tools

Here at CivicActions, we have been geeking out on the “Plausible Promise, Tools and Bargain Framework” that Clay Shirky brought to our attention in Here Comes Everybody. Shirky argues that every successful social movement has a version of this system contained within it. Here is a brief overview of the Plausible Promise, Tools and Bargain framework.

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Here are the slides for the Ignite presentation I gave at the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, DC.  At CivicActions, we're passionate about supporting and serving our clients in achieving their missions. 

The CPR is a document format and a process for clarifying the outcomes and intentions of doing anything.  Several team members at CivicActions use it, we've used it with clients and I personally use it all the time. I'm happy to share this with you.

Outside of CivicActions I host some sites for friends and family on Dreamhost.  I've always had a decent experience with DH for the kinds of sites I am talking about, especially for the price.  Today I decided to get Drush installed. The first thing I did was ask on the drupal-seattle IRC channel if anyone had done it.  Thinkling (Maarten) directed me to this post on Drupal.org.

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If you are a developer, blogger or a client who manages or participated on a technical project, screenshot-taking tools are a very useful way conveying your thoughts and ideas to others on your team. Screenshots save you from lengthy explanation emails and keep your team on same page while discussing an idea. This blog post is about different screen capturing tools available out there and which to use and why.

1. Skitch(mac only):

Skitch is more than just an image capturing tool. It is very quick, simple and efficient. You can edit your images - crop them, draw figures on them, write notes on them and share directly via uploading to skitch, flickr, ftp with many other options. This all is mere drag and drop with nothing complex to learn. Download Skitch. Images in this blog are captured using skitch only.

Shortcut keys with skitch:

• Command-Shift-5 – Crosshairs Snap
• Command-Shift-6 – Fullscreen Snap
• Command-Shift-7 – Frame Snap

There is also a great short video on the Skitch website that gives you a quick overview of how it works and what it can do.

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Brief Update from NetSquared:

Aaron's del.icio.us links from the conference.

Leveraging Identity on the Web: http://www.identitywoman.net/?p=769

The Future of FreeCycle Cellular Osmosis

Easy-to-build widget apps: http://del.icio.us/pava/widgets

Share your PowerPoint: http://www.slideshare.net

Make easy forms: http://wufoo.com

Forum Hosting: http://www.lefora.com

Community Mapping: http://www.yourmapper.com

Purchasing Power: http://knowmore.org

Favorite Presentation: How to Use Your Community

Photo Credit

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I've been checking out Codeweaver's Crossover for Mac, an application that runs on Intel macs using the X11 system to simulate Windows operating systems. This has proven particularly useful for running IE6 on an emulated Win98 system. Crossover uses the metaphor of "bottles" which are essentially contained operating systems with all the right files and functions to run and install windows applications on a mac. You can have a windows 98 bottle, a XP bottle, etc.. And it rules.

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