Social Ch@nge

You’re ready to get your non-profit online and make a difference. Grand. Except…there’s just a few basic things you’re not quite sure how to do. Like edit a wiki, back up your computer’s memory or um, code.

Off with you to Wired’s How-To Wiki, which happens to be the most empowering place I’ve discovered for acquiring any internet skills beyond checking your Facebook.  Get started with our selected list of their how-to’s here:

First, learn to back up your non-profit’s computers.

Edit Wikipedia.  Yes, we all know it’s the encyclopedia anyone can edit. But actually editing it and making your changes stay put - that can be a bit daunting. They’ll tell how to do it.

You can also learn the basic language for wiki sites that you want to format slightly that don’t have a button marked ‘bold’ or ‘italic’ here.

Once you’re tired of editing other people’s webpages, start your own. Here’s how to buy a domain name and get hosted.

Teach yourself to code. (Yes, the title of this entry is ‘Teach a Kid to Program’. But if it works for a five year old, it works for me!)

Be a free internet spot. Let your non-profit’s clients connect to you in a new way.

And once you’ve mastered that, make a map using this how-to hack of Google maps. We’ve written about maps and social change in previous posts. Hack a map of vegan cafes in your city, of bike paths, of free internet spots. Map where the cops keep arresting kids, map cancer rates, map the way that Ushahidi maps for good. Link your map to our maps so we’ll understand eachother better, and show us your community.