The Symposium on Social Architecture will be November 14 & 15 at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

http://www.corante.com/events/ssa/

PM me if you want a discount code.

Reid,

Can't swing the trip out of the Symposium. Wish I could.

Tom,

Thanks for the comments. We're hoping to get to a spot in NetSquared where we are talking about the ways in which these particular tools make orgs more effective -- technology though is always going to be a part of what we are doing. Looking forward to what's coming out of uplift workshops in Boston.

And I hear what you're saying about authority. It isn't always bad. But sometimes the way we designate -- by station alone and not by skill (I think the airplane example is skill) -- can be bad. I'm interested in getting at how you can get small pieces of shared authority -- systems that recognize the various skills of people and put them together in ways that make sense. And I mean systems in the wholistic ways -- people + processes + tools.

So, we're starting to talk about the next set of features -- so to speak -- that we are going to be launching on the site. The first is something called Four Questions -- in fact, you can see the questions now if you're a logged in user. Check under the "create content" header under your name. You'll see what the questions are.

The next on the list is to create a way for nonprofit staff members to share the barriers they have when using these tools. What's standing in the way of blogging or podcasting to achieve some of the broader goals?

I'd love any feedback folks might have to offer about these planned features. Seem useful? Anything that could make them more useful?

Thought y'all might want to take a peek at the new look of NetSquared.

Just wanted to let you know that we've launched the 4 Questions feature. We've done some outreach to get some answers. Any logged in user can contribute, though, by simply looking under "create content", clicking on "4 questions" and filling in their answers.

If you have any suggestions for folks we should outreach to, just let me know and we'll try!

Like Marnie, I've been infrequently on Omidyar Network myself, but to all of us at CompuMentor/TechSoup, this project seems like a very natural intersection point.

Let me offer my own perspective on the timeliness and importance of Net2.

Our premise is that the new web-based social tools represent a remarkable opportunity for the NPO/NGO sectors, since for the first time there are minimal financial barriers to entry and there is huge payoff in terms of reaching constituents and achieving mission. Our goal is to celebrate the early adoptors, educate and motivate the later adoptors, and, in the process, bring a high level of resource to this evolving sector.

Our unique organizational contribution, we believe, is that we are well positioned to break down some of the silos that currently separate constituencies that could be working together with far greater impact.

To give one example: (a) We constantly hear from the nonprofits we serve through TechSoup and TechSoup Stock (67K registered users)that they need software solutions specific to their circumstances, staffing and priorities. We likewise hear from these folks that outreach, advocacy, marketing and constituent involvement are never-ending issues. (b) We participate in Open Source developers conclaves at which solutions abound but the gating factor is the perceived lack of willingness of nonprofits to lean into implementing these solutions.

We believe this project can help build a bridge between (a) and (b). And likewise it can provide a nexus for technology thinkers to disseminate their ideas and participate in practice. And likewise it can open avenues for technology vendors to provide product assistance to leading edge npos and ngos.

We don't have a roadmap for all this. There is a bsic set of deliverables we can and will be accountable for--a lively, participation-encouraging website, a constant fostering of dialogue online and offline, a meaningful conference, a fun and festive gala. What happens beyond this is more or less up to the community.

I appreciate your notion of listening to the needs of the sector, but I guess I have to wonder if the sector itself may be heading in the wrong direction. Imagine if Pierre Omidyar had "listened" to the auction sector to determine their needs, integrate their activities, and bridged the gap between all the auction houses to make their operations more efficient. He may have broken down some of the stovepipes in the sector, and he might have managed to create a small niche business in e-commerce, but he would not have invented eBay.

I guess I'd rather get back to the basics and ask what we are trying to do, and how we can use the network to do it better. The current intermediaries may or may not be the appropriate organizational approach to accomplishing this goal. It's not clear that the current structure of the sector is appropriate to its goals; in fact, I suspect that it is perversely incentivized in many cases. If this is the case, then using ITC to make it more "efficient" can result in just making things get worse faster... a realization that I came to in the health care sector.

I also have learned in all my years of tilting windmills that gathering intermediaries to ask them how to disintermediate themselves is not a fruitful activity.

