Tag Archives: apps4good

where are the evaluations of hacksforgood/appsforgood?

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Just found this out: the city council of Ivano-Frankivsk, a municipality in Western Ukraine, initiated a project for the creation of a mobile app to improve service delivery and expand opportunities for collecting the public’s feedback. On 18 January 2014, UNDP help to launch the app, making it available for free on Google Play. “Containing information about the city, its executive authorities, and a useful telephone directory of 500 contacts of relevant public authorities, the app also provides easy access to municipal emergency services. Crucially, it also allows citizens to report cases of corruption via 14 different anti-corruption hotlines at local, regional, and national levels. The claims and petitions filed will be addressed within the legally established timeframe of 30-45 days.” Here’s the official story from UNDP Europe and Central Asia.

Ukraine really is quite a tech-savvy country – as I mentioned earlier, re: the late Ukrainian journalist Ihor Kostenko, who was killed earlier this year in a Euromaidan protest, being named Wikipedian of the Year for 2014. And, as you may recall, I blogged earlier about the development of a citizen reporting system for post-conflict areas in Ukraine, one that could be accessed by a computer or a smart phone, where citizens could report on a particular issue, and these reports could be mapped and shared, etc.

But with all that said, just as with app launches and hackathons / hacks4good in the USA, there seems to be no followup. Are any of these apps4good projects sustainable? Are there more users of the apps now? How many cases of corruption have been reported to date with this particular app that was launched earlier this year? Has the app – or any apps six months later – been improved in any way? Has any hackathon products or apps4good had any evaluation yet and, if so, what are the results?

I’ve been trying to find examples of citizen reporting apps being used by governments to respond to citizen reports – about illegal waste dumps, infrastructure issues, misuse of official vehicles, whatever, in any country. And so far… I’m finding only stories about the launch of the app. Like this one in Montenegro. In addition to getting answers to the questions in the aforementioned paragraph about all these apps for good, I’d like to read a success story about the government being responsive to the data generated. It seems to me some of the requirements for this to happen would be:

  • the government designating an office and at least one staff position as being responsible for reading every submission, evaluating it, passing it on to the appropriate people for action, and following up to make sure action was taken – and if not, getting back to the reporting citizens as to why not.
  • the office and staff people assigned to be responsible for reading and responding to the data generated by the citizen reporting app being evaluated regarding their performance in responding to the information, and that evaluation being made public.

I did hear of one project in Kyiv, where citizens can report housing problems via a web site, and, according to the person that referred such to me, it is actually working: “There is a system that a person leaves a request (reports a problem), the housing department employee checks it, and fixes the problem and reports back on it.” So it seems to be working exactly because it’s addressed the two aforementioned bullet points – or, as my colleague put it, “such a system can work only with local authorities, who will implement the projects, and have access to the ground, and resources.”

It’s wonderful to see so many tech4good / apps4good / hacks4good initiatives anywhere in the world, Ukraine or otherwise, but I fear we’re spending all our attention on their launch, and not nearly enough on their impact and sustainability. And if we don’t focus on those things, then they are just tech fluff.

Greetings from Ukraine.

mobile devices, mobile apps, texting & volunteers

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A recent blog post by VolunteerMatch on 5 Ways to Use Your Mobile Device for Your Volunteer Program, which has some good, basic advice as well as some comments regarding how to send a text to multiple people at once, reminded me of how often that this topic has come up on the TechSoup community forum in some shape or form.

So I have done my best to compile these previous TechSoup threads here:

mobile time tracking – for volunteers to track service hours?

What mobile apps do you promote to clients, volunteers, supporters, staff?

Mobile apps: what do managers of volunteers *want*

anyone using these mobile apps as part of their work?

Sending text messages to 50 non-smart phones

FrontlineSMS – FOSS management for text messages

Texting from a computer

Planning for handheld tech

Handheld Computer Tech in Community Service/Volunteering/Advocacy

Feel free to comment on any of these threads over on TechSoup with additional questions, experiences or comments!

mobile apps in nonprofit program & management work

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Whenever I read about mobile apps (software applications to be used on smartphones or tablets) for nonprofits, the articles are almost always be about fundraising – about how to allow people to easily donate to an organization.

