Online Volunteer Editors for OneWorld: better late than never?

Through its network of 12 regional centers, OneWorld supports and facilitates an online community of over 1500 global partner organisations working for human rights and sustainable development. Its most visible product is the development portal www.oneworld.net which since 1996 has become a favourite new media site for multi-lingual audiences in over 100 countries seeking news and analysis on issues neglected by mainstream media.

Historically, OneWorld has been cautious about the use of online volunteers in content production, preferring to rely on professional editors. This was not so much a strategic rejection of volunteers as an instinctive business discipline of aligning mainstream outputs with professional resources.

Southern volunteers: a new opportunity

As the technology revolution gained pace and it became apparent that online volunteering need not be exclusive to relatively affluent countries, OneWorld increasingly recognized the opportunity to redistribute its editorial voice from north to south, a core strategic aim. As part of a collaborative european programme, "Building Digital Opportunities" (BDO), and with specific funding support of UK Department for International Development, OneWorld embarked on a project which aims to demonstrate the potential of new technologies to create opportunities for 50 volunteers resident in the developing world. As well as introducing these "southern voices" into OneWorld editorial output, the project aims to increase the proportion of overall content sourced from southern NGOs.

This "volunteer editor" programme has been under way only since March 2003. It is too early to draw major conclusions but elements of the experience may be of value to the community of online volunteer coordinators.

Assignments for Volunteer Editors

OneWorld has thrown its earlier caution to the winds. Not only are volunteer editors asked to take responsibility for specific pages within the OneWorld site but two new product ranges have been created for them. OneWorld Country Guides and Topic Guides are gradually making their presence felt in the "In Depth" section at http://www.oneworld.net/article/archive/301. These Guides aim to provide straightforward educational material for their subject from a development perspective, in part through articles written by the editor but more particularly through choice of suitable links to civil society content. 

These Guides are regarded as tough assignments for volunteers and a risk for OneWorld, relative to the softer option of behind-the-scenes support for existing products. These assignments require wide-ranging knowledge of the subject, determination to find the best online illustrative material, and ability to write concise summaries and articles. In return OneWorld gives the volunteer full credit for the Guide with a strong sense of ownership of a product available for a global audience. There is of course close supervision by professional OneWorld editors but it is they who remain behind-the-scenes rather than the volunteers.

Management Structure

The majority of the volunteer editors are recruited and managed by regional coordinators in OneWorld's offices in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, the latter adding valuable spanish language depth. Overall project management is handled in London. The 3 regional staff combine volunteer coordination with editorial responsibilities; their background professional experience inevitably tends to the latter, as mainstream OneWorld editorial standards are an essential quality baseline for the programme.

The ICT dimension

Volunteer Editors join a dedicated "Dgroup", an online resource tool developed by another component of the BDO programme. This provides access to essential training material such as OneWorld editorial guidelines and FAQ for specific assignments. The formal editorial briefing is presented within standard online templates for country and topic guides. The Dgroup is also the tool for dialogue within the team of editors.

With no prospect of face-to-face training for the volunteers, OneWorld has also developed a simplified version of its content management system, designed to allow volunteer editors to input their material directly into the OneWorld portal. Conventional workflow tools enable the OneWorld coordinator to edit and authorize the content. In the context of this project, this tool is the most explicit demonstration of the application of ICT's in developing countries, linking southern volunteers directly to a global audience. 

Volunteer Editor profile

Recruitment through the global NetAid and OneWorld sites has been successful when seeking editors for unspecified subjects but much more difficult when targeting individual countries or topics. Networks accessible through local OneWorld partners are increasingly necessary for recruitment. At the time of writing, 35-40 volunteer editors have accepted the terms and conditions and are at various stages of production of OneWorld Guides. Over 20 Guides have been published, including 6 in spanish. There is no geographical concentration of editors; almost 30 southern countries are represented, from Colombia to Vietnam. Likewise there is no consistent occupational profile; some volunteers are already involved in the NGO sector; some are new graduates, some are involved in journalism, and a small number are in business or the professions. Just under 50% of the volunteers are women.

Experience of recruitment and retention has so far broadly followed expectations in line with advice generously provided by UN Volunteers. Whilst some volunteers quickly acquire clear vision for their Guide and work independently, the majority require close support of the OneWorld coordinators. Motives of the volunteer editors vary considerably; "to help to improve the image of my country", "to promote a good understanding about Bangladesh to the world" are examples as are the more familiar aims of career development and helping others. Regardless of motives, the launch of a new Guide is a rewarding moment for both volunteers and OneWorld.

Results

The Guides have been well received by the internal OneWorld network which welcomes attention to a content gap and which applauds the visible effort to shift editorial voice from north to south. Closer scrutiny must however acknowledge that quality so far is variable; some Guides are outstanding whilst others lack depth of material, are silent on key issues, and rather static. Any shortcomings are however certainly not insurmountable. 

There has unquestionably been a shift in attitude towards volunteer editors within OneWorld, with telling signs of engagement of volunteers to support established products such as regional editions and theme channels. It is very possible that a combination of professional and volunteer resource may become the established model for OneWorld content production.

Future Plans

Subject to ever-present funding constraints, there are two broad directions for strengthening the volunteer editors programme. One is to continue to develop customised software to simplify the task, in particular search tools geared to NGO content for Guide subjects. The other is to strengthen resources dedicated to each Guide, perhaps by establishing a team of volunteers to support the original editor, and/or by encouraging selected OneWorld partners to provide advice and share strategic ownership. Establishing volunteer coordinator structures in regions not currently covered (Middle East, South East Asia, Central Asia) is a priority, if funding can be found. 

Reverse Colonialism?

Whatever the limitations of future plans, the project offers an interesting reversal of traditional "colonial" volunteerism. In contrast to the established routes for volunteers heading south from Europe and North America, here are volunteers from the developing world creating products of reference value to classrooms in California, editors in Edinburgh, and the mushrooming broadband general public. This is one small demonstration of the power of new technologies to level the playing field of human capacity in our information society.

Footnote: this case study has been written in response to the call for material for the World Wide Volunteer online library, a resource for the WSIS Volunteer Family. It is not an evaluation of the OneWorld programme which has been under way for only 9 months, and any comments about the programme do not represent formal OneWorld assessment or policy. 

Document Type: Case Study; Subject: E-Volunteering; Date: Nov/2003;
Contributor: Bill Gunyon, Project Manager, OneWorld Volunteer Editors