Volunteering in the Information Society

 Solidarity@Network_Society.Int

 

Manuel Acevedo

October 2005

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary_ 4

1.  Introduction_ 7

Objectives 7

Context 7

Scope of the paper 7

2. Volunteering in the Information Society: Think of what you can do for the world.org_ 7

2a. Volunteering and Human Development 8

Volunteering in development cooperation_ 8

Status of Volunteering_ 9

Solidarity in motion: Volunteering as a ‘bank’ of social capital. 9

Volunteering profiles in development cooperation_ 9

Focus on youth as potential life-long volunteers 10

Is the value of Volunteering any different in the Information Society?_ 10

2b. Influence of Volunteering in the Information Society_ 11

Technology 11

Communications 12

Information_ 12

Community 13

2c. Impact of the Information Society on Volunteers and Volunteering_ 13

Online Volunteering: a new channel of solidarity 13

C.A.V. - Computer-Aided Volunteering_ 13

Volunteer Networking in the Network Society 15

3. ICT Volunteering: Wired Solidarity_ 15

3a. ICT and Human Development 15

Knowledge as fuel for human development 15

Can ICT really reduce Poverty?_ 16

Collateral damage: information poverty and the new exclusion_ 16

Build it and they will come: taking capacity for granted_ 17

3b. What is ICT Volunteering? 17

Special value of ICT Volunteering_ 19

Beyond compunerds : profiles of ICT volunteers for development 19

Examples of ICT Volunteering initiatives 19

3c. Volunteering for ICT : crafting skills and capacity_ 20

3d. Volunteering through ICT : using the networks to collaborate_ 21

Online Volunteering: solidarity-ware. 21

3e. And then they can cooperate: Volunteer Networking at the core of new approaches to Technical Cooperation  22

Networks and Technical Cooperation_ 22

Development networks are volunteer-driven_ 23

[1 volunteer * 1 volunteer] > 2 volunteers 23

7 conceptual models of volunteer networks for development 23

3f. 10 important types of volunteer action in the integration of ICT for human development. 25

4. Challenges and recommendations for ICT Volunteering_ 25

4a. What is working and what has not? 25

4b. Volunteering to enable mainstreaming of ICT into development 26