Monday, June 25, 2007

Virtual Volunteering

The Universal Declaration on Volunteering states:

Volunteering is a fundamental building block of civil society

Through volunteering you can contribute to the betterment of your local community. Technology now makes it possible to volunteer in a global community. Virtual volunteering, also known as online volunteering, opens up the traditional options of volunteering work. Through virtual volunteering you can contribute to development produces happening in Africa, India or South America without leaving your home.

For homepage, producer Michelle O'Connor investigates the field of online volunteering.

In 2000 United Nations Volunteers started an online volunteers service to see if they could link volunteering projects in developing countries with online volunteers from anywhere in the world. The project worked very well and continues to grow today. Michelle speaks with Elise Bouvet, Program Specialist for the online volunteering service of UNV in Germany who says there are benefits for both the organisation and the individuals in online volunteering projects. http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/

Michelle also speaks with Rebecka Delforce an online volunteer living in Sydney. Rebecka volunteers to write for the e-magazine of the Volunteer Centre of NSW. She's also the founder of a not-for-profit organisation which builds eco-friendly children's villages in developing countries. Michelle discovers that for Rebecka the decision to be an online volunteer is based on time management. http://www.foodwatershelter.org.au/

While virtual volunteering is a successful program for the United Nations Volunteering service, Michelle discovers in Australia online volunteering is still very new. Julie Pollard the CEO of Volunteering Australia reports there is some interest in online volunteering and good growth potentioal. Their figures show that young people are the most likely candidates for online volunteering. http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/

One of the major reasons most volunteers nominate for engaging in voluntary work is the social aspect....getting to meet likeminded people. In a virtual Volunteering world where your volunteer work is solitary, how eill volunteer managers meet the challenge of keeping volunteers connected? Julie Pollard suggest online volunteering programs will need to incorporate methods to help volunteers keep in touch with each other.

So how will we volunteer in the future? Wrapping up the report for homeapage this week Julie Pollard predicts that online volunttering will become a popular volunteering choice but won't replace traditional face to face volunteering work.

homepage is produced in the studios of 2MCE Bathurst and broadcast nationally via the Community Radio Network. The program is made with financial assistance from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. You can listen to homepage on 2mce via our streaming at http://www.2mce.org/

Monday, June 18, 2007

The Webby Awards

On Homepage producer Rochelle Nolan takes us to the Webby Awards. The Webby Awards are the leading international award honouring excellence on the internet including websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile content. Now in it's 11th year the Awards effectively take a snap-shot in time of the state of the internet, the industry and the world and as you can probably imagine the past 10 years has seen some radical changes. The success of The Webby Awards corresponds to the rise of the internet. Today the web has emerged as a critical tool of business and daily life and an established media vehicle. The Webby Awards serve as the most important award honouring acheivement in interactive media. And the 2007 winners are:

Webby Lifetime Acheivement Awards - David Bowie and E-Bay
Webby Person of the Year - Co-founders of YouTube Steve Chen and Chad Hurley
Webby Best Acress - Jessica Lee Rose from New Zealand for her portrayal of Bree in the blog Lonely Girl 15.

For a full list of winners, more information and a massive list of some absolutely amazing internet sites check out http://www.webbyawards.com/

Homepage is broadcast nationally each week via the Community Radio Netwok and is financally supported by the Community Broadcasting Foundation. You can listen to Homepage on 2MCE Monday at 3pm EST via our streaming at http://www.2mce.org.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Flickr on homepage

homepage producer Michelle is moving house and during the packing process she found boxes full of random photos...from overseas travel, birthdays, holidays and baby photos. What to do with them all! Well the answer could be found at the online digital storage website flickr.com. For techtalk Michelle looks at flickr.com for some info about how to sort out all those photos.

http://www.flickr.com/

Bronwen is a huge fan of the 80's global concert Live Aid organised by Sir Bob Geldolf. In 1985 either you were there at Live Aid or you watched it on television. In 2007 another global concert is being planned to spread a message about global warming. 22 years after Live Aid how will Live Earth be watched by an international audience? You won't need to be there at the concert, or even glued to a television screen. You can stream the concert to your desk top and talk about the concert in an online chatroom. Bron speaks to Ken Eustace, lecuturer in computing and mathmatics at Charles Sturt University about the effects of online communities on society in 2007.

This week's hotsite is blackpages.com.au - Australia's only national online Indigenous business and community enterprise directory. Check it out at http://www.blackpages.com.au/


You can stream homepage each Monday afternoon at 3pmEST via http://www.2mce.org.