VOLUNTEER’S MOTIVATION IN GLOBAL SOUTH DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE
Online volunteering by heterogeneous target group  

Pierre Demeulenaere
Thesis, Spring 2015
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences,
Degree Program in Social Services
Bachelor of Social Services
Option in Community Development Work

ABSTRACT
Demeulenaere Pierre. VOLUNTEER’S MOTIVATION IN GLOBAL SOUTH DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE
Diak South, Helsinki, Spring 2015, 43p. 2 appendices.
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Degree Programme in Social Services, Bachelor of Social Services (UAS) - Option in Community Work
The aim of the study was to compare a survey about Finnish church volunteers, with a survey conducted for this paper, about international online correspondents of a development magazine (GSDM). The focus was the motivation of the volunteers to act for their respective organizations.
The materials used were the results of interviews already done by Anne Birgitta Yeung, in her book Volunteering in Late Modernity, and an additional set of interviews of GSDM writers.
Semi guided interviews were used, as in the original survey from Yeung. The interviews were built with former questionnaires used in a previous survey about GSDM correspondents. Yeung’s ocotagon of volunteer’s motivation was also used, with its four pairs of motivation poles. An analysis of the new interviews has been done and then a comparison with the church volunteers’ survey.
New factors such as age, heterogeneity and a new concept of proximity rose up. The output is defined by additional factors of motivation, that should be tested through further researches.
The age and heterogeneity have an impact on the motivation of the volunteers, on the contrary to the online aspect of the volunteering, which does not seem to affect the correspondents’ actions.
Key words: Volunteering, Silcreation, Journalism, Global South Development Magazine, Motivation

CONTENTS

1 MOTIVATION FOR ALTERNATIVE VOLUNTEERING
2 VOLUNTEERING, SILCREATION, JOURNALISM AND YEUNG’S theory
2.1 Volunteering
2.1.1 Definition
2.1.2 Online volunteering
2.2 Silcreation
2.3 Journalism
2.3.1 Development journalism
2.3.2 Participatory journalism versus citizen journalism
2.3.3 Online Journalism
2.4 Global South Development Magazine
2.5 Motivation
2.6 Yeung’s theory
3 QUESTION, RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AND METHOD OF MATERIAL COLLECTION
3.1 Question?
3.2 Research environment
3.3 Method of material collection
3.4 Proceedings
3.5 New aspects
4 ANALYSIS
4.1 Thought / Action
4.2 Distance / Proximity
4.3 Continuity / Newness
4.4 Getting / Giving
5 COMPARISON, OPENING AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Similarities and new aspects
5.1.1 Thought / Action
5.1.2 Distance / Proximity
5.1.3 Continuity / Newness
5.1.4 Getting / Giving
5.2 Opening
5.3 Conclusion
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 - Questionnaire
Appendix 2 – Analysis table of the interviews

1 MOTIVATION FOR ALTERNATIVE VOLUNTEERING
It was a volunteering project in Estonia that encouraged me to study social sciences in Finland. During my volunteer experience, I had the opportunity to meet other people who were giving their free time for the sake of others. I could see what motivated them or what brought them to a foreign country for a year. Everybody there had different reasons to volunteer, like every correspondent I interviewed for my thesis.
When I got to be an intern in Silcreation, the association related to Global South Development Magazine (GSDM), I had an opportunity to inquire about the motivation of each volunteer to spend some of their time on writing their articles.
As the internship was proceeding, the opportunity to build a thesis linked to Silcreation, and especially to the GSDM sounded interesting. As a matter of fact, the interest why one has to express himself through this specific channel, which is online volunteering, is a question which merits to be asked.  And particularly to focus the questions on the motivation that the correspondents have to write for a journal such as GSDM.
As I previously experienced volunteering, I wanted also to know what was motivating others to do so, especially in a field such as development journalism.
The focus of this thesis is research-oriented, applying a model built to analyze volunteer’s motivation, on a target group of volunteers. The group which will be the subject of the research is composed of GSDM correspondents.
The method of data collection for the thesis is online interviews. Questionnaires have been used for a previous research concerning GSDM correspondents. Considering the number of correspondents working for the magazine, the chosen research method is qualitative, it is based on semi-guided interviews. The previous answers given about the volunteer's motivations were helpful tools to structure the interviews. These choices were also oriented by the research this thesis is based on, a book from Anne Birgitta Yeung, Volunteering in Late Modernity. For the comparison between her study and this one to be efficient, the same methods of data collection had to be used.
The key words used for this thesis, the main concepts are defined in the next chapter. Using Yeung’s book; as well as other previous researches; a frame of research has been drawn, to help the understanding of the chosen target group and topic of this study.
As volunteering is a cornerstone of this paper, a part of the second chapter has been dedicated to this key concept, other key words are also described.
The study of Yeung involved Finnish church volunteers doing onsite volunteering, without specific age bracket. This paper gathers interviews from international volunteers, acting online, with an average age of thirty years old.
All these difference will be analyzed along the paper, through four pair of poles, designed by Yeung. The relationship between the poles of gaining and distance are a point to focus on, as Yeung mentions possible relation between lack of commitment and gain as motives for volunteering (Yeung, 42.)
By finding the motivational reasons for volunteers to act, the octagon could be used for associations to understand their volunteers’ wishes for instance. It could help the volunteers to find right activities depending on their behavior and background experiences.

