Welcoming all input during a work-in-progress
06:41, 7 January 2009
.. Posted in techculture and tech to help.. Link
Google Labs is described as a "technology playground." It's a simple web page that showcases some of the free tools that Google is working on but "that aren't quite ready for prime time." Graduates of Google Labs include the Google Reader (its RSS reader) and Google Maps. Visitors to Google Labs are asked to "please play with these prototypes and send your comments directly to the Googlers who developed them."
Can you imagine nonprofits embarking on such an open way of working, allowing volunteers, clients and other stake holders via a private intranet, or even the public via the Internet, to read draft materials, play with online tools in-development, and offer feedback on such? What if instead of just launching as a final project your organization's web site, wiki, internal data tracking system, program strategy or other tool you expect staff, volunteers or the public to use, you allowed them to see and offer advice on drafts throughout the development process of such?
Do you dare?
