SALESIAN CYBERSPACE: 29th March 2007 -- Whether or not the
act of volunteering is in itself virtuous is up to the philosophers or
theologians to work out. Given that it is closely related to
generosity, it must at least be a candidate for consideration.
But one thing is now certain - the idea of a 'virtual volunteer' is a
growing concept in Salesian circles. Herewith two examples.
The first comes from www.sdb.org! If you take
a look at the right hand side column on the home page of the
Congregation's web page, you will see 'Preferences'. This is a
'mouseover' line that drops down a list of various items, the first of
which says 'translations'. Feel free to take a look. Those
who enter in Italian, Spanish, French or Portuguese see the same item
in their own language. You can only get so far along the process,
until registered as a translator, but you will have noticed by this
stage the invitation to register, if you fee you can handle a
particular language pair. Those who have volunteered so far are
indeed virtual volunteers and much appreciated. The process
enables the web site to update its sections with greater ease - there
are checks and balances to keep the translation style even, but one
thing has already become apparent after a month of trialling the
process - many hands make light, and faster work!
The second comes from Cambodia and the newly opened
Don Bosco Hotel School. Be a 'virtual guest'! But the idea
goes a little further than this, to their benefit, naturally. It
is still in 'beta', so to speak, but the school is thinking of young
people around the world who for various reasons may not be in a
position to pull up stumps and move
across to Cambodia, but who still believe they have something to give.
Fr Al Rodas and his communications team in Sihanoukville are gradually
working up the idea - they believe there are many things a virtual
volunteer can offer. We could start with translations. They want
the items on their new 'hotel' site (and it is a real hotel offering
real, physical accommodation and tourist service) in a range of
languages. They are looking for designs for their graphics materials
(the school teaches more than hospitality); supporting projects and
making them known in their own country.
If Cambodia's foray into virtual volunteerism is as
successful as the first example is proving to be, then we may see more
of such volunteering. Click here to comment on this item.
GLOSSARY
pull up stumps: a cricketing term. Means
effectively to walk off the field (the act of pulling up the wickets or
stumps signals the end of the game) but is used also in the sense of
moving rather permanently from one place to another. _________________
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