Gillian Kerr writes a monthly technology column for Charity Village, one of the largest nonprofit-oriented web sites in the world. Please note that the information in the following Charity Village articles is current as of the day it is posted. The technology sector changes so quickly that much of the information is out of date within months. The most popular articles, or the ones that readers have asked for, are in bold text and starred *.

• Moving to Digital: Converting, organizing and managing your music collection
  Includes thoughts on copyright protection and online social organization (January 2006)
  
  
• Sharing your files: How to store, back up and share documents and projects
  (December 2005)
  
  
• What it looks like when funders work together
  Interview with Mark Surman about international telecentres, building global capacity in civil society, and how funders can collaborate more effectively. (November 2005)
  
  
• The $100 notebook computer
  Inexpensive computers aimed at developing countries will be available in North America soon. (October 2005)
  
  
• Using social networks to find and evaluate online information
  Online subscription music services are developing approaches that find useful and relevant information through social networks. (September 2005)
  
  
• Summer roundup
  Open source software reviews, using Google maps, new SharePoint applications and a promising online calendar. (August 2005)
  
  
• Communications technology and culture
  Using technology in Qatar (June 2005)
  
  
• Mobilizing communities and sharing information
  Suggestions and tools for connecting people (April 2005)
  
  
• Building a community web site
  Creating a successful web site that enables communities to work together depends more on processes than on software. (March 2005)
  
  
• Coping with email in 2005 - spam, viruses, phishing, security and privacy
  Now that we're all dependent on email, it's taking over our lives. Here's some advice on dealing with spam and other email cons, dangers and irritants over the next year - until it gets worse.  (February 2005)
   
• Technology-mediated living for people with disabilities - and the rest of us
  A wheelchair that can climb stairs, digital eyesight, automatic voice transcription, communication through brain patterns - new technologies are transforming the environment for people with mobility and sensory impairments. But it's also pointing to a future in which we are all cyborgs. (January 2005)
   
• Academic search engine may help the voluntary sector
  Finally, nonprofits may be able to disseminate their research and reports to a worldwide audience through the new Google Scholar. (December 2004)
  
  
• Should you move to a Voice over IP phone system?
  Voice over IP, or Internet phones, are finally going mainstream. Should your agency think about switching to VOIP? (November 2004)
  
  
•  Research on distance collaborations *
  Distance collaboration and dispersed teams, if managed well, increase innovation and productivity. (August 2004)
  
  
• Video games come to the boardroom
  New web conferencing tools use avatars and 3D gaming graphics to mimic face to face meetings. (July 2004)
   
• Costing business processes
  How much do you spend on technology, and how can you communicate it to funders? (June 2004)
   
• Cheap online presentations using PowerPoint (May 2004)
   >
• Data reporting to funders (April 2004)
  
  
• Getting access to research literature (March 2004)
  
  
• Alternatives to email newsletters (RSS) (January 2004)*
   
• Choosing the right technical solution (December 2003)
   
• Blogs and web logging (November 2003)*
   
• Holding web conferences (October 2003)*
  
  
• More stupid Google tricks (September 2003)
  
  
• New developments in customer relationship management (July 2003)*
  
  
• Email use and etiquette: Ignore at your peril (June 2003)
  
  
• Finding relevant news stories: the Google search engine (May 2003)*
  
  
• Offsite file storage (March 2003)
  
  
• Telephone interpreting (January 2003)
  
  
• Online auctions (December 2002)
  
  
• Culture Jamming and the Web (November 2002)
   
• Trends for the coming year - Spam and Linux (September 2002)
   
• Peer to peer computing - sharing information between computers (August 2002)
   
• Using social networks to change organizations (July 2002)
   
• The real costs of managing technology (June 2002)*
   
• Collaborative tools: Groove and SharePoint (May 2002)
   
• Social networks and knowledge management (April 2002)
   
• Technology needs of the voluntary sector, and making reports accessible on the Web (March 2002)
   
• Personal impacts of telecommuting and virtual work (February 2002)*
   
• The problem with best practices in technology (January 2002)
   
• Unified messaging: Using telephone systems more effectively
    (December 2001)
  
  
• Technology priorities, cool tool of the month, and DNS-related web site problems (November 2001)
   
• Free internet access is over; and technology needs of the voluntary sector (October 2001)
   
• Three ways to plan a web site (August 2001)* Reprinted in Ontario Health Promotion E-Bulletin
   
• Online fundraising - does it work? (July 2001)*
   
• When your technology provider bites the dust (June 2001)
   
• Working with virtual teams and telecommuters (May 2001)
   
• Managing technology projects (April 2001) * Reprinted in Projects & Profits, IACFAI Press, April 2002
   
• Protecting your agency's information: security and backup
    (March 2001)
  
  
• Online collaboration and the death rate of dot-coms
    (February 2001)
  
  
• Virtual meetings and teleconferences -- the Internet and the telephone (January 2001)
   
• Setting up a starter web site (December 2000)
   
• What kind of computers should my agency buy? (November 2000)