Flickr Photo: kota2006The NPTech Professional Principles Affinity Group has been hard at work these last few months. Led by John Kenyon, Nonprofit Technology Strategist, the group has tackled a different topic each week to create a code of conduct that will show the world that we, as nonprofit professionals, follow the basic tenants of ethical service, whether as staff, support orgs, consultants, or vendors.

The need for these principles also arose out of a desire to have a standard most of the field could agree on to help connect us to one another.

The following is the result of the discussion:

Flickr Photo: celestehodgesChange is buzzing through our ears -- and not just from the Obama campaign,but in the NTEN Affinity Groups, as well.

Marc Osten, Summit Collaborative, invites us to join a discussion that puts Web 2.0 on the hot seat, asking, "Will Web 2.0 be the tool set we need to change the world?" View the conversation here.

Mark's idea for this discussion stems from a recent thread on the UK Riders list. The UKRider thread was started by David Wilcox, who shared a bit about Clay Shirky's book, Here Comes Everyone. Shirky states the following regarding Web 2.0.:

Earth Day spurred some conversation on NTEN Discuss about how to figure out carbon emissions for every watt a computer uses per hour. Dean Matsueda wrote that he had seen and used carbon-footprint calculators online to gauge household, car, and air travel C02 emissions but would like to drill down to more specifics, like computer use.

Walt Daniels gave this response:

Carbon footprint is a simple multiply if you have the watts/hr and number of hours. watts/hr is what is hard to come by for most computer setups unless you have a meter on it because the usage depends on too many things,like duty cycle and how you have the power savings features on your computer set.

Gavin Clabaugh lets us know that to do it right, you need to meter the machine. He uses a Kill-A-Watt (a simple one costs about $20).

And Dave Shaw, H4 Consulting, added:

lol ntenny

Here at NTEN, with Spring in the air and the sun blasting into our 13th floor office, we're feeling motivated to change the world. NTEN Discuss seems to be feeling energized by the start of Spring, as well.

Sheldon Mains asked what people recommend as a time tracking database (with the disclaimer that it was one of those questions that is asked every 6 months or so). As the responses came in, Allen Gunn, from Aspiration Tech, decided to compile all the suggested solutions in a Social Source Commons "Time Tracking" Toolbox so that "next time", the questioner can just be directed there. The RSS Feed on the Toolbox will keep you updated as additional tools are added.

The NTC is just over a week away, and we bet you're starting to get as excited as we are (though we hope you're sleeping more and remembering to eat)! If you're looking to connect with other conference attendees, we've got a couple of suggestions for you.

JOIN THE 08NTC AFFINITY GROUP

1. Go to http://groups.nten.org/group.htm?mode=home&igid=44287 (you'll need to create an account if you don't have one already)

2. Join the group

3. Post a message to introduce yourself!

MAP YOURSELF!

This year, the fine folks at MapBuzz have set up a map for NTC attendees. Mosey on over and add yourself today:

1. Head over to MapBuzz and add your information to the Attendees Map.

2. Enter your address and/or city and state into the search bar at the top of the page.

3. Click the ADD TO MAP button that appears, and enter your Name (and photo, bio or any other information you want) into the box.

4. Click SAVE and you're done.

As the year winds down, the NTEN Affinity Groups remain charged with discussions ranging from whether or not attendees should bring their kids to the 2008 NTC to how the future of IT staff is changing -- provoked by the new book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google by Nicholas G. Carr. (For a review and excerpt of the book go here.)

Robert Weiner poses the question:

"Do you agree? Will IT departments have "little left to do once the bulk of ... computing shifts out of private data centers and into "the cloud."?

And Peter Cambell responds:

With over 100 active groups and 5,000 users, NTEN's Affinity Groups platform is an incredible resource for those in the nonprofit tech community. There are a variety of discussions constantly taking place, ranging from the very basic and elementary aspects of technology in the nonprofit sector to the more sophisticated and technical.

A lively discussion recently occurred in the general NTEN Discuss Affinity Group about selecting wiki software.

With over 100 active groups and nearly 5,000 users, NTEN's Affinity Groups platform is an incredible resource for those in the nonprofit tech community. There are a variety of discussions constantly taking place, ranging from the very basic and elementary aspects of technology in the nonprofit sector to the more sophisticated and technical.

A lively discussion recently occurred in the general NTEN Discuss Affinity Group about running a successful webinar.

With over 100 active groups and nearly 5,000 users, NTEN's Affinity Groups platform is an incredible resource for those in the nonprofit tech community. There are a variety of discussions constantly taking place, ranging from the very basic and elementary aspects of technology in the nonprofit sector to the more sophisticated and technical.

A simple but informative discussion in the DC 501 Tech Club recently centered around different internet connections for nonprofits. Although it is only beginning to operate in most urban areas, Verizon's FIOS service received praise for its high bandwidth (up to 20Mbps). DSL was also recommended as a possibly cheaper alternative, depending upon distance to a CO. Cable was recommend multiple times as well, although participants noted that while it generally has higher possible bandwidth than DSL, its speed can vary depending upon neighborhood usage. T1 lines were said to be very expensive and generally slower (albeit asymmetric so upload and download usage do not affect each other), but extremely reliable.

Many organizations are successfully employing online donation tools. This topic was recently taken up by members of the San Francisco 501 Tech Club. Groundspring received a mixed response with some citing very positive experiences and others quite the opposite. A representive from Groundspring chimed in to highlight upcoming features that may resolve some of the mentioned problems. Paypal also received favorable mentions, as well as a warning of potential complications for nonprofit organizations engaging in long-term use for fundraising. Multiple members recommended Idealware's report on the topic, as well as Affinity Resources' summary matrix and Techsoup's articles.

With over 100 active groups and nearly 5,000 users, NTEN's Affinity Groups platform is an incredible resource for those in the nonprofit tech community. Join for free in order to view more useful and interesting discussions.