Join the Ethos Roundtable for a discussion with Susan Labandibar about green IT

Please join us for our next Ethos Roundtable session:

Tuesday, April 21st
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Featured guest: Susan Labandibar, founder of Tech Networks of Boston

Susan Labandibar is an expert on green information technology for small nonprofits and businesses, an ardent environmental advocate, and a leader of Boston's Sustainable Business Network. Her organization, Tech Networks of Boston, is creating a free web-based tool to allow any company to create a baseline for IT energy use. Businesses will be able to use the tool to forecast energy savings as they design and implement new IT solutions. Susan's presentation, Real Green IT, covers the three big reasons IT departments should go green, the five focus areas, and a sneak preview of the web-tool and its underlying methodology.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you on the 21st!

Ken George joins us at the Ethos Roundtable for a discussion about public radio, social media, and civic engagement

Please join us for our next Ethos Roundtable session:

Ken George, online production manager of WBUR
Tuesday, March 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Ken George, new media production manager at WBUR-FM, is a self-described "public radio guy stumbling along the digital highway." He will be leading a discussion about public radio, social media, and civic engagement.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you on the 17th!

Brian Reich on "Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience"

Please join us for our next Ethos Roundtable session:

Tuesday, February 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Featured guest:
Brian Reich, co-author of the book "Media Rules: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience," and principal at EchoDitto

Brian is a veteran of online communications for political and nonprofit causes, and we'll have a lively discussion about how to use what he's learned to support positive social change.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you on the 17th!

Starting off right in 2009 with the Ethos Roundtable

As 2009 begins, we are grateful to have some very exciting featured guests scheduled:

Jeffrey Wood, founder of eHope
Tuesday, January 20th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Brian Reich, co-author of the book "Media Rules: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience," and principal at EchoDitto
Tuesday, February 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Ken George, online production manager of WBUR
Tuesday, March 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Susan Labandibar, founder of Tech Networks of Boston, and green IT expert
Tuesday, April 21st
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Melinda Wittstock, founder of Ask Your Lawmaker, Capitol News Connection, and Pundit Productions
Tuesday, May 19th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Deborah Elizabeth Finn, Strategic Technology Consultant to Nonprofits and Philanthropies
Tuesday, June 16th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Peter Deitz and Christine Egger of Social Actions
Tuesday, July 21st
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others!

Jeffrey Wood and eHope will join us at the Ethos Roundtable on January 20th

Please join us for the first Ethos Roundtable session of the new year!

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Featured guest: Jeffrey Wood, founder of eHope
(This session was originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 16th, 2008.)

Jeffrey Wood is the founder and president of eHope, a non-profit which facilitates caring communities which provides non-medical physical, emotional, social, emotional and spiritual support for people facing a life-threatening illness. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Jeffrey served 20 years as a U.S. Army leadership instructor, as Human Resource Manager for Teledyne, and also as a web developer & IT Consultant. His volunteer work on the oncology wing at Maine Medical Center and then with Hospice of Maine serving ALS families in Southern Maine, provided him with the vision and inspiration for birthing eHope. To date, eHope has launched 55 caring communities mobilizing approx. 2,600 volunteer caregivers throughout Central and Southern Maine.

Jeffrey recommends the following links for attendees of the session:

• Social Isolation Growing in U.S.
• NPR eHope Story - 10 minute audio clip

Please note that Ethos Roundtable events are usually paired with meetings of the Boston 501 Tech Club. However, this month's501 Tech Club meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, January 13th. If you have any questions about the 501 Tech Club, or would like to make a reservation to attend it, please send an email to Kathleen Sherwin (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

As always, we are very grateful to TechFoundation for underwriting the conference room in which Ethos Roundtable sessions take place.

There's never any need to make a reservation to attend EthosRoundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others!

George McCully at the Ethos Roundtable: Philanthropy reconsidered in the internet age

We invite you to join us for our next session:

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: George McCully, Founder of the Catalogue For Philanthropy, and author of "Philanthropy Reconsidered"

George's new book has some very striking and useful insights about (among other things) the transition that it in progress from the industrial age to the internet age of philanthropy.

There's never any need to make a reservation to attend EthosRoundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others!

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who
work with nonprofit organizations. All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

See you on Tuesday!

Doc Searls at the Ethos Roundtable on November 18th

Please join us for our November session!

