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NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
Innovation Funders Network | Emy Tseng, Managing Director (Senior Policy Advisor for the Community Technology Foundation of CA)
What's *really* new on the Web, as opposed to buzzwords and soundbites?:
I’ve been excited by the potential of CivicSpace and the whole Drupal platform. I love the idea of community building and open source world. Having this truly be open source and available will be really valuable to a lot of nonprofits.
Which tools best embody the new opportunities from your point of view and why?:
I’m also using wikis as a group planning and informational platform. Targeted wikis are great for collecting info for particular projects or events, and that has truly transformed my life! Wikis are a great potential social networking platform, as are CRMs (Customer Relationship management systems).
Who's doing the best work with the new tools (technically or in terms of social benefit or both)?:
One Northwest. A lot of my concern, from my grantmaking perspective, comes from the fact that it’s hard to find people like One Northwest who can work at the grassroots level who understand the grassroots organization. There is still a cultural divide and the technology is still in its early stages, but youth organizing and social activism is coming up in a fresh new way. Here are some other organizations that are doing great work:
Movement Strategy Center (Oakland, CA) – their project is just beign designed. Building a social networking platform for youth activists around the country. The concept of it is just a great, great one.
Project Scope (South Central/downtown Los Angeles, CA) -– this organization is focused on voting and organizing. Project Scope came out of the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and have organized around police brutality and other social issues. They use GIS mapping and texting with cell phones and PDAs for getting the word out.
Movement Strategy Center (Oakland, CA) – their project is just beign designed. Building a social networking platform for youth activists around the country. The concept of it is just a great, great one.
Project Scope (South Central/downtown Los Angeles, CA) -– this organization is focused on voting and organizing. Project Scope came out of the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and have organized around police brutality and other social issues. They use GIS mapping and texting with cell phones and PDAs for getting the word out.
What's the bad news? What are the greatest barriers preventing web-based technology from producing social change?:
I think there’s a huge digital divide between small, community-based grassroots orgs and national nonprofit organizations. This divide is especially obvious between the implementors and the tools, support and consultants needed to educate nonprofits in using new web-based tools for their needs.
There is a huge cultural divide between organizations, and the tools need to be accessible. As a local grantmaker, this divide between is my greatest concern. I want this issue to be exposed and discussed to help bridge the digital divide.
There is a huge cultural divide between organizations, and the tools need to be accessible. As a local grantmaker, this divide between is my greatest concern. I want this issue to be exposed and discussed to help bridge the digital divide.
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