Spotlight on SCI History: Computer aided placement

by Philipp Rodriguez (Aug 5, 2013)

Isn't it normal that many things changed in the long history of the Service Civil International? SCI branches were founded and some has been dissolved as well. Organisational structure were created, modified and dissolved. Even some ideas has changed. However I think some technical and organisational challenges stayed. If you run organisation like SCI then you need e.g. an effective volunteer placement system.

Workcamp program 1980

A system for that purpose you find in every epoch of SCI history. The placement procedure we have now emerged in the late 1970s, which can be described in few words as follows: the volunteer chooses a workcamp in a list, a sending organisation place that choice and the workcamp hosting organisation accepts the volunteer. Finally the volunteer confirms his participation.

The Online Placement System (OPS), which SCI operates nowadays cover the whole placement process. A first version OPS has been developed by SCI volunteers in Italy in 2008. Since then it has been changed and enlarged in order to comply with the requirements of volunteers and SCI branches and groups.

For a person like me, interested in new technologies, it's interesting to read documents in SCI Archives about the use of new technologies in SCI 25 years ago [1]. Then personal computers (pc) and the communication between those devices through the telephone line just has been emerged. In the SCI European Newsletter in 1988 [2] the prospect of this new technology was promoted a visionary way: "The communication through 'telecompute' could clarify within seconds, whether or not a volunteer can be placed in another country."

This vision of "entering the dawning Information Age" resulted in various reaction. Klaas Sikkel (Netherlands) did fear that this would change the placement system: the sending organisation itself would take the decision whether a volunteer is placed in workcamp or not. He wrote then in a letter that this idea "[...] give the awkward impression that the matter is now in the hands of people too much blinded by technophilia to see world outside their PC in good proportions". Others like Robin Mackie (Switzerland) argued, that branches without computer would be excluded from the placement system and that a broken computer could endanger the volunteer exchange. Remarkable that he pointed out the importance of information security which is nowadays a hot topic. Others like Berth Verstappen (Norway) and Dave Axtell (USA) made a kind of proof of concept by exchanging workcamp information through a mailbox system, a precursor of our e-mail system. The printout of this first tele-communication can be found in SCI Archives [1,3] !

All this reactions led to a working meeting in Antwerp titled "Computers in SCI", which took place in August 1989 [1,4]. The group recommend a conservative approach. The paper system should be kept as the reference in the volunteer exchange. New technologies and procedures should be introduced gradually and evolve from experience. In their working paper they give also valuable insights about new technologies, which were available then in the late 1980's. They recommend SCI branches to evaluate word processing and consider to invest in a fax machine. Indeed Five years later fax has been widely used by SCI branches for the volunteer placement.

Today the OPS is the most advanced online tool for the placement of volunteers in workcamps. It has replaced the communication based on paper an fax. OPS now comprehends the full placement processes: searching for workcamps, communications with the volunteer and between organizations, management of the infosheets and the statistics of placement [5]. Paolo Pagano, member of SCI International Executive Comitte and the OPS development team, says that it's planed to add more features like real time statistics, the connection with social networks and online evaluation of workcamps. He points out that OPS is very much a collective project and the major changes are suggested by the annual international meeting on volunteer exchange.

References

[1] SCIIA 42402.2 Technical European Meetings (TEM) No.1-9 (1982-1990): http://www.archives.sciint.org/index.php?page=list-of-files&b=42601
[2] SCIIA 42601.2 European Newsletter, Bulletins No.1-34. (1981-1989): http://www.archives.sciint.org/index.php?page=list-of-files&b=42601
[3] Berth Verstappen: First tele-communication in SCI (April 1989): http://www.archives.sciint.org/first-tele-communication-1989
[4] SCI European Secretariat: Proposed policy on the involvement of computers in SCI placement (1989): http://www.archives.sciint.org/policy-computer-1989
[5] The Website of the Online Placement System (OPS) : http://www.workcamps.info