Tech Planning

Re: Where do you go to learn about technology online?

BeckyW — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:43:25 GMT

A companion article (also written by our very own Chris Peters), was published yesterday. This time, the focus is where to learn about technology OFFLINE.

Learning About Technology Offline

Do you have favorite courses you've taken? Or a magazine that's your go-to source for the latest on technology? Share it here!

My personal fav for keeping tabs on technology both online and off is reading PC World and PC Magazine. Both give me insight into what's happening overall in the world of tech, what new gadgets I can expect others on staff to want to start using, and great reviews of tools, hardware, software, and services. Even though they're both geared toward a more general audience, I find a lot of the info useful to me in the nonprofit world. And it satiates my cravings for new gadgets!

Re: Where do you go to learn about technology online?

BeckyW — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:15:04 GMT

Thanks for sharing these great resources!

Adding to my original post, the new article is now live and can be seen here:

Learning About Technology Online

The article covers everything from using advanced search options to find things easier online, using wikis, webinars, online classes, eLearning, lists and forums, online tech magazines, blog, online conferences, and more. There are a breadth of great resources linked from the article so if you're looking to shine up your tech moxy, then this is a great place to start.

Re: Where do you go to learn about technology online?

shipley.c — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:33:52 GMT

I like to listen to a lot of podcasts. I drive a lot as a consultant, even though I can still remote into most of my clients' systems, some things just need to be done in person. So I like to use my driving time to learn. I learn the most from a couple podcasts from the TWiT network at twit.tv (Security Now and FLOSS Weekly). But I also listen to other podcasts that talk about current events (like Buzz Out Loud, Diggnation, TWiT). Anyone with a decent commute can turn that travel time into something more productive by finding good audio productions to listen to.

Re: Where do you go to learn about technology online?

djanke — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:10:25 GMT

... and, of course, the TechSoup forums are invaluable :)

Re: Where do you go to learn about technology online?

djanke — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:09:34 GMT

Webinars/webcasts are very helpful. Microsoft has a pretty good selection of live and on-demand webcasts (but they are usually pretty specific to MS products)

I'm a big fan of blogs (podcasts are pretty popular too... a lot of people listen to them while they commute). Find some good ones and Google whatever you don't understand. It might not all be "basic" information, but (if nothing else) it'llincrease your overall understanding/body of knowledge.

I mostly follow programming blogs, so I really don't have many general IT examples. HorsePigCow and the now-abandoned Creating Passionate Users are great for community building and design. Beth Kanter is the queen of nonprofit social networking. Rands in Repose has great posts about managing programmers (and people in general)

Re: Where do you go to learn about technology online?

MikeWebb45 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:07:43 GMT

I subscribe to a number of email newsletters from TechTarget that are focused on what I want. I also get newsletters from Microsoft, WindowsNetworking.com, MSEchange.com, WindowsSecurity.com, and ISAServer.org. I also read the Microsoft Subnet site 2-3 times per week. Lastly I use Newsgator to read RSS feeds from about 75 tech sites.

Where do you go to learn about technology online?

BeckyW — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:03:48 GMT

Everyone loves to Google the answers to any question. And Wikipedia has a lot of good sources as well. But where else do you go to learn about the latest technology trends or get a grasp of the basics of IT or tech stuff for your nonprofit?

This is the topic of concern for a new article soon to be published by TechSoup about learning online. Do you attend a webinar? Take an online course? read up on a commercial site? Rely solely on Google?

Share your favorite sources for finding out about technology -- from figuring out that darn RSS feed stuff to learning high-level IT skills -- give us your top resources for improving your tech savvy online.

I'll reply to this thread once the new article is live.