The Evolution of Web 3.0">The Evolution of Web 3.0
Published August 24, 2010 | 
">Bruce WhealtonGreat presentation on the evolution of the web and what it means for us.
Virtual volunteering – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia">Virtual volunteering – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Published August 24, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia’s content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (March 2010) Virtual volunteering is a term describing a volunteer who completes tasks, in whole or in part, offsite from the organization being assisted, using the Internet and a home, school, telecenter or work computer or other Internet-connected device. Virtual volunteering is also known as online volunteering, cyber service, telementoring, and teletutoring, and various other names. Virtual volunteering is similar to telecommuting, except that, instead of online employees who are paid, these are online volunteers who are not paid, and they are working to benefit a nonprofit organization, school, government program or other not-for-profit entity, as opposed to a for-profit business.
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[edit] In practice
People engaged in virtual volunteering undertake a variety of activities from locations remote to the organization or people they are assisting, via a computer or other Internet-connected device, such as:
- translating documents
- researching subjects
- creating web pages
- editing or writing proposals, press releases, newsletter articles, etc.
- developing material for a curriculum
- designing a database
- designing graphics
- providing legal, business, medical, agricultural or any other expertise
- counseling people
- tutoring or mentoring students
- moderating online discussion groups
- writing songs
- creating a podcast
- editing a video
- monitoring the news
- answering questions
- tagging photos and files
- managing other online volunteers[1][2][3]
[edit] Early history of the practice
The practice of virtual volunteering to benefit nonprofit initiatives dates back to at least the early 1970s, when Project Gutenberg began involving online volunteers to provide electronic versions of works in the public domain.[4]
In 1995, a new nonprofit organization called Impact Online (now called VolunteerMatch), based in Palo Alto, California, began promoting the idea of “virtual volunteers”.[5] In 1996, Impact Online received a grant from the James Irvine Foundation to launch an initiative to research the practice of virtual volunteering and to promote the practice to nonprofit organizations in the USA. This new initiative was dubbed the Virtual Volunteering Project, and the web site was launched in early 1997.[6] After one year of operations, the Virtual Volunteering Project moved to the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2002, the Virtual Volunteering Project moved within the university to the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.
The first two years of the Virtual Volunteer Project were spent reviewing and adapting telecommuting manuals[7] and exi
sting volunteer management guidelines with regarding to virtual volunteering, as well as identifying organizations that were involving online volunteers. By April 1999, almost 100 organizations had been identified by the Virtual Volunteering Project as involving online volunteers and were listed on the web site.[8]Due to the growing numbers of nonprofit organizations, schools, government programs and other not-for-profit entities involving online volunteers, the Virtual Volunteering Project stopped listing every such organization involving online volunteers on its web site in 2000, and focused its efforts on promoting the practice, profiling organizations with large or unique online volunteering programs, and creating guidelines for the involvement of online volunteers.
Until January 2001, the Virtual Volunteering Project listed all telementoring and teletutoring programs in the USA (programs where online volunteers mentor or tutor others, through a nonprofit organization or school). At that time, 40 were identified.[9]
[edit] Current state of the practice
Virtual volunteering has been adopted by at least a few thousand nonprofit thousand organizations and initiatives.[10] There is no organization currently tracking best practices in online volunteering in the USA or worldwide, how many people are engaged in online volunteering, or how many organizations are involving online volunteers, and studies regarding volunteering, such as reports on volunteering trends in the USA, rarely include information about online volunteering (for instance, a search of the term virtual volunteering on the Corporation for National Service‘s “Volunteering in America” yields no results.[11])
The United Nations runs an online volunteering service, formerly a part of NetAid, that allows organizations working in or for the developing world to recruit online volunteers, and does have statistics available regarding numbers of online volunteers and organizations involving such through its service. Several other matching services, such as VolunteerMatch and Idealist, also offer virtual volunteering positions with nonprofit organizations in addition to traditional, onsite volunteering opportunities. VolunteerMatch currently reports that around 5 percent of its active volunteer listings are virtual in nature. As of June 2010, its directory included more than 2,770 such listings including roles in interactive marketing, fundraising, accounting, social media, and business mentoring. The percentage of virtual listings has dropped since 2006, when it peaked at close to 8 percent of overall volunteer opportunities in the VolunteerMatch system.
