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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Barbara has blogged here before about the new TechSoup Limited offerings available to nonprofits and libraries on a limited basis. It was just brought to my attention that there are four TS Limited products that organizations and libraries are allowed to re-distribute to their constituents, members, and individual supporters.

Our donor partner, PC Tools has made their Internet Security, Registry Mechanic, Spyware Doctor, and famous Spyware Doctor with Antivirus broadly available to nonprofits and libraries — and now to your members and users as well. 

Each of the three products includes 3 licences that can be installed on 3 different machines (for a total of 9 installations) so not only can your organization use their spyware, antivirus, and registry cleaning tools to keep your computers functioning well, but you can share them with the individuals you serve. According to the restrictions:

If your nonprofit or library works with supporters or community members who have difficulty hearing or are deaf, there's a cool new freebie out there to help ensure that people can communicate well by phone with you and everybody else. Please feel free to share this info with your networks, local community centers, or health care facilities.

As of January 2009, American Network has "been approved by the Federal Communications Commission to provide IP Relay, Video Relay Services (VRS) and Internet Protocol Caption Telephone Service (IPCTS)." This phone captioning service is free because it is funded by the Federal Communications Commission. 

PhoneCaption.com provides free captioning for telephone calls to help those who are hard of hearing. PhoneCaption.com supports standard phones and IP phones and sends voice dialogue via text through the Internet or your IP phone screen. The caller receives captions to read of what is being said, via the web or a Cisco 79XX IP phone screen display for example.

The start of June brought the official launch of TechSoup for Libraries, where librarians can find stories from the field, hear from experts on libraries and technology, stay up-to-date on the latest offerings from TechSoup, participate in online and offline events, and learn about a new TechSoup product each month.

While the site is intended for primarily for libraries and nonprofit friends of libraries, nonprofits just might want to check it out as well. Have questions or comments about the new site? Email bhough (at) techsoupglobal.org.

Join TechSoup and Microsoft Learning experts on Wednesday, June 10, 11:00 a.m. Pacific for Roadmap to Microsoft Training Resources for a virtual tour of resources to get the most of our using Microsoft applications.

Being a proficient computer user can save you hundreds of hours over the course of a year. But learning to be proficient is easier said than done. There is an abundance of free training resources out there, but navigating those sites and understanding how to find what you're looking for can be a challenge.

This webinar will walk you through several resources from Microsoft that will help you, your staff, or your constituents get the training they need to use Microsoft software more confidently.

Update: Donations of Encarta are still available at TechSoup Stock for qualifying nonprofits and public libraries, but they must be processed by May 27. The electronic encyclopedia is available either as a standalone product or packaged with Microsoft Student. Either donation is available for an administrative fee of three dollars.

Geekdad reports that Microsoft will discontinue Encarta at the end of 2009. Some people have responded to the news with little more than bemusement that Encarta lasted as long as it did, and many have pointed to Wikipedia as Encarta's killer and successor.

Encarta itself has a strange and fascinating history. Many of the original articles were purchased from Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia under a non-exclusive contract. As Microsoft edited and refined the encyclopedia, they also wrote multiple versions of many articles to account for different countries' perspectives and priorities. According to a report (451 KB PDF) from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Microsoft had originally approached Encyclopædia Britannica with the concept, but Britannica felt that a CD-ROM version would diminish the demand for the much-more-expensive print version. The report goes on to explain how Britannica finally implemented a CD-ROM version in 1994, just one year after Encarta's launch: first as an add-on to the print version, then for just under $1000, and finally for only $200. But by then, it was too late: Encarta had completely cornered the market. It's interesting to wonder how Encarta's history would have played out differently had it partnered with Britannica instead of Funk & Wagnalls.

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCVA), a nonprofit that serves to promote online security awareness and education, just launched their new initiative at the RSA 2009 conference. Named C-SAVE, for Cyber Security Awareness Volunteer Education Program, it is a program "to encourage and support security and IT professionals as well as other knowledgeable about cyber security to put their knowledge and expertise to work in local schools."

In their featured session, Executive Director Michael Kaiser outlined the importance of not only educating young people about online best practices, but also gave examples of the impact on their families and communities as more people become better informed. We sometimes forget the fact that many of us learn about computers, networks, and security as adults. Although many of our children are more adept with technology overall, they are not as informed about privacy and security implications, and school districts need our help too. We hope that nonprofits and public libraries too can get involved in such an important mission that affects our future generation.

Good news. For awhile now, we at TechSoup (parent organization to the MaintainIT Project) have been working with our corporate partners to open more donation programs to public libraries. In the past year, software donations from Symantec, NOZA, and others have become available to public libraries for the first time. We're happy to announce that discounted computers are now available to public libraries through our Refurbished Computer Initiative (RCI).
 
The Refurbished Computer Initiative supplies low-cost, warrantied, refurbished desktop and laptop computers through TechSoup Stock's Web site to nonprofits and libraries anywhere in the US. The equipment is state of the art and refurbished by Redemtech, an industry leader in asset recovery. RCI also offers free end-of-life recycling when you're done with the equipment.
 
Buy your computers new or buy them used?

If your answer is yes, then here's a great resource for you.

In case you didn't know already, TechSoup.org has a new section available (through generous support for the California Emerging Technology Fund) that lists locations of Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbishers who not only provide quality, refurbished, low-cost computers in communities around the state, but they often can point you to places to learn how to use them as well as low-cost Internet services available locally.

On the MaintainIT blog, guest blogger Bess Haile has a delightful story about her library's new approach to budgeting for public computers. Her library's Adopt-a-Computer program is a simple way for friends of the library to show their support for free computer access.

Even more important than the program was the realization that led Bess to it: that if public computers could stay as a permanent part of the library's services, maintenance and upgrades needed to budgeted for, not just handled on an emergency basis.