IST Resources

» Yahoo and Google Square Off Over Digital Libraries
New York Times
Yahoo has joined with several nonprofits, universities, and companies in a bid to challenge rival Google and its partners in the race to digitize the holdings of some of the world’s great libraries. While Google has drawn copyright flak for its plan to scan and make searchable the contents of some of the leading libraries, Yahoo’s approach appears to be skirting the copyright straits through a combination of CreativeCommons licensing and a focus on works in the public domain. more...

» India’s .org Boom
AP
Sales and registries of .org domain names are growing faster in Indiathan in any country on the planet. The .org domain is generally associated with nonprofit organizations, and the increase in .org registrations is partly due to India’s huge nonprofit sector, as well as rapid advances in the country’s telecommunications infrastructure. more...

» Net Gains
The Guardian
New research out of the United Kingdom shows a significant increase in the use of websites by charities, big and small. From online fundraising to conducting outreach campaigns and scientific research on a mass scale, more and more British nonprofits see their web presence as crucial to their activities. more...

» Time Banking” Offers New Take on Volunteerism
Working for Change
There’s a new approach to valuing volunteerism, and proponents say it helps reduce “charity wounds”—the sense of humility or embarrassment often felt by charity recipients. Called “time banking,” the system tracks individuals’ volunteer hours and stores them in a “time bank” from which volunteers can later “withdraw” an equivalent amount of volunteer time when they need help. Participant reciprocity and a broad definition of assets are key to the time banking concept. more...

» $100 Laptop Project Reveals Blueprints
AP
A nonprofit center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has revealed details of its $100 laptop, aimed at bridging the digital divide by putting lunchbox-like laptops in the hands of millions of schoolchildren around the world. The laptops will feature such innovations as a wind-up handle to generate electricity when there isn’t any, and the ability for each laptop to serve as a relay station in wireless networks. more...

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The Broadband Explosion: Thinking About a Truly Interactive World
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=4990&t=technology&iss=y