What I’m hungry for is information on how nonprofits are already using mobile apps in their program or management work.

I’ve blogged about this quest before, just last month, and posted about it on the TechSoup community forum, and the silence has been deafening. The impression I get is that there are far more ideas about how apps might help nonprofits, beyond allowing people to make donations from their smart phone, than there are actual app uses.

If you have information on employees, consultants or volunteers using mobile apps as a part of their work for nonprofits, NGOs, libraries, government agencies, or any mission-based organizations, pick your place to share your story over on the TechSoup community:

Also see this

The quest continues!

What mobile apps do you promote to clients, volunteers, supporters, staff?

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The Center’s Internet & American Life Project tweeted out a link to a list of health-related mobile apps people have on their phones
(http://pewrsr.ch/UnJyt5).

 

It prompts me to ask this question: what mobile apps does your nonprofit, NGO, library, school or other mission-based organization encourage clients, volunteers, supporters, and/or staff to use? Or just simply recommend – and do you recommend it as a part of the goals of your mission or as a way to improve productivity/better communication with volunteers and staff?

 

For instance,

  • A nonprofit that promotes healthy habits/change of lifestyle to improve health might encourage use of the apps from the Pew list to its clients.
  • A nonprofit promoting alternatives to car travel might encourage the use of apps related to bus schedules or bike routes.
  • A homeless shelter might encourage use of apps related to bus schedules or health as well (a lot of people in the USA living on the streets have feature phones – such a phone from Tracfone costs just $20)
  • An agricultural-related initiative, such as a community garden or grow-your-own food program, promoting weather-related apps that might be particularly helpful to its constituents
  • A nonprofit live theatre might use or promote the use of the kinds of apps listed here:
    http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog/2010/11/06/top-10-theatre-mobile-apps/

What mobile apps might an organization with hundreds or thousands of volunteers, an organization that works with wildlife, an initiative promoting positive activities for girls, an animal shelter, a library, or any other nonprofit, NGO, library, school or government initiative want to promote to volunteers, staff, clients, or supporters?

 

You can answer here, but I’d really love it if you would answer over on TechSoup, where I originally asked this question:
http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/f/13/p/36558/124520.aspx

Hackathons for good? That’s volunteering!

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I recently tweeted out this message to my Twitter followers, and a few other people retweeted it to their own followers as well.

4 good examples? Like those by , & ( Internet Rallies/AIR)?

(you can follow me on Twitter here)

My goal was to write a detailed blog about all these different hackathons for good, and maybe even develop a web page on how to organize these kinds of episodic volunteering events (group volunteering events that don’t require a long-term commitment, that require just one day, or just a few days, of participation) related to technology.

Unfortunately, I have not had any response yet… but I’ll go ahead and blog about the examples I know about, and hope it leads to more examples:

The first event I ever attended that brought lots of web designers into one room, or one site, at multiple computers, to do something to help others for a few hours, was a web-building event by the Metropolitan Austin  Interactive Network (MAIN) in Texas in the 1990s. These web-raisings don’t happen anymore, at least not by MAIN, but what’s replaced it in Austin is something even better: the Accessibility Internet Rally, or AIR Austin, by Knowbility. This competitive event not only helps nonprofits get web sites – it also helps educate web developers and nonprofits about web accessibility for people with disabilities. It’s my favorite volunteering event – the perfect combination of fun, food, volunteering and making a difference. It’s so successful that not only does it happen year after year (it started in the late 1990s), not only do many of the web designers come back year after year to volunteer for the event, but the event happens in other cities as well.

I think Knowbility’s AIR events are the perfect hackathons, because they not only get work done – they also educate the participants about a critical issue. That isn’t just awareness – it’s transformative. The experience affects the web designers in how they approach their work when they get back to their day jobs. They design differently, and they think of nonprofits differently.

Hackathons have been around since the 1990s, but just the practice, not the name; now with its new branding, this form of episodic volunteering seems to be becoming all the rage.

