Micro-volunteering
Encyclopedia
Micro-volunteering describes a task done by a volunteer, or a team of volunteers, without payment, either online via an internet-connected device, including smartphones, or offline in small increments of time, usually to benefit a nonprofit organization, charitable organization
, or non-governmental organization. Micro-volunteering is a form of virtual volunteering
. It typically does not require an application process, screening or training period, takes only minutes or a few hours to complete, and does not require an ongoing commitment by the volunteer.
Micro-volunteering has been practiced informally and on an ad-hoc basis, with nonprofits involving volunteers in short-term, low-commitment assignments via the Internet for some time, through it was the San Francisco-based social enterprise called The Extraordinaries (now renamed as www.Sparked.com), founded in January 2008, which built the first platform for microvolunteering, which made micro-volunteering accessible to any nonprofit with an internet connection. Note that the Spanish microvolunteering website Microvoluntarios.org registered the Spanish version of the phrase microvolunteering as a web domain name on 27 Nov 2006, but did not have a working Web service at that domain until May of 2008.
There are several definitions of the term microvolunteering in use, these being:
- 'Easy quick low commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause' (Help From Home)
- 'Convenient bite-sized crowdsourced and network managed' (Sparked)
- 'The act of voluntarily participating in day-to-day situations that occupy a brief amount of time' (Student Volunteer Connections)
There has been some dispute as to the impact that microvolunteering actually achieves. One research study shows that an action on its own can risk being seen as fairly inconsequential, but en masse it can have a huge impact. As of July, 2011 2 further studies were being conducted into actual microvolunteers activities themselves, results of which are intended to be published in Autumn/Winter 2011.
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, or non-governmental organization. Micro-volunteering is a form of virtual volunteering
Virtual volunteering
Virtual volunteering is a term describing a volunteer who completes tasks, in whole or in part, off-site from the organization being assisted, using the Internet and a home, school, telecenter or work computer or other Internet-connected device. Virtual volunteering is also known as online...
. It typically does not require an application process, screening or training period, takes only minutes or a few hours to complete, and does not require an ongoing commitment by the volunteer.
Micro-volunteering has been practiced informally and on an ad-hoc basis, with nonprofits involving volunteers in short-term, low-commitment assignments via the Internet for some time, through it was the San Francisco-based social enterprise called The Extraordinaries (now renamed as www.Sparked.com), founded in January 2008, which built the first platform for microvolunteering, which made micro-volunteering accessible to any nonprofit with an internet connection. Note that the Spanish microvolunteering website Microvoluntarios.org registered the Spanish version of the phrase microvolunteering as a web domain name on 27 Nov 2006, but did not have a working Web service at that domain until May of 2008.
There are several definitions of the term microvolunteering in use, these being:
- 'Easy quick low commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause' (Help From Home)
- 'Convenient bite-sized crowdsourced and network managed' (Sparked)
- 'The act of voluntarily participating in day-to-day situations that occupy a brief amount of time' (Student Volunteer Connections)
There has been some dispute as to the impact that microvolunteering actually achieves. One research study shows that an action on its own can risk being seen as fairly inconsequential, but en masse it can have a huge impact. As of July, 2011 2 further studies were being conducted into actual microvolunteers activities themselves, results of which are intended to be published in Autumn/Winter 2011.
See also
- CrowdsourcingCrowdsourcingCrowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
- SlacktivismSlacktivismSlacktivism is a portmanteau formed out of the words slacker and activism. The word is usually considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction...
- Volunteer
- Distributed computingDistributed computingDistributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
- List of distributed computing projects
- Volunteer computingVolunteer computingVolunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which computer owners donate their computing resources to one or more "projects".-History:...