Free Publication: Guidance for Collaborating with Volunteer & Technical Communities

[...] it is difficult to find a single definition of V&TCs to fit every

group’s expertise, structure and raison d'être. They can be largely understood

as volunteer-based communities who apply their technical skills to

support humanitarian response. Some see V&TCs as “networks of

experts”2 who contribute highly specialized products and services, while

1 Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing

in Humanitarian Emergencies, (Washington, D.C. and Berkshire, UK: UN Foundation &

Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, 2011).

2 Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery and the World Bank, Volunteer

Technology Communities: open development, (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank,

2010).

others characterize V&TCs by the way they structure their communities

around ideals from the so-called Semantic Web:3 the belief in open data,

open-source technologies and non-hierarchical structures. [...]