Gowalla Adds Volunteer and Service Category
Back when there was only one popular location-based check in service, I thought it would be a great idea to be able to use it to check in where I was volunteering. Not only would it have been a nice little feature, but I saw people making plans to get the different prizes that the location-based service gave for different kinds of check ins, why not for volunteering? If it inspired someone who had never volunteered before to go out and do it at least once, it would be great. If that person discovered a passion for what they did and continued to volunteer, that would be even better!
Gowalla has answered the call. In conjunction with the Get HandsOn Tag! campaign, Gowalla is rolling out a “Volunteer and Service” category within its Events section that encourages people to create and check into volunteer projects to receive a custom Gowalla Passport Stamp. By engaging with Gowalla, community members can post their check-ins to Facebook and Twitter, exchange comments with friends and upload images to raise awareness and share their experience.
How do we do it? It’s not so hard. Here’s how I do it on my Android Incredible. (click the images for larger versions)
First, I go to my Gowalla app. I start up the app and go to Spots. Then click the menu button, then ‘Add a Spot’. I type in the name of the Spot I’m at, then click ‘Choose a Category.’ I pick the ‘Event’ Category. Then scroll down to the new Volunteering and Service Category and click it to add it to your Spot!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Simon Wicks, Tammy Gordon, mikenealis, City Year Chicago, Heidi Massey and others. Heidi Massey said: I saw that…MOST intrigued! RT @heyjk: Woo hoo! @gowalla added a Volunteer and Service Stamp!! http://bit.ly/aJkq30 [...]
I'm not sure that this is necessarily a good idea. Here's why. A number of non-profits that work with volunteer centers ask that their locations be kept unpublished for safety reasons. Example: A battered women's shelter. A 'safe house' for runaway teens.
Addresses are given privately to volunteers via one-on-one emails or phone, and never published on a volunteer center's website.
An unwitting volunteer however, who 'checks in' for volunteering at the shelter — has now made a public record of the location of the nonprofit organization. It's unlikely that nonprofits are going to know that volunteers with mobile phones are publishing their address — and yet they are.
Another issue is that nonprofits do not want volunteer just 'showing up' without arranging to be there. It's not like telling friends you're at a bar or public place — so if you're the neighborhood drop in and see me. Not all volunteerism is open to anyone who might want to 'drop in' because you're there!
I know people like to 'share' that they are doing good — but do they REALLY need to also share what might be confidential information? Giving geographic information about where you are doing service, might cause as much harm as good.
Out of the 10+ places I have volunteered at in the last 6 months there has not been a single one that fell into the confidential category. It is a good thing to be aware of but I would venture to guess for those situations that you mentioned there would not be an entry on the list and I have yet to be able to add any new entries to GoWalla that aren't already there.
As I've mentioned here before <a href="http:// (http://handsonblog.org/2010/03/29/volunteerism-on-foursquare/),” target=”_blank”> <a href="http://(http://handsonblog.org/2010/03/29/volunteerism-on-foursquare/),” target=”_blank”>(http://handsonblog.org/2010/03/29/volunteerism-on-foursquare/), I think there are a lot of exciting possibilities for geolocation and volunteerism. I'm excited that HandsOn Network is working with Gowalla on this. Imagine the possibilities for volunteer recognition after multiple check-ins!
What might it mean to be The Mayor of a service project on Foursquare? How might one earn a "Volunteer Rockstar" pin on Gowalla – and what rewards and recognition could be earned by "checking in" at a service project?
To your first "issue": Do these private non-profits allow their volunteers to make ANY form of public mention of the location? I would believe that a group such as a battered women's shelter would instruct (under some form of penalty) their volunteers that they are not to disclose the whereabouts of the shelter; regardless of medium. So, if someone creates a spot via an LBS, then they would be violating whatever agreement they made with the shelter.
With regard to the second: Event Categories are time-limited spots. They do not exist beyond 12 hours of their creation. So, unless a person is creating a new event for each time they go to the soup kitchen, other users of Gowalla wouldn't be able to check into it after the timer expires (though 12 hours is rather lengthy chunk of time). Rather, I think this category—being in the Events section—is relegated to things akin to the National Public Lands Day events that happen throughout the year, but are not relegated to a specific location.
troutco, I don’t think that would happen. I volunteer for a domestic violence crisis line and work with DV shelters. Every volunteer must complete a lot of training and already knows not to disclose confidential locations to anyone, whether in person, on Twitter, or on a location service.
A lot of people who volunteer through HandsOn Action Centers, are spontaneous, one-time volunteers. They may get training onsite when they arrive for the first time – but might check-in when they first arrive, before they've had any real training.
troutco, I don't think that would be an issue.
I answer calls for a domestic violence crisis line, and we work with a lot of DV organizations including shelters with confidential locations. Volunteers are already legally required to complete a LOT of training, and we already know what's okay to disclose. Sometimes we do have events at public locations; in those cases, I'm happy to check in to raise awareness of the organization.
Troutco, thanks for reading and commenting on my post. Amanda, Sharon and Sharon brought up great points about the training that volunteers who serve at location sensitive sites go through. However, there is still the possibility of someone creating a Spot for a sensitive location. The folks at Gowalla are willing to remove locations that have been added to their database when people ask on their feedback community at http://feedback.gowalla.com/gowalla. Although this seems to have been limited to people creating a Spot for their homes, I'm sure that if someone asks for a location-sensitive Spot to be removed that it would be.
Thanks again for reading.
Michael: That's a good thing to know. At least the situation can be corrected if the location needs to remain confidential. Thanks for the link.
For what its worth: I love the ideas about rewarding volunteers for 'checking in' as volunteers a certain number of times, but wish it could be disassociated from the idea of reporting the location itself (with its address and geography).
On the other hand, rewards associated with 'checking in' run the risk of all other kinds of 'unverified volunteerism" — People claim they have volunteered (to fulfill school requirements for example), but really haven't done the service. So we don't want to over-reward people (like offering free Disneyland tickets — unless an outside party verifies the service).
But a 'volunteer achievement badge" or something like that — carries pride, and isn't something someone would try to earn unfairly. So I can see where it could work!