ajaxWindows: Web-Based Operating System

ajaxWindows - Your Desktop Anywhere Small arts organizations frequently express to CAMT the need for document sharing on a shoestring budget, so an actual network of servers (or even a single server) typically isn't feasible. We often recommend online shared document solutions, such as Google Docs, that allow people to work collaboratively in a Web-based workspace.

ajaxWindows, designed by Ajax13, takes shared documentation one step further by providing an online operating system that mimics the functionality of Microsoft Windows. In fact, it mimics the software so well that I'll be surprised if no lawsuits are filed against Ajax13.

While the system has an extremely high "wow, you can do that all in a browser?" factor, the practicality is questionable. You can accomplish nearly everything ajaxWindows offers by using a combination of other online productivity tools.

Below is a video of ajaxWindows in action:

Online Videos by Veoh.comYou can also visit the ajaxWindows Web site to try a free demo.

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Brother, Can You Share a Desktop?

Need a quick and cheap (how about free) way of holding an online meeting with someone else on your computer? Try out CrossLoop. This free, secure screen sharing utility is easy to download and install. And even easier to use. I actually just used this program this morning to host a meeting; my attendee, who had never used CrossLoop before, had everything set up and ready to go on their side within two minutes or so. And presto! CrossLoop is still a relatively new program, so the longevity of its service and gratis status remains to be seen. Also, it is currently on available for Windows machines. But, in terms of quick and easy desktop sharing, it's something definitely worth looking at.

Collaborative Script Writing

I recently stumbled upon one of the most exciting (to me, anyway) Web 2.0 endeavors ever to hit the Internet: Plotbot. Plotbot allows two or more users to work on a script collaboratively. It's designed for the screenplay format, but it could be used just as well for collaboration on a new stage play.

Beyond simply adding and editing scenes and other elements to the script, collaborators can comment on their partners' efforts, and the site's project pages allow for blog postings and document sharing. The project pages act as a dashboard, providing a great deal of useful information about each of your projects.

Plotbot's project page

The system's script-writing engine (powered by AJAX) streamlines the formatting of dialogue, action and sluglines. Here is the "Add an Element" tool: Add an Element to Your Script

And here is how a full scene page looks: Scene Page

As you can see, it's a very slick interface, and every line that is modified has information in the right margin about who made the modification and when. You can also roll a change back if you're unhappy with it.

One other cool and useful aspect -- Each of your projects gets its own RSS feed, so your collaborators can subscribe and get instant updates to their RSS readers when changes are made.

Best of all, the site is completely free. I'd urge anyone doing collaborative script writing to register and check it out.

Visit Dresden's Art Gallery in Second Life

Not everyone can afford a trip to Dresden, Germany, but now anyone with a computer and a Second Life account can visit the city's famous art gallery. In June, a digital version of the entire building - 37,700 square feet and 750 paintings - was launched in the 3-D virtual world of Second Life.

My Second Life self viewing a painting in Dresden's gallery. (View Full Image)

Check out the full story and some images from WIRED.com.

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Web 1.0 is so ten years ago...

I happened upon a great blog entry on Slayerment.com about upgrading your Web site to Web 2.0. It provides 12 ways to move that pitiful static thing you created using a Geocities account back when Vanilla Ice was cool into an honest to goodness interactive online tool. Yes, "Web 2.0" is just one of those annoying buzz terms, but this entry is funny AND insightful, a great combination:

12 ways to turn your Web 1.0 site into a Web 2.0 site | Slayerment

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please consider voting for SITI's social web project by April 14th

I work for SITI Company (an ensemble theater company led by Anne Bogart) and with the help of Erika Block we are developing a project that uses social media to build, connect and strengthen our international community of students and audiences through the creation of SEE (SITI’s Extended Ensemble). Rooted in SITI's commitment to international collaboration and the fostering of young artists, SEE uses social media to connect a community of artists and audiences, using an ensemble theater context to bridge virtual and “real” worlds by developing an online tool that fosters collaboration. Erika describes it as, "exploring ways to turn online connections into face-to-face connections - a networking meeting, getting out the vote, getting audiences into theaters. And to turn face-to-face connections into online communities. Deepening the impact of a performance or a workshop by creating a space for dialogue, shared tips, questions and, ultimately, repeat attendance. This is the potential of these tools - a seamless loop of participation."

