LMDA Tackles Technology

Those of you not on the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) listserv are missing out on some rockin' exchanges about technology's role in the daily life of an arts-maker.

For example, some of the questions being asked and answered:

- How have dramaturgs used technology to communicate with actors/directors/creative teams?
- How have theatre-makers used technology to communicate or interact with audiences?
- What successes (or drawbacks) have literary departments experienced with electronic submissions?
- How do you get creative students to use online resources like BlackBoard?

I don't mean to state the obvious, but human communication is changing. Blogs aren't just for reporting what the writer had for breakfast, and email isn't just for setting up meetings. Databases aren't just for keeping track of a mailing list, and Excel isn't just for balancing budgets. Right? I am psyched to see LMDA discussing how to use these resources to make theatre better, more open, and more efficient!

Now - if we could just get that outdated listserv replaced with a wiki...

RSS Obsessed

That little box you see on the righthand side of the screen is an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed from my Google reader. Recently, I've become a little obsessed with my RSS feeds. I started gathering them in late December, and I already have 147 coming into my Google reader, where I track fundraising, nonprofit tech, arts management, advocacy, culture, design, arts marketing, and social media blogs and resources. Then I opened a separate RSS account on Bloglines to specfically track Theatre blogs and resources. I track 26 in that account.

Kind of a lot to take in every day, but I can't believe how addictive it is. It's like every morning some friendly person has combed through all the information in the world, and sent me a bunch of things I might be interested in. In-depth coverage of the Arts Council dispute in the UK? Check. An editorial on the effective use of Twitter in nonprofit management? Check. An update from the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society? Check. A hack-script that splits my Gmail screen between mail and GCal? Check! An update from the NEA on available grants? Check, check, check!

The best part of this obsession is I finally feel like I have a productive way to goof off. Instead of reading TMZ for half an hour and feeling like I have to take a shower, I spend that time catching up on the Philanthropy News Digest, cranky theatre bloggers from New York to San Francisco, tips and tools for cheap market research, best practices in board governance... kind of a lazy nerd's utopia.

If you're new to the RSS-bliss, I highly recommend getting started with Google Reader: reader.google.com (doubly convenient if you already use Gmail). Bloglines is also pretty good, but I prefer Google for simplicity and convenience. To get started, I've listed a few of my favorite sites with feeds, but anywhere you see that orange wireless-looking button means the page has an RSS feed you can subscribe to.

ArtsJournal, home of Daily Arts News, and my very favorite blog, Andrew Taylor's The Artful Manager. If you subscribe to anything, I would make it Mr. Taylor's clear, entertaining, and enlightening posts on the art of arts management.

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media, the Mommy of all nonprofit tech blogs

Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog, near-perfect advice on nonprofit management and marketing

Guardian Unlimited Arts Blog: Theatre, I find Lyn Gardner's posts particularly inspiring

Lifehacker, want to learn how to send emails to yourself via voicemail? Convert a PDF to a Word document? Take a free accounting class? Get your Google Calendar and Gmail on the same page? This site will tell you how.

Fractured Atlas Blog, underrated in the small world of Arts Management blogs, in my opinion

If this all sounds like too much trouble, you can actually subscribe to my shared Google Reader items (here), and let me sift through the daily news for you. Nothing would make me happier.