One of the most high-profile hackathon groups is the nonprofit Crisis Commons, which produces “hybrid barcamp/hackathon events which bring together people and communities who innovate crisis response and global development through technology tools, expertise and problem solving.” Crisis Commons co-hosted the Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) event with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, NASA and the World Bank in 2010, with events taking place in cities around the world including Nairobi, Jakarta, Sydney, Washington DC and San Paolo. Software developers, usability experts, emergency planners, technologists, “social media knowledge workers,” project managers, NGOs and university professors met in each of the cities to volunteer or, as Crisis Commons put it, to “crowdsource open source solutions to very real humanitarian problems. There are seven main projects ranging building SMS applications to report amputee needs, near real-time UAV imagery processing to creating a people finder application.” Geeks Without Bounds (GWOBorg) has been a part of several Crisis Commons activities.

Also new on the scene of hackathons for good is Code for America, which, among many activities, hosts or co-hosts hackathons where developers and designers come together in, say, 24 hours, to “build applications for social change” and, sometimes, compete for prizes. Code for America offers its own suggestions for ingredients for a successful hackathon, based on its own experiences.

Jumping on the hackathon bandwagon as of 2007 is GiveCamp, which “a weekend-long event where technology professionals from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists donate their time to provide solutions for non-profit organizations.”

Also new on the scene is Data Without Borders, which hosts various kinds of hackathons, also called Data Dives, that provide nonprofits with data analysis (data collection, analysis, visualization, and decision support) by volunteer “data scientists.”

Also listen to this presentation from SXSW about a hackathon in San Francisco related to DonorsChoose.org.

One thing that is both amusing and sad to me about all these hackathon events is that these organizations rarely use the terms volunteers or volunteering. The people contributing their time and talent are teams or pro bono researchers or Data Heroes – anything but volunteers! Very strange… and sad.

Anyway…

If you know of other hackathons for good, hacks4good, hacks for good, onsite crowdsourcing – whatever you want to call these volunteering events – please note the names of such in the comments section of this blog. Web addresses would be particularly helpful!

Also see:

Short-term assignments for tech volunteers

My voluntourism-related & ethics-related blogs (and how I define scam)

 

Short-term tasks for tech volunteers

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There are a variety of ways for nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), schools, government agencies and other mission-based organizations to involve volunteers to help with short-term projects relating to computers and the Internet, and short-term assignments are what are sought after most by potential “tech” volunteers. But there is a disconnect: most organizations have trouble identifying short-term tech-related projects.

Back in 2005, myself and by members of TechSoup Global’s Volunteers and Technology online discussion group brainstormed a list of short-term projects for tech volunteers. I’ve added a lot to it over the years – and just updated the list yet again this week.

These one-time, short-term volunteering assignments might takes a few days, a couple of weeks or maybe a month to complete. But each has a definite start date and end date, shouldn’t go on longer than a month (maybe two) and does not require a volunteer to make an ongoing commitment to the organization – once an assignment is done, the volunteer can move on to another assignment, or stop volunteering with the organization altogether.

There are also many long-term, ongoing assignments for tech volunteers, of course, such as web design, web site management, being on-call for tech problems, backing up systems, producing live online events, etc. But before an organization involves volunteers in such high-commitment endeavors, the organization should consider creating a few short-term assignments, to get used to working with tech volunteers and to help staff identify the best candidates for longer-term assignments.

Tags: volunteering, volunteers, episodic, microvolunteer, microvolunteering, engagement, engage, community, outreach, staff, employees, civil society, technology, help, IT, ICT, ICTs

Another person’s take on microvolunteering

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The most popular blog I’ve ever written was Microvolunteering is Virtual Volunteering. It was my effort to make sure those who really care about quality volunteer engagement continue to advocate for volunteering, no matter what form it takes, to be results-oriented and beneficial to both the organization and the volunteer – whether it’s volunteering that takes just a few minutes, or just once with an organization, or over months, or over years.

Orange in the U.K. has jumped on the microvolunteering bandwagon, creating a smart phone application that is supposed to allow people to microvolunteer. But many of its claims regarding what microvolunteering is and what it can do are outlandish. Luckily, I don’t have to write a blog debunking their claims – this blog which does an excellent job of doing so, in much kinder terms than I usually use.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: microvolunteering can benefit – and has benefitted – many organizations. But it’s also not worth the enormous amount of prep and supervision time required for many organizations, just as one-day group volunteering events aren’t always worth the prep time and supervision for many organizations.

