Archive for August, 2008

YouTube adds caption features for videos

On the YouTube blog you can read about the new captioning feature for videos which can help people who would not otherwise understand the audio track to follow along, especially those who speak other languages or who are deaf and hard of hearing. Read the article and how to use this feature at New Captions Feature For Videos to make your videos more accessible to all.

Continue reading “YouTube adds caption features for videos” »

Download podcasts and transcripts from Accessibility 2.0

Accessibility 2.0 was a practical conference focussing on web accessibility in a Web 2.0 world, organised by Abilitynet held back in April. Podcasts, transcripts and presentations from the event are now available for download at Podcasts and transcripts : Accessibility 2.0.

Continue reading “Download podcasts and transcripts from Accessibility 2.0” »

Using social media (Ning) to manage a social project

Not from a nonprofit as such, but this interesting article gives an insight on how Ning was used as a project management tool and how it was used in such as way, that the CEO became the facilitator, rather than the more usual barrier for speed and safety. Read the upbeat article at Using social media (Ning) to manage a social project.

Continue reading “Using social media (Ning) to manage a social project” »

AdWords-Style Widget Recommends Related Ways to Take Action

Social Actions has launched a widget that recommends to readers of your blog or website related ways to take action.

The widget automatically identifies the keywords on any page and lists social change campaigns related to the stuff you’re writing about. These campaigns are gathered from social action platforms like Kiva, DonorsChoose, Change.org, GlobalGiving, Care2, Idealist.org, and fourteen others. You can read more about the widget and see examples on the launch article on the Social Actions blog.

See the widget in action - find out what actions would be listed for your blog (or any website).

Continue reading “AdWords-Style Widget Recommends Related Ways to Take Action” »

What happens when an organisation chooses not to engage?

I’ve been following unfolding of the excellent We Are Media project which is a community of people from nonprofits coming together curated by NTEN who are interested in learning and teaching about how social media strategies and tools can enable nonprofit organisations to create, compile, and distribute their stories and change the world. Working together the network aims to help identify and point to the best how-to guides and useful resources that cover all aspects of creating, aggregating, and distributing social media. The resulting curriculum will be live on the We Are Media wiki and will also cover important organisational adoption issues, strategy, ROI analysis, as well as the tools.

In the latest module, they are looking at the Return of Investment (ROI) of social media. In Beth Kanter’s recent post exploring where are the best resources to guide our thinking about Social Media Metrics, ROI, and Nonprofits?; Beth rounds up some great examples and opens up a discussion on measuring the benefits and also, if and how you can quantify the return.

Beth Dunn, another of my favourite bloggers and a contributor for the project and she’s recently posted an article ROI: the null hypothesis, which explores what happens when an organisation chooses not to engage; when they decide to play it ’safe.’
In her article she raises a compelling argument looking at the risks to organisations that are not engaged in social media to reach out to their supporters, members and users.

Finally, over on this side of the pond, Steve Bridger has shared the presentation he recently delivered to staff at Action Aid, entitled “does it mean we have to change our jobs?”. The presentation summarises many of the issues that charities face in choosing whether to participate and how they can make the best use of social media and gives examples of ‘connected’ charities too.

Continue reading “What happens when an organisation chooses not to engage?” »

A video tour of accessibility

Jon Gibbons on his dotjay.co.uk site has collated an impressive list of videos that demonstrate accessibility in order to help others gain insight into how assistive technology is used, particularly with regards to the Web, and its value to those who use it. Visit the site and read the article - Assistive Technology: a video tour of accessibility.

Continue reading “A video tour of accessibility” »

Designing the Online Newsroom

Designing the Online Newsroom is an article from PebbleRoad which delivers a thoughtful roadmap to integrating an online news area for your website, and how to manage it and make it work. Well worth a read, and relevant to all sectors and organisations, read the full article at Designing the Online Newsroom.

Continue reading “Designing the Online Newsroom” »

Deafness and the User Experience

Deafness and the User Experience is a recent article at A List Apart that helps you to a better understanding of deafness, highlighting the need to stop thinking of deafness as simply the inverse of hearing, but to understand deafness from both a cultural and linguistic perspective. A great overview with lots of suggestions on how to ensure your site is more usable and accessible for all.

Continue reading “Deafness and the User Experience” »

Blog Action Day on October 15th - have you signed up yet?

Last year, over twenty thousand bloggers participated in the first annual Blog Action Day. Blog Action Day is an event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. Last year the theme was the Environment and this years theme is Poverty.

Register your blog and take part in the forthcoming event on October 15th on the Blog Action Day site.

Continue reading “Blog Action Day on October 15th - have you signed up yet?” »