Two versions of the same song, both performed by one of my favorite bands, Sly & the Family Stone.
UPDATE: This post has been rendered moot. Avast now has a scheduler built in! The post will be kept here for those of you who have not upgraded to the latest version.
In an earlier post, I detailed “How to schedule automatic scans with free version of Avast! on Vista.” I just tested it out and can report that the instructions are the same for Windows 7 Home Premium edition. Read More
This is cross-posted on: http://www.squarestate.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=9040
My thoughts here aren’t really all that fleshed out, but here are my thoughts so far. If your organization is thinking about using a CRM such as SalesForce or CiviCRM, there are several considerations. The most important one is not technical in nature.
There needs to be a serious organizational commitment to using a CRM. Every (or almost every) interaction with constituents need to be recorded in the CRM. If you have even a single technophobic organizer, the whole undertaking is jeopardized. I have seen databases built and then become obsolete over the years, because capturing information wasn’t seen as a good use of time. This is especially so when time pressures are strong. If information is not being refreshed, then how useful is your database?
It was impressive to see a demonstration of how Colorado Progressive Coalition uses CiviCRM. What was particularly significant to hear about the organizational culture that has been created to ensure the success of this project.
Is this useful? Profound? Do you have insight you can share? Comment and share below!
This post is a continuation of an earlier one detailing how to merge datasets in Excel or OpenOffice’s Calc. A reader, Tina, asked “What if you have more than one column to lookup to get the match value?” This post is a response to that question.
A merge of two datasets requires at least one column in each dataset to be in common. The first step is to do exactly that. Read More
If you are looking to write a sign-on letter to a legislator that your members and supporters can sign on to, there are several options available. Below are some options I have encountered that allow you to petition legislators. Read More
UPDATE: This post has been rendered moot. Avast now has a scheduler built in! The post will be kept here for those of you who have not upgraded to the latest version.
Avast! Home Edition is a free antivirus program. You can read more about it on the Wikipedia entry. The free version can be used for 60 days, afterward, you are required to register and are given a license key. This license key is good for a little over a year.
At first, Avast!’s registration requirement deterred me from using it. However, when one of my computers became infected with malware, I became aware of the limitations of relying on AVG Free. I then began looking into other options. I found that Avast! Home is one of the best free antivirus programs out there. After the malware incident, the registration/licensing requirement became trivial.
One of the downsides of using Avast! Home edition, however, is it does not include a scheduler. There is a solution, however, that relys on Windows Task Scheduler. Read More
Adam Green posted this article on OpenLeft criticizing a mass email he received from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
RSS feeds have been around for a long time. My experience with them was limited to adding the NY Times and the BBC as “Live Bookmarks” in Firefox.
NY Times live bookmark in Firefox
Slowly, I began to realize that there is more to it than that – a lot more. This is not an exhaustive list of uses for RSS feeds, but rather, a description of how I personally find them useful. Using two points of view, personal productivity and community organizing, I will explain why feeds are important.
Twitter updates Del.icio.us links