GET THE WORD OUT
Volume III Number III
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Hello everybody,

You are receiving this newsletter a couple of days early because I (the content manager) will be out of town for a few days with no Internet access. I hope that all of you are enjoying your summer and finding time in your busiest of schedules to enjoy the sun and long days.

We are working towards putting this newsletter on the T4T website so that hopefully the next time you receive this email, all you will have to do is click on a link to find the news you need in the world of nonprofit technology.

On behalf of the T4T staff, have a wonderful rest of the week.

Lorelei Narvaja

1. World's Poor to Get Own Search Engine (fwd)
2. Progressive Technology Project Grants (Aug 29)
3. Techies Day 2003 Philadelphia (Oct 8)
4. Importance of Backing Up Files

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1. WORLD'S POOR TO GET OWN SEARCH ENGINE

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a search engine to address Internet problems faced by people in developing countries, such as the speed and cost of an Internet connection and the large number of hits returned by search engines. The "Time Equals Knowledge" (TEK) project is based on the premise that people in developing countries are "short of money but have time on their hands." Users of the TEK software would send an email query to a server in Boston. The program would search the Net, select the most relevant Web pages, compress them and email the results the next day. When users return for the results, "they can browse through those pages the way they would if they had full Internet connectivity," said MIT Professor Saman Amarasinghe. The program is in its early stages, but researchers aim to test a beta version in the next three to four months. Because the program would be too big to download over a slow Internet connection, the team is thinking of sending CDs to libraries so that people can borrow and install the software on their machines. SOURCE: BBC News; AUTHOR: Alfred Hermida http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3065063.stm

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(c) Benton Foundation 2003. Redistribution of this email publication - both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message. Communications-Related Headlines is a free news service posted Monday through Friday by the Benton Foundation (http://www.benton.org). This service will keep you up-to-date on important developments and policy issues in communications, the Internet, edtech, community technology, journalism, public media, regulation and philanthropy. Headlines are compiled, summarized and edited by Andy Carvin (acarvin@benton.org) and Charles Meisch (charlie@benton.org) -- we welcome your feedback. To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or view archived postings, please visit http://owa.benton.org/archives/benton-compolicy.html

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Andy Carvin
Senior Associate
Benton Foundation
acarvin@benton.org
http://www.benton.org
http://www.digitalopportunity.org
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org

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2. Progressive Technology Project Grants (Aug 29)

Progressive Technology Project (PTP) is accepting applications for its Organizing Technology Grants program.The application deadline is August 29, 2003. Application and eligibility information can be found on PTPs web site: www.progressivetech.org

The PTP Organizing Technology Grants Program awards 10-15 grants of up to $10,000 each to support the use of technology by grassroots organizing groups to advance specific aspects of their community- organizing efforts. Funds can be used for training, technical support, consulting, needs assessment, planning, hardware and software, designing applications and setting up systems.

PTPs Organizing Technology Grants Program supports grassroots organizing groups that engage in multi-issue social, economic and environmental justice efforts to empower low-income people and communities of color to address root causes of social inequities.

The purpose of the Organizing Technology Grants Program is to help groups strengthen their organizing efforts through appropriate use of technology.

This program provides basic capacity building grants that groups can use to purchase equipment, secure technical assistance and provide training to staff and members. The grants will help develop uses of technology for organizing that can be shared as models and examples. More than just providing funds to purchase equipment, a grant award should be used to assist a group in applying technology to its work in a way that makes the organization stronger and more effective at achieving its social change ends.

Founded in 1998, the Progressive Technology Project (PTP) seeks to strengthen community based social change efforts and increase public participation by under-represented communities through effective use of information technology. It supports grassroots social change community organizations in poor communities and communities of color by convening events to exchange ideas and experiences a! bout new technology, conducting training sessions for organizers, providing a framework for technical assistance, providing downloadable how-to resources on this web site, raising and re-granting funds for hardware, software and technical assistance.

Progressive Technology Project
www.progressivetech.org
2233 University Ave W Ste 421
Saint Paul, MN 55114
Phone:1-866-298-6463 (toll free)
651-646-9410 (local)

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3. Techies Day 2003 Philadelphia (Oct 8)

Techies Day 2003 Philadelphia

When: Wednesday, October 8, 2003 What: Employers host high school students from information technology (IT) programs for a 3 - 4 hour program to illustrate IT careers and to encourage students to enter the IT field.

Who: TechiesDay 2003 is organized regionally. In Philadelphia, the Steering committee is represented by employers, BEST/The Reinvestment Fund, School District of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Academies. In Chester County, the Information Technology Action Group www.chestercountyit.com/home.asp is the lead organizer.

Where: Participating employers invite high school students for programs at their corporate facilities.

Why: There are not enough qualified IT workers in the region. According to Workforce 2001 www.trfund.com/pdf/workforce2001.pdf, an analysis of the Greater Philadelphia labor force, 3,200 new IT jobs are expected to be added each year for the next four years. Many of these jobs will go unfilled. TechiesDay is one effort that assists employers to work together to increase the future IT workforce.

Need Employers can be partners by: * Hosting area high school students for a 3-4 hour educational program Sending a representative to another employer's educational program * Donating company promotional items to give to the students (pens, pads, trade show giveaways, t-shirts, etc.)
* Providing a donation to cover costs of producing for "TechiesDay 2003" t-shirts that will list all sponsors

To be a partner, contact us to learn what you can do. Becky Battaglia bbattaglia@pyninc.org 215.875.4780

Robin Brennan BEST/TRF robin.brennan@trfund.com 215.574-5807

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4. Importance of Backing Up Files

Please note that this article was referred to us last week, so the situation that occurred did not take place this past weekend, as noted below. This past weekend, the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment's San Francisco office was burglarized. Stolen were our computer towers, and the back-up disks for Luke Cole's computer. Because the only things stolen were our computers, and the back-up disks -- while printers, postal machines, stamps, and stereo equipment were left untouched -- we consider this an act of violence against CRPE, not a random property crime. CRPE represents citizens fighting many powerful enemies -- the world's largest zinc and lead mine, in Alaska; the country's largest toxic waste dump, near Buttonwillow, California; mega-dairies the California's Central Valley, and many more -- so our list of potential suspects could be long. Many of our clients have been physically threatened and intimidated, it was a matter of time before it happened to us.

The fact that the director of a California-based environmental justice organization also recently had his computer stolen forces us to wonder if certain movement organizations are being targeted, or if these are just coincidences.

Why do I write you? Three reasons.

First, you should know that anything you sent to CRPE electronically over the years is now in someone else's hands. This includes confidential information on ongoing cases, internal expert witness reports, and chatty e-mails.

Second, you can learn from our mistake on the technological front. We had regular back-ups of our files, which I stored (pathetically, in hindsight) in our office. If you don't regularly back-up files, start doing it. If you dont store your back-up disks offsite, start doing it.

Third, you can learn from our mistake on the security front. We are in a secure building (key-card access) and obviously lock our door, but this was not enough. We are taking further steps to secure our office in the future; you should take this opportunity to review your organization's vulnerabilities.

The message whomever stole our computers intended to send was clearly one of intimidation. Are we intimidated? No way. Are we pissed? You bet. As we rebuild our library of legal briefs and recover what documents we can from off-site back-up disks, we look to the progressive community for support -- and action. If you are
vulnerable, now is the time to take care of it. Learn from our misfortune.

The struggle continues --

Luke

Luke W. Cole
Director Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment

450 Geary Street, Suite 500

San Francisco, CA 94102

415-346-4179

luke@igc.org

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T4T NEWSLETTER JULY 2003