At the Ruby Hoedown last weekend, I attended a small talk about using (the programming language) Ruby for social change. It was at this talk that Ruby for Change was born, a group for Ruby developers to volunteer their services to help improve services or processes for non-profit organizations that might not have the budget to pay for such a thing themselves. The mailing list is really picking up speed, and the group is currently exploring projects to tackle. If you are involved with or know of an NPO that could really benefit from customized software, please drop me a line and I’ll pass it along.

Slightly more on-topic:
Among the people at the talk was the creator of buyindie.net, a site based out of Washington DC that acts as a directory for locally-owned businesses. Several cities already have a great deal of resources listed, and if you don’t live in one of them, you’re welcomed to contribute your own favorite local shops. Check it out!