Give work to those who want it

A colleague recent posted a link on his Facebook wall to the Samasource website. Samasource is a non-profit social business. They offer "microwork opportunities" to marginalized people, from countries such as Pakistan, Kenya, and Uganda. The management team works by mobilizing socially responsible companies, small businesses, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and other professionals in North America to contribute by buying services from their workforce. Prices are fair, and the quality of the microwork and the allocation of resources earned through it are closely monitored by Samasource. 

A quick look at the list of services offered shows that many of these are services academics frequently outsource:
...data entry and digitization, web development, image and site moderation, application testing, video and audio services, project management, research assistance, virtual assistance...
All workers are trained and you can have transcription work, for example, delivered within 24 hours, for a very reasonable price. It's great for those who need the job done, and for those who want to do it. I plan to send some interviews to be transcribed very soon, and I write a post to let you know how it goes.
Here is a video of the founder of Samasource. Laila, speaking at TED. Take a look, give them some work, help make a difference :)


Leila Chirayath Janah: Ending Poverty in the Digital Age from TEDx Silicon Valley on Vimeo.

Comments

Hi Daiane!
I think your blog is great!
Please post some more! :)
Sandrine
Unknown said…
Hi Daiane,

How did the transcriptions go? I agree with Sandrine, your blog's great!

Cheeers!
Thanks guys!
I was disappointed to find out that the amount of interview data I had was too little for Samasource to work on... Currently, their account minimum at Samasource is $1,500/month, and, of course, my project wouldn’t meet that minimum. They were nice though, and introduced me to Leah Kimotho, the manager of another business process outsourcing group in Kenya called Flytech.
http://www.flytechbpo.com/
I haven’t got to use their services yet – I keep doing my transcriptions at home, using the F4 software. If you decide to try either Flytech or Samasource, let me know how it goes!