions. Groups like Amazon play with these conventions, but again it’s generally wisest to plunk key navigational elements where people expect to see them.
3. Make your asks contextual. Don’t let isolated "donate buttons" do all the fundraising legwork on your site. Work donation asks into areas where you are telling the most compelling stories about your accomplishments.
4. Let thy people donate! When someone does click a donate button, reward them immediately with a donate form. Don’t make them click more or wade through a lot of copy before letting them help you. In fact, it’s highly recommended that the form be the default first page of your donate section.
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10:53 AM Apr 03, 2007 -
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Ms. America: The Politics of a Database Field
I think I heard somewhere that the personal is political.
We receive our share of unusual inquiries hereabouts. The other day, we got one ("bcc: many folks") prompted by this page and reading in part:
your first three choices for "Title" on your drop-down "Select Title" menu are:
--Mr.;
--Mrs.; and
--Ms.
This implies that you are using "Ms." as an abbreviation for "Miss," which is incorrect.
Furthermore, it is very discouraging to those of us who fought for years to eliminate the varieties of ways in which women are discriminated against, by our laws and by our cultural institutions.
A major tactic in this effort was the creation of a title for women (Ms.), parallel to that used for men (Mr.), for the purpose of denoting gender only and nothing at all about marital status, as a means of eliminating the institution of requiring that women identify themselves as either never-married or as [previously] married.
...
I BEG you, remove "Mrs." from your drop-down menu and stop requesting women to tell you whether or not they are-now-or-ever-have-been married. It is SO 19th-century, and it invites a renewal of discrimination against women based on marital status.
This was an interesting inquiry for us: we'd already removed 'Mrs.' once before.
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10:07 AM Apr 01, 2007 -
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