Meet the Idealware Bloggers Part 1: Steve Backman
Since the Nonprofit Technology Conference this past week was the first time we would all be in the same place after starting to blog together here on Idealware, I decided to do a quick interview with my fellow bloggers. I wanted to get to know them better and realized that our readers probably wanted to know more about them as well. So here is the first in this series of personal interviews from San Francisco.
Steve Backman
On Connecting Nonprofits & Technology
Steve was working in the heart of corporate America but had a history in community and political organizing. Wanting to pursue more meaningful work and insights into the ways evolving technology could benefit labor groups and nonprofits led to founding a consulting firm to marry the two.
On Blogging
Steve was already blogging intermittently before joining Idealware. He started blogging because he realized that he was so busy and it was a way he could keep up with his interest in writing on a regular basis - a work related but fun way to keep his skills sharp. While previous blogs had been more about self expression and sharing ideas that may or may not have attracted attention, the more focused approach of the Idealware group blog has led to more reader-centric topics and writing, which has been a fun experience.
As an editor for Idealware as well, Steve enjoys the more informal style of the blog and ability to address more general questions with a personal viewpoint.
The Magic Wand Question
One of the questions I asked in each interview was this: If you had a magic wand that could transform one aspect of nonprofit technology in an instant, what would it be and why?
Steve's answer: Fix the way nonprofit grant funding affects technology. He feels this leads to the all or nothing leaps made by the organizations. Because of the difficulty of budgeting annually, many organizations, wait until a funding opportunity arises to address all their questions at once. As he sees it this is becoming less and less a practice in the corporate world, and less of a good idea here- if it ever was one. And now with social media etc. it's harder than ever to find a comprehensive solution to all the technology needs facing a nonprofit.
The Next 5 Years
Asked what might be most exciting for nonprofit technology in the next five years, Steve cited the new freedom and accessibility of data.
Steve says that the most intriguing thing is the prospect of data (like constituency or program data) moving more freely in the public space, providing the ability to share information not just lessons. With access to the actual data you can take it and do your own thing so that the sense of oppression about how much data is being collected is relieved because its actually useful not just bogged down. With the beginning of movements like Government 2.0 transparency he is very encouraged and hopes that soon procedures like the Freedom of Information Act may become less needed.
What he finds intriguing is thinking about how advocacy groups can use this information - whether Google gadgets or mashups etc. - to analyze, massage and redistribute the data, while at the same time politics in the U.S. is shifting to bring things out in the open.
Personal snapshots
First thing you launch on your computer when you boot/in the morning?
Email is still the one, but it depends on my mood - first scans reader and general news.
Is there a tech term or acronym that (still?) makes you giggle and why?
“normalize” as data for standard SQL-based databases. Having worked with the Pick or multivalue data models, I have always chuckled at the subjectivity and value judgment implied by “normalization.”
Favorite non-technology related thing or best non-techy skill?
Taiji (tai chi), which is based in Daoism. Steve finds it significant that it was practiced in Confucian times as a means to relieve the oppressive stress felt by desk workers of that time. Steve serves on the board of Water Way Arts, a Boston-based nonprofit tai chi center.
Which do you want first - Replicator, holodeck, transporter or warp drive?
Personally, Steve wants the transporter and has for a long time. But for the nonprofit sector he sees the Replicator as being the most useful.
I had a wonderful time interviewing Steve and he was very generous as my first interviewee. I encourage you to check out some of the great topics he has covered here on the blog.
Steve Backman
On Connecting Nonprofits & Technology
Steve was working in the heart of corporate America but had a history in community and political organizing. Wanting to pursue more meaningful work and insights into the ways evolving technology could benefit labor groups and nonprofits led to founding a consulting firm to marry the two.
On Blogging
Steve was already blogging intermittently before joining Idealware. He started blogging because he realized that he was so busy and it was a way he could keep up with his interest in writing on a regular basis - a work related but fun way to keep his skills sharp. While previous blogs had been more about self expression and sharing ideas that may or may not have attracted attention, the more focused approach of the Idealware group blog has led to more reader-centric topics and writing, which has been a fun experience.
As an editor for Idealware as well, Steve enjoys the more informal style of the blog and ability to address more general questions with a personal viewpoint.
The Magic Wand Question
One of the questions I asked in each interview was this: If you had a magic wand that could transform one aspect of nonprofit technology in an instant, what would it be and why?
Steve's answer: Fix the way nonprofit grant funding affects technology. He feels this leads to the all or nothing leaps made by the organizations. Because of the difficulty of budgeting annually, many organizations, wait until a funding opportunity arises to address all their questions at once. As he sees it this is becoming less and less a practice in the corporate world, and less of a good idea here- if it ever was one. And now with social media etc. it's harder than ever to find a comprehensive solution to all the technology needs facing a nonprofit.
The Next 5 Years
Asked what might be most exciting for nonprofit technology in the next five years, Steve cited the new freedom and accessibility of data.
Steve says that the most intriguing thing is the prospect of data (like constituency or program data) moving more freely in the public space, providing the ability to share information not just lessons. With access to the actual data you can take it and do your own thing so that the sense of oppression about how much data is being collected is relieved because its actually useful not just bogged down. With the beginning of movements like Government 2.0 transparency he is very encouraged and hopes that soon procedures like the Freedom of Information Act may become less needed.
What he finds intriguing is thinking about how advocacy groups can use this information - whether Google gadgets or mashups etc. - to analyze, massage and redistribute the data, while at the same time politics in the U.S. is shifting to bring things out in the open.
Personal snapshots
First thing you launch on your computer when you boot/in the morning?
Email is still the one, but it depends on my mood - first scans reader and general news.
Is there a tech term or acronym that (still?) makes you giggle and why?
“normalize” as data for standard SQL-based databases. Having worked with the Pick or multivalue data models, I have always chuckled at the subjectivity and value judgment implied by “normalization.”
Favorite non-technology related thing or best non-techy skill?
Taiji (tai chi), which is based in Daoism. Steve finds it significant that it was practiced in Confucian times as a means to relieve the oppressive stress felt by desk workers of that time. Steve serves on the board of Water Way Arts, a Boston-based nonprofit tai chi center.
Which do you want first - Replicator, holodeck, transporter or warp drive?
Personally, Steve wants the transporter and has for a long time. But for the nonprofit sector he sees the Replicator as being the most useful.
I had a wonderful time interviewing Steve and he was very generous as my first interviewee. I encourage you to check out some of the great topics he has covered here on the blog.
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