Internet Accessibility Resources

A number of nonprofits seek resources that help explain how to make Internet and Web efforts more accessible to visually and hearing impaired visitors, or to folks who lack equipment that can take full advantage of certain sites. In the eagerness to take advantage of streaming media, chat, Internet fax, or the newest gadget, basic principles of website design or Internet resource planning can sometimes become an afterthought.

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Web Based Language Translation Services

The World Wide Web, despite its potential to bridge cultural gaps, is still predominately a medium for the English language. Currently, it is estimated that some 87 percent of documents on the Internet are written in English. According to Global Reach, a marketing communications consultancy that develops international access for websites, English speakers make up slightly more than 51.3% of the world’s online population though they only represent 32% of the world’s total economy. Additionally, some 32 million Americans speak a non-English primary language.

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Remote/Hosted Search Engine Services

One of the benefits of the World Wide Web is the ability to navigate among different sources and types of information. The central element of this navigability are search engines, the mechanisms through which users enter certain words or phrases, that return lists of documents containing those terms. The success of search engines rests, in part on the tools themselves, and, in part, on the sources of content.

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Online Polls and Surveys

Online Survey and Polling Tools The need for nonprofits to collect information and survey others is critically important, especially in research and message development activities. There are usually, however, two limitations: cost and expertise. There are a number of online tools and services that may make it easier and less costly to do surveys and polls.

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Commercial, Nonprofit, and Not-For-Profit Online Voter Education and Participation Resources

Internet and Voter Participation A while back, Microsoft ran an interesting paid advertisement/essay in a number of newspapers entitled, "The Internet and Democracy". It presents a series of statements emphasizing the Internet's increasing role in the interaction between people and government, as well as candidates and the electorate. In particular, the ad emphasizes the notion of the Internet as means for:
  • organizing and expressing citizen opinions among the body politic and with elected officials,

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Unions and Technology

Unions and the Digital Divide Unions and technology have had a good amount of attention lately. You have probably heard the news that the Ford Motor Company, through PeoplePC is offering their 350,000 employees computers with Internet access for US$5 a month, including shipping. This arrangement came about when Ford and the United Auto Workers (UAW)- which represents 100,000 Ford workers in America- negotiated a four-year contract last fall. The UAW suggested the idea for computer access for workers during the negotiations.

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Free Electronic Mailing and Discussion List Hosting

The now commonly-used term "listserv" refers, in fact, to the original e-mail list hosting software (called LISTSERV) first introduced in 1986. Now, just about any electronic discussion list is called a "listserv." Moreover Lsoft, the company that produces the LISTSERV brand of software, has started to clamp down on use of this term. In referring to the generic tool, one should use "e-mail list" or "e-mail-based discussion group."

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Instant Messaging

One type of technology that forms a logical extension between the notion of community building and the work of nonprofits is instant messaging (IM). Reportedly some 80 million folks are using IM technology daily to generate a low-end estimate of some 500 million messages a day.

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Stakeholder Analysis Tools

The following information is drawn from September 19, 20, and 23, 1999 postings on the NPTalk discussion list. Introduction Stakeholder analysis is an aspect of organizing and mobilizing activity often overlooked by smaller community groups but not by larger entities interested in creating effective campaigns and strategies to help push their interests in the policymaking process.

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Wireless Technology and Cellular Phones

Portions of the following information are drawn from previous postings on the NPTalk discussion list. The cellular phone is a little tool that has, in a short amount of time, had a major impact on information and communications technology development around the globe. Strangely enough, the technology has been around a lot longer than you might think. Keep in mind that cellular phones themselves are basically transmitters and receivers of radio signals.

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