Our friends in London are hosting the second London Social Source event, in affiliation with the global Penguin Day movement.

Adrian from LASA writes:

Social Source UK 05 is for those interested in the potential of free & open source software and methods for the voluntary and non-profit sector.

Programme for SocialSource 2005:

• introductions for those who have had no hands-on contact with Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS)
• case studies
• details of projects going on within the sector using F/OSS tools.
• demonstrations of Open Source software in action
• opportunities for discussion.

All are welcome to attend, whether new to Open Source or already involved in projects, with key stakeholders envisaged as those:

Mark Surman, our friend and ally from IDRC’s telecentre.org network, gave us just the nicest plug ever. Thanks so much, Mark! Best of luck and good wishes as you embark on creating the telecentre network.

Gideon Rosenblatt’s excellent paper on the state of nonprofit technology is a must-read for everyone interested in information technology for nonprofits. From the site:

Three Pillars of Social Source

In the world of scarce resources plaguing the nonprofit technology sector, we currently suffer from a conflation of roles. This paper outlines three functional roles that are essential for a vibrant nonprofit technology sector. These “three pillars” include the “application developer”, the “application integrator” and the “application hoster.” Drawing clearer distinctions between these roles will help nonprofit technology assistance providers clarify their organizational missions, which will reduce competitive overlap and pave the way for improved collaboration between organizations. These steps are absolutely necessary if we are to evolve the nonprofit technology sector into a more integrated “social source” movement dedicated to empowering the agents of social service and social change throughout our societies.