Links Roundup: March 1-15

Monitoring the Buzz: A Washington Post report on March 3 discussed how corporations are using sophisticated software applications to take the temperature of the blogosphere buzz about their products and services. If you haven't read it yet, Michael Gilbert's January article "Asking the Wrong Questions" is well worth the read. He takes up a theme dear to my heart - making sure that technology planning is about your organization, not about the bits and bytes. His pithy analogy: "Shoe sales folks rely on questions about feet, fashion, and walking (or running or standing), not questions about shoes." Products: On the non-profit tech lists I 'm part of I often see questions go by about selecting online conferencing software. I've been very happy with Citrix GoToMeeting, but I haven't done a comprehensive comparison of the available products. Matt McKenzie has, though, and you can find it here. The corporate interlocutors of many non-profit organizations are the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) groups within major companies. Kami Huyes recently looked at a few CSR efforts in her Communications Overtones blog. She also points us to the The CSR Wire, which distributes CSR related press releases and is a great resource on initiatives in this arena. Consulting: Steve Shu uses his blog to share insights into management consulting. In the Nickel Tour, he discusses the value of a complete tour of a client's facility as an information gathering method. And now for something completely different: an odd little English blog about breakfast joints. Tags: nptech