She also points out "The Howard Dean campaign and MoveOn are early examples. MySpace is tremendously effective for promoting music and spoken word concerts (and, increasingly, other events). Last year’s Los Angeles immigration protests by young people were organized online. Just the other day, Andrew Taylor wrote about Charles Leadbetter's new book We-Think, which suggests that our traditional view of how innovations enter the market -- special people in special places creating things that are pushed down the pipeline to passive and waiting consumers -- is no longer true, if it ever was. Rather, the traditional, corporate approach to creativity and innovation is decreasingly able to develop radical innovation, and spends much of its time stifling the innovation of talented and networked amateurs [and professionals, I'd add]."

One of the things that's most interesting about SEE is its potential to become a model for the performing arts field, encouraging peer-to-peer collaboration and invention.

SITI has submitted the proposal for support from the NetSquared community (division of Tech Soup), which was developed to spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations. 20 projects will be chosen for support through a membership voting process, and anyone with an interest in this work can join NetSquared, for free. (Apart from the opportunity to vote, you can participate in a great conversation and draw on a growing resource base.)

We'd love for you to vote for SEE, and you can find the full project description here. The link to vote is here. (you'll have to register on the site)

Aspiration 2007 Nonprofit Software Development Summit in Review

If you can imagine the geekiness that drives the creation of such innovative projects as Drupal, combined with the passion that is dedicated to seeing nonprofits successfully serve their constituents, you would be witnessing a typical attendee at this Summit. The energy present in Oakland that week was amazing. I walked into the Summit a day late during the skill-sharing session. Rather wide-eyed at how I was supposed to enter into the space, a nearby participant approached and welcomed me to sit down and chat until the session was over. This incident wasn't particular either; many individuals were very friendly, thus making the experience all the more rich.

The Summit had the perfect balance of application and theory sessions. I walked out of there learning about new technologies and how to use them, in addition to being aware of current policy and field issues. I was however, wishing that more people who served the arts were present.

Here are some highlights of a few of the sessions I sat in on. You may visit the Aspiration Summit wiki to gain insight as to how all the sessions went.

Case Study: Benetech's Miradi Project

Kevin Smith was very generous with his knowledge- catching me up with concepts of Agile Development and the process of specification gathering in this case. This information was woven into the narrative of how the Miradi Project came to be. After getting the meat of this session, I hopped over to Where are the Biggest Tool Gaps - a practice not so common in this type of small setting, admittedly. :) I came into the tail end of Laura Quinn's colloborative session that tried to pinpoint exactly where some of our energies might be spent to build a more cohesive and exhaustive link among the available technology tools.

Next Steps in Breaking the Integration Deadlock

Tate Hausman, from DotOrganize, along with Holly Ross from NTEN, set out to begin some formalized steps towards addresssing Open API issues. The session began by presenting the various definitions of what Integration could look like, and ended by discussing the many facets involved with resolving the scope of issues. Look forward to a potential API gathering- from NTEN or DotOrganize- to address integration issues!

Software Project Management Mind Meld

This session was particularly relevant to me as I see myself fulfilling a similar capacity in my next job. Jeremy Wallace, of the Fund for the City of New York, moderated a session where a room full of project managers discussed the benefits and drawbacks of various project managent tools: bug trackers, general project management, time tracking, collaborative editing and discussion. Some beneficial themes that also arose were: managing client's expectations, dealing with scope changes and various methods for distilling the requirements gathering process.

Exploring Opportunites for Collaborative Development

Laura Quinn and Jeremy Wallace led this session of mixed developers and administrators. Issues such as intellectual property rights, licensing, branding, buy-in and follow-through, and sharing development practices all arose as common barriers to the collaboration process. This session was hearty and intense. I suggest you review the wiki notes.

Smelling the AJAX Koolaid

I didn't know what AJAX was when I showed up to this session and my brain was satiated with resolution upon leaving. Evan Henshaw-Plath presented the history of AJAX, how websites use it, what the features look like, and the benefits and negatives. I also learned about the code libraries that support AJAX development, ways of using the DOM to create a separate AJAX file from your html one, and how to troubleshoot new browsers. It was awesome, but admittedly, I will never put myself in the position of using it. Hey, but concepts are all I focus on anyways.