2 VOLUNTEERING, SILCREATION, JOURNALISM AND YEUNG’S theory
The target group chosen for this study is composed of correspondents, volunteering to practice citizen online journalism, so in order to understand the focus of this thesis, it would be appropriate to first draw a picture of the activity they exercise. Then a description of Silcreation, the association gathering these volunteers, is given and specifically GSDM, the tool used for these writers to express themselves. Once this in mind, an important key concept of this paper is explained which is the correspondents’ motivation to write for a magazine such as GSDM. Then a description of Yeung’s theory is given, which will help the reader to answer the question of the thesis.
2.1 Volunteering
2.1.1 Definition
It is important for the author to clarify the concept of volunteering at the beginning, as it is used all along this research. The term ‘volunteering’ was the hardest to define, not specifically for this thesis’ case, but literally speaking, concerning its definition and the definition of several terms surrounding it. Voluntarism, volunteerism and volunteering, all concern volunteers and voluntary work or actions, but they all have a different meaning.
The (individual's) volunteering effort/work, viewed in a societal context.
Above there is the definition of the voluntarism according to Yeung. It is the principle or system of doing something by or relying on voluntary action or volunteers. For instance, the GSDM board is relying on voluntary actions from the correspondents, who write their articles in the quarterly published magazine. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, voluntarism can be defined as such:
a theory that conceives will to be the dominant factor in experience or in the world.
Then volunteering and volunteerism, these are very closely linked, they both mean the help given to somebody without a wage. However the difference can be done by looking at the legal side of the question, volunteering does not have any frame, it is an action of help, without constraint of time or age limit for example. On the other hand, performing volunteerism gives a special status to the person, there has to be a precise task, or a certain number of hours defined to accomplish a work and there is an allowance given with sometimes social benefits. (Ministère de la Ville, de la jeunesse et des sports 2015.)
The action performed by the target group is considered as volunteering, as GSDM does not set any legal boundaries or any set of rules, there is no written contract between the volunteer and the magazine.
The key concept used in this research is volunteering, it is not a recent trend but it has been changing depending on its actors, their needs and environment. The role of volunteering in our society took a turn in this new century.
Changes in the attitude of western states concerning their welfare provisions have been seen, indeed, welfare budgets are decreasing for economic reasons, which is why citizen’s involvement is also changing. Volunteers associations got a new role next to states and market in the social welfare, a growing stance where community and active citizens are the actors. Responsibility and moral obligation are the keywords of this new era of volunteering, and they are not incompatible with online actions, among them development journalism is one of its examples (Milligan & Conradson 2011, 1.)
2.1.2 Online volunteering
In contrast with the theory this research is based on, the volunteering type targeted here is done online. In the chapter 3 of this thesis the similarities and new aspects of the comparison will be detailed. To understand this specific trend of volunteering, a little historical background is needed.
It is commonly stated that online volunteering is coming from the seventies, but it is not before the nineties and even the beginning of the millennium that it really left the nest.
The first online volunteering there is trace of is the Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library in the world, which began in 1971. To digitalize copyrights free books, in order to make them accessible to whoever would have a computer with an internet access. At that time, internet was not called as such and computers were still reserved to an elite, or for scientific purpose. At the end of the eighties, with the birth of the World Wide Web and the spread of lower cost computing machines, virtual volunteering began accessible to more people. But it is only in the nineties that the earliest researches and surveys on internet-mediated volunteering began to list the websites and associations using this type of volunteering. On the other hand, by lack of data, it is highly probable that there was a numerous amount of small organizations using online volunteering prior to the second millennium. (Cravens 2014.)
One of the most well-known currently functioning organization using online volunteers is Wikipedia.
2.2 Silcreation
Silver Lining Creation ry; shortened in Silcreation; is an association created in 2009 by a group of students from the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences. It has no waged employees, only volunteers (more than 280 in April 2013). Among them there are permanent correspondents representing about 40 countries: freelance writers, filmmakers as well as students. (Silver Lining Creation ry 2011.)
Silcreation uses tools of mass communication through international cooperation to share knowledge and provoke debates. Even if they are working with organizations all over the world, their main goal is to talk about issues in developing countries, and especially subjects such as health, education and justice for all, poverty alleviation, community development, youth, women and empowerment of oppressed and cultural minorities, human rights, peace and democracy, environmental protection and sustainable development, brain drain, alternative energies and initiatives for development.
2.3 Journalism
As a trainee, the author had the chance to be a part of Silcreation organization, which promotes development journalism. Their Product Oriented Internship Approach tried in the spring 2013 was very beneficial as to understand different type of media, including participatory journalism. The focus chosen in this internship was already online citizen journalism, and the final aim was the publication of an article in the association’s Global South Development Magazine.
Silcreation through online training provides tools to discover and use participatory approaches, while the task of GSDM is to promote grassroots journalism.
In the next subchapters, different types of journalism which help solve problems around the world are described.
2.3.1 Development journalism
Development journalism is an alternative way to publish information, with responsibility and care. It appeared in 1960, it is a different way of finding, treating and proposing the information to the reader. It needs research and time, but it clearly helps the empowerment of people. Often linked with participatory approach, it helps to solve community issues which can be social political or economic. Widely used in developing countries, it is still in minority in comparison to mass media. (Wijesiri 2012.)
In remote areas, especially in the third world, this type of journalism is efficient, but it needs links with public powers, and an audience. It can be performed either by professionals or by amateur journalists.
2.3.2 Participatory journalism versus citizen journalism
Here, the author is going to define clearly the type of activity of the interviewed volunteers. What they do is journalism, but a certain kind of, called citizen journalism, or also named grassroots or public’s journalism.
Professional journalists are completely out of this kind of process, ordinary people will act as correspondents, publishers and readers of this type of media. This is the kind of journalism that GSDM represents. The main difference from participatory journalism is the absence of professionals, in the latter, citizens do only participate in the cycle of gathering, treating and publishing the news, the process is created by journalists (Paulussen, Heinonen, Domingo and Quandt 2007, 6-7).
GSDM volunteers practice citizen journalism, as no members of the magazine are professionals and the articles published are not edited or monitored by experts.
2.3.3 Online Journalism
The online factor in journalism permits the publishing without meeting between the writers, and reaching people thousands of kilometers away. This is a rather new way to volunteer; it would not have been possible couple of decades earlier, the technology was not available for everybody; and it can now be done anywhere in the world by anybody who has access to a cell phone or a computer.
Online journalism appeared at the end of the last century, when new communications technologies got available, thanks to it, issues that could suddenly happen at the other side of the world could be transmitted via any internet connected device and known by one click anywhere you were. Control is more complex on this type of media from any state, this is why it provides more freedom of speech. Nevertheless it needs responsibility and professionalism from its writer, to be accurate and help to solve issues, not only to point at them. Critics are good only when they are constructive. And it is always the duty of the reader to see at the transparency of the sources and the objectivity of the article's author. For instance, a media producing development journalism can be owned by a political party or financed by a state and in this case risks of subjectivity and censorship are always present.
This type of journalism is now widely used to create awareness, and solve issues, by involving the local partners. (Caspi 2011, 346-347.)
On the other hand, it brings trust issues, and content needs to have sources, even if the correspondents are not journalists, they need to act as such. That is why in GSDM, for these rules to be respected, even if there is no minimum level of education required for development reporters, coordination positions are reserved to Master’s degree holders. And in addition, to enhance the quality of the magazine, once sent to the headquarters in Finland, the published articles are chosen by a board of editors that will judge the quality and relevance of the topics. (Bhusal, Manoj, E-mail 28.4.2015.)
2.4 Global South Development Magazine
In addition to making their own documentaries and short films on social, cultural and environmental issues, Silcreation has many tools and ways to reach its public. One of them is the GSDM which is a magazine published four times a year and it treats about third world development issues. Its slogan expresses well its action: Where people become reporters. There is no need to be a trained journalist to write about injustices, or actions done to break them. The publication has permanent correspondents all over the world, who are writing about their own countries, but it also has freelance writers. An editorial board decides about the topics and publication dates, the publisher is Silver Lining Creation ry. (Silver Lining Creation ry 2011.)
2.5 Motivation
The main focus of the paper is the motivation of volunteers working for GSDM. To have a notion about what makes people volunteer, the ‘motivation’ term has first to be defined.
Motivation is the answer to the question why, or the way to find the interest of an individual to act. As Yeung puts it in her book:
The challenge the article meets is the challenging question of whether and to what extent any volunteer or other motivation study contributes information transcending the every-day notion that "people volunteer because they want to help and like meeting other people".
In this paper, motivation is the key concept that was enlarged and defined by the interviews themselves. It was firstly framed by the research of Yeung, with her octagon explained in the next subchapter.
2.6 Yeung’s theory
Anne Birgitta Yeung, in her book Volunteering in Late Modernity, uses an empirical survey, linked to interview data. She is debating about the role of volunteering (especially in church) in the current Finnish society. The new individualities created by distances from traditions leading the people act less in groups are opposed to new or other links bonding the people together, such as differences in religion or the place in the society.
Yeung wrote an introductory essay around four articles linked with the church volunteering, keeping a focus being dependence and independence to social ties and religiosity.
The article four in her work describes a phenomenological analysis of volunteer motivation, this thesis is mainly based on this theory. A comparison between the resulting model found by Yeung and the one obtained in this paper is done in the analysis. (Yeung 2004.)
The article quoted in Yeung’s book explores the individual motivation in voluntary work, as well as its place in the late modern society.

