I've been living with my iPad for a little over two weeks now. I've been carrying it in my satchel pretty much non-stop and it strikes me as being a tool that is far better suited for day to day - pull out and work with - activities than my Netbook ever was. I found that I simply stopped carrying the ASUS around. The keyboard is too small and the screen tiny - no 3G means needing hotspots. It seems positively primitive when sitting beside the iPad.

I have been using the iPad pretty heavily as a communication device, LimeChat for IRC and the iPhone version of Skype. I have set up email and various social networking apps. I've used, pretty extensively, Netflix and downloaded video. I've also been playing with YouTube on the tool quite a bit. I've spent time reading PDFs, iBooks, and Web pages.

I've come to some conclusions

I have been following Roku for quite some time. I worked for quite a few years at the Western States Arts Federation developing grants making and art show evaluation software. My work with TourWest had us using ReplayTV DVRs to digitize video work samples and then they were loaded onto tablet pc computers with Video Lan Client. This allowed panelists to review work prior to attending panel meetings.

For art show adjudications, the Roku Photobridge and the Mac Mini was used to display artwork when projection was desired. One of the less known features of the Photobridge was the ability to stream HD video.

I was asked if I would speak at the Grant Manager’s Network conference, starting tomorrow, on Social Media and how it might relate to the grant-maker’s experience. 

A little survey was done of the registered participants.  54% said that they really never use social media.  50% indicated that they were novices on what exactly social media really means.  Of those who use social media, 8% use social media just for work.  65% use it for personal reasons. 

Grantmaking, at its core, is development of a social group.  Often this manifests itself as a many to one relationship (many applicants and one grantmaker).  Social media can be used to facilitate this relationship, but it can push it to a new and different space.

Grant Applicant Communication is key.  I've been a grant applicant, a grants manager, and the chief architect of grant-making systems.  It is common for grant applicants--particularly new applicants--to have anxiety when it comes to contacting the grants manager.  Lowering barriers is important to getting the best applications as possible.  Granting programs really WANT to give money away.  I was eager to talk to potential applicants and give them advice on how to submit the strongest possible application.  Why?

I've been asked to present at the Grant Managers Network annual meeting on "social media" in on Monday, March 23.

I've been working with social media, one way another for well over a decade, ranging from the ancient LambdaMOO system to recently emerged technologies like Twitter and Plurk.  I have been involved with the planning of TechSoup's Nonprofits in Second Life program and manage the NPSL's blogging site--the Nonprofit Commons.  I have been an active blogger for many years, starting out on the venerable Google blogging platform and ultimately migrating to Drupal.

I need your help! The company I work for, pingVision, has submitted an application to the Knight News Challenge. I've written about this project before. We'd like to build an open source Drupal based grant making system. If you'd like to see a free option available in this arena, please go to:

OpenSource Grant Making System and cast your vote in support.

Grant-making isn't a cheap venture. Even if you are a re-granting agency (you are given money to give away), the overhead involved in running a grants program is significant. I want to help that change.

TJ Cook from HiDef Web Solutions, Brian Hiatt from CivicPixel, and Wes Morgan, a key CiviCRM contributor presented CiviCRM at the Camp. CiviCRM is CRM system focused on nonprofits that can stand alone, work with Joomla, or with Drupal. CiviCRM is a complex package with a footprint larger than Drupal Core itself. This session gave participants a taste of what CiviCRM is all about. These are my notes from the session.

In both the nonprofit and opensource world, there is the notion of a "commons" in which each community benefits. The idea of nonprofit or not-for-profit as a name confuses people. Indeed, a nonproft can and should make a profit. At very least it should cover its yearly costs.

Over the last few days we have been holding TourWest panels.  TourWest is WESTAF's Touring and Presenting grant program.  It is funded through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as a way of promoting performing tours.  Each of the Regional Arts Organizations (RAO) have a similar program.
One of the unique things about the TourWest program is how online the process is and the length of time it has been online.
A number of years ago I spearheaded the design of CultureGrants Online Basic (CGO).  It is a shared grant making system that allows agencies to create and manage their own grant activities including building grant applications.  Currently Basic is in its second iteration.  The first version of Basic was very much a wire-frame system.  TourWest makes use of the Basic system in its application, paneling, and final report process.