Next week, lamb with roasted vegetables?

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 March 2006 08:41 Written by Steve Tuesday, 28 March 2006 08:40

I worte earlier about how wild salmon is one of the best foods in the world, and the great nonprofit Friends of Wild Salmon. One of my clients raises sheep when the fish aren’t running. She had to postpone a training a couple weeks ago because her sheep were lambing…and here they are!

Speechcasting: podcasting feeds for new website content in Plone

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 March 2006 08:31 Written by Steve Tuesday, 28 March 2006 08:31

Alan Runyan, one of the founders of the Plone open source CMS, just posted his latest proof of concept: speechcasting.

And then I started thinking, “What if every time I added a News Item on my website, if I could automatically generate a decent text-to-speech .mp3 file and use podcasting to keep people up-to-date?” After hacking on it I asked someone “Is this a good idea?” and they said “If I can read it why would I care to listen to computer generated voice?” and that confirmed it — people arent thinking about the visually impaired.

It sounds like a really interesting way to extend Plone’s world class accessibility to the realm of audio content.

NTC: A great 3 days

Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 March 2006 08:30 Written by Steve Tuesday, 28 March 2006 08:30

I am just coming off of 3 days at the Nonprofit Technology Conference. I’ve dug my way out of my email, and put out the burning customer fires. Now I can reflect on it a bit.

This is my 4th NTC conference, and by far the most productive for me. I’ve spent the last 6 months engaging a lot of folks around Salesforce.com work for nonprofits, and I was able to meet face-to-face with many of them for the first time. As at most NTC’s, there was talk of collaborating, meeting on a regular basis, and generally keeping the good energy going moving forward. I’m committing to setting aside enough time for that to be possible, and I’m confident others will as well.

A few of us have decided to try to formalize our thinking about the Salesforce.com product and what it means to consult on it with nonprofits. My goals in this collaboration are manifold:

• To share experiences with other nonprofit consultants and build relationships with these great people (you guys rock!)
• To better my own consulting practice through the sharing of ideas, processes and code, thereby providing more value for nonprofits I work with
• To support the Salesforce.com Foundation in the expansion and improvement of its giving program (you guys also rock!)

So to anyone interested in how Salesforce.com can be of value to nonprofits: If you’re willing to contribute and get great things back, come join the party!