Wikipedia and other Wikimedia endeavors are examples of online volunteering, in the form of crowdsourcing; the majority of Wikipedia contributing volunteers aren’t required to undergo any screening or training by the nonprofit for their role as researchers, writers or editors, and do not have to make a specific time commitment to the organization in order to contribute service.
Micro-volunteering is also an example of virtual volunteering and crowd-sourcing, where volunteers undertake assignments via their PDAs or smartphones. These volunteers aren’t required to undergo any screening or training by the nonprofit for such tasks, and do not have to make any other commitment once a micro-task is completed.[12] Micro-volunteering was invented by a San Francisco-based social enterprise called The Extraordinaries in 2008.[13][14][15]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ “What are examples of virtual volunteering?”. AIDSvolunteers.ca. http://www.aidsvolunteers.ca/vvfacts/general.html#examples. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
- ^ “examples of virtual volunteering”. University of Texas at Austin. http://www.serviceleader.org/old/vv/examples.html. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
- ^ “Make a Difference From Home: Be a Virtual Volunteer”. theextraordinaries.org. http://www.theextraordinaries.org/2008/11/make-a-difference-from-home-be-a-virtual-volunteer.html. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
- ^ Cravens, Jayne (Spring 2007). “Online Volunteering Enters Middle Age – And Changes Management Paradigms”. Nonprofit Quarterly (Nonprofit Quarterly).
- ^ Green, Marc (Fall, 1995). “Fundraising in Cyberspace: Direct E-Mail Campaigns, Virtual Volunteers, Annual Fund Drives Online. Does the Information Superhighway lead to new horizons or a dead end?”. The Grantsmanship Center Magazine (The Grantsmanship Center).
- ^ Cravens, Jayne (February 2001). “who funds the virtual volunteering project?“. The Virtual Volunteering Project (University of Texas at Austin).
- ^ Cravens, Jayne (April 2001). “related resources“. The Virtual Volunteering Project (University of Texas at Austin).
- ^ Cravens, Jayne (February 2001). “Virtual Volunteering Project“. The Virtual Volunteering Project (University of Texas at Austin).
- ^ Cravens, Jayne (February 2001). “[http://www.serviceleader.org/old/vv/orgs/mentor.html agencies and initiatives that involve online volunteers as mentors or tutors]“. The Virtual Volunteering Project (University of Texas at Austin).
- ^ Cravens, Jayne (Spring 2007). “Online Volunteering Enters Middle Age – And Changes Management Paradigms”. Nonprofit Quarterly (Nonprofit Quarterly).
- ^ volunteeringinamerica.gov. Retrieved 09/24/2009.
- ^ http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/a/microvol.htm
- ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106118736
- ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Responsible-Tech/2009/0804/smart-phone-app-lets-you-do-good
-deeds-in-your-spare-time- ^ http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/assignment_7&id=7162300
[edit] External links
- The Virtual Volunteering Project
- The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook
- Virtual Volunteer opportunities at VolunteerMatch.org
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_volunteering“
This is a great idea for non-profits. I wonder how one finds volunteers? This is something that I want to discover.
Bruce Whealton
http://brucewhealton.us
About Bruce Whealton">About Bruce Whealton
Published August 23, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonBruce Whealton – Web Developer, Writer, Poet, Publisher
Bruce Whealton is an American poet, publisher, editor and web designer/developer. Bruce Whealton is co-editor with Jean Arthur Jones for the online magazine Word Salad Poetry Magazine. Bruce Whealton lives in North Carolina. He has seen many of his poems published in various books, journals/magazines and on the web. Bruce Whealton is also here on Wikipedia and onWordopedia: Bruce Whealton
Education
‘Bruce Whealton attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and received his Bachelors Degree in Electrical/computer Engineering in 1989. Bruce went on to receive his Masters in Social Work from the University of South Carolina in 1996.