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Doc Searls, Fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and author of "Doc Searls Weblog"

Doc Searls is a fellow with both the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Center for Information Technology & Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, a business bestseller, and Senior Editor at Linux Journal, where he has been covering open source development since the mid-90s. He is also one of the world's best known and widely read bloggers.

In "The World is Flat," Tom Friedman calls Doc "one of the most respected technology writers in America." J.D. Lasica, author of "Darknet," calls Doc "one of the deep thinkers in the blog movement." In 2005, Doc won the Google O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Communicator.

Here's the word from Doc about the topic for our session:

The Intention Economy: What happens when free customers prove more valuable than captive ones.

Are you tired of carrying around "loyalty cards" for retailers who speak to themselves about "acquiring," "owning" and "controlling" their "relationship" with you? -- and do little more than clog your wallet and slow down checkout lines?

Are you tired of login and password hell? In the everyday world you don't have to become a "member" of a store to shop there, or to click "accept" after not reading "agreements" that are anything but.

Wouldn't it be cool to rent exactly the car you want (for example, one that seats six and has an AUX input for your iPhone), rather than whatever the rental car agency decides to give you?

If you answer Yes to any of those questions, you should know about VRM, for Vendor Relationship Management. It's how we manage them at least as well as they manage us.

VRM tools are being developed right now by a community of developers and other volunteers, organized around ProjectVRM at Harvard's Berkman Center and led by Doc Searls, the originator of the VRM concept and a fellow at the center.

Here are a few web pages that he recommends that attendees read before the Ethos Roundtable session:

• Doc's essay "The Intention Economy"
• The VRM entry from Wikipedia
• A list of VRM principles:
• The ProjectVRM wiki
• The ProjectVRM blog
• Doc's blog

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you in November!

Upcoming at the Ethos Roundtable: Four unusually special guests

Check out this incredible line-up of featured guests for upcoming Ethos Roundtable sessions:

Joseph Porcelli
Director of Online Operations and Partnerships of Be The Change Foundation, founder of Neighbors For Neighbors, and many other civic engagement projects
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Doc Searls
Fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and author of "Doc Searls Weblog"
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

George McCully
Founder of the Catalogue For Philanthropy, and author of "Philanthropy Reconsidered"
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Jeffrey Wood
Founder of eHope
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
(This session was originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 16th, 2008.)

Details on the topics of each date will be forthcoming, as our featured guests send in their blurbs.

At the conclusion of each of these Ethos Roundtable sessions, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing free food and drink, it's courteous to let their team know how much to order.

Joseph Porcelli at the Ethos Roundtable, 10/21/2008

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Joseph Porcelli

Joseph Porcelli wears a lot of hats. He's been a coordinator of the Neighborhood Crime Watch Unit of the Boston Police Department, the executive director of Neighbors For Neighbors, the founder of the Name Tag Project, and is now with the Be The Change Foundation. In all his work, he has been an innovator in using online tools to increase social capital in local communities, so we're very excited that he'll be the featured guest in October at the Ethos Roundtable.

Please join us at the table!

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Reservations are never mandatory to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you in October!

Change of format for the September 16th Ethos Roundtable session

Unfortunately, our featured guest for Tuesday, Jeff Wood of eHope, will not be able join us as scheduled. He will be with a critically ill patient and his family. Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with them all. We have rescheduled Jeff's presentation at the Ethos Roundtable for Tuesday, December 16th.

However, the Ethos Roundtable will definitely meet this Tuesday, even though Jeff will be unable to be there.

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Instead of the scheduled presentation, we will be having an "open mike" Ethos Roundtable session.

This doesn't actually mean that there will be a microphone or that anyone will be asked to perform; it does mean that it's an open discussion of any ideas that attendees might want to bring to the table. These ideas might pertain to your own projects, or to presenters that you'd like the Ethos Roundtable to invite to future sessions.

John Hopkins has very graciously agreed to kick off the session on September 16th with a brief presentation about HubUnity, a web-based service that provides tools to collect, organize and manage connections with everything local, such as local schools, groups, businesses, events, and news.

If you'd like to give a brief presentation on an concept or ongoing project that is relevant to ethos and technology for positive social change, please feel free to email us at ethos.roundtable (at) gmail (dot) com. Or just show up!

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

As always, there's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

See you on Tuesday!

eHope at the Ethos Roundtable

September's featured guest will be Jeffrey Wood, the president and founder of eHope .