FIGURE 1. Yeung's octogon of motivation factors
To answer the research question, the motivation model of Yeung was used, an illustration of it is depicted on the figure above. (Yeung 2004, 96.)
On this figure, four main themes of interest can be seen, gathered by pairs; Getting/Giving, Continuity/Newness, Distance/Proximity and Thought/Action.
Yeung sorted the motivational poles in two sides, on the left red part of the octagon we can see getting inwards, which are benefiting personally the volunteer, obtaining benefits, the continuity of content, distance from others and internal reflection.
On the other half of the figure, the red side is oriented outwards, to social circles, activities, new contents, and the will to give to others.
The research above has been done to have an understanding of motivation for volunteering.
Varied methods have been used in this research, the asset of this choice was to answer a complex question both on individual and collective levels. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection have been done, it was the intention of the researcher to have results as various as possible. (Yeung 2004, 56.)

3 QUESTION, RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AND METHOD OF MATERIAL COLLECTION
3.1 Question?
The question of this paper can be formulated as such: where does the motivation of GSDM volunteers come from?
These volunteers give some of their free time to an association that most of them only know through a website. There are several factors of motivation provoking this citizen online volunteering and they are the focus of this thesis.
The work started during the internship for Silcreation. The first research based on Yeung’s theory of motivation and the questionnaires prepared for it provided some ideas for a new survey and helped to build the interviews for the data collection. While originally the questions of the interview were built solely on the poles of the octagon, the structure of the questionnaire evolved thanks to new aspects brought by the first interviewees.
These similarities and new aspects of the target group chosen in this paper compared to Yeung’s are detailed in the next subchapters detailing the basis of the comparison, the octagon model.
3.2 Research environment
At the beginning of working on this thesis, it appeared to be clear that the volunteers themselves would be the main material source. Indeed, it is always the client who is the most aware of his/her situation (issues, needs and motivation), in our case, the writers are the ones who can answer the question of motivation.
Another option could also have been to combine the data collection with the service providers of this magazine, the board of GSDM. Individual and/or group interviews were always an option. But as the quality of the completed interviews and its analysis gave convincing results this alternative option was not used.
The advice of one board member of the publication was asked, to have an opinion about Yeung’s theory. How the octagon and motivation poles were seen from the service provider’s perspective, was it possible to apply them to the correspondents of the magazine? It appeared that the comparison would be possible, even if several motivational themes, would have to be adapted, the distance/proximity pole for example, because of the online type of volunteering in this case.
3.3 Method of material collection
As I wrote a short article during my internship at Silcreation in 2013; asking the correspondents about their motivations to write in such paper questionnaires were used. They were created by themes, using the four pairs of motivational poles that are described in Yeung’s book. This attempt already helped me out to understand better the volunteers’ choices and the differences between the theory and its needed adaptation while it will be applied to GSDM.
Thanks to this previous writing that I did about the volunteers of the association, I already received the list of correspondents and authorization from the magazine to contact them. Thus, the approval of each interviewee was an ethical need for the use of their answers in the thesis. Any quote of the interviewees’ names does not appear in this paper, even if it was thought this way beforehand, few of the correspondents wished so.
The type of data collection chosen is online semi-structured interviews. The online character of the procedure has been ineluctable, mainly because the members of the target group were all living abroad. Also, the resources of the researcher (especially financial) were not sufficient to complete face to face interviews. It was also very interesting to use online method knowing the context of the study, being online volunteering.
The semi-guided type of interview was chosen considering several aspects of the interviewees. First, they did not all currently write for the magazine, some had long term previous experience with the quarterly published paper, so it was to be expected that their view on GSDM would differ, also few correspondents did have and/or still have additional responsibility in the magazine (such as coordination or edition). Another fact that was quoted in the definition of the keywords is the heterogeneous aspect of the writers. It was important for these reasons to have a flexible structure of questions for the interviews, to be able to not restrain anybody from explaining fully his/her own point of view.
The possible choice of a second series of questionnaire as the method for material collection in this thesis (after the first series used during the 2013 internship in Silcreation) has been quickly ruled out. Firstly because it was a risk to have the same people willing to answer and as I used the questionnaires to prepare this paper, it would have been a risk to have a lack of quality in the material gathered.
Then, another risk of using questionnaires is to harvest politically correct answers. As the interviewer is not present, the person that is questioned might tend to answer ideas generally known or admitted. Another constrain is that self-reports decrease the amount of material that can be obtained from the subject. Only data that can be accessed consciously by the person questioned will be given as an answer, and these thought will be filtered by the will of the person to give proper answers, this depending on the time and motivation that the questioned person want to allocate to the questionnaire. About volunteering, unconscious reasons or wills might be interfering with the motivation of the subject.
For the reasons mentioned above, self-reports were dismissed as a method of material collection for this study (Aydinli, Bender, Chasiotis, van de Vijver, Cemalcilar, Chong and Yue 2015, 4).  
In the appendix the final version of the interview structure can be found.
The interviews were structured as such – first, some brief questions about the identity of the person were asked, such as the age, nationality and education. Then a background status was built, depending on the correspondent, some emphasis were done on their main activity and hobby. A part was also dedicated to the volunteering activities the interviewee took part in his/her past and present.
After those, the relationship between GSDM and the volunteer was dealt with, including the responsibility of the person in the magazine, the type and frequency of article written and the possible links with the choice of particular topics related or not to the job or the hobbies of the volunteer.
Then, an explanation about the octagon model of Yeung and the eight motivation poles were given, in order to give a frame to the core of the interview.
Once each pair was dealt with, a final open question was asked to the interviewee, for the volunteer to express motivation criteria that might have been skipped beforehand in the conversation.
Qualitative method has been used, for a total of five interviews that have been conducted in the month of March 2015.
3.4 Proceedings
