Easy ways to donate time

Subtropical Island

Subtropical Island

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I’m always looking for purpose in my life. For me that’s a way to contribute.

My ability is very fluctuating. Sometimes I can do a lot and think through complex ideas, physical work etc but others I can barely think through how to do a routine task and certainly can’t leave home, or even bed, to do anything.

So, I thought we could collect together suggestions for how to contribute to .... anything really ... in small bites, online / from home.



Some examples to give you an idea (but feel free to get creative):

Some time ago someone posted a citizen science site where I could look at short motion-detector videos of animals in the jungle and categorise the video by what I’d seen. I can’t remember where that was but it would be a good candidate.

I knew someone who donated their time online to something like Ancestry.com (but presumably not a money-making site) transcribing names and details from photos of handwritten parish registries and census records.

I guess (from memory) reading books aloud for Librivox might be a good idea for days when reading (and speaking) are not too much.

There must be many of these sorts of projects that just need people to donate a bit of ad lib time.

Can you help me make a collection here? So we can find it on days when we can do a little extra but don’t want to waste that energy reinventing a plan.

(Mods: feel free to tidy up this post if it’s a mess)
 
Subtropical Island said:
Some time ago someone posted a citizen science site where I could look at short motion-detector videos of animals in the jungle and categorise the video by what I’d seen. I can’t remember where that was but it would be a good candidate.
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Possibly this one?
https://www.zooniverse.org/
They have all sorts of different projects. A while ago I worked on one identifying pest animals that happened to have wandered into wildlife cam screenshot. But I've seen other projects transcribing old records or helping train AI to recognise certain features on medical scans. All sorts really.
 
It's not an online thing but at one point I had a neighbour from a large family with a couple of small kids of her own. One Christmas she was really stressed so I decided to give her the gift of some "time". I wrapped & labelled all her Christmas presents for her.

I know that's a seasonal thing, but friends/relatives who have kids parties and do little party bags, or maybe someone needing help with wedding favours. It's a small way of contributing from your bed, even if you can't actually take part.
 
Ravn said:
Possibly this one?
https://www.zooniverse.org/
They have all sorts of different projects. A while ago I worked on one identifying pest animals that happened to have wandered into wildlife cam screenshot. But I've seen other projects transcribing old records or helping train AI to recognise certain features on medical scans. All sorts really.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this looks like just the sort of thing I was looking for! ...it’s not the one I was using but, at least at first glance this looks like it would be easy to: drop in and out of, keep track of some progress and achievement, and might make some difference to the world and someoen’s project.

:)
 
Invisible Woman said:
It's not an online thing but at one point I had a neighbour from a large family with a couple of small kids of her own. One Christmas she was really stressed so I decided to give her the gift of some "time". I wrapped & labelled all her Christmas presents for her.

I know that's a seasonal thing, but friends/relatives who have kids parties and do little party bags, or maybe someone needing help with wedding favours. It's a small way of contributing from your bed, even if you can't actually take part.
Click to expand...

Yes, very good idea.
Does take a bit of building up those connections again though.

I’m glad to hear of it working for you :)

(Edited out excess personal stuff)
 
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Andy said:
If anybody wants to contribute to the forum, see this thread Management committee announcement - Volunteers needed
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Looking forward to seeing what’s involved in some of these. A little more commitment than I was looking for but will see what evolves.

Personally, I’d be looking more for something like a thread where we can go and proof a document whenever we’re up to it, being one of a pool of people who can drop in and do so. (Something that allows a short bit of effectiveness and no need to plan ahead when it will be).
 
Subtropical Island said:
Yes, very good idea.
Does take a bit of building up those connections again though.

I’m glad to hear of it working for you :)

(Edited out excess personal stuff)
Click to expand...

She doesn't live nearby anymore. It was just that the opportunity arose at the time and I suddenly saw the opportunity to help someone else without clobbering myself.

I'm not really well enough anymore to sustain real life friendships. :(
 
What about testing donated jigsaws for charity shops? Or is there too much time pressure? Some places apparently just count the pieces, but that's stupid, because a "500-piece jigsaw" doesn't necessarily have exactly 500 pieces.

If you can hold the needles, crocheting things and knitting a scarf, or squares for a blanket, are things which ought to be able to be put down easily if necessary.
 
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