Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Your digital age

My SSIR blog post from yesterday updates the philanthropy adoption cycle I first posted here.

Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of this are somewhat tongue in cheek (yes, I am trying to provoke some kind of discussion) I am seriously thinking about the paths and timing and cycles and barriers to the application of technology to philanthropy. I'm doing this for several reasons:
  • I need some conceptual frame to the booms and busts and "next new things" coverage of technology as I try to make sense of where philanthropy is going;
  • Tech adoption cycles in other industries are only somewhat useful for thinking about philanthropy, because of the voluntary nature and passion-driven elements of philanthropic entities;
  • I'm curious about this stuff; and
  • It will be part of the new book I'm working on, and similar questions are already part of books like Momentum and, I anticipate, CauseWired.
I welcome any thoughts or refinements to my thoughts as posted here or here.

I was also struck by this tool to calculate your digital age, a joking yet engaging marketing tool put out by Orange Telecom. It is a bit like potato chips - I bet you won't being able to resist taking this survey and finding out if your "internet age." Are you an "online infant or virtual veteran? Find out here. Hat tip to Bryan Miller at Giving in a Digital World.


BTW, I am 13 in Internet years, according to Orange Telecom, which the survey tells me means
"You know the internet like the back of your hand. Still, the internet changes on a daily basis so it's going to be exciting trying to keep up."

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