[bksvol-discuss] Re: On Volunteers
- From: "Allison Mervis" <allisonfm@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 10:33:16 -0400
I agree. We have so much potential as an organization, and I feel that the
introduction of new staff coupled with our continued efforts as volunteers what
help us to realize that potential.
Allison
----- Original Message -----
From: Kaitlyn
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2006 2:11 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] On Volunteers
Hello Everyone,
I have been following the discussion on volunteers and some of the
frustrations many of us have. There has been some good suggestions such as
being able to give credits to other members and making the membership process
easier.
I will share some of my experiences working as a volunteer and also managing
a group of volunteers over a 12 year period for a major company.
Back in the spring of 1991 after being on AOL for three months and being a
Mac user for five months I was able to become a volunteer in the music and
sound forum as a file checker/file librarian. It entailed downloading sound
files, checking their quality and making any corrections to the file
description provided by the submitter. It was a lot of fun and the big
motivation to work sometimes 10 to 12 hours a day at it was free AOL access. I
was empowered to work hard and put my best effort forward just to have access
to the system which didn't cost AOL anything really. The free time was what
motivated me and hundreds and over the years thousands of volunteers who built
that company in the early years.
I mention this because what we are all doing on Bookshare is volunteering to
build a company that we all believe in and feel can bring a lot of good to many
visually impaired persons. As on AOL we were compensated with free time online
and on Bookshare we are compensated with credits for scanning and validating.
Personally I don't need the credits since I work at a good job but considering
the motivation factor I think after four plus years and having many volunteers
working hard now toward something they believe in deeply Bookshare might look
at the structure of how volunteers are compensated and what motivates them. IN
the next four years looking at ways to empower and motivate the dedicated group
of individuals Bookshare can be the jewel of the digital book world. Revamping
the compensation structure to further to further motivate the volunteers in
reality does not cost Bookshare anything considering what this group can do to
grow the company. A library of 50 to 75000 books will draw more customers who
will pay for the service than the small amount saved by not looking at giving
more to the volunteers.
After four years of volunteering on AOL I was moved up to Forum leader. The
fact that I kept the spirit of putting the members first and giving them quick
turn around times on their submissions which kept them coming back. Another big
motivation for those members who submitted their sound files was once they were
on the system to be able to watch the number of times their files were
downloaded. I know this is not done now but if implemented would do to things.
Give the volunteer or member some real pride that what they have contributed
others are interested in and for the general membership give them an idea of
the popularity of a book. That is what grew my area on AOL and I hope Bookshare
will keep this dynamic in mind as they bring on the new in-house people and
continue to improve on valuing and empowering the real people that are building
this online library.
There have been lots of suggestions voiced on this list over the last year I
have been here so Bookshare management keep these in mind as we move ahead in
the months and years ahead. WE have only started to clean off and polish up the
jewel Bookshare can beJ
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