Upcoming Conference on Museums and the Web

From April 11 - 14, 2007, Archives & Museums Informatics is hosting a conference on Museums and the Web in San Francisco, California. Workshops focus on everything from content management and archiving to Second Life, social media, and museum mashups. Check it out!Š

MySpace as an Arts Space

Today's issue of The New York Times features "MyTheater, Seeking Friends," an article by Steven McElroy highlighting how various arts organizations are using the social networking site MySpace as a platform for marketing and promoting to younger audiences. For early adopters of technology, using MySpace as a promotional platform for the arts may seem like a "no-brainer," but for many others in field, the why's and how's of adding their organizations to MySpace are not readily apparent. I remember speaking with the director of a university's performing arts series at a recent conference. She told me that she had yet to find a successful tool for promoting her series to the university's students. I asked her if she had considered setting up a profile for the series on MySpace and using that as a platform for promotions geared toward the student and local Gen Y demographic. She admitted that the thought had not crossed her mind - even though she knew that a great number of the students at her university spent time on MySpace.

With a user base of 55 million and 28.4 percent of users under the age of 34, it is more difficult to find a reason NOT to use MySpace to reach out to new or younger audience members.

McElroy's article mentions how musicians and comics have been using MySpace as a promotional tool for quite awhile now. I would also add the independent film community to that list. My organization recently established a MySpace page for our independent filmmakers tour because of the enormous presence of independent filmmakers and film lovers on MySpace as demonstrated by the MySpace Film area. By joining this community, we have been able to promote our calls for entries to indie filmmakers around the world AND notify film lovers of our touring program - all in four weeks.

Next week, IMAGE Film & Video Center here in Atlanta is hosting a "Pimp My Space" workshop to teach local filmmakers (and folks like me) how to get the most out of your MySpace presence. I wonder if they are going to have a session like that at the National Arts Marketing Project conference in November? They should!

When I think about the organized areas of MySpace for film, music and comedy, I think wouldn't it be great if there were areas of MySpace set aside for dance, literature, visual art and other art forms?

• Places where both emerging and established artists could promote their work - tours, performances, readings, publications, exhibits, etc. Maybe a fledgling modern dance group like Ash Contemporary Dance could become the Dane Cook of the dance world and play to audiences of thousands. (For those who don't know, Dane Cook became a stadium-selling touring comedian by developing a base audience on MySpace.)
• Places where arts organizations could find hip "friends" to invite to their events and venues. (Did I mention that Dane Cook currently has 1.8 million "friends" on MySpace?)

Don't get me wrong. MySpace is not a marketing panacea for cultivating the next generation of arts enthusiasts - but it sure could be useful!

Creating your Nonprofit Tech Community

I'm rounding out my last semester at Carnegie Mellon and the job search has begun.  Instead of sifting through my Career Services email blasts, looking specifically for techy type positions within the nonprofit community, I have staked out a few organizations where I can build a network. Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders    I literally began my career in arts administation with the Emerging Leaders Listserv.  While working part-time at the City of Ventura Cultural Affairs Division, I was granted an organizational membership.  I posed questions about the field, participated in lively discussions revolving around my peer group's issues, found answers to my graduate program concerns and actually made contacts with Carnegie Mellon's Master of Arts Management alums.  Student membership is only $25! 

Technology in the Arts Conference    My experience coordinating this conference and working for CAMT confirmed the possibility of fusing my creative interests with my technology skills.  If you want to meet anyone who is anyone in the arts sector and is a tech-enthusiast, this is the place to be.  Be prepared to meet E.D.'s, practitioners, and innovators alike.  The packed programming schedule is hands-on and relevant.�

NTEN Affinity Groups    I have just become a member so my involvement thus far is somewhat limited. (I made my profile.)  However, I have surveyed the participation in the groups and it seems like there are both opportunities for employment and networking, not to mention practical tech advice and interesting discussion.

A good strategy of building upon these communities is looking at their partners or affiliates.  Go to any of these websites, including TechSoup or NPower.  Look at the Board Members and their employers.  Look at their sponsors, exhibitors and partners.  TechSoup even has a TechFinder where you can locate services.  Find out who is offering those services.  And then go to those websites, become a member or part of their community, and/or look for job openings.

I have also recently found this Yahoo Group: Nonprofit Tech Jobs.  A brave soul manages this list voluntarily.  Bless her heart and the amount of crap she must receive in the form of inappropriate job requests and favors.  Just check out the slew of advisory messages you'll receive from her after signing up.

And lastly, don't forget trusty nonprofit job searching websites like Idealist, Craigslist, NonprofitOyster, and ExecSearches.

If you want art field jobs, just contact me as I have a huge list of web portals where opportunities abound.