Keeping it Simple: Technology Tools That Won't Make You Want to Rip Your Hair Out

Martha Rogers and Harold Jordan

Are you looking to use technology in your organization but wish it wasn't so complicated? Are you looking for free or low cost simple solutions? Then this workshop is for you. The workshop will explore a range of tools that can be used to improve the performance of everyday tasks: online applications and new technologies that enable some of them to work off-line; how to turn a USB Thumb drive into an office on-the-go (running programs from USB drives); and an introduction to how to make different applications work (and play!) well together. This workshop is designed for organizers and activists who are interested in using technology, but are looking for easy strategies to enhance the work they are doing, and not additional tasks to complicate their work. Participants will receive resource lists, ideas, and demonstrations of easy ways to use technology, and are invited to share experiences, successes and frustrations, and to learn from others.

Collaborative eLearning

Caroline Meeks

The internet is a great source of information, but how do you move from putting your information out there to really supporting learning online? In the past people have moved from static web pages, to multi-media presentations that use the "listen-and-read, then answer questions model". However, learning is a social activity. People learn best together. As the web becomes more social and collaborative so can online learning. In this workshop you will get hands-on experience using an open source learning tool (LAMS) to support collaborative learning. We will explore a bit of the theory behind learning and try out some collaborative activities. The goal of the workshop is not to focus on the how-to of any particular technology but to inspire new ideas for making online learning effective, engaging and collaborative.

Nonprofit Internet Starter Kit

Nate Aune

In this workshop we will introduce you to the Nonprofit Internet Startup Kit, which features dozens of free and online tools available to help your non-profit organization further its mission and succeed online. We will discuss how you can integrate your database of constituents with your website using Salesforce and Plone, a popular open source content management system. With these tools, you can use your website to capture critical information about your constituents and provide self-service tools for them to sign up for e-newsletters, update their contact information and make online donations.

You will learn how to accept online donations and accept online registration and payments for your events. You will learn how to drive traffic to your website with online ads, track your website visitors and monitor demographics with free analytics tools. You will learn how to build a community and expand your audience with blogging and microblogging tools, email newsletters, online video and RSS feeds.

We will show how you can offer your employees integrated email, voicemail, shared calendars, shared document repository and collaborative wikis. See how easy it is to setup mailing lists with Google Groups and build websites using Google Sites. All this for free!

Managing & Recruiting Tech Volunteers

Dan MacNeil and Greg Bedard

The best way to get great tech volunteers is to pay Dan MacNeil & Greg Bedard thousands of dollars in consulting fees. Almost as effective a tactic to sacrifice a goat to the river god YAK-TOR-BOO. (We will demonstrate this in the workshop) As a last resort, bring your questions and experiences to share. You'll have to rely on your fellow audience members while Dan and Greg wrestle the demonstration goat. In the event a goat is unavailable or audience questions don't cover what we want to talk about, we will ask and answer our own questions including but not limited to: 1) Should volunteers be treated with respect? 2) Better results come from not advertising: true/false ?, 3) Are long, ambiguous, projects that sit on the shelf better than short, well defined projects that
are used at once?, 4) Does calling yourself a guru make you a guru?, and 5) Relative to technical skill, just how important is personal hygiene ?

Strategies for Shaping the Media/Tech Future: Policy, Funding & Organizing

Marie Celestin, Aliza Dichter, Denise Moorehead, Colin Rhinesmith and Ada Robinson

The media/communications environment is rapidly changing. Who will control the networks and tools that social justice activists use? How can we work pro-actively for media & technology systems to better serve our communities? The purpose of this workshop is to generate strategic thinking about how we can improve the media/communications system and to share some strategy-building tools. We will talk about the types of policies, technologies and economics that can create a better media future, and we will strategize ways to win and protect what we need and want. This workshop will build on the goals generated in the prior session "Organizing the Organic Internet," where participants will collaboratively write an Internet Justice Bill of Rights. (The sessions are designed to work together, and also independently. We welcome you to join us whether or not you attend both sessions.) This workshop is presented by members of the Boston Action Tank-- a new, experimental "think tank" of people who work at the community level using media & technology. We are aiming to have conversations, do research and analysis, and form a sort of strategy lab for projects that can help build the media movement. We've created this workshop to help us learn from you, and to help you position your current work in a long-term strategic framework.

Open Media Boston: Building a News Portal with Drupal

Jason Pramas

This workshop will cover the process of creating a collaborative news site with the Drupal content management system - from conceptualization to site construction to building an audience. The discussion will include an overview of the construction of the Open Media Boston portal plus an online tour of the public site, administration panel and server. Interactive and aimed at a non-technical audience. Kids welcome. Adults also welcome.