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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This week, TechSoup published a new article on site analytics and privacy issues, Site Statistics and User Privacy for Nonprofit Websites. It's a complex issue with some strong feelings attached; there's much more to say than we could include in the article, but we hope it can serve as a starting point to help you make decisions about your nonprofit's website. Check out the article and share your thoughts in the TechSoup forums.

Internet privacy, particularly with respect to advertising, has been a big topic in the news lately. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) is introducing a bill next month that would force all U.S.-based websites to explain how users' data is being used and allow visitors to opt out of behavioral targeting campaigns (a few months ago, Boucher proposed a less-popular opt-in regulation).

Predictably, the advertising industry is responding negatively. "How many consumers want to pay $1,000 a month to have access to the Internet?" asked Matthew Wise of Q Interactive in a recent debate. "The reason they don't have to is because of advertising." If that argument sounds eerily familiar to you, it's because it's been voiced by the telecommunications industry throughout the net neutrality debate.

There are dozens if not hundreds of affordable, reliable, high-quality, green web hosts in the market today. Choose one to host your website. Here are some third-party lists of green web hosts:

• b2evolution
• TreeHugger
• WebHostingReport.com
• There is even a Twitter account that simply lists green web hosts.

When selecting a provider, consider these items:

What: NTEN is holding an online workshop on social media using a Choose Your Own Expert format. They've gathered a group of nonprofit social media experts to help you devise a solid organizational strategy and learn the secrets of a variety of social media tools.  After an opening plenary by Beth Kanter, you'll choose one of 4 breakout sessions:

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.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is a comprehensive set of tools that — when supported and deployed well — can help nonprofits and libraries simplify collaborative efforts, organize documents and institutional knowledge, and manage electronic content.

Microsoft makes SharePoint available for donation to eligible organizations through TechSoup. This free webinar will help you determine if this tool is the right fit for your organization.

Do you know about Google's Website Optimizer? It's a free tool that allows you to test how different versions of the same web page perform. The Chronicle of Philanthropy published a brief article (subscription required) describing how the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program used Website Optimizer to determine which of three versions of a web page was most effective in persuading people to sign up for information. Arcadia Campaigns' Matt Howes, writing on Care2's Frogloop blog, described the testing process:

To use [Google Optimizer], you create a web page and variations of that page that you'd like to test (for example, you might want to test if people respond better to a picture of a polar bear or a happy child on your donation page). You then set up an "experiment" on Google Optimizer where you tell it what the test pages are and what the conversion page is (such as the "thank you" page if you're testing your donation process).

If this sounds intriguing, check out the detailed instructions posted on the Wild Apricot blog and read Matt Howes' description of some of the pitfalls you might encounter (such as testing 41 shades of blue) and tips on how to avoid them.

Go forth and test!

Ian at roots.lab reports that Flickr has just added a "post to Twitter" feature. If you use either or both of these tools to keep followers up to date on the work you're doing in the field, the new feature is great news. It's already gained a lot of traction in the past week.

Who doesn't, right?! This week, TechSoup has a new article called Tips for Designing (or Redesigning) a Nonprofit Web Site, that covers all the basic considerations needed in order to get a new or redesigned site up and running.

This article covers all the steps to include in your exploration process, discusses the stakeholders who need to be involved, the general timeline that most web development firms follow, and shares a variety of great resources for starting your redesign process.

I've gone through this process as the "accidental techie" at three small nonprofits before and have had site redesigns go both ways — well planned up front and not-so-well-planned. The difference in the process can make or break the success and outcome. The frustrations and the lack of deliverables when the project was wrapped up were not only greater in the not-so-well-planned process, but they also cost our organization a LOT more money longer term.

Following guidelines and thinking through the questions presented in this article can help get your project off to a good start and keep it on track through to a new site launch.

Photo: Simon Collison

TechSoup's own Susan Tenby, also known as Glitteractica Cookie in Second Life, wrote up a blog post about the Mixed Reality Health Panel Expo event that is featured on the Huffington Post. Part of TechSoup's NetSquared Conference (N2Y4), the mixed reality event highlighted nonprofits doing work in the virtual world of Second Life and included health expert panelists from organizations including Community Voicemail, Boomer Esiason Foundation, and Virtual Ability.

But that's not all! The NetSquared Conference has gotten a number of recent press coverage too. Huffington Post also featured an post from by longtime NetSquared supporter Allen Gunn: NetSquared 2009: Making the Virtual Proximal. Lessons on Innovation from Nonprofits by columnist Chris O'Brien, recently appeared in the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times. And we were proud to see that The Economist's Technology Quarterly, showcased five of NetSquared's previous featured projects for their application of mapping tools for social benefit work

We are thrilled to see these fantastic individuals and social benefit organization getting press about their important work. If you'd like to see more you can check out wrap-up detailed coverage of the NetSquared conference and find the text archive, pictures, and live-blogging of the Health Panel Expo event on the Nonprofit Commons blog.

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Have you used Second Life to promote your work or organize supporters? Want to tell us which NetSquared project impressed you most? Share with others in this TechSoup Town Hall forum discussion.