TechSoup is a great hive of smart people interested in technologies for good. We thought we’d give you a little glimpse behind the curtain on where we get our technology information. George Tilesch, Senior Director, Communications We begin with George because he and his team are our eyes and ears on NPTech and also the ones who tell our story far and wide. “Where do I get my tech news? Primarily through the Flipboard app of course. I like the technology magazine from Flipboard News and they also have a vast arsenal of user curated magazines including TechSoup’s very own Data for Good magazine. For Tech leaders and interesting points of view I use Facebook lists such as Robert Scoble’s list of tech journalists or bloggers or Tech VIPs . I also like Twitter lists like Most influential in Tech .
For innovative thoughts and tech-related musings, my favorite hunting grounds are on Medium and their Tech Talk collection.” Ginny Mies, Senior Content Curator for TechSoup and TechSoup for Libraries Ginny is our thoroughbred tech journalist. She came to us from PCWorld. Here’s what she says: “For general technology and mobile news, I really enjoy The Verge . They always find an interesting spin on what’s happening in the tech world. Plus, their website just looks really nice: clean format and fantastic photos. For PC-related news, I like to visit my old employer, PCWorld . I really like how they explain fairly technical how-tos in plain English. When I’m scouring for library-related topics, I go to Library Journal’s The Digital Shift and InfoDocket .” Ron Marshall, Manager of Technical Operations Ron runs our desktop support team who keep our computers and other IT devices running day and night. Here are some of his favorite sources of information: Microsoft Technet – to troubleshoot Windows Server and other Microsoft problems Microsoft Community User Forums for troubleshooting Windows, Windows phone, Office, and malware Apple Support Community for troubleshooting our Apple devices Apple Genius Bar online and in person for training our Mac support techies Plurisight Training Courses for our deskop support people Lynda Training Courses for our developers, designers, and web techies Michelle Menclewicz, New Sector Alliance Fellow Michelle is one of our millennials who works on program planning and communications among our executive team. Here are her daily tech information favorites: Business Insider daily alerts for my general daily business technology news TechCrunch for tech specific news Wired and Wired on Facebook for its intelligent tech community Fast Company for great tech journalism from people like Drake Baer, Stephanie Vozza, and Ariel Schwartz. Kyle Reis, Senior Director and East Coast Representative Kyle is one of our experts in foundation technology. Here’s what he says: “As a non-techie techie, I tend to get my information from sources that stand at the intersection of tech and society. Two of my favorites are the Atlantic Monthly and Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society . Atlantic is an outstanding magazine, one I regularly read cover-to-cover, and it routinely reports about technology and society --from Supreme Court decisions about technology to the individual choices we face when we fire up our smart phones, surf the Internet, or post on Facebook . Berkman (“exploring cyberspace, sharing in its study, and pioneering its development”) is more technical, and focuses on the legal and privacy ramifications of the digital age. Interested in the future of Internet governance or how teens are thinking about privacy on the Internet ? Berkman is your source.“ Barbara Shaughnessy, Product Donations Relationship Manager Everyday, Barb Shaughnessy looks for news about our donor partners. Her favorite places for that are: Yahoo! Finance , is a great source for news on companies Feedly News Alerts – Feedly is a free RSS reader where Barb can pick out several different news sources including Twitter and Facebook and have the info delivered to her browser and tablet San Jose Mercury News Business Section – ‘The Merc’ is the daily newspaper for Silicon Valley and where a good deal of breaking tech news appears first. Ross Braden, Senior Systems and Network Engineer Ross is one of our technical infrastructure engineers. He’s a techie’s techie. Here are his go-to sites: Techmeme is an IT news site that has stories that are of interest to techies The Next Web has several unique news channels including apps, gadgets, design and dev, insiders, and shareables. It also has international channels for the six major continents. TechDirt is a kind of BuzzFeed for techies. It has news on digital music, file sharing, ebook controversies, patent wars, the NSA scandal and hacking. Its stories generate lots of comments. Karen Thomas, Agile Software Development Project Manager Karen’s job requires that she keeps up-to-date on the latest techniques for building software – something we do quite a bit at TechSoup. Here are her sources for information. Agile Weekly Podcast Mike Cohn’s Newsletter Enterprise Kanban Henrik Kniberg’s blog on Crisp.se Elijah van der Giessen, NetSquared Community Manager Eli is our indefatigable NetSquared organizer. He helps NP techies in an improbable number of countries get together to talk shop. He is based in British Columbia, Canada. "All my best intel and ideas come via our private Facebook group for NetSquared community organizers . Another great source for community manager best practices and wisdom comes from My Community Manager . They offer regular tweet chats and Google+ hangouts where community managers come together to share best practices and scheme about how to make things better. A recent interesting discussion was around " The Role of Community in an Organization ”. My Community Manager provides mentorship for students, a community for Community Managers, and a resource for employers." Patrick Duggan – Digital Marketing Manager Patrick is responsible for letting everyone in nonprofitlandia know about all our product donations. "I mostly follow TechCrunch , Gizmodo , and National Public Radio’s All Tech Considered . I like them because they're easily digestible. I roll them into my morning news reading." Susan Tenby - Director of Social Community & Strategic Partnerships at Caravan Studios (a division of TechSoup Global) Susan is one of our social media adepts. Here is how she gets her tech information: I do a ton of big social media listening to get info to curate for our social media. So, I don't just go to sources, per se (except for Beth Kanter’s Blog and Janet Fouts’ Social Media Coach site ). I use the following tools to listen to keywords that inform my content curation: NetVibes – an all-in-one dashboard for real-time social media monitoring. Scoop.it – a ‘smart web’ tool that allows users to collect information based on keywords, connect with other people sharing those interest, and publish the content to your website or social media channels. Hootsuite – another social media management dashboard tool that allows you to manage all your social networks, listen to what everyone is saying about your organization, and also queue up and schedule your social media posts for 35 plus social media services. It also has social media analytics tools that tell you how well your social media efforts are being received. Frank Babbitt – Director of Integrated Operations Frank manages TechSoup’s office facilities team and one of our most well-read techies. Here is his list of social and tech blogs that he reads through Feedly on his phone, tablet and computer . By-the-way, he has a different set of news sites he reads for politics and general news. Re / code – is the resurrected AllThingsD featuring the great technology analysts, Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. BGR - is a great news site for mobile news BuzzFeed – reveals the sensationalist side of pop culture and technology CNET News – is great for product reviews Engadget – also has good product reviews and lots of breaking tech news Gizmodo – covers a very wide spectrum of technology: IT, energy, architecture, and science Boing Boing – is “devoted to the weird, wonderful and wicked things to be found in technology and culture.” Lifehacker – is great for how-to content Mashable – has news channels for social media, business, entertainment, and futuristic tech like robotics and artificial intelligence TechCrunch – is a good tech scoop site. They try to carry breaking tech news first. Android Central – is all about Android, from Cyanogenmod and beyond! The Verge – has long form tech coverage and good product reviews The Consumerist – has a unique blend of corporate news, product news, and consumer advocacy Images: TechSoup Global Do you have secret places where you get your tech information? Please log in and tell us.