Jayne Cravens
Jayne Cravens is an internationally-recognized trainer, researcher and consultant. Her work is focused on communications, volunteer involvement, community engagement, and management for nonprofits, NGOs, and government initiatives. She is a pioneer regarding the research, promotion and practice of virtual volunteering, including virtual teams, microvolunteering and crowdsourcing, and she is a veteran manager of various local and international initiatives. Jayne became active online in 1993, and she created one of the first web sites focused on helping to build the capacity of nonprofits to use the Internet. She has been interviewed for and quoted in articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, as well as for reports by CNN, Deutsche Well, the BBC, and various local radio stations, TV stations and blogs. Resources from her web site, coyotecommunications.com, are frequently cited in reports and articles by a variety of organizations, online and in-print. Women's empowerment and women's full access to employment and education options remains a cross-cutting theme in all of her work. A native of Kentucky, she has worked for the United Nations, lived in Germany and Afghanistan, and visited more than 30 countries, many of them by motorcycle. She is currently based near Portland, Oregon in the USA.
Supervisors: Susan Ellis
Supervisors: Susan Ellis
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Papers by Jayne Cravens
In this report, the term Internet-mediated volunteering refers to unpaid labour undertaken for the benefit of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), charities, community organisations, etc., or those served by such, where an online system, accessed through a computer, a mobile device, etc., plays a key role in volunteer recruitment, in facilitating access to tasks, and volunteers completing tasks. Other names this practise include virtual volunteering, online volunteering, microvolunteering and crowd-sourcing. There are versions of this phrase in Spanish, French, German, and various other European-based languages as well.
The paper shows that Internet-mediated volunteering is an established, respected, widespread practise of community engagement in Europe. More than 60 organisations were easily, quickly identified in just three months by the researcher as involving online volunteers based in the EU, as well as more than 20 web sites based in Europe that have a focus on helping organisations recruit online volunteers. The paper confirmed that there are at least a few thousand online volunteering opportunities (roles, tasks,
assignments, etc.) available in the EU.
The paper demonstrates that Internet-mediated volunteering involves the use of many of the skills employers in Europe say they need in the workforce. While there is research that implies traditional volunteers feel volunteering helps their employability, more research is required to know whether or not employers value volunteering (unpaid work) for a potential job candidate, and if they do not, what activities might be needed to change their perspective. Internet-mediated volunteering does require some competences related to social inclusion, and there is at least one instance, regarding people with disabilities, that shows online volunteering can contribute to a sense of social inclusion. However, more research is required to know if Internet-mediated volunteering does, indeed, enhance competences needed for social inclusion. More research is also needed to know if organisations that involve online volunteers, or would involve online volunteers, as well as volunteers themselves, would need training and other support in order to cultivate social inclusion competencies.
The paper lists several policy considerations for EU agencies, and organizations supported by such, to support and promote online volunteering as a path to greater employability and social inclusion, particularly young people.
This research paper is part of the ICT4EMPL Future Work project undertaken by: European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Information Society Unit.
A wiki was created along with this paper, and the appendices and references from the paper, as well as various research sources, can be found there in full. ""
In this report, the term Internet-mediated volunteering refers to unpaid labour undertaken for the benefit of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), charities, community organisations, etc., or those served by such, where an online system, accessed through a computer, a mobile device, etc., plays a key role in volunteer recruitment, in facilitating access to tasks, and volunteers completing tasks. Other names this practise include virtual volunteering, online volunteering, microvolunteering and crowd-sourcing. There are versions of this phrase in Spanish, French, German, and various other European-based languages as well.
The paper shows that Internet-mediated volunteering is an established, respected, widespread practise of community engagement in Europe. More than 60 organisations were easily, quickly identified in just three months by the researcher as involving online volunteers based in the EU, as well as more than 20 web sites based in Europe that have a focus on helping organisations recruit online volunteers. The paper confirmed that there are at least a few thousand online volunteering opportunities (roles, tasks,
assignments, etc.) available in the EU.
The paper demonstrates that Internet-mediated volunteering involves the use of many of the skills employers in Europe say they need in the workforce. While there is research that implies traditional volunteers feel volunteering helps their employability, more research is required to know whether or not employers value volunteering (unpaid work) for a potential job candidate, and if they do not, what activities might be needed to change their perspective. Internet-mediated volunteering does require some competences related to social inclusion, and there is at least one instance, regarding people with disabilities, that shows online volunteering can contribute to a sense of social inclusion. However, more research is required to know if Internet-mediated volunteering does, indeed, enhance competences needed for social inclusion. More research is also needed to know if organisations that involve online volunteers, or would involve online volunteers, as well as volunteers themselves, would need training and other support in order to cultivate social inclusion competencies.
The paper lists several policy considerations for EU agencies, and organizations supported by such, to support and promote online volunteering as a path to greater employability and social inclusion, particularly young people.
This research paper is part of the ICT4EMPL Future Work project undertaken by: European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Information Society Unit.
A wiki was created along with this paper, and the appendices and references from the paper, as well as various research sources, can be found there in full. ""
This 1999 book was written before virtual volunteering had become so widespread - several hundred organizations were engaging online volunteers then, but now, there are many thousands doing so. This 1999 book is a good snapshot of how nonprofits were using the Internet before the turn of the century and what tools they were using, many of which no longer exist. The book talks about what were then possibilities for virtual volunteering - whereas The LAST Virtual Volunteering Guidebook talks about what is confirmed about engaging online volunteers.
Now, this 1999 book is more for researchers studying history or evolving volunteer management practices than for practitioners (if you are a nonprofit looking for guidelines on engaging online volunteers, you should get The LAST Virtual Volunteering Guidebook instead).