IT, Online

Idealware, the US software review site for nonprofits, has compiled a library of resources on social media as the first step in a year-long social media research initiative.

Read about it at http://www.idealware.org/blog/2009/11/introducing-idealwares-social-media.html.

The BBC has just launched a platform which provides live and on demand video coverage of the UK's national political institutions and the European Parliament.

The front page of BBC Democracy Live shows a 'video wall' of current live offerings by default. Check it out at http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/.

The first international e-campaigning benchmarking research has been produced by consultancy Fairsay with Advocacy Online.

The '2009 eCampaigning Review' is a compendium of three research projects: benchmark outcomes based on the supporter records of 55 e-campaigning organisations in several countries, a survey of e-campaigning organisations, and a review of live e-actions found on the internet.

The latest editorial from sector consultants nfpSynergy discusses 'How do charities create awareness in an online world?'. "The good news is that in a fragmented online world charities can compete better with the big-budget companies and government."

E-Government Bulletin highlights the progress through Parliament of the 'Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill', which will oblige local councils to provide an e-petition facility as well as a way of accepting traditional petitions, to provide a response, and consider holding a debate if requested. This could be on the statute books for spring 2010.

The Charity Commission has issued a reminder about the range of services that can be accessed online in the light of expected postal delays. Charities can view or amend their organisation's details, complete Annual Returns or Update forms, and send in the annual accounts too.

Commission news item at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/news/prpostal.asp.

Louder.org.uk, "the new online home for campaigners", launched last week (16th October) at http://www.louder.org.uk, 'in beta'. It will allow the creation of campaign microsites, and connect to and manage profiles on other social media sites, to help coordinate supporter action.

The new NCVO web site along with the community section of Greenpeace UK and various other recent re-launches are all using the Drupal open source content management system. There is an existing Drupal for NGOs group, with the likes of Amnesty, Greenpeace and Comic Relief, http://drupal.org.uk/events/drupal-ngos.