Mitra, Mitra Internet Consulting Tyagarah NSW
To provide a useful information tool it is essential that web pages are kept up to date, and carry timely information. Often small non-profits will get a static HTML based web page setup by a local volunteer, but will not have either the skills to update their own HTML or the resources to go to the next stage of a database-enabled website.
I will suggest that the solution lays in jumping straight over the Database step to open-source Content Management Systems (CMS), and will show the APC Action Apps ( http://www.apc.org/actionapps/) as an example designed for the use of non-profits. In a typical CMS most of the work of maintaining the site can be done without any HTML skills. I will show how easy it is to use a CMS to develop simple database driven applications and show some of the more advanced features of the APC-AA system.
The presentation will also involve the audience -- Mitra would like to ask a few questions about what exactly small non-profits need from the web, do they need all the bells and whistles that they are sold, or can they communicate more effectively with better use of simpler tools.
Mitra has a long-term interest in networking non-profits having founded GreenNet and co-founded the APC (whose Australian partner was Pegasus) to service this sector in 1985. He is concerned at the growing gap between larger non-profits who are building capacity in using the web, while smaller ( < 5 staff and volunteers) lag far behind, making do with simple infrequently updated web pages.
http://www.mitra.biz