Abstract

The present dissertation examines Meta-Volunteering-Websites. A Meta-Volunteering-Site is defined as a website presenting mainly about volunteering work, association, clubs or groups etc. In the dissertation, perspectives and chances of the Meta-Volunteering-Websites “vereinsnetz.de” are worked out, particularly to get a central position for volunteering in the web. The actual situation in the Internet is analyzed. It shows, that there are no coherent structures of websites about volunteering, Meta-Volunteering-Websites and related terms. Further it shows that the Internet is a possibility for volunteering, as it is a low-level access medium, might have a great significance, social influence and may be realized in a cost efficient way.

A further important aspect is the examination of search-engines and meta-search-engines about their probabilities to find relevant information about groups etc., volunteering offers - say about a special issue -. It is clearly demonstrated, that search-engines do not lead to the desired items very often. Even Meta-Volunteering-Websites - which are said to be specialized about that kind of information - were mostly not successful concerning these requests.

A high rate of visitors is regarded as a mean criterion for the success of a Meta-Volunteering-Websites. Only if there is a high rate of visitors the total number of addresses available on the site will be self-actualizing. This is a central criterion for interested citizens and closes to the circle to make the site interesting for a high rate of visitors.