iVolunteer - proximate volunteering

Dale just brought my attention to this group called iVolunteer: http://www.actionfeed.org

Looks like they're working on a project with similar ethos. Here's their description:

"iVolunteer is a free location-aware iPhone application that makes it easy for people to find one-time volunteer opportunities and get involved in their communities.Since not everyone has an iPhone (yet!), we’re creating ActionFeed as a kayak.com-like web version of the same data."

So, just a shout out to them. Would love to be in touch to collaborate/share ideas. We're working in complementary spaces. And, in fact, this was the idea that launched me into The Extraordinaries last year... I wrote this in the 'Future Looking' section of the Mobile Chapter of my book:

"Political campaigns and nonprofits could also develop novel applications. Imagine a political-friending application that tells you which people in a given room share your political views, or a volunteercoordination service that gives you a list of nonprofits in your immediate vicinity that would benefit from thirty minutes of your time. Mobile phones will bring the power of social computing to real-world spaces. They will create opportunities for supporters to meet, discuss, and mobilize offline. In the hands, pockets, and purses of a majority of the world’s population, these diminutive devices are redefining what it means to be connected to
the Internet and to each other."

(Do I have to put quotes when quoting self? Interesting grammatical quandry). I think there are a bunch of problems with the model though, which is why we narrowed into crowdsourcing... Among them: liability and timing (which is a function of critical mass). 

Cheers,

Ben

Comments

[Joon]

It's an interesting idea. It reminds me of a iPhone based groundcrew...