FAQs
west coast/pacific states
Includes national organizations that are based in this region.
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California State Telemation Program - Telementor Projects
http://www.etc.sccoe.k12.ca.us/telemat/telemat.htm
A list of 19 telementoring projects undertaken in the California school system in 1996 as part of its "Telemation" program, with details on the curricular category each project covered (art, language, social studies, mathmatics, technology, etc.), the telecommunication resources used in each project (Internet newsgroups, e-mail, gophers, a particular software program, etc.) and the contact information for each project. A good resource for teachers looking for telementoring activities.
Community Wire
This organization in Glendale, California was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.
CompuMentor
http://www.compumentor.org
This San Francisco-based agency provides excellent information to help technical-assistance volunteers work with agencies in face-to-face settings; we've followed many of their guidelines in creating our own suggestions for online volunteers, and you will find links to CompuMentor materials throughout our Web site. In addition, several CompuMentor volunteers participated in our betatest program, and provided feedback about their online volunteering experiences.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Web Volunteers
http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/volunteers/volindex.html
An international public-interest alliance of computer scientists and others concerned about the impact of computer technology on society. According to its web site, 33 online volunteers have helped with system administration, editing and maintaining a part of the site focused on a particular issue (gender Issues, workplace issues, cyber-rights, social security numbers) or region, and archives, among many other tasks. CPSR gives each online volunteers (all of whom must be CPSR members) detailed guidelines for creating pages and a password to load pages onto the CPSR server.
Concentric Media
http://www.concentric.org
Based in San Mateo, California, Concentric has recruited and mobilized online volunteers for several successful advocacy campaigns, and serves as a model for other organizations interested in online advocacy.
ConvoNation (formerly known as Convomania)
http://www.convonation.org
Based in Calfifornia, this national endeavor was begun by Apple Computer as a way for kids with a serious illness and/or disability to share experiences with each other via the Internet. They worked in partnership with San Jose Children's Musical Theater to produce an original musical about youth with disabilities.
CYBERVPM (formerly Sound Volunteer Management)
http://www.cybervpm.com
During the Project's first two years, Nan Hawthorne, a Seattle-based consultant who runs CYBERVPM, provided insights regarding online volunteering and involving people with disabilities as volunteers. Nan's online discussion group, also called CYBERVPM, gets its content almost entirely from online volunteers -- the subscribers are volunteer managers who participate in this ongoing discussion and donate time and advice to each other.
Digital Clubhouse Network
http://www.digiclub.org
A not-for-profit organization, spun out from NASA, that is developing a 21st century learning center where people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds can master networked multimedia technology tools. The Network maintains Digital Clubhouses in Sunnyvale, California and at the New York Information Technology Center in Wall Street. One of the Clubhouse activities is the Digitally Abled Producers Project, http://dap.digiclub.org/ which pairs youth with disabilities ages 14-24 together with youth without disabilities, and teaches them multimedia, Universally Accessible webpage production, networking, and career skills. Participants use the Internet to communicate with each other through email and through chat rooms.
DO-IT/Camp Courage
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Camps/courage.html
Campers with disabilities, from 13 to 17 years old, corresponded with volunteers via e-mail. The goal was for campers to practice using e-mail and to get comfortable using it to communicate with others, and to have fun socializing online. DO-IT is based out of the University of Washington and works to help people with disabilities successfully pursue academics and careers. It's programs to promote the use of technology to maximize the independence, productivity and participation of people with disabilities.
Evergreen State Society
http://www.tess.org
This organization in Seattle, Washington was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.
Free Our Parks and Forests
http://www.freeourparks.org
This all-volunteer organization in Seattle uses the Internet to promote its mission, running a list server and posting to USENET, and uses a password-protected administrative area on its Web site for volunteers to schedule activities and report progress.
Glaucoma Research Foundation
http://www.glaucoma.org
This national organization based in San Francisco, California was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.
Group One (GO)
http://www.sonoma.edu/virtcomm/
GO is organized under the aegis of the Hutchins Center at Sonoma State University in California, and is dedicated toward helping communities experience the positive attributes that local network applications have to offer, both for the individual and the community. GO involves online volunteers to build and maintain its web pages and resources. "Anatomy of a Virtual Community" is a course in electronic community offered at Sonoma State University and is affiliated with this program.
HP E-Mail Mentor program
http://mentor.external.hp.com/
A program by Hewlett Packard, whose corporate headquarters are in California. Web site includes links to K-12 resources (science, math, online libraries, etc.) to assist both mentors and mentees in their work, and links to other online mentoring programs.
