Journal 4: Organizational Analysis

I selected to analyze the nonprofit organization I am serving, with the Symbolic Frame. I chose this frame because the organization I am serving, Zooniverse, does not have just one specific idea or topic that they work around. They are constantly adding new projects that represent different subjects. Every project has a story of why it is important to gain research on it. This is found in the “About” section of each project. The majority of their projects, however, are nature and animal related. According to The Four Frame Approach summary, the Symbolic Frame is best used when there is not a clear goal in mind. Due to Zooniverse having a plethora of projects constantly being added and evaluated, Zooniverse does not necessarily have one goal whereas something such as an animal shelter, does. An animal shelter has the specific goal to provide the best care for the animals it hosts and help the animals find a forever home. Zooniverse has a much broader goal which is to obtain as much research possible and to identify new discoveries and datasets. Zooniverse wants to inspire researchers to use the platform to gather data from a much larger community and inspire people, volunteers, to be part of something bigger and help better our world. The Symbolic frame focuses heavily on vision and inspiration, which is exactly what Zooniverse does. Volunteers usually choose to work on a project that they are passionate about which promotes shared values between the researchers and volunteers. Through the published research papers created by experts using Zooniverse, volunteers and experts are able to appreciate one another and better understand events taking place.

The structure of Zooniverse is independent volunteering. It is set up in a way that is very convenient for the volunteers because it is virtue and due to the fact that it is a worldwide organization, volunteers can work on projects at any time that works for them. At one point during my service, I started my hours for the day at a late time. I had exams all week so was unable to work on it throughout the week, however, I was able start my volunteering for the week at a time whereas most places would have already been closed for the day. As someone who had a heavy course load this semester, it was very helpful to be able to work on my service at what would be considered unconventional hours of the day. Unfortunately, because of how independent the volunteering is, I was not able to make the connections I would have otherwise been able to make if I was working with a group of people. Meeting new people and networking is always an additional positive that comes out of volunteering with new organizations. In this aspect, Zooniverse again shows an example of what the Symbolic Frame represents.