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The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
Not-for-profit organisations have until 1 July 2008 to register under the Charities Act before tax laws change and some existing exemptions (from income tax and estate and gift duty) end. The Commission is likely to receive a very large number of applications close to July 2008. This could lead to longer processing times and uncertainty for applicants. One way to avoid this uncertainty is to apply now.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/charitiescommission-registration.htm.
The Significant Community Based Project Fund has now been fully allocated. No further funding round is planned at this time. Projects enabled by the fund are in the designated areas of arts, culture and heritage; sport and recreation; tourism; conservation and the environment; and economic development.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/scbpf-allocated.htm.
Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS) 2007 Funding Round opened on 1 June and closes on 27 July 2007. Community and voluntary organisations are urged to apply early online at www.cdgo.govt.nz. Not for profit organisations delivering community services or running community based projects can apply for a grant towards running costs. The average grant is $3,000.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/cogs-applications.htm.
Topics include: Registration update, Exactly what do we mean by advocacy? Registration update, Exactly what do we mean by advocacy? Iwi / Maori organisations and the Charities Act, Charitable purpose and sport, Guidance material.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/charities-news-april-2007.htm.
The Hero's Journey is a series of 6 books written in plain language and designed for families or groups to work through together, or for a child or young person to work through with a social worker, counsellor or caregiver.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/hero-journey.htm.
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
ITANZ is a New Zealand registered charitable trust that provides information / education and training for organisations and professionals who provide services to intersex people and their families. Intersex is an umbrella term that covers conditions in which there is a change in a person's biology that results in combinations of characteristics traditionally defined as male or female.
www.ianz.org.nz.
Marlborough Migrant Centre support newcomers to Marlborough; help with migrant matters; educate and raise awareness; organise social functions and events; promote Marlborough as a multi-cultural province; promote positive race relations; celebrate cultural diversity.
www.marlboroughonline.co.nz/mmc.
Volunteer Service Abroad promotes international volunteering for development, linking New Zealanders with people working to create positive change in their communities and countries. VSA believes Kiwis can make a difference in the world working together with partner organisations and communities - sharing skills and knowledge. At any one time, VSA has around 100 volunteers in 15 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The scope of assignments cover nearly every sector including environmental management, tourism, IT, health and education to name just a few.
www.vsa.org.nz.
You'll find these and more links at: www.community.net.nz/links.
These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.
These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.
Your computer probably came loaded with a bunch of software, and then maybe you bought some more. If you own your own computer, or belong to a community group though, you can probably use whatever software you choose.
If you work in a government department or large corporation the IT support people probably lock down your computer and prevent you from installing or using anything they don't approve.
Because commercial software generally costs money it's usually 'locked up' so that those with programming skills can't get into how it works. The source code is usually a closely guarded secret.
Open Source software though is different: it's more collaborative, and anyone with programming skills can see how it's put together, contribute code, improve on what's there, add features they think are missing. Because it's wide open, it is generally available free of charge.
For example, you may like to try out NeoOffice or OpenOffice.org software instead of Microsoft Office.
If you need to create PDF files, PDFCreator allows Windows users to print straight to PDF. (Mac users - this is already built in to Mac OS X.)
Wikipedia has a fine list of open source software packages. Start your search there, or look at a reputable software listing site such as Versiontracker.
Beware downloading software from sites that have huge discounts on commercial software: they are likely offering pirated (stolen) software and may add a hidden surprise in the form of a virus or other malware along with the download.
[June 2007] If your website links to outside sites then you have to watch out for 'link rot' — good links gone bad. It's fine to use software for this, but you need a human eye too.
When visitors to your site click a link they expect to end up on some other page: the page they thought they were heading off to. But they might not end up where you thought you were sending them.
Let's say my site has a link like this: Read Example Group's Annual Report at www.example.com/reports, and a visitor clicks that link. Several things could happen:
www.example.com/reports
The visitor ends up at the expected Reports page. Good.
Example Group's website is temporarily 'down'. Not so good, but these things happen.
Example Group reorganised their website and moved their reports to Publications; what's more they didn't put any measures in place to make sure visitors from the old link would still end up at the right place. The visitor sees a page that says "404 File not found".
This is annoying for the visitor who feels frustrated, and for me, as my website has just become slightly less useful and credible.
Example Group has abandoned their website and domain name. The link goes to a real page, but it's now full of offensive pictures or viruses or other undesirable material.
This is very bad: my site is now not only less useful but actually linking to offensive material, which reflects very badly on me, and may cause some of my potential audience to reject my site, me and the cause my site is associated with.
It's crucial that you regularly check all the links on your site. You can easily find software to do this — one well known application is Xenu Link Sleuth — but you also need to cast a human eye over the links.
Here's why: a software link checker will detect whether a link calls up a page or not. If it does, then the link is not broken and the software checker reports no problems.
If that link turns up a page, but it's become a different site, or the content has moved to a different address, the software will still report no problem. That's the kind of thing only a human can see.
Here at Communitynet Aotearoa we routinely check the 1,000 or more links in our Links database. We've turned up numerous broken links, defunct websites, broken pages, and one address that had turned to offensive material.
It's a tedious job, but to preserve the integrity of your site it needs to be done.
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
In May 2007 there were there were 35,784 visits (April: 30,820).
Last month, 47 new community items were published.
Send in your free community notice or advertisement at:
www.community.net.nz/about/submit.
There were 6,690 files downloaded (April: 5,826). The most popular file download was the Planning section of the Community Resource Kit: 359 downloads, (in April this was the Financial Management section of the Community Resource Kit: 249 downloads).
Find CommunityNet statistics at: www.community.net.nz/about/website/statistics.htm.
Remember: please forward the complete Panui to others who'll find it useful.
Miraz Jordan, Webmaestro.
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Panui and CommunityNet Aotearoa are guided by an Advisory Group drawn from community organisations and are published by Department of Internal Affairs, PO Box 805, Wellington. Phone: 04 4957200. Email: information@community.net.nz.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, the publishers accept no liability for any errors and omissions. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, not the publishers.