Career and Professional Information
Bruce has combined his interest in technical matters with his creativity as expressed in efforts such as this poetry magazine, his own poetry, and as a Web Developer/Designer. Bruce Whealton is the owner of Future Wave Designs, a successful web development, web design and consulting company in Carrboro, North Carolina, near Chapel Hill, NC in the Triangle Area of North Carolina – the Research Triangle area.
Poetry
Bruce Whealton”’ began to think of himself as a poet beginning back in 1992, when he shared his poetry at a poetry reading for the first time. This was at the Coastline Convention Center overlooking the Cape Fear River, in Wilmington, NC. He began Word Salad as an online poetry magazine in 1995.
You can read blogs by Bruce Whealton: http://brucewhealton.us and On Being a Poet and Other Existential Ideas: Bruce Whealton
Publications and Recognition
- Bruce Whealton can be found featured on the Port City Poets section of the Star News Online, as seen here.
- Bruce Whealton has been publishing Word Salad Poetry Magazine since 1995, with the magazine being in its sixteenth year in 2010.
- Bruce Whealton was featured in “‘The Simple Vows Anthology” with his poem Genealogy.
- More links to where Bruce Whealton has been published are available here on Word Salad’s website.
- Four Poems by Bruce Whealton appeared in “And Now the Nightmare Begins: The Horror Zine,” Rivers of Blood, I Dreamed I was A Ghost, and The Name.\
- Four Poems by Bruce Whealton appeared in “Twice the Terror: The Horror Zine,” Sensuous and Strong as the Serpent, Shelter, Becoming, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
video Bruce Whealton, Word Salad Poetry Magazine, Poetry Event – bruce whealton, word salad poetry magazine, poetry magazine – videos Tom's Hardware">video Bruce Whealton, Word Salad Poetry Magazine, Poetry Event – bruce whealton, word salad poetry magazine, poetry magazine – videos Tom's Hardware
Published August 23, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonInteresting place to find a video that was for Word Salad’s aniversary event. I am the publisher and co-editor of Word Salad Poetry Magazine and I do the Word Salad Online: http://WordSaladPoetryMagazine.com
http://facebook.com/WordSaladPoetry
Powerset">Powerset
Published August 23, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonUnlock Meaning
Powerset finds articles related to the meaning of your query. And sometimes even direct answers.
A more intelligent way to search. This tool uses natural language processing to allow you to more accurately and flexibly search wikipedia. It seems that they took wikipedia as an example website application they could use to test their ideas. It is fun to use and very handy.
Semantic search – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia">Semantic search – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Published August 18, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchseeks to improve by understanding searcher intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the searchable dataspace, whether on the Web or within a closed system, to generate more relevant results. lists “11 approaches that join semantics to search”[1], and Hildebrand et al. [2] provide an overview that lists and identifies other uses of semantics in the .
Guha et al.[3] distinguish two major forms of search: Navigational and Research. In , the user is using the as a to navigate to a particular intended document. Semantic Search is not applicable to navigational searches. In Research Search, the user provides the with a phrase which is intended to denote an object about which the user is trying to gather/research information. There is no particular document which the user knows about that s/he is trying to get to. Rather, the user is trying to locate a number of documents which together will give him/her the information s/he is trying to find. Semantic Search lends itself well here.
Rather than using ranking algorithms such as ‘s to predict relevancy, Semantic Search uses semantics, or the science of meaning in language, to produce highly relevant . In most cases, the goal is to deliver the information queried by a user rather than have a user sort through a list of loosely related keyword results.
Other authors primarily regard as a set of techniques for retrieving knowledge from richly structured data sources like ontologies as found on the Semantic Web [4]. Such technologies enable the formal articulation of domain knowledge at a high level of expressiveness and could enable the user to specify his intent in more detail at query time.
[edit] Disambiguation
In order to understand what a user is searching for, word sense disambiguation must occur. When a term is ambiguous, meaning it can have several meanings (for example, if one considers the lemma “bark“, which can be understood as “the sound of a dog,” “the skin of a tree,” or “a three-masted sailing ship”), the disambiguation process is started, thanks to which the most probable meaning is chosen from all those possible.
