I saw a note from long-time friend Amanda Hickman this week announcing the release of the "Base Edition of NGO-in-a-box". It reminded me of all the work that's been underway (for some years now) at Tactical Tech to get the NGO-in-a-Box project up-and-running. NGO-in-a-box is probably one of the most impressively organized projects in the social-technology sector ... from the NGO-in-a-Box site:

NGO-in-a-box offers a set of peer reviewed and selected Free and Open Source software (F/OSS), tailored to the needs of NGO's. It provides them not only with software, but also with implementation scenarios and relevant materials to support this.

Each "Edition" has Editorial teams that select the software, and write the documentation, and manage the project. To date they've released NGO-in-a-box Open Publishing Edition, Security Edition, Audio Video Edition, and now the Base Edition that Amanda worked on.

The Base Edition is a great resource if you're starting a new organization, or wondering how free and open-source software might be able to help your organization do more with less. The Base Edition Web site describes it as:

...a collection of essential tools for running a small-to-medium sized NGO. You can use this toolkit to set up and coordinate your office, organize and manage projects, collaborate online and support your campaigns. The Box contains a set of peer-reviewed Free and Open Source Software tools, with associated guides and tutorials, giving you the technical foundations to build upon.

And, if you don't know why you should be thinking about free software yet -- go read my article on the subject!

So you want to run a DrupalCamp in your town? Well, reflecting on the experience of helping to organize and facilitate DrupalCampToronto, I have a few ideas to throw into the pot. By most measures, DrupalCampToronto was a success: the event was at capacity, there was a fantastic mix of people, the presentations were excellent, and we raised a bunch of money for the Toronto Drupal community. Add to the ingredients that it was relatively easy to put together and that our organizing team was doing it off the side of their desks, and you've got a pretty good recipe for low-stress face-to-face learning events that help to build the Drupal community. All of that said, I feel that we could have tried a few things that would have made the event even better.

As one of the conveners of the Web of Change gathering, I've had the opportunity to work with a team of top-notch facilitators over the last couple of years. Also, having had the opportunity to work closely with folks like Mark Surman, Katrin Verclas, and Allen Gunn on events like Penguin Day Toronto and the Human Rights and Technology Conference at MIT, I've certainly experienced my share of the leading edge of facilitation innovation.

• Power dynamics: Mark reminded me of what a great job Allen Gunn (often called just Gunner) does at facilitating a group's power dynamics — that is the interplay of personalities in the room. He will often set up simple rules that got a long way toward minimizing the negative dynamics, for example rules that encourage people to sit with those that they don't know, or that discourage monologging during a session. He'll also work to identify personalities that he can rely on for in-session facilitation, either people that are good at drawing people out of their shell, or people that would typically monologue and giving them a role that limits their ability to do that. He also leverages a liberal amount of humour and mockery to ensure that folks don't take anything to seriously.
• Facilitation: All this, however, points to one thing — even unconferences need good facilitation. Okay: so you already knew that! But, in reflecting on my post about the opportunity for progressive unconferences, I was trying to define what makes an unconference different than a conference that uses Open Space Technology; and my conclusion was that unconferences didn't need to invest financially in Open Space facilitators — meaning that just about anybody with enough interest can dream up, organize, and facilitate an unconference. And therein lies the weakness of the unconference. At a conference where everyone's a participant (and there are no spectators allowed), it's important to recognize the need for good facilitation to ensure that human nature doesn't rule the day (we've all read Lord of the Flies, right?). To hear the quieter voices — the ones that often don't get heard — we need to help the louder ones recognize the value of silence and the power of listening.
• Logistics: This one is easy... as straightforward as these events seem, they are going to throw you a few curve balls. Here are some things to remember: if you need two projectors, have three on hand; If everyone brings a laptop for a full-day event, you're going to need a lot of power... so bring lots of multi-outlet power bars; Make sure you have enough forks, as the caterers might not bring any. And, of course, read Zacker's report back and lessons from DrupalCampSF, which helped us greatly (specifically the advice about food was well received by the non-Vegan participants at DrupalCampToronto). If I were to do it again, I would allow about twice as much time for the logistics.
• Timing: Finally, the one bit of advice that we didn't take from Zacker that we should have was the bit about busy people trying to organize an event in two weeks. No matter how unconference you get, if you want your participants to have a good time, be comfortable, have opportunities to meet new people, and to (most importantly) learn something new — you have to have time to organize the event properly. Given the relatively small amount of time invested in planning DrupalCampToronto, I think that the organizers did a fantastic job. However, I suspect that we all agree it would have been better if someone could have dedicated one week of full time attention to it. Organizing sponsorships, catering, on-site logistics, and then working with participants to ensure that they have what they need (e.g., T-shirts) takes time and energy.

