Supporting Volunteer Activities with Mobile Social Software

Many community organizations rely extensively on volunteer work. However, people who wish to help often have difficulties finding the time to volunteer. We are developing mobile social software that is intended to motivate users to volunteer and to help users find volunteering opportunities. In order to understand how technology might support volunteering, we interviewed 9 recent volunteers about their volunteer work. We report on their motivations to volunteer, obstacles to volunteering, and strategies they use to manage the demands of volunteering. We discuss how these factors are shaping the design of a mobile social application to support volunteering