At our "Making it Happen" table at the NetSquared conference, we discussed how we could use tagging to help make social change, not just organize our own work. We decided that we should come up with a few tags for the nonprofit sector and start getting them out there by recruiting "Tagvocates" who vow to:

1. Use the tags all over the place
2. Recruit other tagvocates for their tag(s)

The plan is to get a set of tags out there, the aggregate the content (maybe with Suprglu?), and then foster a discussion about how we can use the content that we're tagging for social change. For example - can a legal services organization use a set of tags to help aggregate content about Seattle area housing for their clients and agreggate it on their site? Can an enviro

My favorite thing that I've discovered at the NetSquared conference so far is Gabbly. We've had some very funny backchannel conversations throughout the event, as well as some meaningful ones. You'll definitely see this (or something like it) integrated into the NTC and other N-TEN events soon.

One side note: it was

Yesterday I spent the day at the NetSquared conference, run by CompuMentor, Home of TechSoup. I purposely didn't take my computer with me because this was my one chance in a long while to sit back and listen to my colleagues and peers. And, I'm glad that I did. I haven't heard anything groundbreaking, but it's always worthwhile to stop and collect your thoughts

The Truth About Open Source in the Social Sector: Lessons from the Trenches

By Nick Gleason

Open Source Software (OSS) is one of the hottest trends in social sector technology. With rhetoric at a fever pitch, social sector managers and executives who are evaluating technology options need to clearly assess how the open source trend meets their needs. This article explores some of the key issues, challenges and solutions in bringing enterprise OSS (in particular OSS that helps manage web content, contacts, donations, ecommerce, emails, and so forth) to social sector organizations. In particular, I argue that OSS has not yet come close to realizing its potential in the social sector and that ultimately the best OSS solutions will reflect the unique needs