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest, Jeffrey Wood, eHope

eHope's mission is "to form caregiving communities which provide non-medical physical, social, spiritual and emotional support, for a loved one who faces a life-threatening illness." Their innovative use of online tools to support caregiving communities is very much in the spirit of the Ethos Roundtable, and we hope that everyone who is interested will join us for this session.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Reservations are never mandatory to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteously to let them know how much to order.

Please join the team from Speakeasy and Asian CDC at the Ethos Roundtable on August 19th

August's featured guests will be the team from Speakeasy and the Asian Community Development Corporation.

Tuesday, August 19th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Jeremy Liu, Speakeasy and Asian CDC

Speakeasy is a service that offers non-English speaking individuals convenient, free and easy access to a network of well-informed, multilingual “Guides” who would be able to provide on-demand, confidential language interpretation via the telephone. Aside from their interpretation services, Guides would also be able to effectively address callers’ concerns and needs as they are more familiar with the social service options available in this country. In practice, Speakeasy is not a new concept as many multilingual individuals are already serving as informal interpreters for their family members and friends, but often with uneven or inappropriate results. Instead of having to depend solely on this informal social network and to ease some of the unduly burdens placed upon family members and friends, Speakeasy would be able to take advantage of the ubiquity of cell phones and connect non-English speakers to Guides promptly.

Technically, Speakeasy consists of three components – a web service for Guides’ registration and scheduling, a telephone server for call routing and conferencing, and a database that stores Guides’ phone numbers, language capabilities and available times. Callers – any non-English speakers, including immigrants, refugees and other limited English proficiency individuals – would place a call to Speakeasy from any telephone and then be greeted by pre-recorded messages and prompts in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. After callers navigate the voice menu by pressing the appropriate buttons, Speakeasy then queues their calls through the database, and connects them to available Guides who would act as “linguistic liaisons” to city service agencies, community organizations and local businesses via their cell phones. In that sense, Speakeasy transcends geographic, spatial and temporal boundaries as it allows Guides to provide assistance wherever they may be and whenever they are available.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Reservations are never mandatory to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

Please join Quintus Jett at the Ethos Roundtable on July 15th for a discussion about the Gentilly Project!

Please join us for the next Ethos Roundtable event!

Tuesday, July 15th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Quintus Jett, Gentilly Project

The Gentilly Project uses a prototype mapping system designed to deploy after neighborhood devastation, follow progress, and pinpoint what aid is needed where. By using this new public mapping system, everyone—researchers, developers, politicians, and local citizens—will be able to see what has been done, and what needs to be done, with the sole purpose being to accelerate rebuilding.

The first application of this mapping system is the mapping of the entire district of Gentilly, a severely flood-damaged area in New Orleans, home to over 40,000 residents pre-Katrina. The project's public mapping of over 12,000 homes is the most current, and comprehensive look at the rebuilding progress in the city.

Here are some links to more information about the project:

• New Orleans Rebuilds
• Gentilly Neighborhood Mapping Center
• Open-source organizing
• Door-to-Door Map-making

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Laura Jaseviciute of TechFoundation (lauraj AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you in July!

Good2gether at the Ethos Roundtable on June 17th

Please join us for the next Ethos Roundtable event!

Tuesday, June 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Greg McHale, Good2Gether.Com

Good2gether is a social enterprise that mashes up mainstream media web sites with content provided by mission-based organizations. Nonprofit organizations can participate at no cost.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you in June!

The Stargazer Foundation is coming to the Ethos Roundtable on May 20th!

If you're interested in free resources for emergency management, please join us at our May session:

Tuesday, May 20th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Art Bushkin, Stargazer.Org

It is our great good luck that Art Bushkin is traveling up to the Boston area to talk about the Stargazer Foundation's online resources for emergency preparedness.

Stargazer has devoted millions of dollars (and untold amounts of effort and expertise) to creating this absolutely free resource for nonprofits, families, and individuals. The foundation's slogan is "online services for social good," which could not be more congruent with the spirit of the Ethos Roundtable. Art will share his vision with us, and will also be available to meet with nonprofit professionals and community leaders who are vitally concerned with emergency management and disaster relief.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Laura Jaseviciute of TechFoundation (lauraj AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you in May!

Social Capital Inc at the Ethos Roundtable

Please join us at the April Ethos Roundtable session!

Tuesday, April 15th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guests: David Crowley and Mike Sances, Social Capital Inc.