MentorNet
http://www.mentornet.net
MentorNet is a nonprofit organization, the National Electronic Industrial Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Science. It is based out of the College of Engineering at San José State University in California. MentorNet pairs women who are studying engineering or science at participating colleges or universities with professional scientists and engineers working in industry, and helps them form e-mail based mentoring relationships. The program runs for one academic year. Mentors and protegés are matched beginning in mid-September, and the program ends in May. MentorNet is a structured e-mentoring program, providing multiple supports to help mentors and protegés develop and sustain an e-mentoring relationship. "First, we carefully match mentors with protegés, based on their academic and professional interests, along with preferences for being matched with an e-mentoring partner. We provide training for the participants, along with ongoing coaching in the form of regular discussion suggestions. Through the delivery of the discussion suggestions, we keep the lines of communication open between the MentorNet participants and the MentorNet staff, so we can provide consulting, troubleshooting, and rematching, when necessary." The MentorNet web site provides an excellent model for other programs interesting in using the Internet for preparing mentors and protegés for participation.
Multnomah County Library
http://www.multnomah.lib.or.us/lib/vol/index.html
A library in Portland, Oregon that has long used the Internet (relatively speaking) in recruiting and involving volunteers. Multnomah County Library as one of the first organizations to contact the Virtual Volunteering Project about its activities when we launched in December 1996.
NetAction
http://www.netaction.org
Based in San Francisco, Calfornia, NetAction promotes effective grassroots citizen action campaigns, provides training and resources to online activists in effective organizing strategies, and educates the public, policymakers and the media about technology-based social and political issues. The Virtual Volunteering Project links to many of NetAction's resources to help agencies mobilize online volunteer advocacy efforts effectively.
Oregon Literacy, Inc. (OLI)
http://www.hevanet.com/literacy
This organization serving Oregon and Southwest Washington state was a VV Project Affiliate. A complete, detailed profile of how this organization involves online volunteers and the resources they use is available here on our web site.
The Planetary Society
http://www.planetary.org/society/Volunteers/volunteers.html
This international nonprofit organization based in Pasadena, California was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman to encourage the exploration of our solar system and the search for extraterrestrial life. Volunteers all over the world are assisting the society by using their own computers to analyse batches of radio telescope data for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, as part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Intelligence (SETI) project.
Progressive Learning
An online program in California assisting students who require help and attention beyond the resources of their schools and families. In addition to receiving intensive one-on-one face-to-face instruction, students also engage in ongoing mentoring from a personal Academic Coach and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) via the Internet. Coaches and SMEs work with individual classroom teachers to meet specific goals and objectives. SMEs, working as online mentors, describe to students the typical working conditions advantages, drawbacks, academic prerequisites, etc., associated with their work. The mentors also make recommendations to help students pursue career goals. A once weekly exchange of eemail is the typical scenario.
Safeguarding Our Children - United Mothers (SOC-UM)
http://www.www.soc-um.org
This national, all-vollunteer nonprofit in Tracy, California is dedicated to public awareness and prevention of child abuse. Volunteers act as moderators for SOC-UM's survivor forum, providing support for familes whose child has been the victim of abuse. Volunteers must pass a police check in their local communities before they can participate online. The organization also holds its board meetings online (it's legal to do so in California).
San Jose Children's Musical Theater
http://www.sjcmt.com
This nonprofit organization based in California was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.
SeniorNet
http://www.seniornet.org/
A national nonprofit organization in San Francisco, California for computer-using adults, age 50 and older. SeniorNet involves dozens of volunteer CyberHosts and volunteer Discussion/Community leaders. In 1998, SeniorNet hosted the Olympic Cyber Volunteer program, where students in grades four through eight competed for "medals" by responding to academic challenges online.
Sidelines National Support Network
http://www.sidelines.org
This national nonprofit organization based in California was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.
Sun Microsystems
In "Web-based volunteering new way to help out", an article by the Philanthropy Journal, http://www.pj.org/vol/impact0498.htm, a representative from Sun Microsystems said employees help educational clients with troubleshooting via e-mail in addition to helping in traditional ways. "There may be a Sun employee at home in Massachusetts, in the early morning hours, helping a student or teacher with a system problem in England," said Gary Serda, Sun's manager of worldwide corporate affairs. "We try to match employees with school districts, but whoever first receives the e-mail with a tech question will do all they can to assist that individual, regardless of geography."
The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link)
The WELL began in 1985, as a dialog between the writers and readers of the Whole Earth Review. The WELL is now a "cluster of electronic villages on the Internet." There are more than 260 Conferences open to WELL members, all managed by volunteers, covering subject categories such as "Parenting," "The Future," or "Pop Culture." The WELL's Community Guidelines are an excellent example of rules for online communities and moderators. WELL member experiences have been used to explore online culture and community, such as in Howard Rheingold's The Virtual Community.
