Net Tuesdays or Net2 Local gatherings provide a chance to connect locally with all those interested in the intersection of social technologies and social change. There are new groups forming every week: Join in!
i would love to figure out how to use all these new technologies to make our work easier and more effective, bu who pays for implementing all these fabulous tools and technologies? Even with open source software, low capacity and grassroots nonprofit organizations like mine still have to identify a staff person or key volunteer to implement, manage and support the technolgy. How do I identify that person? how do i motivate current staff and volunteers to add one more responsibility, one more task to an already overscheduled, overfull agenda? Where do i find qualified volunteers who are both motivated and committed to such a large task? how do I manage and supervise them?I think that many of these tools are merely tools for technoogy's sake - without any real vison about who will actually use them.The real digital divide is between organizations - those of us who deveote all our energy to our programs just don't have the resources to implement new technologies. At Newsdesk.org, we are desperate to start using new technologies to support our work, but we just don't have the time to do it or the financial resources to have someone else do it for us.