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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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!

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.

We wrapped up this fantastic webinar with Microsoft yesterday. Roadmap to Microsoft Training Resources was literally a virtual walk through all of the great resources available to nonprofit and libraries for FREE, when they receive their donated Microsoft software with Software Assurance through TechSoup.

From basic-level trainings on different office productivity suites to more advanced Microsoft Certification-level and server courses, there are a host of training materials, online courses, and knowledge-base resources available.

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.

Ozzy Osbourne is quoted as saying, "Of all the things that I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most." Well, that certainly applies in the case of Encarta. After nearly 20 years, Microsoft has decided to bow out of the electronic encyclopedia business. This is a watershed moment for many of us who've enjoyed the Encarta CD-ROMs packaged with PCs for years.

To hear that Wikipedia has taken over the market is a little scary to me. Wikipedia is an open-source knowledge repository, which is fine, but one issue with open-source technologies continues to be quality control. If I were a teacher, I would be skeptical of any information sourced from there. In order to truly verify information, you would need to track down the source of the information, if possible, and verify that source. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a knowledge source that I can trust the first time.

For another take on the discontinuation of Encarta, see Elliot's recent post.

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.

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.