Such processes make use of other information present in a semantic analysis system and takes into account the meanings of other words present in the sentence and in the rest of the text. The determination of every meaning, in substance, influences the disambiguation of the others, until a situation of maximum plausibility and coherence is reached for the sentence. All the fundamental information for the disambiguation process, that is, all the knowledge used by the system, is represented in the form of a , organized on a conceptual basis.
In a structure of this type, every lexical concept coincides therefore with a node and is linked to others by specific semantic relationships in a hierarchical and hereditary structure. In this way, each concept is enriched with the characteristics and meaning of the nearby nodes.
Every node of the network (called Synset) groups a set of synonyms which represent the same lexical concept (called Synsets) and can contain:
- single lemmata (‘seat’, ‘vacation’; ‘work’, ‘quick’; ‘quickly’, ‘more’, etc.)
- compounds (‘non-stop’, ‘abat-jour’, ”)
- collocations (‘credit card’, ‘university degree’, ‘treasury stock’, ‘go forward’, etc.).
The semantic relationships (links), which identify the semantic relationships between the synsets, are the order principals for the organization of the concepts.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Several scientific events cover the topic of explicitly, such as the Semantic Search 2008 Workshop at ESWC’08 and the Workshop on Exploiting Semantic Annotations in Information Retrieval at ECIR’08.
[show] Semantic Web
[show] Internet search Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_search“
Semantic Search offers more intelligent searching of the web. This is great for research or finding what is out on the web when you don’t already know what you want or are seeking. This is the web 3.0, the semantic web about which I have been writing recently. Semantics deals with the science of meaning in language. As a writer, poet and technology person, I find this very fascinating.
Bruce Whealton
A short Tutorial on Semantic Web">A short Tutorial on Semantic Web
Published August 16, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonA very useful video on the semantic web… What is the semantic web? Web 3.0? Enabling humans and machines to better communicate. Most of the web and knowledge out there is not meaningful in itself. A computer cannot understand what is on a web page. The semantic web seeks to create a language that will allow computers and software to understand the data that is represented, stored and displayed, or communicated. This is a way of giving meaning to the data.
Currently websites are displayed with HTML. This describes how to present the information, knowledge or data on the web. It doesn’t however define or describe what the data represents. For example, if I put up a web page that represents my resume. In typical HTML, I have tags that describe how to display the information. In the semantic web, using XML tags, I’ll be able to represent or describe the fact that the data represents a resume, my resume, about me. The challenge is to create a vocabulary, an ontology that will allow different agents, that is different computer systems (hardware and software) to communicate and understand this vocabulary. Think of the challenge of an English speaking person looking at a resume written in an Asian, eastern language, say Chinese.
Bruce Whealton
Social network for people of creative professions.">Social network for people of creative professions.
Published August 1, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonThis looks like an interesting way to share one’s ideas and knowledge in a variety of areas. I like this. Check it out.
Social Media Marketing | Social Networking | Strategy Tutorial | Website Traffic Secrets">Social Media Marketing | Social Networking | Strategy Tutorial | Website Traffic Secrets
Published July 22, 2010 | ">Bruce WhealtonWebsite Traffic Secrets Tutorial
About the Course
The uniqueness of this course is it is build purely on strategies. The course is not a guide which will teach you how to use Social Media but it will demonstrate you on how to use each feature available in networking sites to generate traffic.
The course consists of eight different networking sites which has totally different marketing strategy from each other.
After completing the course, it will become very easy for you to understand marketing strategy of any other networking site.
This course do not follow any shortcuts or spamming technique to generate traffic but it demonstrate the correct procedure of using Networking sites in the way it has to be used.
Get a preview of what you’ll learn Experience course for yourself with a free demo Buy Online Course Now Inbound Marketing using Social Media Course Overview and Content
Actual Price: USD 199.00 Offer Price: USD 149.00
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I found this free tutorial to be very useful for folks that want to learn to use LinkedIn.com – the social networking site for professions – to market themselves, their business or their organization.
Bruce
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