Semi-Tech
Using technology for good, understanding its other implications

There’s no doubt that technology has changed our lives, sometimes for the better, sometimes maybe not so much. And, it’s this not so much category for which technologists and nonprofit executives should be prepared.

I get excited about how technology is making a practical impact today. As director of corporate communications at Convio, I’m not a technologist, so it is not the speeds and feeds that excite me. Today’s technology can spark the same fear as the printing press in its early application. Many “in power” were threatened by the ability to spread information quickly and consistently, particularly if it was contrary to their views. Others were concerned that unscrupulous people would use it to “misinform” and cause anarchy.

Technology, or invention, is not good or bad by nature. As professional communicators in the nonprofit sector we need to examine the challenges that can exist when we develop strategies that leverage technology.

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During the past few months, I have connected with colleagues from my college days and peers from my first role with Special Olympics through applications like LinkedIn, Facebook and through Google searches. It’s been fun reconnecting.

But those same applications can be used negatively, as well. My oldest daughter recently experienced unwanted overtures from a young man she did not know through one of her online social networks. She repeatedly blocked his requests. Several days later a young man was arrested on her campus for attempted sexual assault. As the photo came upon the television news, she gasped. It was the same person who had been trying to meet her. While scary, she had done the right thing by blocking his advances. She was also able to help the police, as the man had left a digital footprint of unwanted advances and elicit activities through his personal site. It should help put him away for some time.

In this case the technology is not the issue, rather how people can use it. Yet, in my daughter’s case it also helps protect others with the information the man left online.

As nonprofits reach into these “new worlds” they need to be sure it is done with policies that keep the needs of the constituent and their privacy in mind. For instance, an organization serving youth needs to be cautious before opening an online community that is publicly-accessible, even though their participants or constituents are driving the adoption. Organizations need to make sure they have terms of use and privacy policies. They need to put in place the proper monitoring and approval process to ensure the goals and results are consistent with their plan and the needs of their constituents.

In most cases, the right strategy around the technology makes the rewards far greater than the risks, the opportunity far greater than the challenge. Consider the opportunity, challenge and change most of us have experienced during the past 20 years.

Last week I spoke with a friend from my days at Special Olympics. We recounted the meetings when we were trying to determine if we should we stay on DOS or move to personal computers running this “Windows” system. One of our leaders, this was during the last 1980s, opined that Windows was going to be “a fad.”

My oldest daughter went off to college this year. We had to teach her how to attach a Word document to email. During her high school years she posted her documents to the teacher’s Web site and used text messaging to communicate. Her dorm room, like all the others, has a telephone jack which will probably never have a phone attached to it. Her cell phone is more likely to be the only phone number she has for the rest of her life. When I was her age, my mobility on the phone was limited by the length of the cord – if I pulled hard I could get from the kitchen to the edge of the family room-- almost 25 feet.

How nonprofits prepare to engage and stay in contact with the “un-tethered constituent” will be important to their on-going success.

On Saturday, I helped my seven-year old son care for his three dogs, Marble, Junior and Victor. We fed them, played in the yard with them for a time, and then took them to the vet. Later my son sent letters to three of his friends, and then we headed off to his basketball game at the YMCA. Taking care of the animals took about 12 minutes during our daily jaunt into his virtual Webkinz world. (The basketball was real, though Xbox could be another column.)

For those who don’t know, Webkinz is a world where kids care for stuffed animals that come to life in the online community. At night they sleep with the stuffed animal and during the day they go online to care for and interact with the Webkinz community. Before the holiday season, I read reports that they had more than six million unique users. Kids (and probably their parents) taking care of “pets” and interacting in a virtual community that I never dreamed of when I was seven.

What will my son’s expectations of community, connection and communication be in 10, 20, 30 years? I hope I am helping him connect and communicate in traditional and new ways.

During my tenure with a major PC-maker, we launched the first consumer notebook with a built in DVD player and a 15-inch display. I was fortunate to have a “beta” machine that we used for press briefings. My daughter, then nine, took the notebook with a couple of movies on a campout. When her counselor “caught” her and her cabin-mates watching movies, they lost their camping badges. “Watching movies was not part of the camping experience,” was what she was told. Today, that same camp has cabins with built in DVD players where they show not only movies, but educational videos that help them be better campers, better stewards of the environment and better citizens.

I once worked for a technology company that created software and hardware that turned PCs into instruments for test, measurement and automation. We wrapped technology around technology and sold it to scientists and engineers -- very techie. But everyday, I was excited about going to work. These “techies” were effectively and efficiently testing children’s clothing to make sure it did not catch fire, using test sensors and systems so that airbags deployed to save lives. They measured the amount of pressure on bridges and overpasses to make sure they were sturdy and even monitored and controlled the Mars Pathfinder.

Technology is moving quickly. As non-technical communicators, fundraisers, marketers or grass-roots advocacy professionals, nonprofit professionals shouldn’t feel as if they must be the technical experts. They need to work with partners, vendors and volunteers who can help make the best technology and integration decisions possible based on strategy and need -- then move forward with creativity and enthusiasm.

In the nonprofit world, technology is helping create a world where causes and people connect to achieve extraordinary results. For some, there has always been concern about the dangers that might lurk behind how some might use technology. It is more dangerous to the future of your organization to lag too far behind technology implementation. In working to fulfill their missions and improve the world we live in, the creativity, commitment and passion of the nonprofit professionals I see each and everyday is amazing.

We will have challenges and even disagreement related to issues, technology and how people behave. But the good that can come from strategic implementation of technology around ideas and causes means a better tomorrow.

Write Todd at tdruart@convio.com

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This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times.

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