1 / 21

Using Technology to Organize: Tools to Build Websites, Databases, and Email… and more

Using Technology to Organize: Tools to Build Websites, Databases, and Email… and more. Jon Stahl jon@onenw.org. www.onenw.org. What Kinds of Networks Are Most Important?. Networks of computers? Or networks of people?. This is what a network looks like. Lay of the Land – Late 2005.

amie
Download Presentation

Using Technology to Organize: Tools to Build Websites, Databases, and Email… and more

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Using Technology to Organize: Tools to Build Websites, Databases, and Email… and more Jon Stahl jon@onenw.org www.onenw.org

  2. What Kinds of Networks Are Most Important? Networks of computers? Or networks of people?

  3. This is what a network looks like

  4. Lay of the Land – Late 2005 • 75% of US homes are now online • Reading news is the #1 thing people do on the web (after email) • Political campaigns “discovered” the Internet in 2004 • A new media ecology is emerging powered by “blogs”

  5. New Tools, New Possibilities • Lowering barriers to publishing and sharing information • Informal “tagging” instead of taxonomies • More fluid boundaries between organizations – and tools • Lots more “pick ups” and “walk-ins” • Pushing power to the edges of campaigns • Potentially scary; lots of potential

  6. The Challenges • Creative campaigns that mix old and new • Knitting networks of people and organizations • Tools that play well together • Coping with information overload • Treating communications tools as core capacity building work

  7. Tools We Use PloneDemocracy in ActionPayPal GiftTool WhatCounts Democracy in Action Sympa ODB Salesforce.com

  8. Websites Increasing focus on: • Easy to write • Bite-size chunks of content, frequently updated • Community/interactivity

  9. plone.org • ONE/Northwest’s website building tool of choice • Emphasis on: • Community • Ease of use for non-techies • Power and flexibility

  10. Online Donations & Online Advocacy There’s more to online fundraising than just “click here to donate” Online advocacy is mainly a list-building tool Tools we use: • PayPal • Simple, but surprisingly powerful… and CHEAP. • GiftTool.com • A bit more expensive, but very customizable • DemocracyInAction.org • Online donations and e-advocacy, plus simple email blasting • Powerful and inexpensive, but a little rough around the edges

  11. Email • Still your main lifeline to your community – it goes to them • Increasingly sophisticated publishing tools • Website/email newsletter integration

  12. Tools we use • Sympa - ONE/Northwest list hosting • Discussion lists (e.g. wman@lists.onenw.org) • Simple email newsletter lists • no tracking, no personalization, no authoring tools • http://lists.onenw.org • WhatCounts • More powerful, flexible HTML email newsletters • Tracking, personalization, automatic import of content from your website • http://www.whatcounts.com

  13. “Real Time” Tools • Skype – www.skype.com • Instant Messaging (aka “chat”) • Voice-over-IP (aka “Internet Telephony”) • Free & ultra-low cost voice calls to computers and to regular phones • $60m revenue, just bought by eBay for ~$4.7 billion (!) • Gaim – gaim.sf.net • A single program that connects to all major Instant Messaging networks (AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) • FreeConference.com • Free conference call bridging (you call in long distance)

  14. Databases Still the source of tremendous pain No easy answers (yet)

  15. ODB: A Good Simple Starting Point www.organizenow.net/odb • ODB = Organizers’ Database • Simple, easy to use, FREE • Windows-only • Basic donation and contact management • No online tools integration • Not good for multi-office organizations

  16. A New Hope: Salesforce.com • Heavy-duty web-based relationship management software • For-profit company with an explicit social mission • Free 10-user licenses to nonprofits • Strong user & developer community, both commercial and non-profit • Strong connections to other tools • ONE/Northwest is just getting started as an implementer, should be in full swing in early 2006.

  17. Avoiding Information Overload The challenge: Getting what you need without being overwhelmed by what you don’t Being able to find things you’ve seen before Sharing information with others, without extra work

  18. More Tools For Finding & Managing Information • Del.icio.us • Collaborative web bookmarks • Helps you find and share useful resources AND people • http://del.icio.us (silly URL, great tool)

  19. Tools We Use To Manage Information Flow • RSS Feed Readers, e.g. Bloglines • A great way to take in information and de-clutter your inbox • www.bloglines.com • Google Desktop • Instant, full-text searching of your email, hard drive and network drives • http://desktop.google.com

  20. More Tools To Find & Manage Information • CommonTimes.org • Collaborative news editing • Strong group functions • Google News Alerts • Free, keyword-driven clipping from 4500+ online news sources • Can be delivered by email or by RSS • http://news.google.com/

  21. Getting Things Done • a process • lots of ways to implement • www.davidco.com

More Related