Researches have been done in libraries for books dealing with the key concepts quoted in the last chapter and through Diana, the Diak’s library search engine. Keywords in the browser were linked with the key concepts. Firstly individually to define clearly each word, then associations had to be tried in order to find more specific results.
Then, once the topic of the thesis began to be clearer, internet database such as Nelli have been the source of more detailed and precise researches (e.g. the definitions of the key concepts, even if books are helpful too, they are a bit too general for this type of study).
While understanding Yeung’s theory, building the semi-guided interview structure, and analyzing its results, additional theories about volunteering and their motivation were found, to understand and analyze properly the data collection. 
Internet has been used for the background research, especially Google scholar, to complete the definition of the key concepts, to search for similar researches on online volunteering and to gather the data treating of Silcreation (coming from their own website).
3.5 New aspects
A clear difference between Yeung’s book and this paper is the nature of the target group, indeed, the Finnish researcher focused on volunteers from Finland, practicing ground volunteering. Yeung’s interviewees are different than the correspondents of GSDM that are coming from all over the world; constituting a heterogeneous group; and giving some of their free time to a different type of volunteering, being online, for a specific type of journalism, being citizen type.
Also, the volunteers interviewed by the Finnish researcher were all members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. And even if they were not all active members of their congregation, the role of the church in their volunteering activities is important.
The possible effects of the religiosity on the volunteers of GSDM were not taken into account, as the topic was not mentioned during the interviews.
Here; again in opposition to Yeung’s book; there is a factor that can influence the view and/or the act of volunteering from the correspondents depending on their origins. The interviewees composing the target group of this thesis’ data collection are scattered all over the world and this has to be taken in account.
The authors quote several influences on the motivation of the volunteers depending on their origins (Hustinx, Handy, Cnaan, Brudney, Pessi and Yamauchi 2010).
4 ANALYSIS
The analysis has been done by comparing each of the four themes of Yeung’s theory with the results obtained from the five interviews gathered. The results are gathered in a table that can be found among the appendices.
4.1 Thought / Action
The factor that comes evidently in this pair is the fact that the correspondents are free to choose the subject of their liking as their article topic. It is closely linked with the distance factor that is explained in the next subchapter of the analysis.
All interviewees had antecedents in journalism, blogging or writing for any kind of media, they all wrote in the past and they are all still doing it through GSDM or other platforms. They all do mix personal reflexion and research in the article that they write, and such magazine allows them to do so. Also, most of them had previous experience(s) of writing online, which is where the link with the distance appears. Indeed, most of the correspondents do not publish their articles locally and do not debate their writings with others. In addition, no coordination is required with the board of editors in Finland.
In other terms, the writers enjoy a complete freedom of expression, nobody will tell them which topic to write about, neither any deadline to respect. When their article is ready, they submit it for the board to review it, and if it is chosen by the editor, it will be published as such.
Also, another critical criterion that links all the people I interviewed is their level of studies, combined with the passion that they all have for writing. There is no minimum level of education requirement to candidate for a development reporter position for the magazine. Even for the interviewees that have or had coordination responsibilities; for which a master’s degree is required; they all began as basic reporters. (Bhusal, Manoj, E-mail 28.4.2015.)
All the correspondents I talked to have at least a master’s degree and all share the same hobby of writing. Most of them share the same root for this hobby, in their previous university, they all did participate in student’s union activities through school’s journal and/or did studies including a large part of academic research and essays writing. This creates a link with the continuity factor, analysed farther in the paper, as the correspondents want to pursue the activity of writing.
Even if it was not clearly shared by all, a majority of the interviewees mentioned the field part of their volunteering, being the interviews they do in order to write their articles. Indeed, good articles about local and/or regional issues require interviews, that is to say some action next to the thoughts. This minimum of involvement with others; required while writing such type of articles; and this need of knowledge from the volunteers is linked with two other poles of motivations that are proximity and getting.
The lack of direct contact with other volunteers and especially with the board of editors can also have a negative effect on the relationship between the correspondents and their association. Especially when talking about long-term links, some volunteer have expectations and needs that differ from its editing organization and without direct contact, it deteriorates the will of a writer to give some of his/her free time.
This last point shows the close link in this study of two poles of motivation being the distance and the lack of action. The fact of volunteering without direct contact with others affects the motivation of the correspondents. Some can deal with it, it is even the part of online volunteering that is suiting them the best. Meanwhile for others, the distance between writers and editors is too problematic for them to continue a long-term partnership with the magazine.
For this pair of pole, the thought side prevails on the action part, which is rather normal while studying volunteering in the form of magazine writing. The interviewees appreciate the latitude given to them for their task and the opportunity that GSDM give them to express their thoughts to a large audience.
4.2 Distance / Proximity
This pair appearing in Yeung’s model was the one subjected to the biggest change, this known even before the collection of the material. Indeed, the main difference between Yeung’s target group and this study’s interviewees is the volunteering type. That’s why citizen journalism as practised in the magazine does not change the notion of distance from the previous research, but different results were expected to appear.
As a link with the previous pole that is thought, the idea of the freedom of expression is coming back, as well with another aspect of this latitude that the correspondents enjoy. This other notion is their choice of audience, the public that the magazine offers to them is the one that they research, by willing to publish articles concerning international topics. For the interviewees, international topics are meant to be read by international audience. Either because the people writing for the magazine do not have a public interested by such kind of topics at home, or because they want to find some peers or even mentors to exchange with.
Though, the opposite aspect of the pair will appear here; linked with the lack of direct relationship between writers and/or editors mentioned above; some correspondents do lack the response of the readers and the lack of comments following the publication of an article. This absence of proximity and of proper distant network is an issue that appeared for some volunteers.