Here's what Mike and David have to say about the upcoming session:

'We are in the age of the network yet we don't know our neighbors. The connective capabilities of the evolving computer technologies and the internet are fostering incredible growth in communication networks. The "social" networks abound with millions of users exchanging information through such entities as MySpace, Facebook, and craigslist. There is tremendous potential to harness this communication energy and technology to enhance community involvement, civic engagement, and social capital.

'However the verdict is still out whether the new technologies and the internet can foster civic engagement or isolate and reduce it. As Robert Putnam put it in his book, "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community ", "The Internet may be part of the solution to our civic problem, or it may exacerbate it, but the cyber-revolution was not the cause." In fact, Putnam indicts an older technological innovation—the television—as one of the primary reasons for declining social capital. In Bowling Alone, Putnam also reports a: 25% decline in voting rates; a 40% drop in people attending meetings on town/school affairs; a 50% drop in membership rates in 32 national organizations; and a 45% drop in frequency of having friends over for dinner.

'We need to reverse the tide and build community and civic engagement – now more than ever. SCI believes that the evolving networking technologies can be used as powerful tools for crafting stronger, more
vibrant communities.'

Online reading recommended by Mike and David:

• Putnam, Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital, Journal of Democracy 6:1, Jan 1995, 65-78

• Ellison, Nicole B. et al, The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites

• "On the Web, a new home for Dot dwellers," by Dan Devine, BostonBanner

• Debate between David Weinberger (Everything is Miscellaneous) and Andrew Keen (Cult of the Amateur)
  

More about our featured guests:

David B. Crowley (President and Founder, SCI) brings over fifteen years of leadership in the nonprofit sector to the founding of SCI. Prior to starting SCI, David served as Executive Director of Generations Incorporated, which under his leadership grew into a national model for intergenerational programming. He also started and directed the Kentucky Community Service Commission, a state entity appointed by the Governor responsible for AmeriCorps and other service programs. David graduated from Harvard College in 1991 with an A.B. in Government, and from Woburn High School in 1987.

Mike Sances (Network Coordinator, SCI) has been with SCI since August 2006, starting as an AmeriCorps*VISTA and continuing as Network Coordinator in September 2007. Mike is assisting with the development of SCI's Network Sites, and also provides Drupal support for SCI's community websites. Mike graduated from UMass Amherst in 2006 with a B.A. in political science.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you in April!

May, June, and July at the Ethos Roundtable

We hope that you'll join us for these upcoming sessions:

Tuesday, May 20th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Art Bushkin, Stargazer.Org

Tuesday, June 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Greg McHale, Good2Gether.Com

Tuesday, July 15th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guests: Quintus Jett, Gentilly Project

Details on the topics of each date will be forthcoming, as our featured guests send in their blurbs.

At the conclusion of each of these Ethos Roundtable sessions, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

Robin Chase at the Ethos Roundtable, March 18th

Please join us at the next Ethos Roundtable session!

Tuesday, March 18th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Robin Chase, GoLoco

Addressing sustainability and climate change will require changes in the way we do things in both the immediate and long terms. Robin Chase will talk about the unique role businesses can and must play as providers of goods and services, as consumers of goods and services; and as roles models to employees and other companies.

Links recommended by Robin:

• GoLoco
  
• Network Musings
  

Here's a little bit about our honoured guest:

Robin Chase is founder and CEO of GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. GoLoco helps people quickly arrange to share car trips of all lengths between trusted friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and handles online payments from passengers to drivers for their share of the trip costs. GoLoco's innovative combination of social networks and online payment systems recasts how we think about car travel, making it a time for socializing and with a new emphasis on trip efficiency, in order to reduce per passenger costs.

Robin is founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world. Zipcar’s use of the Internet and wireless technology enables rental cars to emulate personal cars. Zipcar's disruptive technology gives its members on-demand access to cars by-the-hour, revolutionizing people's relationship to their cars and improving the quality of urban life for all.

Robin also founded and leads Meadow Networks, a consulting firm, where she is frequently consulted by transportation and planning departments, city and state government agencies, and NGOs about wireless and mesh networking applications in the transportation sector, and impacts on innovation and economic development. She served on the Boston Mayor’s Wireless Task Force, and the Governor-elect’s Transportation Transition Working Committee.

Robin lectures widely and has been frequently featured in the major media including the Today Show, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Wired, Newsweek and Time magazines, as well as several books on entrepreneurship. She has received many awards, including the Massachusetts Governor's Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, Start-up Woman of the Year, Business Week’s top 10 designers, Fast Company's Fast 50 Champions of Innovation, technology and innovation awards from Fortune, CIO, and Info World Magazines, and numerous environmental awards from national, state, and local governments and organizations.

Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT's Sloan School of Management, and was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you on the 18th!

February 19th at the Ethos Roundtable: "Is Wikipedia Helping or Hindering Social Change?"

Please join us at the next Ethos Roundtable session!

Tuesday, February 19th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Jayne Karolow, LocaModa

Here's the word from our featured guest:

'Last roundtable, I spoke about Wiffiti, in particular its goal of encouraging organic, proactive conversations amongst people who would typically never interact with each other; it's been a highly successful social model. Now I'd like to take a look at the flip side of community media... When information comes into the mix, are we doing more harm than good by venerating "groupthink"?'

Online reading recommended by Jayne:

• Poe, "The Hive"
• Schiff, "Know It All"
• Lanier, "Digital Maoism"

A brief biography of our featured guest:

'Jayne Karolow is the Director of Community at LocaModa, Inc, a technology company in Cambridge, MA, focused on connecting people and places. She is also a part-time instructor and Emerson Colleage, currently teaching a course entitled "Studies in Digital Media and Culture." In her free time, she enjoys running marathons and cooking in her tiny Somerville kitchen.'

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food and drink, it's courteous to let them know how much to order.

See you on the 19th!

Please save these dates for the Ethos Roundtable!

We hope that you'll join us for these upcoming sessions:

Tuesday, February 19th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest: Jayne Karolow, LocaModa

Tuesday, March 18th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guest:: Robin Chase, Goloco

Tuesday, April 15th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Featured guests: David Crowley and Mike Sances, Social Capital Inc.

Details on the topics of each date will be forthcoming, as our featured guests send in their blurbs.

At the conclusion of each of these Ethos Roundtable sessions, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

What's Up, Boston? Join the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative at the Ethos Roundtable on January 15th!

Please join us at at the next Ethos Roundtable session:

Tuesday, January 15th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Special Guests: David Feigenbaum, Rick Borovoy, Meaghan Smith (Boston History & Innovation Collaborative)

"What's Up, Boston," which is a project of the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative, makes innovative use of text messaging to encourage civic engagement in Boston. We are thrilled that three members of the team will be joining us at the Ethos Roundtable to talk about their work.

Here's a summary from the Boston History & Innovation Collaborative's web site:

As part of efforts to jump-start civic conversations and get people “talking” live and publicly about important topics of common interest, the What’s Up Boston task force has developed an innovative way to facilitate more public dialogue. The pilot public conversation medium, an "electronic whiteboard" though which participants can share their experiences and solutions in real time by sending text messages to a publicly located screen, will be part of the Oct. 4 IdeasBoston conference.

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

Recommended reading from Michelle Murrain

I hope that you're planning to join us at the Ethos Roundtable on December 18th, when Michelle Murrain will lead a discussion about open source software for nonprofits!

Here's the reading that Michelle has recommended:

"Chapter 4: Philosophical Considerations" (from the NOSI primer for nonprofits)

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others!

Michelle Murrain on the ethical and philosophical implications of open source software for nonprofits

Tuesday, December 18th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Michelle Murrain, Nonprofit Open Source Initiative

The Nonprofit Open Source Initiative (NOSI) recently launched an updated version of its excellent guide, "Choosing and Using Free and Open Source Software: A Primer for Nonprofits." Michelle Murrain, who is coordinator of NOSI and a strategic technology consultant, will lead a discussion on the ethical and philosophical implications for nonprofits. She describes her approach to technology as "conscious, minimalist, neo-luddite."

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

Please join us!

Nolan Bowie at the Ethos Roundtable

On November 20th, Nolan Bowie, lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School, and senior fellow emeritus at the Berkman Center, will be giving a presentation at the Ethos Roundtable on his vision for global telecommunications.

Tuesday, November 20th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

Please join us!

Keith Taylor, founder of Modest Needs, presents at the Ethos Roundtable on October 30th

Tuesday, October 30th*
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Keith Taylor, Modest Needs Foundation

If you're not familiar with Modest Needs Foundation, which uses the web to empower us all as micro-philanthropists, please check out the Modest Needs web site and blog, and prepare to be blown away.

When I consider that Modest Needs gives one-time grants to folks who are at risk of poverty and homelessness, and that 65% (Yes! Sixty-five percent!) of grant recipients become Modest Needs donors, I just want to swoon. Sorry about these rhetorical excesses, but I can't seem to help myself.