Maybe an interesting thought experiment would be, if we threw all of the organizations, activities, and people up into the air and then let them settle back down in a new configuration, would we really end up with 1.4 million non-profits?

Sorry if I'm being disruptive here.

Tom, Don't worry about being disruptive. I do, however, see things way differently than you do.

You write, "if we threw all of the organizations, activities, and people up into the air and then let them settle back down in a new configuration..."

I find this a pretty irrelevant hypothecation.

I do understand the core point--that sometimes it's necessary to think matters through from an entirely different perspective. One might say this about virtually every arena--government, media, arts and on and on. Indeed, it is the role, even duty, of some artists and visionaries to take such an approach. In the present instance, however, I think the analogy to Pierre's approach to online auctions is deeply flawed. In a business environment, he created a different business model and it worked! In the process, he uncovered certain social principles that are relevant to other sectors. In the nonprofit sector, we're dealing with millions and millions of lives, many of them perilously in the balance. There is a system, however flawed, in place. What will move it to a better place?

If our topic here was a genocidal outbreak or mass starvation, I wonder if you would say, "if we threw all of the international aid organizations, activities, and people up into the air and then let them settle back down in a new configuration...." You might suggest--and I would support--that we need some new ways of thinking about international aid, but I don't think you would dismiss attempts to work with what exists to create immediate solutions, better short term options and medium-long term options toward increasing community and efficacy.

When I was in my twenties, in the 60's and early seventies, I took the same approach to government and business that you are taking here. It was fun, challenging, irrelevant. I am intellectually interested in thoughts about how the nonprofit sector--or, better yet, our societal approach to addressing the situation of those who are on the margins of capitalism--can be totally rethought and revamped. And at the same time I and CompuMentor/TechSoup are committed to working with what's on the ground and making it better.

Tom Munnecke said:

I appreciate your notion of listening to the needs of the sector, but I guess I have to wonder if the sector itself may be heading in the wrong direction. Imagine if Pierre Omidyar had "listened" to the auction sector to determine their needs...

One of the fundimental concepts behind any sucessful company, ebay for example, is an interesting mix of customers hearing what you are saying and you listening to your customers.

Compumentor's customers are the executive directors and techies within nonprofit institutions. The real sucess of the Net2 idea, to my mind, is injecting new voices into a fairly static world (nonprofit institutions).

In the best case, customers hear new ideas, intermediaries like Compumentor and my own organization, Social Source Foundation, listen to customers.

What comes out on the other side are sucessful innovations (we hope!).

That is so right. Thanks, David.

Daniel Ben-Horin said:

Our unique organizational contribution, we believe, is that we are well positioned to break down some of the silos that currently separate constituencies that could be working together with far greater impact.

To give one example: (a) We constantly hear from the nonprofits we serve through TechSoup and TechSoup Stock (67K registered users)that they need software solutions specific to their circumstances, staffing and priorities. We likewise hear from these folks that outreach, advocacy, marketing and constituent involvement are never-ending issues. (b) We participate in Open Source developers conclaves at which solutions abound but the gating factor is the perceived lack of willingness of nonprofits to lean into implementing these solutions.

We believe this project can help build a bridge between (a) and (b). And likewise it can provide a nexus for technology thinkers to disseminate their ideas and participate in practice. And likewise it can open avenues for technology vendors to provide product assistance to leading edge npos and ngos.

I'm excited by the assertion, and think the example is great, especially in effort to bridge a and b.

As this is one example offered, I would be interested in hearing other examples.

But back to the assertion... if well positioned, what will come of breaking down some of these silos? What will this lead to?

I'm hopeful in the breaking down of silos in our field, generally. Keep up the good work.

Hey Michael,

One of the things that we are hoping the breakdown of silos leads to is communications -- direct and mediated -- between individuals and organizations that don't usually communicate with each other.

We can imagine all sorts of things that happen after that: tools can have a nonprofit gloss added to them; new tools can be developed; people who serve nonprofits can better tackle some of the related organizational issues that happen anytime you introduce a new toolset; etc.