A point that was not openly mentioned by the interviewees, but that was implicit in their answers was the freedom that the correspondents were enjoying through this online type of activity. The freedom of practising their hobby from wherever they wish, wherever meaning here at home, or at work, from any kind of platform connected to the web and above all from any place in the world. A recent study about internet-mediated volunteering in European Union relates this fact of convenience, directly related to online volunteering. (Cravens 2014, 23.)
This last point is very important, as all interviewed volunteers did travel and live for a time abroad, either for studies or for work. That is why volunteering online can be seen as a good tool for them to express their writing hobby. They all entered in contact with GSDM through internet, either other networks of volunteers online, blogs or even just Google.
Amongst the material gathered a factor that did not fit in anywhere at the beginning came later in this pole, it is the age of the volunteers. With an average of 30 and a median of 29, the generation of correspondents questioned grew up with the availability of the internet tool. That is a factor that should not be neglected while analysing online journalism.
As seen earlier in the action pole, good articles about local or regional events require certain proximity with the topic, and it can only be obtained through interviews of autochthones. And for some correspondents it is the motivation for travelling or working abroad, to get closer to the issue they want to talk about, or the culture they are interested in. And linked with it, they are also interested to see other people and ways of thinking, in order to go over their basic education, prejudices and other ‘native’ boundaries.
4.3 Continuity / Newness
The citizen online journalism that the interviewees are practising has roots in their common type of education. As mentioned before, all the correspondents questioned have a Master’s degree and most of them were involved in journalism activities amongst their universities. They all have a thirst for thinking and researching, as they had to do these for their studies, plenty of essay writing and academic research. If the passion of writing was not born before, they all got this hobby on the benches of their schools.
By writing for GSDM they continue their passion for writing on subjects that they encountered while studying and that they want to share. They also have the will for new challenges, by deepening their knowledge in fields they are used to, and by getting new interests in developmental issues.
Most of them also have had previous experiences of online volunteering, either through networks of think tank, their own blogs or newspapers published on internet. Journalism and essay writing are clearly not new activities for these correspondents.
A new factor, that is in again in relation with the age is the thirst of knowledge from all the interviewees inquired. Indeed, even if most of them have a job, they are not specifically in relation with the action they carry out amongst the magazine. Either to compensate with a job where research and writing are not required, or to get closer to issues they do like to debate, the correspondents use the magazine to learn on topics or to express their opinions.
The young age again is a motor for all the magazine writers that answered the interviews; inherently; they all write from time to time amongst articles that continue topics encountered previously in their studies. Also, explicitly for some and still rather evidently for all, the perspective of resume building is never far. (Hustinx et al. 2010.)
Linked with the young age, the newness and the getting factors lay the opportunity for these volunteers to develop networks and strengthen their knowledge in the development field. For some it was clearly stated that such type for volunteering was self-serving, even if they had stable long-term employment, GSDM was a way to explore the field of development and search new partners and/or jobs.
4.4 Getting / Giving
In addition to what has been mentioned above about self-interested sides of volunteering, the people inquired about their volunteering for the magazine all share a common will to make people aware of issues that they find important. The subjects that the correspondents write about; can be local, regional or international; they are always a way to give opinions, data and knowledge to the reader.
An implicit factor that came up after the analysis of the material gathered is the social status most of the volunteers share. They all managed to get at least a master’s degree and they all did travel or lived abroad for some time. It is clearly not given to everybody to enjoy such things, so these volunteers use this chance that has been given to them by giving some of their time to those who do not have it.
5 COMPARISON, OPENING AND CONCLUSION
As mentioned previously in the description of the material collection for this paper, similarities and differences were found in comparison to Yeung’s theory. That is why some results in the analysis completed amongst the interviews could be expected, thanks to the common will of giving free time and the similar method of interview, for instance.
On the other hand, some new aspects or divergences between the two studies were the possible sources of disparities in the results, for instance the different ethnicities of the volunteers and the online character of their actions.
5.1 Similarities and new aspects
In her article, Yeung describes pair by pair the motivational themes that were quoted by the volunteers along the interviews. Similarities and differences appear in the four dimensions of the octagon, they are listed below.
5.1.1 Thought / Action
The thought pole in Yeung’s study contains mostly spiritual and religious inputs, related to the volunteering environment of her study, including the notion of value. In the analysis of the present paper, the central theme that came up is the freedom of expression. It can be related to the value of volunteering mentioned by Yeung’s interviewees. Indeed, as GSDM volunteers have a chance to express themselves about topics related to their studies, and/or their interests, church volunteers act accordingly to their religious values.
On the other hand, the online factor of volunteerism draws a clear difference between both surveys. This new aspect is related to the distance factor, that of the writers being able to write their thoughts with plenty of freedom, because they are on their own during the research and writing process.
This freedom is mentioned in Yeung’s analysis concerning the action pole of her interviewees, as they are enthusiastic about doing some good by enjoyable actions. The importance about the action side in volunteering is underlined by GSDM volunteers, as it is a need for giving birth to a proper article, interviews on the ground are completed. 
The criteria of regularity quoted by the church volunteers can be seen as milestones on which they can rely on, as regular dates for the time they give. This factor is very interesting when translated to the international volunteers. Indeed, most of the writers agree on the opposite point, being the latitude they enjoy, as no deadlines are imposed to them. But it is not the opinion of all and that is where the interest of interviewing former volunteer of GSDM lies. It is the same absence of checkpoint, or coordination between writers and editors that is seen as an issue for ancient correspondents.
An important point coming to light with this aspect of the comparison is the online factor. This particular type of volunteering permits a unique combination of both poles, thought and action. It is an opportunity for those who have the education and the experience to analyse issues, by being straight on the ground or by interviewing the actors. Those analyses, (in this study, those papers) are somewhat the mean of acting and expressing themselves for people that can’t. This is the root of development journalism, GSDM correspondents can be seen as vehicles of thought, which is closely linked to certain factors of spirituality that can be found in the analysis of Yeung, as some church volunteers were seeing themselves as spiritual mediators.
