At Activus Connect, we believe in giving back and promote this with our Inspiring Forward initiatives.
We met with Victoria Voll (VV) to learn about her Day of Giving experience volunteering at the Smithsonian Transcription Center.
AC: First off, thank you for agreeing to this interview and sharing your experience with our readers. For your Day of Giving, what organization did you volunteer for?
VV: Of course, happy to do it! I volunteered for the Smithsonian Transcription Center.
AC: Can you tell us a bit about the organization?
VV: The Smithsonian Transcription Center is a website that is freely accessible to the public 24/7! It’s a crowdsourcing project that was developed as a collaborative way to digitally enable and increase the public engagement with Smithsonian materials and increase access and use of their digital content.
AC: That’s awesome! So, was this your first-time volunteering at the Smithsonian Transcription Center?
VV: I agree! And yes! First time but definitely not the last, I really enjoyed doing it.
AC: Are there any requirements for volunteers?
VV: Anyone can volunteer as long as you have a computer with internet access!
AC: What motivated you to volunteer at the Smithsonian Transcription Center?
VV: I’m a huge advocate for learning so I really appreciate and respect what the Smithsonian Transcription Center stands for and what they do! It’s also a great way to make a positive contribution to society while social distancing!
AC: Very true, Victoria, it is very important to keep social distancing during these times. Next, tell us a bit more about your experience while working on this crowdsourcing project.
VV: Honestly, I loved it. I mainly transcribed aviation articles from the 1900’s and I learned SO many new and interesting things! It’s also awesome to see all of the documents that so many other volunteers have transcribed already. It’s truly a group effort and I loved being a part of it. And yes, I absolutely agree!
AC: What would you say to encourage others to participate?
VV: This is an amazing organization that is doing wonderful things for the public by providing tons of free knowledge on SO many different subjects! There are so many documents to be transcribed and they definitely could use all the help they could get.
AC: Lastly, is there anything you’d like to tell our readers before we go?
VV: I would just really like to encourage everyone to check out the Smithsonian Transcription Center, it’s truly an amazing organization to volunteer with, and you can do it in your PJ’s! Also, I would love to thank Activus for giving me this opportunity, it’s very much appreciated.
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