An architecture for synchronous micro-volunteering in Africa using social media

Micro-Volunteering is the phenomenon of volunteering one´s time and energy for extremely short periods of time. It is often considered a subset of Virtual Volunteering where one can volunteer one´s time and energy via the Internet. There are many successful examples of Virtual Volunteering such as the Gutenberg project and the Librivox project. However, in both these cases, a volunteer must donate a substantial amount of his or her time in activities such as reading books or proofreading books. This paper examines the concept of synchronous micro-volunteering where potential volunteers can effectively donate as little as 10 minutes of their time and immediately assist other people. The paper then describes the architecture which supports synchronous micro-volunteering.