The first step in deciding if microvolunteering / episodic volunteering, group volunteering, teen volunteering, family volunteering or any other specialized volunteering is right for your organization is for your organization or program to think carefully about what is in it for you, the organization or program. What benefit are you looking for? Volunteering is never just to get work done. Instead – or in addition – volunteer engagement is about:

  • measurable results regarding participant or community awareness of a particular issue, program or your organization
  • candidates for longer-term volunteering in more substantive activities regarding service delivery
  • cultivation of donors
  • activities that fulfill your organization’s mission (the group volunteering experience results in activities that reach part of your organization’s mission)
  • reaching diverse audiences you aren’t reaching, or aren’t reaching well, otherwise

And the second step is thinking about how you will know if you are achieving these results! Those two steps are critical before ever embarking on volunteer engagement, no matter what kind of engagement you are thinking about!

Tech Help for Nonprofits/NGOs *anytime*

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I frequently get asked — or see online — these two questions:

From nonprofits/NGOs: where do I get help with our computers and the Internet? I have all these questions about how to choose donor management software, or how to use YouTube, or how to write a proposal for the technology my organization needs. I don’t even know where to begin!

From individuals: I want to help nonprofits with tech issues. I want to answer questions about how to use social media, how to write a technology strategy, how to use Microsoft Access or FileMaker Pro, how to choose Virus Software, etc. I’ll do it online, I’ll do it onsite. Where do I go?

My answer to both these groups: the online community forum at TechSoup Global. It’s a great place for nonprofits to get tech-related questions answered, and it’s a fantastic place for tech savvy folks to answer those questions. The TechSoup online community forum branches include:

  • Hardware
  • Software
  • Networks
  • Viruses & Security
  • Web Building
  • Technology Planning
  • Accessible Technology and Public Computing
  • Volunteers and technology
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Digital Storytelling
  • Virtual Community
  • and more!

Here’s an example of a question on TechSoup that’s waiting for an answer right now

Hello all – my NPO would like to set up a webcam with a live feed inside an owl’s nesting box and have it available on our web site. I am the “accidental techie” in our organization so I’m trying to find out as much as I can, as quickly as I can.

We have a very limited budget with which to work with and will probably rely mostly on donated or borrowed equipment, if possible.  The only equipment we have so far is the nesting box with the mother owl preparing to lay eggs.

Although our location isn’t particularly remote (Grizzly Island, Suisun), cellular signals are practically non-existent. We do have an internet connected computer on site and I’m pretty sure its DSL. The location of the owl box is in a tractor shed which has a locked room available for us to place a laptop.

What kind of equipment are we going to need to set this up? What are our options, considering the little bit of info I’ve given? I realize these are pretty general questions, but it’s just a jumping off point and any feedback I get will help me to begin asking more specific, targeted questions.  

Much love and gratitude in advance to any who choose to tackle this very large question.

Answer it here!

Even if you don’t know where to post your question, don’t worry: if you don’t post in the right forum, the oh-so-helpful volunteer moderators at TechSoup will get your post to the right branch right away.

The TechSoup community forum has been engaged in microvolunteering long before the term was being used!

I’ve been associated with TechSoup since the early 1990s, when it was called CompuMentor and didn’t even have a web site! Back then, it was focused on recruiting and placing volunteers in nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area to help with tech issues. The TechSoup online forum is an evolution of that service – join in! You don’t have to ask, or answer, right away: just lurk for a while!

And don’t miss TechSoup’s many free online events, to help build the capacities of volunteers and paid staff at nonprofit organizations to use technology to support its work. Subscribe to the TechSoup email newsletter By The Cup to know when those free online events are happening.

Also see:

    • Finding a Computer/Network Consultant
      What mission-based organizations can do to recruit the “right” consultant for tech related issues, one that will not make them feel out-of-the-loop or out-of-control when it comes to tech-related discussions.