* Please note that this date does not coincide with the Boston 501 Tech Club event on October 16th. We changed the date of the Ethos Roundtable event to accommodate Keith's schedule, since he is coming up from New York City.

Please join us for Josh Shortlidge's InterEthos presentation on September 18th!

Tuesday, September 18th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

When you meet someone on the Internet, how do you know what they are really like? Are they trustworthy? Knowledgeable? Also, how do you share your impressions of them with everybody else? You could go to Facebook and MySpace and LinkedIn and any number of other social networking sites, Google their name and so on. But that's a lot of work! Couldn't there be an easier way? Wouldn't it be nice if you could get to know people right away, right when you encounter them, and with no conversations or clicks required?

On September 18th Josh Shortlidge will present a new technology designed to "catalog and share the character of internet users in real time".

Ethos Profiles are comprised of pointers to documentation on all internet locations. For instance a person's Ethos Profile can include pointers to articles they authored in a local newspaper, to web pages documenting their membership activities in certain activist groups, to their MMOG gaming standings, to their good standing as an EBay seller, to their Myers Briggs personality profile, to their profile on CouchSurfing.com, etc.

These Ethos Profiles will be stored in a shared "ethos" data layer, which will be accessible by everyone, from everywhere on the net, with no clicks, and at zero cost. Ethos profiles will be created for all users, and by all users. We will share our spirit and passions more seamlessly, and thereby more easily forge life-changing relationships.

The basic concept of InterEthos is that whenever you meet a new person via the internet, then you should be able to instantly learn that person's core character, or ethos. Getting to know someone shouldn't require hours of face-to-face conversation or extensive internet searches. Rather, you should be able to glean their ethos at the exact place and instant that you meet them.

For more details please visit the InterEthos wiki. The wiki is public, so you can add your ideas to any page by clicking the "Edit This Page" button. Also, if the topic grabs you, then please click "Join this Space."

Josh Shortlidge's contact information (and old-style profile) can be found on the wiki.

Please join us for our fall presentations: 09/18, 10/30, and 11/20/2007

Please join us this fall for our series of discussions about technology for positive social change!

September
Josh Shortlidge, founder of InterEthos and co-convener of the Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday, September 18th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

October
Keith Taylor, founder of ModestNeeds.Org
Tuesday, October 30th*
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge
* Please note that this date does not coincide with the Boston 501 Tech Club event on October 23rd.

November
Nolan Bowie, lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School, and senior fellow at the Berkman Center
Tuesday, November 20th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

This is really an extraordinary fall line-up, so please mark your calendars now. There's no need to make a reservation if you want to attend; please come if you can, and feel free to invite others.

Open mike at the Ethos Roundtable on August 21st - please join us!

Tuesday, August 21st with be an open mike session at the Ethos Roundtable, and we hope that you'll join us.

Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday,August 21st
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

This doesn't actually mean that there will be a microphone or that anyone will be asked to perform; it does mean that it's an open discussion of any ideas that attendees might want to bring to the table. These ideas might pertain to your own projects, or to presenters that you'd like the Ethos Roundtable to invite to future sessions.

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).

Please join us for the SocialMarkets.Org presentation on July 17th

The next Ethos Roundtable event will be on Tuesday, July 17th, and is scheduled to complement the Boston 501 Tech Club gathering that will follow immediately afterward. Allan Benamer and Jeff Tuller will be giving a presentation on SocialMarkets.Org, their newly founded nonprofit initiative.

Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday, July 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

SocialMarkets.Org embodies a new model for going online to channel untapped charitable dollars from individuals and organizations in the financial services industry. Nonprofit organizations that are serious about funding both programs and outcomes measurement will be particularly interested in Jeff and Allan's approach to transparency and accountability.

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

There's no need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org).


Full disclosure of financial relationship: I serve as a paid consultant to SocialMarkets.Org, so I'm not exactly a disinterested party. However, I am also an avid fan in my own right.

Update on our plans for June 19th

Norris Prevost will be presenting at the Ethos Roundtable at 4:30 pm on June 19th, and is planning to speak about his "E-One Carribbean" program. He has very graciously allowed us to make an executive summary of E-One Carribbean available online through this blog; to review it, please click here.

Our Ethos Roundtable event will conclude at 6:00 pm. The Boston 501 Tech Club will not be meeting on that evening. Instead, all who are interested in the Mass NPtech Working Group will assemble at 6:00 pm in the Charles Hotel conference room where the Ethos Roundtable meets, and then stroll into Harvard Square for an informal dinner together.

