Speak Shop, linking Spanish tutors in Guatemala to students around the world

Following a thread on Ned.com this morning introduced me to a fantastic organization called Speak Shop. They connect Spanish language tutors from Guatemala with students all over the world via videoconferencing. What a phenomenal win-win for the tutors and the students, and a fantastic example of Internet-facilitated microenterprise and microphilanthropy: the tutors improve their livelihood and the students [...]

Helping, and respecting, at the same time

The last couple of posts here have focused on the technology we use to connect with one another. It can be a full-time job, keeping up with the new and often amazing tools that facilitate those connections.
But always and inevitably my attention turns back to what it is we’re connecting for. What is it we hope to accomplish with this [...]

Sproutbuilder ~ a pretty amazing little gadget

I just heard about Sproutbuilder.com from Peter Deitz’ write-up, which includes a brief tutorial video. I don’t usually get excited about techno-gadgets but this one looks fantastic. It gives anyone the ability to create a ”Sprout”, a mini-website – with text, photos, video, and a  “donate now” feature — that can be copied and pasted anywhere on the web. What’s amazing is that any [...]