http://www.microvolunteerism.org

Coordinator: Melanie Rieback (American citizen, based in Amsterdam) Asst. Professor of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit.

I Network description

The Microvolunteerism Project is a fresh and exiting new international network dedicated to creating both a technological and social framework for the crowdsourcing of volunteer work.

In terms of technology, we are creating an open-source SW based platform that facilitates the distribution of project management work (at all levels), and that enables the creation of small well-defined bits of both technical and nontechnical project work, that we call “Microprojects”. We then allow volunteers to create social profiles (skills, interests), and apply Semantic searching and recommendation algorithms to match bits of project work to individual volunteers. Our SW platform also supports granular volunteer contribution tracking, and will have to deal with decentralization/distribution and security/privacy issues.

Socially-speaking, we are trying to build a community of both not-for-profit projects and volunteers. The formation of such communities will allow us to create a “skill sharing” system, that will allow both people and organizations with a diverse pallet of skills to mutually support each other in complimentary ways. The
Microvolunteerism community is supported by our SW project, but should ideally be able to thrive and interact independently of it.

The Microvolunteerism Project network, while recently formed, consists of combined clusters of people who have worked together for a longer period of time. Members our network have been also active in one (or more) of these projects:
– Stakeholder Democracy Network (2004)
– RFID Guardian Project (2004)
– Amsterdam Girl Geek Dinner (2008)

II Main goal for this event in relation to the Microvolunteerism network

While many of us have met individually on separate occasions, and we communicate/collaborate actively via email and Skype, this would be the first time that our entire network would be physically present at the
same location! That would provide us with an exciting opportunity to put our heads together, and get a lot of creative work done in a short period of time.

Some points to discuss:

TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

We would like to brainstorm about the following technical issues:

* Contribution tracking / volunteer ranking
* Managing data flow between distributed MV instances
* Designing a suitable security/privacy architecture
* Semantic data filtering and searching
* Architecting communications efficiency

SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

* How can we attract new volunteers? New pilot projects?
* How can the existing pilot projects best help each other?
* What skills are we still lacking in our network?
* How can we best keep volunteers motivated?
* What PR/marketing opportunities are available?
* Where can we find funding? (Grants, corporate sponsors, etc..)
* What are the next steps to take with our website?

PILOT PROJECTS

The Microvolunteerism Project network has connected these pilot projects
together in a mutually-beneficial discussion of shared goals and needs.
All of these projects have already benefitted from the mutual
brainstorming and skill sharing, and we hope to strengthen these bonds
during the Wintercamp.

– Groundwork / Visible Difference (Stakeholder Democracy Network)
www.stakeholderdemocracy.org

The transition from military to civilian rule in Nigeria has coincided
with a marked increase in tension and insecurity in the Niger Delta. The
undermining of fundamental human rights has been both an outcome and a
driving factor of violent instability in the region. Civil society in the
Delta has been severely compromised and now lacks the capacity to
adequately promote understanding and observance of fundamental rights.
This project aims to develop an educational, documentational and
implementational framework designed to boost and sustain the capacities
of civil society to advance and protect key civil, cultural, economic,
environmental, political and social rights.

– RFID Guardian Project
www.rfidguardian.org

The RFID Guardian Project is a collaborative project focused upon
providing security and privacy in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
systems. The goals of our project are to:

* Investigate the security and privacy threats faced by RFID systems
* Design and implement real solutions against these threats
* Investigate the associated technological and legal issues

The namesake of our project is the RFID Guardian: a mobile
battery-powered device that offers personal RFID security and privacy
management.

– Amsterdam Girl Geek Dinner
www.girlgeekdinner.nl

The Amsterdam Girl Geek Dinner (GGD) is a social event that is intended
to encourage women to explore science, technology, and other
traditionally male-dominated areas. The idea behind the GGD is simple —
we invitewomen who are kicking-ass in their respective fields, and we ask
them to give an informal talk, where they can describe themselves and
their work. This is followed by a Q&A session. During the talk, a buffet
dinner and drinks will be served. After the talk, the bar will open,
allowing ample time for socializing and networking. Men are welcome to
attend the Girl Geek Dinner if a female counterpart invites them.

Ideas for evening program (optional)

– Our network is very diverse.. from OS/hardware/web design hackers to
professors in computer systems/film/new media to NGO-based activists /
journalists, to a successful serial entrepreneur and retired VP of
marketing. Any of us would be happy to talk about what we do, or give
demos if appropriate.

III Participants

1 – Melanie Rieback – Asst. Prof. in Computer Science (Amsterdam, NL)
2 – Philip Homburg – OS hacker, Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, NL)
3 – Martijn Engler – Founder + CTO Crystal Labs (Dordrecht, NL)
4 – Christine Fischer – Community Education manager ACCESS (Den Haag, NL)
5 – Marcus Wagenaar – RFID Guardian SW engineer (Amsterdam, NL)

6 – Tanja Sihvonen – lecturer in new media, University of Turku
(Turku, Finland)
7 – Gaia Sprocati – program coordinator Stakeholder Democracy Network
(London, UK)
8 – Michael Uwemedimo – documentary maker + lecturer Roehampton
University (London, UK)
9 – Fabienne Serriere – FLOSS hardware hacker + CTO Doctr.com (Berlin,
Germany)
10 – Rory Hodgson
11 – Rutger Hofman
12 – Arjan Scherpenisse

Bio:
Dr. Melanie Rieback is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the
Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, in the group of Prof. Andrew Tanenbaum.
Melanie’s research concerns the security and privacy of Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) technology, and she leads multidisciplinary research
teams on RFID security (RFID Malware) and RFID privacy management (RFID
Guardian) projects. Her research has attracted worldwide media attention,
appearing in the New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, UPI,
Computerworld, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, and many other print, broadcast, and
online news outlets. Melanie’s research has received several awards (Best
Paper: IEEE PerCom ’06, Best Paper: USENIX Lisa ’06, NWO I/O Prize, VU
Mediakomeet, ISOC Award finalist), and Melanie has also served as an
invited expert for RFID security discussions with both the American and
Dutch governments. In a past life, Melanie also worked on the Human Genome
Project at the Whitehead Institute / MIT Center for Genome Research.