With over 100 active groups and nearly 5,000 users, NTEN's Affinity Groups platform is an incredible resource for those in the nonprofit tech community. There are a variety of discussions constantly taking place, ranging from the very basic and elementary aspects of technology in the nonprofit sector to the more sophisticated and technical.

A simple but informative discussion in the DC 501 Tech Club recently centered around different internet connections for nonprofits. Although it is only beginning to operate in most urban areas, Verizon's FIOS service received praise for its high bandwidth (up to 20Mbps). DSL was also recommended as a possibly cheaper alternative, depending upon distance to a CO. Cable was recommend multiple times as well, although participants noted that while it generally has higher possible bandwidth than DSL, its speed can vary depending upon neighborhood usage. T1 lines were said to be very expensive and generally slower (albeit asymmetric so upload and download usage do not affect each other), but extremely reliable.

by Johanna Bates, Technology Manager, Community Partners

[Ed note: This is the first in a series of articles by Johanna Bates, chronicling her organization's switch to Google Apps.]

Google Apps. For free. Huh. I wasn’t too sure what it would do for us, but a free Google upgrade? That feels like a free box of money. After reading Sonny Cloward’s blog post, I was intrigued. I figured, “What the heck? I’ll apply and explore the possibilities.”

The application process was very simple, and Google got back to me in a few days to let me know that we’d been given the free “Education Edition” upgrade that is now available to non-profits. I set to Googling to find out more about what I could do with our Google Apps account. The calendar is nice, but we’re happy with Airset. Google Docs leaves much to be desired over our preference for online collaboration, Basecamp. But we could turn our email server into a Gmail server. Now that sounded interesting.

It's all about the ch-ch-ch-changes.

When I started at NTEN, blogging was just a twinkle in someone's eye and practically no one had heard of del.icio.us. Now, Technorati tracks more than 70 million blogs and, well, still practically no one has heard of del.icio.us. Which just goes to show that so much has changed in the last five years in the field of nonprofit technology while some things have stayed much the same - a little bit like NTEN itself. I continue to be energized by watching our community grow by leaps and bounds as it tackles the important social, economic, and environmental issues with an ever-wider array of tools and resources.At the same time, we are still dealing with some of the very same issues we were talking about five years ago, when I joined NTEN:

> What do you need to know about technology to make it serve you, instead of the other way around?
> How does technology planning, budgeting, and implementation fit into the rest of the organization?
> With all the trends and hype, how can you tell what's real and going to last?

As the next Executive Director of NTEN, I very much look forward to tapping this amazing community to stay on top of the innovations and tackle the age-old questions. You are a remarkable group of individuals with diverse experiences, expertise, and points of view. I am privileged to work with you.

I want to thank Katrin for all the work she's done to re-energize and re-imagine NTEN. She's been an inspiration and has expanded our vision of what NTEN can and should be. Many thanks also to Lynn Labieniec, our Board Chair, for her leadership and support.

We want every one of you to have the tools, resources, and community you need to use technology to change the world. The NTEN team - Annaliese, Brett, Karl, Rob, and I - are committed to that vision and look forward to working with you to make it a reality.

As always, if you have any thoughts or questions, I look forward to hearing them. You can reach me at holly@nten.org or 415 397 9000.

We sent today a letter to our members announcing some changes here at NTEN.

After a very wonderful time at the helm, I have decided to step down as Executive Director, effective November 1, 2007. The board has appointed Holly Ross, NTEN's Program Director, to become the next ED. You probably know Holly well already. For many years, she has been the soul and spirit of NTEN. I am thrilled she has agreed to take NTEN to the next level; you are in great hands with her.

The NTEN Board has invited me to join in November as a Board Member. I am excited and grateful to continue to be part of the field and involved in NTEN's health and well-being in that capacity.

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Convio announced on its website today that it's going public. Assuming its bid is successful, it will be interesting to see what the capitalization will mean for its products and clients. The full press release is available on the Convio site.

Earthlink has effectively killed their muni wifi efforts. According to MuniWireless.com:

Don Berryman, EarthLink's top municipal wireless executive, is out of a job. So are 899 other EarthLink employees amid a massive company reorganization. The shake-up includes office closings in cities that EarthLink had been targeting for public broadband deployments. The upshot for municipal leaders: Our collective focus is moving from big, feel-good public access efforts to government applications that deliver ROI.

This explains why Chicago killed their initiative today.

I certainly understand that rolling out municipal wireless is big undertaking. What's interesting to me is how quickly it has gone from the next great thing to quagmire. This is not a frivolous tech bubble, this is about giving people access to a vital service. In essence, municipal wireless is an infrastructure project. Like roads. Or phone lines. Or fiber. Each time we have taken on those projects, there have been push-backs and set-backs, but we've made each infrastructure project work.

Why? Because infrastructure is the cornerstone of a healthy society.

It's Wednesday, which means you're probably thinking about how you'll spend your weekend. If you're interested in a nature walk, Jonathon Colman of The Nature Conservancy has a treat for you. Check out their new map, which lets you find areas they've protected that you can visit. A nice little Google Maps integration!

Everyone's debating the effectiveness of social networking tools for fundraising campaigns. A new social networking site, Razoo, seems to want to cut to chase: they're going to give $10,000 to a nonprofit organization that signs up at least 100 new members by September 15th. And it's not just a numbers game, as the winning nonprofit organization will actually be selected from the community based on their social change projects. Here's more from their site:

"Any social change organization that creates a Razoo Group and recruits at least 100 members to join by September 15th will be entered into the Change Your World Contest. The Razoo community will then vote for its favorite organization to select the winner of the contest. The prize is a $10,000 donation to your organization, and a high-profile online campaign built around your issues and work."

You can find out more about the contest here.

You can't change the world with tin cans and string.

Become a technology leader and learn how to put technology to work for your organization instead of the other way around. A new 7-part webinar series from NTEN will make your work life easier and allow you to get more done with the same resources by giving you the information and skills you need to understand technology.Taught in plain English for leaders at all levels of technology comfort, the series wil enable you to:

• Understand and contribute to technology conversations
• Make smart technology decisions for your organization
• Increase your organization’s efficiency
• Identify and evaluate creative ideas for using technology to meet your mission

CIO MagazineCIO magazine released a new white paper and video yesterday (registration required) on the topic of data integration. Although the content is all about big, for-profit enterprises, a lot of the data and analysis applies to the nonprofit community, as well. It turns out that for-profits have too many databases full of out-dated information, and they're fixin' to do something about it. Some interesting tidbits:

• 73% of survey respondents say that Improvement of Business Intelligence is driving their data integration plans. In other words, they want a 360-degree view of their clients.
• 47% of respondents say that the biggest challenge is changing the culture of their organization. Getting that end-use buy-in for the new procedures and policies is tough.
• Most agree that a successful data integration initiative will have buy-in and support from the leadership and work across departments.

Sounds awfully familiar!