As I head off to BarCampTdot today, I'll be wearing my facilitators hat and taking notes. Hopefully, what comes of all this work around self-organizing events and unconferences is a resource that can be used to keep improving these types of events for the participants and for the organizers. Perhaps, given the Wiki-fied nature of the BarCamp movement, there will eventually be a resource similar to Aspiration's facilitation wiki that can be used to organization progressive unconferences across Canada.

Now: go look at some photos and blog posts tagged with drupalcamptoronto!

After a year of writing several briefs and one, exceptionally large (by my standards), report for the Ministry of Citizenship — I can firmly say that I now know more than I ever dreamt I would know on the topic of successful non-profit technology initiatives. Add to that my own experience over the past few years and you’ve got a lot of blog posts. So here’s the first… Let’s call it the Canadian non-profit technology assistance manifesto. And why does Canada need a manifesto for non-profit technology assistance? Simple: because successful, sustainable, long-term, and hands-on information technology support for most Canadian non-profits simple doesn’t exist in Canada as it does in the US and elsewhere in the world. So, based on my experience, what does Canada need? I’m glad you asked — here’s what I think Canada needs:

• A strong and well-connected network of non-profit technology assistance providers (NTAPs) from coast-to-coast
• The infastructure and funding in place to support the NTAPs in bringing their clients and communities up to basic levels of technical capacity An approach that puts ownership of the information in the hands of the non-profit organizations, allowing easy transition between assistance providers as their needs grow and evolve
• A proudly Canadian community of NTAPs that work together to help instigate progressive programs and policies in Canada that support their work and the work of the organizations that they serve
• Several initiatives that explore how this community can collaborate, share resources, and build coalitions that strengthen the voice of the Canadian NTAP community, for the benefit of all Canadians

Given that I’m going to write on this topic frequently, here are just a few examples of these ideas in action:

• The Non-profit Technology Enterprise Network (N-TEN) in the US is a national trade association for non-profit technology assistance providers. Through education, mailing lists, local meet-up groups, and several regional and one annual gathering, N-TEN has helped to create a cohesive movement around non-profit technology assistance. There should be an organization filling this role in Canada.
• Similarly, in the US, there have been several reports and many conversations among funders about the importance of “technology intermediaries” as a part of successful non-profit technology adoption. The key here is that A) intermediaries interact with aggregate demand and are able to create efficiencies or notice common trends in their client’s needs, and B) grant makers can leverage their investments by working with an intermediary that is working with other funders and on several similar projects. So there needs to be some infastructure in place to make this possible. Specifically, Canada needs to adopt the successful model of “circuit riding” that has worked in the UK, US, and throughout the world.
• Much of what I would personally call success in the US is toward creating standards. Standards can be built around something as simple as an IT inventory or “technology binder” or around promising strategies to common non-profit technology needs, like managing membership or donor information. And, let me repeat myself here: the only way to expose these common approaches is by connecting the people interested in them. And, for those of you not listening, that’s the technology assistance providers (aka Geeks) not the non-profit orgnaizations (as has been tried so many times).
• Now, why proudly Canadian? Not because we all know what a Timbit is — no! But because Canada is a different country, with different funding realities, and with organizations that face different challenges. We need providers interested in the political and social implications of the fact that our non-profits and charties are being strangled — that it often costs these organizations more to deliver inmportant social programs than they are given in funding. So, needless to say, technology often falls off their radar screen as they struggle to find money to help their communities. So, to address the root of the problem, Canadian NTAPs have to be willing and able to engage these issues at municipal, provincial, and national levels — with grant makers, government, and the private sector.
• And, finally, we need not one, not two, not three — but several initiatives that try to bring these people together. And initiatives that try to bring them together again, and again, and again. This is not a national Web portal, this is not a multi-million dollar federal program, this is not good money thrown after bad. This is simple: support a grassroots movement that aims to help NTAPs come together locally, regionally, and across the country. And support entreprenuerial individuals and innovative upstarts that will find creative and cost effective ways to publicize that this community exists!

Personally, at the risk of not being entirely humble, I’d look to initiatives like Social Tech Brewing, Penguin Day Toronto, and Web of Change for some ideas. More soon. (And your ideas invited!)