At first glance, the distance pole was seen to have a considerable influence on this pair of factors. But once the interviews were done, it was quickly seen as partially false, as good articles about developing countries (specifically local topics), requires interviews. Even if not all the correspondents write papers needing interviews, it is very often essential for quality results and the proximity pole analysed in the next subchapter shows that is not randomly that most of the correspondents are living or lived in developing countries, close to the actions they are writing about.
However, the distance and online elements tip the scale in favour of the thought pole concerning this study.
5.1.2 Distance / Proximity
As mentioned in the previous subchapter, the fact for some writers to have some distance with their editor is seen as a good thing, as long as their need of interaction with other writers and editors is not too high. If the latter happens, then proximity lacks, it is a very subjective matter, as the implication in the magazine is not the same for all writers.
A term that is mentioned in Yeung’s book and that could define well the benefit of the distance for the volunteers is flexibility. Even if GSDM volunteers did not quote specifically this notion, it is an obvious and important aspect that is recurrent while analysing online volunteering.
Some volunteers of the magazine wish to publish their article without obligations of time and without imposed subject or frame, which is the base of citizen journalism. The correspondents do not debate and/or publish their article locally, they are used to write and publish their work online (this last point is detailed in the next subchapter).
There is also an interesting idea shared by some interviewee that international issues are interesting only for international audience (in opposition to local publication), which is another trace of development journalism. This is of course an aspect that can’t be compared to Yeung’s thesis, as the heterogeneity and online elements are unique to this study. Another interesting point underlined by the international volunteers is the practicality; or again flexibility; that provides online writing and publishing. Especially in our late modern society, where most of the people having achieved Master’s degree encountered the use of a computer, if it is not in addition to a smartphone, a tablet or a PC. All the volunteers interviewed got to know GSDM through web based social networks, or simply searching engines.
That leads to a different definition of proximity defined by new means and tools of communication. This new era of proximity gives a new perspective to this pair of factors, for instance the correspondents of the magazine can practice their writing hobby from anywhere. With the new internal network for GSDM writers put in place on the website of the magazine, the physical distance is again replaced by online contacts and debates, bringing people closer, creating this new kind of proximity, via online technologies.
An interesting comparison about the choice the volunteers have in the physical and psychological distance they wish to put with their volunteer organization can be done. Yeung’s interviewees express enjoying the choice they have to take part in a volunteer’s action or not. The same choice is given to GSDM volunteers, as they conduct their writing as they wish.
The main difference in the comparison between both analyses lies in this pair of pole. In Yeung’s results, the pair clearly balances on the pole of proximity, but for this study, it is hard to choose a pole. As explained earlier, a new definition of proximity can be applied to online volunteering. Even if the results of this survey show the pole of distance as more important, it is the type of action accomplished by the correspondents that influences it. GSDM writers are at the end writing articles on their own, without being close to anybody else while writing.
5.1.3 Continuity / Newness
The relationship that the interviewees have with volunteerism depends on a factor that was not mentioned as such in Yeung’s book, the age. Even if a reference to volunteering as the replacement of paid work for pensioners is made by a church interviewee, the emphasis on the role of the age as motivational factors is not done in the Finnish research.
The average age of the magazine interviewees is around thirty years old. A majority clearly stated that their volunteering actions were motivated by a chance of getting job opportunities, strengthening their knowledge in the development field and building their curriculum vitae.
The correspondents interviewed all got in the recent past academic degrees, which is why for them writing is a continuation. It is a continuation and development of previous topics they met at school, a way to redo debates and to strengthen the knowledge they had, on development topics for instance.  Most of them began to write in their universities, as well as being active as volunteers in student’s associations.
Volunteering for GSDM is also on the same line as blogging, or publishing and writing articles on specialized websites dedicated to development issues.
Some factors quoted in the last paragraphs can be found in Yeung’s analysis. A relationship with the age is done in the next subchapter as well as in the conclusion.
As in Yeung’s results, a tendency cannot be really drawn. It is a balance between continuity of hobby and newness concerning the development of knowledge, professional and personal networks.
5.1.4 Getting / Giving
The distance factor due to the online character of the volunteering has an impact on the pair getting giving. Due as well to the difference in the type of activity practised by the church and the magazine journalists, what the volunteers get and give is substantially different. 
In the pole of getting, the church volunteers mention the joy and self-fulfilment that their activity brings them. It is not explained as such by the journalists, as they seem to be more focused on practicalities. The only common point that can be underlined about the comparison would be the chance to get some work experience. Otherwise, Yeung’s analysis reveals much more psychological and spiritual answers. Concerning GSDM volunteers, it is their research of knowledge in journalism and development field which is underlined, as well as a chance to develop their CV and professional networks.
Here again, a relationship with the age of the correspondents can explain this aspect of the results. For young volunteers, self-interested reasons to volunteer are more likely to be found. It also depends on the country the volunteer is from. (Hustinx et al. 2010, 351-364.)
The giving side of volunteering, in Yeung’s analysis is depicted by a desire to help and to show the good example. The terms used by the correspondents are not as explicit as those used by the church volunteers. The writers clearly state their wish to make other people aware of issues, to share their knowledge in the form of articles. But a very important point, that none of the correspondents mentioned explicitly, is their gift of time, for those who do not have it. All the volunteers had the chance to get an advanced education and they could all travel, to open their mind and get more experience about the subjects they talk about. This is the core of volunteering for these journalists.
For a long term participation of any volunteers, in any kind of organization, a balance between getting and giving is requested. But while the church volunteers get spiritual or psychological satisfaction, the volunteers writing for the magazine are expecting more practical things in return, such as experience above all. On the other hand, giving is still about time for all, to take some moments in their life to allocate to an activity without expecting anything special in return.
