{"id":620,"date":"2013-12-20T04:18:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T12:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/?p=620"},"modified":"2017-05-16T19:43:41","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T02:43:41","slug":"cibervoluntarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2013\/12\/cibervoluntarios\/","title":{"rendered":"A new “cyber” volunteering platform for small NGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Cibervoluntarios Foundation<\/a> is looking “to develop a cybervolunteering platform, made for little organizations worldwide.” They have a fundraising campaign at GlobalGiving to raise money for the platform<\/a>, which includes a link to an 11-page document that provides a bit more information. Neither volunteers nor host organizations would be charged to use the platform.<\/p>\n

I’ve tweeted the organization to find out how this proposed platform will be different from the United Nations’ existing Online Volunteering service<\/a>, the world’s largest virtual volunteering platform for NGOs to recruit online volunteers. They tweeted back that cyber volunteering<\/em> is different than online volunteering<\/em> – but didn’t say how. I don’t yet see a difference. Cyber volunteering, in English, has been used since the 1990s as another word for virtual volunteering.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not that I don’t think \u00a0there’s room for new approaches to online volunteering – but given the over-abundance of platforms allowing organizations to recruit traditional volunteers<\/a>, and how that has made it harder to recruit volunteers, not easier, I would hate to see the same thing happen with virtual volunteering.<\/p>\n

According to the web site<\/a>, “Cibervoluntarios” are:<\/p>\n

agentes de cambio social que contribuyen, de forma desinteresada, a fomentar el uso y conocimiento de herramientas tecnol\u00f3gicas entre la poblaci\u00f3n con menores oportunidades de acceso y\/o formaci\u00f3n…\u00a0los Cibervoluntarios usan la tecnolog\u00eda desde una perspectiva social y contribuyen a eliminar brechas sociales mediante la sensibilizaci\u00f3n, informaci\u00f3n y formaci\u00f3n de forma presencial, online y a medida para satisfacer las necesidades de cada persona o colectivo social con el que trabajamos. Los cibervoluntarios dan conocer las posibilidades que ofrece el uso de las Nuevas Tecnolog\u00edas de una forma \u00fatil, sencilla, bien a trav\u00e9s de la red, bien en persona, de t\u00fa a t\u00fa, mediante cursos, charlas, conferencias, talleres, eventos, seminarios, entre otros.<\/em><\/p>\n

My translation:<\/p>\n

social change agents who contribute selflessly to promote the use of technological tools and knowledge among people with fewer opportunities to access and \/ or training…\u00a0Cibervoluntarios use technology from a social perspective and help eliminate social gaps through advocacy, information and training in person, online and customized to meet the needs of each person or social group with which we work. The Cybervolunteer knows the possibilities offered by the use of new technologies in a useful, simple, either through the network, either in person, face to face, through courses, lectures, conferences, workshops, events, seminars, among others.<\/em><\/p>\n

So, perhaps for this organization,\u00a0cibervoluntarios or cyber volunteers are what are called, in English, circuit riders<\/a> or ICT volunteers<\/strong>\u00a0– volunteers that help both individuals as well as staff at nonprofits regarding using computer and Internet-related tools, and such volunteers can be both onsite and online. Examples of this would include all volunteers that help teach people computer skills at initiatives like Austin FreeNet<\/a>\u00a0(Austin, Texas),\u00a0FreeGeek<\/a>\u00a0(Portland, Oregon),\u00a0EmpowerUp<\/a>\u00a0(Southwest Washington state, Vancouver area), and\u00a0World Computer Exchange<\/a>\u00a0– and even PeaceCorps<\/a> and VSO<\/a>. HandsOn also has several IT volunteer tech initiatives, which they brand as skilled-based volunteer engagement:<\/p>\n

HandsOn Tech Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia<\/a>. Follow on Twitter at @HandsOnTechPGH<\/strong><\/a>,
\nHandsOn Tech Atlanta, Georgia<\/a>. Follow on Twitter at @HandsOnTechATL<\/strong><\/a>
\nHandsOn Tech Boston, Massachusetts<\/a>. Follow on Twitter at @HandsOnTechBOS<\/strong><\/a>
\nHandsOn Tech Chicago, Illinois<\/a>. Follow on Twitter at @HandsOnTechChi<\/strong><\/a>
\nHandsOn Tech New York City<\/a>, New York. Follow on Twitter at @NYCHandsOnTech<\/strong><\/a>
\nHandsOn Tech Detroit, Michigan. Follow on Twitter at @HandsOnTechDET<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

One of the first such ICT volunteering initiatives was through what was called CompuMentor, now TechSoup<\/a> (that part of TechSoup’s programming has moved entirely online, via the TechSoup forum<\/a>, and the nonprofit still publishes Working with Technical Volunteers: A Manual for NPOs<\/a> free online).\u00a0The United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS)<\/a>\u00a0tried to track all of these various ICT volunteering initiatives globally once upon a time – UNITeS both supported volunteers applying ICTs for development (ICT4D) and promoted volunteerism as a fundamental element of successful ICT4D initiatives. UNITeS was launched in 2000 by then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and was hosted by the United Nations Volunteers programme.<\/p>\n

If the Cibervoluntarios\u00a0organization is looking to develop an online matching service for IT volunteers or circuit riders, where volunteers would provide service onsite and or online to individuals and nonprofits, it might work – though I’d prefer to see this type of volunteering incorporated into the plethora of volunteer matching sites worldwide, or even just in Europe – or even just in Spain! I hope they will look over the\u00a0UNITeS<\/a>\u00a0web site and TechSoup manual for tech volunteers<\/a>, and provide lots of similar resources for both IT volunteers and the nonprofits that need them. And the organization is welcomed to translate and adapt my resources related to this subject for their web site, as long as I get credit somewhere:<\/p>\n