Salsa Scoop

Upcoming Events

 In a rhythmic cycle as old as life itself, blooming with cherry trees in the warming spring air are the stale danishes, landfill-choking nametags and stultifying panel sessions of conferences. We kid, we kid. Sort of. DIA is representing in various guises at the following technology-related shindigs in the coming weeks. Stop by and say hello if you're in the proverbial house.
  • Feb. 21-23: The 2007 Nonprofit Software Development Summit, Oakland, Calif.
  • Mar. 5-6: Freedom to Connect, Washington, DC. Note that today, Feb. 15 is the last day to save $200 on advance registration.
  • Mar. 7-9: "Online Organizing & Technology for Nonprofits" from the New Organizing Institute, Washington, DC. Happy hour sponsored by DemocracyInAction!
     

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    03:47 PM Feb 15, 2007 - 0 comments permalink

    Training and Support

     Ah, yes ... the timeless joys of support. At least as funny is the feel-the-pain comment thread in the original YouTube link, e.g.:  

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    11:41 AM Feb 15, 2007 - 0 comments permalink

    The Progressive's Guide to Valentine's Day

     Start out by sending your pals an E-Card to show that you care, courtesy of Oceana. Don't forget the administration! Ask them to lead the way in defending the whales. Whale hunting for commercial purposes must be stopped, calm returned to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, and the government of the United States must stand up with its citizens for the whales and the oceans that give them life. Still not sure what to get your Valentine? How about a special gift that is sure to warm their hearts and cool the planet.  

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    11:03 AM Feb 14, 2007 - 0 comments permalink

    Tuesday Tips: Why Nonprofit Managers Must Use RSS ... And How to Start

     It's come to the point where nonprofit staff who aren't using RSS aren't really doing all of their job. I know. I know. You don't believe me, and you don't care. You already use the Internet, so why take time you don't have to learn some new way to get the information you already get? Especially when the first thing an evangelist says about RSS is that it's actually like 11 different data formats and nobody can even agree what the acronym means? I know because I've been there. It was about 1995, and the .sig files people used on Usenet started saying "Visit my page on the World Wide Web!" I ignored it for months, because who needs some crummy new platform when I've got all the text-based newsgroups goodness my heart could ever desire? The answer, then as now, is that it will totally change the way you relate to information. It's like being myopic, and then putting on glasses. If you're resisting RSS, that's understandable. Only a minority of web users have adopted it, and that'll probably be true for some time. But it's the thought leaders, the proverbial creative class (dreadful term) that are using it ... and if that's the kind of organization you have or the kind of career you're building, it's time to get over that resistance.

    If you're a nonprofit manager right now and you're not using RSS, you're falling behind.

    You're not getting information -- about your cause, about your people, about your profession -- efficiently enough, which means you're not getting enough information, period. And someone else is getting that information, or will be soon.
    • Someone eyeballing your job.
    • Or your press release.
    • Or your grant application.
    • Someone competing with you for your constituents.
    • Or someone competing with your constituency for influence.
    They'll know when someone writes about your issue or blogs about your cause or has something to say about your organization, and know it without refreshing dozens of links and scouring dozens of mailing lists so their hands are free for the other hundred things they have to do. If they know it, you'd better know it too. Luckily, it's easy as pie.  

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    11:06 AM Feb 13, 2007 - 13 comments permalink

    Know Your Place (1997 Edition)

     Atrios uncovers a decade-old column by that scold of Washington conventionality dating to the adolescence of the Internet as a tool of mass communication. Cokie's thrust is summed up by a respondent's sarcastic letter to the editor, "The Internet is nothing but a cyber-sewer, full of smut, cults, and now an even greater danger: easy access to government officials." The horror!
    They also get in touch with each other on public policy issues. According to Love, it's like an electronic town meeting. That analogy makes our blood run cold.
     

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    04:01 PM Feb 11, 2007 - 0 comments permalink

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