5.2 Opening
A more psychological survey, describing the effects and causes of volunteering could be done. In this study, even if the background of the volunteers had its place in the interviews, it did not constitute the main part of the questions. The octagon could be used several times during the volunteering of the interviewee, giving an idea of the impact of volunteering in the life of the person.
Yeung mentioned that her model octagon can be used to individually analyze the behavior of the volunteers. Another idea of opening that she mentions is to focus more on the altruistic side of volunteering.
This model could also be used to analyze the relationship that a volunteer can have with its volunteering organization. This way, the associations employing such working force could settle the qualities required for their future volunteers, as well as understanding the needs of his volunteers.
Additional comparative studies between homogeneous and heterogeneous target group of volunteers could be very interesting. It could give opportunity to understand the impact of different culture and education on the motivational factors. The level of education has also possibly an influence on the results found in this study, further research could determine how deep this influence is.
The country of origin, therefore the environment and education have an impact on the motivation of the volunteers as well. Some countries will have less altruistic influence than others, where the help to others will come first, compared to CV building for instance. (Hustinx et al. 2010, 364.)
Former, new and experienced volunteers amongst the magazine were interviewed, the commitment length perspective could be an interesting factor to include in the octagon as well as in further studies.
Additional research could be led concerning the type of association the volunteers are into. Organizations where volunteers are the primary beneficiary of their activity probably have different motivations than association volunteers, who give their time to ensure the good functioning of their association. (Reed & Selbee 2002, 3.)
5.3 Conclusion
The religiosity perspective of Yeung’s volunteers (Yeung, 2004) was one of the theme of her research. As this study is a comparative analysis, a concluding remark on this topic seemed to be necessary. Spiritual beliefs and values are not expressed equally by all interviewees, meaning that even with the same type of interviews for both studies, answers are various depending on the way of expression each volunteer has. Everybody believes in something, religiosity is the tip of the iceberg. As all volunteers have their own beliefs, they certainly have an influence on their motivation to give some of their time for an activity. GSDM correspondents all try to share their knowledge through their articles, their common belief is to make development issues known internationally.
The European commission study of 2014 about Internet-mediated volunteering in European Union mentions an interesting point about the minimal requirements for people to volunteer online. It is very interesting to relate this point to the average age of the interviewees of GSDM for instance. People that were not born or that did not get proper training to new technologies of communication are not concerned by this type of volunteering. Meaning that a whole generation of senior citizen is excluded and this could have an impact on the motivation factors between both studies. (Cravens 2014, 31.)
For example, altruistic gift of time are more probable to be done by older volunteers rather than younger ones. These last might be more interested in self-centered factors such as acquiring new skills. (Hustinx et al. 2010, 351.)
The online factor increasing the distance between volunteers did not completely unbalance the distance and proximity pair. As every correspondent is different, they all have different needs in social and physical distance with others.
The sole online factor does not have a major influence on the motivation factors of the volunteers, as the comparison between both studies can show. The volunteers will chose regular or online volunteering because of the field of activity they want to act in, the opposite does not seem to work. (Cravens 2014, 23.)
Additional study could be possible as to search the reasons for volunteering, between the field and the traditional or online way.
As in Yeung’s findings, the poles of gaining and distance were not found to be especially related, absence of commitment and selfishness were not noticed amongst the interviewees’ answers.
Volunteers among Finnish students may show more altruistic reasons for volunteering compared to other nations. Since 1990 and the depression, the social democrat Finnish state did some cutbacks in social services. That is why it is relying more on volunteering in matter of social aid nowadays and Finnish volunteers give this social altruistic nature to their volunteering. (Hustinx et al. 2010, 371.)
That might be one of the reason about the more explicit side of the altruistic perception for the Finnish church volunteers while explaining their motivations.
REFERENCES 
Aydinli, Bender, Chasiotis, van de Vijver, Cemalcilar, Chong and Yue 2015. A Cross-Cultural Study of Explicit and Implicit Motivation for Long-Term Volunteering. Sage Publications. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly  1 –22.
Bhusal, Manoj. Executive Director Silver Lining Creation RY. E-mail 28.4.2015.
Caspi, Dan 2011. A revised look at online journalism in Israel: entrenching the old hegemony. Routledge. Accessed 2nd of May 2013. http://anna.diak.fi:2100/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7cc0395b-b762-4034-9699-5200a6c3c6bb%40sessionmgr12&vid=2&hid=12
Cravens, Jayne 2014. Internet-mediated Volunteering in the EU: Its history, prevalence, and approaches and how it relates to employability and social inclusion. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. EUR – Scientific and Technical Research series – ISSN 1831-9424 (online). ISBN 978-92-79-37795-2 (pdf).
Hustinx, Handy, Cnaan, Brudney, Pessi and Yamauchi 2010. Social and Cultural Origins of motivations to volunteer. A Comparison of University Students in Six Countries. Sage Publications. International Sociology Vol. 25(3): 349–382.
Merriam-Webster 2015. Dictionary. Voluntarism. Accessed 10th of May 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voluntarism
Milligan & Conradson David 2011. Landscapes of voluntarism. The Policy Press. University of Bristol, Fourth floor, Beacon house, Queen’s road, Bristol BS8 1QU UK.
Ministère de la Ville, de la jeunesse et des sports 2015. Accueil. La Vie associative. La politique associative de l'Etat. Bénévolat, Emploi salarié, volontariats. Bénévolat et volontariat en France. Accessed 10th of June 2015. http://www.associations.gouv.fr/955-benevolat-et-volontariat-en-france.html
Paulussen, Heinonen, Domingo and Quandt 2007. Doing It Together Citizen Participation In The Professional News Making Process. Observatorio (OBS*) Journal, 3 (2007), 131-154.
Reed, Paul B. & Selbee L. Kevin 2002. Volunteers Are Not All The Same: Heterogeneity in the Voluntary Sector. 31st ARNOVA Annual Conference, Montréal, Québec.
Salmons, Janet 2012. Cases in online interview Research. Sage Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, California 91320.
Silver Lining Creation ry 2011. About us. Accessed 23rd of March 2013. http://www.silcreation.org/aboutus.htm
Silver Lining Creation ry 2011. Projects. Current Activities. Accessed 30th of March 2013. http://www.silcreation.org/projects.htm
Wijesiri, Lionel 2012. Importance of Development Journalism.  Accessed 2nd of May 2013. http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/05/03/fea01.asp
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1 - Questionnaire
You

