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The Future of Blogs

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

CNET news has put together a list of articles relating to the future of blogs. Of particular interest is an interview of Mena Trott, one of the developers of Moveable Type, which powers the popular blog building program known as Typepad.

While I will provide some excerpts from from the interview further down, it’s also worth nothing that there is a review of Blogging For Dummies and NY Times article on blogging on the road. On now without further ado, here’s a look at the interview with Mena Trott.

Continue reading The Future of Blogs

Posted in Web

Do Unto Others . . .

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

A casual scan down the right columns of this web site will show that I have been quite busy adding links and signing up for affiliate programs. This was not an overnight decision. While I plan to continue adding helpful links, I have also given a lot of thought to the “monetizing” of this blog.

My basic philosophy follows some of the following points:

  1. Provide as much free assistance as possible.
  2. Keep the content fresh and helpful for writers, non-profits, and whoever else ends up on this page.
  3. The page will pay for itself

Continue reading Do Unto Others . . .

Posted in Web

Directories

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

One of the ways that I have begun promoting this blog is through online blog directories. While technorati is a search engine that finds blogs with specific material, directories typically categorize blogs according to topics (entertainment, arts, business, etc.).

While I have listed this blog in several sites, my current favorite is the Globe of Blogs. It allows a long list of category options, making their listings very accurate and easy to search. It only takes a minute to register your blog, why not try it?

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Volunteer Tip: On Vacation

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Vermont is the kind of state that experiences a sudden influx of senior citizens in the warm, summer months, and then quickly clears out after the leaves hit the ground. Every non-profit organization in the Green Mountain state would do well to keep this trend in mind. The winter volunteer base of every organizaiton will be cut in half at least due to the migration of many to the south. In addition, ice and snow will keep another part of your volunteer force off the roads.

This will lead to an unpredictable schedule for your volunteers and your expectations must bend according to their availability. If you have a mailing to go out, have it ready at least a week before it must go out. Allow some flexibility for the volunteers. If one can come in during a Tuesday morning, but another can come in on Thursday afternoon, let them come in as they will instead of losing them for the sake of concentrating them into one time slot. The winter is not the time to be picky about when you can and cannot have help.

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English Teachers Band Together

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

I regularly attend a writing group on Tuesday evenings at a local bookstore. During that time we do creative writing exercises. I will be sharing the exercises as well as my own writing here for you to try out.

Writing Exercise: Write about a bracelet that is associated with a cause other than a disease. Allow yourself 10 minutes. If you’re brave, post it as a comment!

My exercise:

English teachers of all grade levels have taken to the halls of their repective schools with blue wrist bands. I an effort to raise grammar awareness, they chose blue to remind students of the markings that typically cover their essays and reports after grading.

Continue reading English Teachers Band Together

Passive Road Rage

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Blue, yellow, and white: these colors signify a foreign presence, an invasion, a threat. They are the badges of the disdainful and intolerable force who threaten peace, life, and order. Pollution streams in their wake, and all close to them are in danger. They travel at unsafe speeds, take unnessary risks, and spread discontent in their path. It’s ski season in Vermont.

Continue reading Passive Road Rage

Volunteers and Change

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Change is perhaps one of the thorniest issues to navigate with volunteers. Since they are not employees, they typically do not have a say or an inside look at what’s happening in the organization. But since they do “work” for you, they are not as removed as the general public or those who receive your services. And so volunteers exist in a type of limbo between the public and your employees.

Obviously some changes will not worry your volunteers as much as others. It’s typically a change in policy or program that touches directly ontheir spheres of influence. It is important to evaluate the impact of change within your organization on your volunteer core. It is crucial to make sure that your volunteers are on board as you move forward into new times. Continue reading Volunteers and Change

Electricity: Things Have Not Always Been So

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

 60 mph wind gusts brought down a host of trees yesterday in Southern Vermont. Route 7A was closed down at several locations from downed power lines. My car only puttered into our driveway after weaving through a maze of fire trucks. I knew that something was wrong when the garage door disobeyed my finger that pushed in the button. The power was out.
Continue reading Electricity: Things Have Not Always Been So

Vermont Non-Profit Links

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

I have spent the past few days accumulating links on a social bookmarking/tagging service called del.icio.us. You can access my tags here. While you can scroll down the list of my most recent tags and browse them, there is a listing of categories on the right where you can seek out what is of interest to you. I have focused lately on collecting Vermont blogs, non-profit information related to Vermont, and non-profit information related to technology. There is general info mixed in as well.

The beauty of this service is that you can see how many people have tagged the same item, thereby giving you an idea of its popularity and possibly its usefulness. Once you connect to another person’s del.icio.us account, you will find that they have their own collection of tags to choose from.

If you would like to get started with social bookmarking, you can set up a del.icio.us account very easily. If you are not using Mozilla Firefox as your internet browser, I recommend downloading it. It’s a much better and safer browser than internet explorer. Then go to the add-on section and download the del.icio.us extension.

This extension will put a “tag” icon on your browser bar next to your print icon. If you’re at a web site that you like, just click on the tab and you can categorize it for your bookmarking account. This is a very easy way to store and organize information, while also connecting yourself to a network of people whose preferences are available to you.

Posted in Web