We can imagine all of that but, frankly, we don't know. We have some specific outcomes in mind but we also know that some of the biggest outcomes can be unintended, happening when a contagious environment is established.

I'm interested in these imaginings, too. Even if they bring you off topic, or out of the comfort of the practical, or into the realm of wasting a little time...

But on the other hand, I am sure we are greedy for you to keep advancing. So, get back to work!

I'm working towards what i consider the same end, but by slightly different means. Much of the communication requires a shift in attitude and perspective, but getting the technology there so that people can just go ahead and do it is very important. When people are doing it, hopefully more and more leaders (really, managers) should feel more comfortable working out of their org. skin (silos).

Where's nmw? A chance to see the Clue Train zooming by!

Michael,

I just pulled this out of our internal project site and is what we would like to see happen if we are wildly successful in our efforts.

What are the goals of Netsquared?

• To help hundreds of thousands of non-profit organizations (NPOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) successfully utilize the community empowering capabilities of the Internet to increase their impact and achieve social change. Net2 will help nonprofits:
• Improve/increase advocacy efforts
• Find new supporters (around the globe)
• Reengage the base
• Have greater influence on national and global policy
• Get more and better press
• Increase value for npo supporters (opportunities to be creative/engage/things to do, etc.)
• Reinvent the possibilities of collaboration on global scale
• Build more and better partnerships
• To help millions of NPO and NGO constituents to become more active and accomplish more through their NPO and NGO Internet communities.

How will these goals be accomplished?

• Technologists, vendors, early adopters, consultants, non-profit techies, volunteers, and other interested individuals will work together to build the Net2 Community and to accomplish these goals. Community members will invent, identify, discuss, develop, test, evaluate, document, publicize, and support best tools and practices in Internet-based community empowerment and will participate in the rapid adoption and successful utilization of these tools and practices by NPOs and NGOs. This Community will become the home of the world's best practitioners of Internet-based community empowerment.
• The netsquared.org website will provide tools and infrastructure and will be the focal point for the Net2 Community's activities, and the TechSoup Net2 Conference and Gala in May 2006 will be a key opportunity to help the Community gel and work towards its ambitious goals.

Well formed (and intense!)

Thanks for putting this up here.

Am liking the evolution of NetSquared and took the (long promised) step of registering.

An action prompted by my sense that NetSquared has moved along the theoretical/practical spectrum.

Victory! Peter has registered!

Seriously, it's on us to make this a project that is compelling and not just 'kinda interesting'. There are a lot of interesting sites out there. Who can go to them all repeatedly? I mean, other than Marnie? We need to make Net2 a project and a site where real things are happening in real time, as well as great convergences and silo-breakings being discussed and planned. Nothing could make me happier than to read Peter's:

"NetSquared has moved along the theoretical/practical spectrum...."

That's the direction we must move in to make this compelling and worthy of a large active audience.

We're working on it.

Making commitments like that you are well on your way. Establishing site content as commons-share-alike for instance, and inviting others in to contribute, its a lesson some other entities can take a page from.

Also, very generaly, speaking form social source angle, seeing the convergence and the coordination... some important tools are coming together.

I have been watching this thread and trying repeatedly to get on the netsquared site - to no avail. I must have tried about a dozen times so far since this thread began, and the best I can seem to bring up is a gateway timeout or a cannot find server message.

I'm in Uganda, so bandwidth is occasionally a challenge. It's worth noting, however, that I can access other sites fine right now, just not netsquared.org.

just thought you'd want to know.

Sometimes I feel like the Internet is falling apart :)

Christina,

Thanks for the headsup. Just to be sure that we have the URL right, it's:

http://www.netsquared.org

Of course, it doesn't seem like that's your problem.

I've forwarded the message to our hosting provider to see if they can figure out any part of the problem. Let me know if you are able to successfully access.

thanks marnie - just tried again with no improvement :-( but this is really whetting my curiosity!

I just found this site and WOW....Marnie, Daniel, everyone over there has done a great job. I hope your conference is a tremendous success.

Evonne,

Glad you like the site. Of course, if you have anything to contribute, please feel free!