Ethnicity?
Age?
Professional and educational background?
Present life situation
Antecedents of volunteerism

Volunteer experiences
Personality, interests
Goals, wishes, needs
Emotions and expectations, beliefs
GSDM and you

How did you get to know Silcreation (link with other similar experiences)?
When did you begin to write in the GSDM?
How often do you write for the GSDM?
Do you have any habitual favourite topic or writing field and why?

Your motivation

Thought/Action
Are your writing the fruit of personal reflection, or mainly researches that you gathered?
Are you writing your own thoughts, or do you discuss it with others?
If you could rate from 1 to 10, 1 being thought, 10 action?

Distance/Proximity
Do you publish the articles you write for GSDM also locally?
Do you have debates locally about your writings?
Why reaching foreign audience instead of local partners?
If you could rate from 1 to 10, 1 being distance, 10 proximity?

Continuity/Newness
Journalistic experience?
Is writing articles linked to your past or present job, or a hobby?
If yes, why were you writing?
Are the subjects of the articles you write linked with your main occupation?
Why this magazine instead of another way of communication?
If you could rate from 1 to 10, 1 being continuity, 10 newness?

Getting/Giving
Do you write to explain and make other aware of issues to provoke debates?
Or do you search to get answers and/or to develop networks?
Do you go further and write for fundraising, in research of solutions to the issue you bring up?
If you could rate from 1 to 10, 1 being getting, 10 giving?

Other main criteria which make you write in GSDM? 	

Appendix 2 – Analysis table of the interviews