Report (Part 1): Conference on Volunteering and ICTs

Keynote Speech: Visions of Volunteering in the Information Society

Date: 7 décembre 2003, 9h30 à 10h15
Moderator: Viola Krebs of ICVolunteers and Focal Point of the WSIS Volunteer Family
Reporters: Randy Schmieder, Laila Petrone, Cornelia Rauchberger
Speakers: Susan Ellis, Energize

This session was intended to provide visions on future developments of volunteering in the information society from two contrasting perspectives. Unfortunately, Rose Ekeleme, IAVE Africa was unable to attend due to visa problems.

Susan Ellis, President of Energize, pointed out the importance of citizen action. She focused on the role of the Internet as a volunteer mobilizing tool that has transformed voluntary work. Energize Inc., a group based in Philadelphia in the United States, works internationally to deal with issues of volunteerism. According to Ellis, Energize went online nine years ago when the web was just starting. Today, www.energizeinc.com is an important web resource on volunteerism.

Not surprisingly, Ellis praised the power of the web: “Email allows you to communicate in private and public as needed”; “Simultaneously public and intimate”; “Anyone who wants to communicate can do so.” However, Ellis made the point that, no matter what anyone may say about their expertise in online affairs, one should keep in mind that no one has more than twelve years of experience.

She underlined the utility and benefits of the web for a range of tasks from communication to fundraising.

According to her, wireless connectivity to the web can become a fundamental tool for the future, especially considering the lack of infrastructure in peripheral areas. She sees volunteers as ‘pioneers’ and ‘the voices of the future’. As a potentially revolutionary medium of communication, “Good governments should be excited about the Internet, bad ones should be afraid of it”.

Ellis, however, was quick to point out that the power of the Internet also carries risks. While she said that she was “personally convinced that the Internet is a tool that offers more good than bad”, she stressed that she did not want to just be positive. Some of her concerns include:

• Lousy information is not made better by the Internet, it just gets spread further;
• The fast rate of adoption of wireless technologies may carry risks;
• The domination of English on the web, which requires a “huge degree of literacy” may hamper speakers of other languages to effectively be able to take advantage of all the available information;
• The continuing issues of copyright protection and plagiarism must be addressed;
• Bad behavior, such as hacking and spaming reduce effectiveness of the resource;
• Static sites that never change (“cobwebs”) dilute good information.

According to Ellis, one of the biggest challenges related to volunteerism and ICTs actually have little to do with computers: “In volunteer management, there is a lot of ignorance out there. If you have not learned how to manage volunteers in the real world, adding the Internet is not going to improve things.”