Deepening our local nonprofit technology conspiracy

I love the word "conspiracy". I'm a mediocre Latinist, but by my reckoning, to conspire is "to breath together," or possibly "to be in spirit together." Therefore, I like to refer to the local (or international) network of nonprofit technology advocates as a conspiracy.

As I've previously mentioned in my blog, Michelle Murrain and I have been brainstorming about creating a regional school for circuit riders. It's important to think of a range of options for ensuring that nonprofits in our region get the tech support that they need, and this is a conversation I've had at various times with Khalid Mustafa of the Urban Leaguee, Steve Backman of Database Designs Associates, and Wayne Glynn of Third Sector New England.

At the Boston 501 Club's May event, a few of us began to talk seriously about spinning off a working group for those who are interested in the future of tech support for nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts. Khalid, Steve, and I all felt ready to schedule a meeting, and Claire Murray joined in enthusiastically with offers to find us a good space for convening.

We have now created an email distribution list, "MassNPtechWorkingGroup," for nonprofit technology advocates who are interested in strategic discussions, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Several years ago, I sat in with a group that explored the possibility of a statewide nonprofit technology capacity building network in Massachusetts. The guiding spirits were extremely smart and dedicated people, and it was a noble effort, but the plan did not come to fruition. Alas. If that previous group was unable create an infrastructure and a formal network for service delivery, I doubt that the MassNPtech Working Group can do it - and in fact I don't think we should aspire to do it.

Instead, I think that our working group will probably remain a kind of forum and peer learning community, somewhat akin to the Ethos Roundtable in scope. Perhaps we'll gather for presentations and discussions, and perhaps we'll be "in spirit together." If various members of the group are able to discuss new strategies and forge collaborative relationships, then it will be a modest success.

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Related blog articles:

• The New England School for Circuit Riders
• The Riders Movement
• Why you need to download and read the eRider Starter Kit
• Heroes, pioneers, technology for positive social change, and the Dirk Award
• A region's nonprofit digital divide
• Where have all the developers gone?
• Career paths and career ladders in nonprofit technology
  

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This item is based on an article that was originally posted to my blog, "Technology for the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector."

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Please save the date for our June 19th meeting

Norris Prevost, member of parliament from the Commonwealth of Dominica (and a Kennedy School of Government affiliate), will be giving a presentation on E-One Carribean. This is a nonprofit project that seeks to link nongovernmental organizations in the Carribean with the intellectual, financial, and human resources of the region and its diaspora.

We are eager to learn about Norris's vision of how internet tools can help immigrant communities maintain strong ties with their home cultures and contribute to sustainable economic development.

Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

There's no need to make a reservation if you'd like to attend any of the Ethos Roundtable meetings - just come if you can, and feel free to invite others.

Please join us!

SJ and the One Laptop Per Child Project: Recommended Links

Here are some links that you may want to review before SJ Klein's presentation about the OLPC project on Tuesday:

• One Laptop Per Child Wiki

• One Laptop Per Child

• Wikipedia: $100 Laptop

• SJ Klein, Director of Content, One Laptop Per Child project

• SJ's Longest Now

• OLPC News

• NY Times: Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops

• Microsoft Windows and the $100 MIT Laptop

• Indian Engineers Aiming for USD 10 Laptop

• U.S. Schools May Receive 'One Laptop per Child' Notebooks

• "$100 laptop" project adds $75 and Windows

• Potential for Windows reveals complexities in nonprofit's effort to spread '$100 laptop'

• Uruguay youngsters receive batch of OLPC XOs

• OLPC Game Jam Coming in June

• OLPC and Microsoft: Happy Together?

• OLPC Project Rollout Begins In Uruguay

• Inside the OLPC

• OLPC rundown: XO gets naked, project detailed

• XO Laptop: Child's Play: One Laptop Per Child product deemed basic but useful, as initiative to spread affordable technology

More links from Gary Goldberger

As a follow up to his Ethos Roundtable presentation on Tuesday, Gary Goldberger has sent along links to the various projects that he mentioned:

• FableVision
  
• Games for Change
• Research Centre for Media Psychology
• The Lia Project
• Darfur is Dying
• A Force More Powerful
• Community Organizing Toolkit
• CyberBudget
• PeaceMaker
• OilGod & Airport Security
• Second Life*
  

Enjoy!


