If you are a client, or a colleague, you probably have heard me talk about Bricolage — the industrial-strength content management system. If you’re a client of mine, you probably know why I talk about it (in fact, you’re probably using it every day). And, if you’re a colleague, you’ve probably wondered what the hell I was going on about. Well, I figured it’s about time that I explain why some people claim that “Bricolage is quite possibly the most capable enterprise-class, open-source application available.” read more »

As any inbox warrior would tell you, there’s an easy secret to simplifying inbox mayhem: only have one inbox. As easy as that seems, there’s often a pull to set up new ones. For example, you set up a new domain, or you start working on a project “for” an organization and want to appear like you’re sending from that organization’s domain. “That’s easy,” you say! Just use personalities. For us Mail.app users on the Mac, that was easier said than done. For all of its greatness, Mail.app didn’t (to my knowledge) support personalities. That was, until today… read more »

Dear technologist,

May I have a moment of your time? If so, I would like to know if you have ever asked yourself, “What are the consequences of the advice I’m giving?” Or, let me ask, would you have the nerve to stand over the grave of a once-great social-benefit organization and say, “I did this. I am to blame.” If not, I plead with you, please keep your magic and “next big thing” in the corporate sector, or — better yet — use some of that glib approach and bravado to start your own company. Just stay away from our social-mission sector; it’s fragile enough on its own.

Just after the new year, Kim Elliot sent me a link to an interview with Michael Albert about the much-delayed re-launch of the whole Z communications family of Web sites, including Znet, Zmag, etc. The interview made my heart sink. In summary, Z communications — the 20-year-old media group with contributors like Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, John Pilger, Howard Zinn, Edward S. Herman, Eleanor Bader, and Barbara Ehrenreich — learned the hard way that large technology projects are not easy or without significant risk.  read more »

Do me a quick favour. Take a moment and think of the exact opposite of a traditional Web portal — conjure up something like AOL or, in the non-profit space, something like TechSoup — and then think of the opposite and tell me what comes to mind? If you come up with something concrete, pop your thoughts in the comments below.  read more »

Okay, I admit it. I’m an inbox junkie. And, If I have to look in more than one electronic inbox, it drives me crazy. Historically, nothing drove me crazier than voice mail… it just refused to behave. So the journey began: first it was eliminating all but one voice mail box; then I began forwarding everything — business, mobile, and home — to that one (voicemail) inbox. But even that wasn’t enough — I still couldn’t manage to remember to dial in for the messages. I tried asking people to e-mail me instead of leaving a voice mail, but that was short-lived. Then I hit on the magic dust: a voice mail transcription service. read more »

What would happen if you took the concepts of the slow food movement and applied them to the chronic cognitive overload lifestyle that many of us lead? Well, you’d get the slow e-mail movement of course. What’s the slow e-mail movement? Well, if I were to put it in my own words: it’s a 2-step program for teaching yourself, and your peers, to take it a bit easier on the send & receive and reply buttons (achieving instant karmic balance points in the process!)

To that IBM manager that supposedly appends “Read your mail just twice each day. Recapture your life’s time and relearn to dream. Join the slow email movement!” I say: not enough! read more »

Lately, “form spam” has been the bane of my existence. Anyone who runs more than one or two Web sites has probably had the experience of dealing with what can amount to hundreds of junk messages a day coming through different types of Web-based contact forms. “Report a bug,” “Contact the Web team,” “Write a letter to the Editor,” etc. — they’re all targets for malicious spam bots and their ilk.

Recently I decided to double my previous efforts to find some solutions to Web-based form abuse.

Many of the organizations that I’m working with rely on a number of different systems to deliver content to the Web, which makes it more challenging to find a one-size-fits-all solution. That said, they all use a LAMP stack and several of them are using the Drupal content-management system in some capacity, e.g., to provide some front-end interactivity, user management, etc. So, the real opportunity was to find something that either played nice with Drupal, or was built in PHP/Perl/Python so that it could be integrated with Drupal where necessary. read more »

Big week in nerd world!

First, the exciting re-launch of the Social Source Commons. This platform has been a work in progress for over a year now, under the of astute guidance of Aspiration. In their own words:

Social Source Commons is a place to share lists of software tools that you already use, gain knowledge and support, and discover new tools. It’s a place to meet people with similar needs and interests and answer the question: what tools do they use?

The re-launch incorporates lots of improvements, including a user interface overhaul, new “Community Toolboxes” that allow users to share lists, and greatly enhanced searching, tracking, and browsing. Not to mention, the darn thing is way cooler than it was before. Yeah Gunner — nice work!

Next up: DrupalCampTorontoII

Just announced, DrupalCampTorontoII will take place on May 11 - 12 at the Bahen Centre. This two-day event will attract over 100 participants — both Drupal “newbies” and ninjas — from far and wide. There will be sessions for all experience levels, great parties, t-shirts, and, well, that’s about it.

If you’ve ever had the slightest interest in learning more about one of the world’s most popular open-source content management systems, or if you are currently managing a Drupal site — or several of them! — and want to know more, or if you’ve been working with Drupal for years and experience to share with others, this is the event for you.

Go get registered today. Space is limited to 150 participants and it will go fast.

That’s it for this week: over and out. read more »

A certain amount of my work — more than none, but less than all — is dedicated to helping organizations explore the deeper questions of organizational strategy. Sure, they contacted me because they had a technology initiative in mind, or wanted some help with improving their online activities — but, more often than not, I come back to the fundamental realization that technology can’t solve inherently human problems.  read more »

I have to admit that when I first heard of Internet-based virtual worlds like Second Life some years ago, I didn’t rush out to sign-up and create an Avatar. Given that I’ve never even found the time to play a video game on a computer that I’ve had for three years, it certainly wasn’t high on my list. And, when Web of Change alumni Darren Barefoot created the satirical site Get a First Life, I was laughing pretty hard.

However, the last few months has started to make me re-think my position. Not entirely, but a bit.  read more »