The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) and California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) today named TechSoup Global one of three winners of the 2009 California Digital Inclusion Program Award. The award recognizes nonprofits, government agencies, and corporations responsible for raising awareness of and improving web accessibility for Californians with disabilities.

Microsoft's SharePoint/MOSS system enabled TechSoup to incorporate web features that ensure compliance with federal Web Content Accessibility Standards (WCAG) 2.0. Upgrades include website text that can now be read by assistive technology and navigation aid is available on every page. Our content and web production teams collaborated to make our webinar series accessible, an area where many companies and organizations struggle. Last month we premiered our first closed captioned video. This was made possible by several volunteers who transcribed the text and time coded it to match the video.

Help us make more recorded webinars accessible by becoming a volunteer transcriber! Email webinars@techsoup.org for more information.

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Wouldn't it be great if complicated technology concepts were explained in a simple way that's easy to understand? Imagine how something like this could assist you in training sessions for patrons or staff. Well look no further, Common Craft creates explanatory videos "in plain English" that cover topics like money, society, and technology.
 
In this free webinar, Stephanie Gerding from TechSoup will interview Lee LeFever, from Common Craft to learn more about their learning videos and how they are created. We will also hear how librarians are using these videos to support the needs of their community.

Wednesday, November 18, 11 a.m. Pacific time (12 p.m. Mountain time, 1 p.m. Central time, 2 p.m. Eastern time)

Space is limited, register today!

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On Wednesday, November 4 TechSoup Talks! will be conducting two webinars that highlight specific Microsoft programs or services useful to nonprofits and libraries.

This webinar, with environmental experts from Microsoft, will be broken into two 45-minute parts; one for small organizations and one for large organizations. These will help you learn how to reduce the environmental impact of your information technology and how to effectively use IT to improve your organizations' efficiency.

TechSoup is a nonprofit that partners with corporations to distribute software and hardware donations to nonprofits and libraries. You may already know about our donation programs that can save nonprofits and libraries approximately 90% on Microsoft products and Symantec's Norton Antivirus donations but did you know we offer a typing program, discount on Flickr, and more? Attend this free webinar at 11 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday, October 28 and learn about TechSoup for Libraries and how we can help you offer more to your patrons and staff while saving money.

The Internet is a great tool for communicating and connecting. We now have a variety of ways to do so, but which one is best suited for your needs? Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn? Each serves its purpose and audience, but what if your needs aren't served with these tools? Create your own!

Ning is a powerful tool that allows you to not only create a dynamic, easy to update website, but its functionality allows your community to create accounts, share information, connect with you and other people in your community and work collaboratively.

Kami Griffiths will interview Manny Hernandez, author of Ning For Dummies who will give an overview of Ning and how it is being used by several organizations. Learn what it takes to get a Ning site set-up and the resources needed to keep it going.

Please join us on Thursday, October 15, 11 a.m. Pacific time. Space is limited so register today!

For the last three years, OneWebDay "has attracted a global network of partner organizations and individual activists committed to broadening public awareness of Internet and web issues while deepening a culture of participation in building a web that works for everyone."

This day is considered a day of action for digital inclusion, much like Earth Day has become a day of action for environmental issues. Grassroots organizers and individuals around the world are raising awareness, taking action, and encouraging change on a broad host of issues where web and Internet technologies are concerned. From expanding access to free WiFi, to creating public computing spaces, to expanding crowdsourced translation services for web content, OneWebDay is bringing together ideas and action for making the web truly a place for all.

In 2008, OneWebDay organizers documented volunteer-driven events in 34 different cities across the world. This year events are happening in over 50 cities in 20 countries!

OneWebDay is all about your passion for the web and your creativity. Visit the OneWebDay site to learn more and find out how you can participate!

Free Range Studios, the "Creative Agency with a Conscience," has announced its annual YouTopia Grant (formerly known as the Gratitude Grant). Free Range Studios will be donating their services to one lucky nonprofit and one socially responsible business. Past recipients of the YouTopia Grant include Sustainable Table for whom Free Range Studios created the award winning viral video, the Meatrix, now viewed over 20 million times and translated into 43 languages.

Free Range Studios also walks the talk. From the day Free Range Studios opened its doors it has been a socially and environmentally responsible company. Free Range Studios uses Triple Bottom Line accounting, renewable energy including wind power, and most recently Free Range Studios became a B Corporation.

A few months ago we conducted a webinar called Producing Webinars for Nonprofits & Libraries where we discussed the best production practices for delivering webinars and how to inspire participant interaction and engagement before, during, and after the event. We heard from experts that have used webinars to develop awareness and build online community in their organizations.

There was overwhelming interest from participants to go even deeper by presenting the process step-by-step. So we'e decided to take you behind the scenes of TechSoup Talks and demonstrate how our webinars are organized, what we do, and don’t do to ensure a successful webinar.

Join us on Thursday, September 10, 10 a.m. Pacific time for Step-by-Step for Conducting Webinars for an inside look into how to produce great webinars for your organization.

This webinar is ideal for nonprofit and library staff who have decided that they would like to conduct webinars or web conference calls, but aren't sure how to get started. We will walk you through the process from start to finish, spending time talking about ReadyTalk – the web conferencing tool we use to promote, register, conduct, record, and track each webinar. Shawn Cardinal from ReadyTalk will be available to answer product-specific questions.

Register today!

You understand how to track the success of your programs, but when it comes to social media you're at a loss. How do you show that this new technology is something worth the staff time invested?

If you are interested in implementing a social media program (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg) but are unsure how to measure the impact or know what success looks like, attend this free TechSoup Talks webinar on Thursday, August 13, 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Kami Griffiths will interview John Haydon and Chris Garrett to learn more about the impact we can expect to see from these tools, how it can be tracked, and how to adapt to get the most return on your investment.

On July 22, Laura Quinn from Idealware posted a message to their blog titled "A Microsoft SharePoint Overview" which was re-posted from the NTEN Discuss discussion list and Gavin Clabaugh.