* By the way, Gary's Second Life avatar is "Gerrick Gordimer." (Mine is "Deborah Replacement.") Please feel free to post your avatar's name in a comment here.

Please save the date for our May meeting

Samuel Klein, also known as "Sj," will be speaking about his work with the One Laptop Per Child project.

Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Business center conference room
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Our meetings are scheduled to complement the monthly get-togethers of the Boston 501 Tech Club, which begin at 6:00 pm at the Charles Hotel. All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at Boston 501 Tech Club events, and vice versa.

Please join us!

Please save the date for our April meeting

Gary Goldberger will be speaking about his work with Games For Change, Fablevision, and the Research Centre for Media Psychology.

Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday, April 17th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Business center conference room
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Our meetings are scheduled to complement the monthly get-togethers of the Boston 501 Tech Club, which begin at 6:00 pm at the Charles Hotel. All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at Boston 501 Tech Club events, and vice versa.

Please join us!

Next Ethos Roundtable event: Tuesday, 03/20, 4:30 pm

The next Ethos Roundtable event will be on Tuesday, March 20th, and is scheduled to complement the Boston 501 Tech Club gathering that will follow immediately afterward.

Ethos Roundtable
Tuesday, March 20th
4:30 - 6:00 pm
Business center conference room
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Stan Labovitz of Infotool will be presenting on Tuesday. He is the designer and CEO of the Infotool Organizational Analysis Tool, and lawyer by trade. He was formerly an active OD consultant for 15 years with Organizational Dynamics, Inc (ODI).

InfoTool is a shared online tool used by OD consultants to measure and coach organizations worldwide. It facilitates the detailed analysis of cross-silo operations, interactions across multiple external stakeholder groups, and 360-degree reviews, just to name a few.

In just 2 short years Infotool boasts clients such as Liberty Mutual; Insurance, Staples, Yale, Harvard, Dannon, Nextel, The Cotton Industry, CSC Consulting, and many others. Infotool has resellers in India, South America, Australia, Central America and throughout the US.

Infotool was founded in Boston, Massachusetts by a team of organizational research consultants that needed an effective tool to measure and analyze key organizational business drivers in a simple and cost-effective manner. The team needed a web-based application that was dynamic, interactive and intuitive enough to empower clients to analyze the root cause needs of their employees and their customer's perceptions, as well flexible enough to meet the changing requirements of the marketplace.

At the conclusion of the Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, food, and drink at the 501 Tech Club that is so generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa.

Introducing the latest new technology

Courtesy of YouTube.

Where have all the developers gone?

These days, it seems like the constant refrain in the Boston area is, "Deborah, can you find us a database and web developer who is highly qualified and willing to work with small nonprofits?"

It's really difficult right now, but I'm not surprised, because it's part of a larger trend that I started to worry about two years ago.

We've had a real dry spell in funding for nonprofit technology in our region. In the past few years, a lot of extremely talented young techies, who would have been thrilled to take jobs with organizations that strive to make the world a better place, have searched in vain for work. I hear from the ones who have become embittered and taken jobs in other regions or other sectors. It isn't difficult for them to find work, because they have solid skills in the proprietary web and database platforms that are used in every sector.

Fortunately, the developers who have stuck around (in the region and in the nonprofit sector) are very good. Unfortunately, even the most brilliant web and database developer, no matter how utterly devoted to serving the nonprofit sector in Massachusetts, only has 24 hours in any given day.

Meanwhile, the new cohort of young idealists is emerging. These folks tend to be recent college graduates who want to make the world a better place, through open source software. (The latter is variously known as free, libre, FOSS, and FLOSS.) They aren't waiting for nonprofit organizations to create staff positions for them as web and database developers; they are starting their own development and consulting firms, and working on the FLOSS projects that interest them.

This new cohort of idealistic techies - and the tools that they are developing for use in the nonprofit sector - comprise an amazing boon to our work. In the future, we will probably reap benefits that we can't begin to foresee right now.

However, in the meantime, the nonprofit sector in our region is stuck with an embarassing problem of our own making. Most of the FLOSS tools currently under development are not mature enough to serve the immediate, every day needs of nonprofits. So we have a cohort of idealistic young techies who don't want to develop databases or web sites with the platforms that we are currently using, and a cohort of embittered techies who have the skills to work with the platforms we use but have already fled the scene.

What are we going to do? I'd like to encourage my colleagues to brainstorm about this.



(This item is based an article from my blog, "Technology for the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector.")