We're thankful for...

As we gear up for the inevitable food-induced lethargy that follows Thanksgiving dinner, we would like to reflect for a moment and give our thanks to you--our faithful readers--and for the dynamic year it has been in technology and development.

Happy Thanksgiving! At NDItech, we’re grateful for...

Chris Doten

• The fact that we’ve hit over 50% internet penetration around the world. Getting people connected together is going to transform society as much as the printing press or radio. (Of course, that’s not looking so awesome at times...)
• The folks on the ground fighting for democracy and human rights in places where it’s really hard and dangerous. Belarusians, Zimbabweans, Azerbaijanis, Russians, and many others - deep respect and gratitude for your sacrifices
• The chance to work with amazing partners from Jigsaw, Cloudflare, CitizenLab, Stanford, Oxford, BitFury, New America, PeaceTech Labs, NYU GovLab, and many others!
• Our friends at AWS - DemTools wouldn’t exist without them, their ideas, their platform, and their financial support.
• A fantastic team of smart, creative people. We laugh more often than one would suspect at a job, and they forgive me for my email avoidance issues.

Evan Summers

• Our new, super awesome SMS Conversations feature for the Civi DemTool
• The /giphy feature on Slack for making work just that much more entertaining (and productive, of course)
• Going home for thanksgiving and eating the best barbeque in the world (in addition to turkey and all that other good stuff)

Sarah Moulton

• Getting to know the dynamic and diverse group of folks who make up the Code for All Community. If you want to know what motivation and creativity is in the global civic tech space - these guys embody it (and have lots of cool tools and projects you should check out!).
• Overcoming my fear of biking on DC streets and now being a happy bike commuter (with very strong opinions about the need for better/more bike lanes, taxi drivers, and pedestrians with their heads buried in their phones).
• The public library. C’mon people, if you don’t have a library card - go get one! There’s an endless bounty of books, magazines, online courses, trainings, and meeting spaces - all free of charge (unless of course you are perpetually late in returning your books, like myself).

Meron Menwyelet

• Distance engagement platforms like Open edX that make it easier for us to share resources and training with our partners around the world
• Scrum (but not this kind) for helping us improve our software development processes
• Daylight savings for giving us an extra hour in the day to think about tech powered solutions to partner challenges

Priyal Bhatt

• The hard work of civic techies around the world to rebuild communities after natural disasters
• Working with an incredibly talented and creative team (with an excellent taste in gifs!)
• E-books and podcasts for making that morning commute a little more interesting