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J.R. Logan's picture

New Media Way to Show New Media

Submitted by J.R. Logan on November 21, 2011 - 10:59pm

From time to time United Way will "loan me out" to other groups to help build the capacity of other organizations in the area of New Media. Yesterday I did a workshop for a group of nonprofits for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In these workshops I often find I am struggling to guess what the skill level of the audience will be to create just the right Powerpoint presentation. This can be very difficult to get right in a workshop situation.

J.R. Logan's picture

Four Things Community Leadership Could Learn From Open Source

Submitted by J.R. Logan on March 29, 2011 - 6:51pm

Typically when people organize around an open source project they are asking “the crowd” to develop, review, test and document programing code.  In software this works particularly well. Once developed each copy of software has low marginal cost and, in contrast to proprietary solutions, anyone can make a copy and modify to their own need. This means that open source is not only gives you the freedom to change the software but is free of licensing cost because it is owned by the group rather then a company.

J.R. Logan's picture

A Dream Nonprofit Tech Recipe

Submitted by J.R. Logan on February 1, 2011 - 9:13pm

Getting the mix of technologies to fit your organization is a matter of both science and art, which is why a recipe is a useful analogy. You can not create a good recipe if you look at your organizations problems in isolation, you have to step back and look at how the needs interact and how current cost effective technologies can meet those needs. To make this problem even more complex, the system architect must consider the trajectory of technologies and the costs of "changing horses" down stream.

J.R. Logan's picture

Something is Brewing with Technology and Change in New Haven

Submitted by J.R. Logan on August 18, 2010 - 10:21am

Everywhere I turn I see people working on socially minded technology projects. 

I first saw the energy lifting in New Haven last year when Matt Kelley(Change.org blogger), Ben Berkowitz (SeeClickFix.com Founder), Jarad Duval (Author of Next Generation Democracy: What the Open Source Revolution Means for Power, Politics, and Change), and myself got together for beers to talk about how we could get more people to embrace the public benefits of changing technology. We hoped that by pooling the brains of the nerds of New Haven we would discover oportunties to work together for positive social change. We decieded that the place to start would be just providing a place for those with the technical skills and interest to explore ideas and innovation without focusing directly tasking out action. We called our group "Social Change and Technology". Our gatherings where and still are informal conversations over pizza and beer. 

While working with others to organize this group, I have been introduced to a surprising number of people working on ideas that will create a positive change in our community. 

J.R. Logan's picture

Can We Win Together On Facebook?

Submitted by J.R. Logan on November 20, 2009 - 7:39pm

We all know that there is nothing like a good contest to energize people. Thats why I think that from a publicity perspective the Chase Community Giving contest on Facebook is a smart move. Basically any Facebook user can lookup and vote for their 20 favorite nonprofits. The top100 votes will be awarded $25,000 each. The winners will also be moved to a second round of voting with a $1 million prize for the overall winner. As a United Way of Greater New Haven employee, that is enough money to make me pay attention and ponder how Greater New Haven can take advantage of this opportunity.

J.R. Logan's picture

The Promise and Challenge of New Media for Nonprofits and Community Groups

Submitted by J.R. Logan on May 29, 2009 - 12:39pm

The opportunities for nonprofit and community organizations are changing rapidly. The growth of web 2.0 and its adoption by the main stream have opened doors for better communication with supporters, more coordinated action among staff and access to data management tools. These tools hold the promise of increasing efficiently of nonprofits and greater capacity for community groups. These opportunities also present a challenge.

Michael Byrne's picture

Online Communication for Nonprofits (Surveys)

Submitted by Michael Byrne on May 8, 2009 - 11:01am

As the New Media Associate for the United Way of Coastal Fairfield County I have been put in charge of training the staff on how to take advantage of the dynamic tools our website provides. The information age is in full throttle, and it is crucial that organizations keep pace with new technology. How to shift the communication paradigm so my co-workers see online communication as a tool rather then a burden will be the focus of my work, and consequently this blog.

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