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Palwinder Singh

What have you learned through your participation in CrownDoing?
I have learned a lot about medicinal foods and how it could be used combating problems related to sleep deprivation, anxiety, and indigestion. Also, I got to work on social media data and help NLP which is a great learning experience.

What was an experience that you remember from your time collaborating with CrownDoing that you would like to share?
I got to research and collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds.

Do we have permission to use this info on CrowdDoing?
Yes

Do you feel like your systemic change volunteering was motivating for you? Was part of your CrowdDoing volunteering inspirational?
Yes. Volunteering as a data scientist for creating a tool that helps people in combating health issues was very inspiring. I believe technology has a lot of potential in the healthcare realm and the “Medicinal Food” project could prove to be a boon for the general public.

Did you learn skills relevant to VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity)?
Yes.

Did you learn skills relevant to your career goals?
Yes, I got to work on various aspects of data science which I didn’t get a chance to learn at school.

Did you develop social capital with people/form meaningful relationships through participation in CrowdDoing?
Yes, I have formed many meaningful relationships through participation in CrowdDoing

Did you developed or deepened interest in social innovation, service learning, multi-disciplinary collaboration or systemic change through your participation in CrowdDoing?
After joining CrowdDoing I have felt the real impact of social innovation and volunteering in technical projects.

Did you learn about an impact goal or Sustainable Development Goal through your volunteering with CrowdDoing?
I learned a lot about the positive impact the medicinal foods can have on problems which are very widespread in today’s fast world. I definitely believe that the Medicinal Foods project will achieve great appreciation and, will benefit a lot of people struggling with sleep disorders, anxiety, and indigestion.

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Lajari Alandkar

What have you learned through your participation in CrownDoing?
Cross Functionality, Proactiveness, technical skills.

What was an experience that you remember from your time collaborating with CrownDoing that you would like to share?
I was part of the data analysis project in which we extracted 4000 FOOD IDs relevant to sleep, stress, anxiety from half a million of data. It was really challenging and fun. I explored my different skillset to implement that project.

Do we have permission to use this info on CrowdDoing?
Yes

Do you feel like your systemic change volunteering was motivating for you? Was part of your CrowdDoing volunteering inspirational?
Yes. It’s like an open-ended project. We have a lot more scope to explore and implement.

Did you learn skills relevant to VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity)?
Yes.

Did you learn skills relevant to your career goals?
Yes.

Did you develop social capital with people/form meaningful relationships through participation in CrowdDoing?
Yes.

Did you developed or deepened interest in social innovation, service learning, multi-disciplinary collaboration or systemic change through your participation in CrowdDoing?
Yes.

Did you learn about an impact goal or Sustainable Development Goal through your volunteering with CrowdDoing?
Yes.

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Michael

Marketing service-learning mini-case studies from CrowdDoing:
21st Century Marketing Skills Learned as a Volunteer: Michael’s experience – Mini Case-Study
“CrowdDoing Medicinal foods is about educating and exploring ways in which food knowledge can be used in addition to medicine. The perception that medicine used only as a drug is one perspective, but volunteering helped accentuate my knowledge of what medicine is (or can be), and how natural practices such as eating healthy can be beneficial in fighting various physiological and psychological disorders.
I first encountered CrowdDoing while searching for ways to expand my skills, gain valuable experience, and work on real projects that affect the world; that search led me to the VolunteerMatch listings. Using my skill set to solve challenging and creative situations (for Marketing & Design) helped provide insight into collaborating and thriving in an online environment. From communication to data science and development, we all had contributed one way or another. And I continuously learn to educate myself and others about how food has an impact on our daily lives.
Learning about food-science through scientific research, data-science, and collaboration with volunteers’ skillsets all help support this food as a medicine mindset. I had learned to collaborate, strategize, and integrate a plan utilizing one of the groups’ social media platforms, Pinterest. We perform a specific function and share similar goals. It helped shape how I think about food, and even attempting to build an online audience interested in learning about the effects of food. And while it is still ever-growing, it is to continue sharing, learning, and making a positive change in people’s lives.”

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Tenesa

Marketing Volunteer Service Learning 21st Century Marketing Skills at CrowdDoing Medicinal Foods and Herbs Project:
“Volunteering with CrowdDoing aims to leverage service-learning and experiential learning to “foster twenty-first-century soft-skills and literacies,” utilizing modern technology to drive change in the natural foods and citizen science community. The “Medicinal Foods and Herbs project” mission’s goal is to challenge the age-old perception that only pharmaceuticals are effective in treating medical conditions through data-backed research and crowdsourced volunteer efforts, spanning time zones, continents and disciplines: service-learning, data science, technical development, and marketing.
I started volunteering with the Medicinal Foods and Herbs project because of my passion for natural foods and how it can be a catalyst for positive lifestyle changes. Food is fuel. How you choose to fuel your body plays a large role in how you feel.
As a marketer, my goal is to share the knowledge that natural foods can be explored as a way to treat common medical issues relating to stress, sleep, and anxiety to a wider audience that may not be aware of the health benefits of a natural foods based lifestyle.
One of the great benefits of a distributed virtual volunteer organization is working with groups with varying skill-sets from different professional disciplines. Not only have I gained a different perspective working with cross-disciplinary volunteer teams, but this has also enabled me to expand my own personal skill-set in a different function in the marketing field – technical writing.
For me not only learning technical writing but actively practicing these skills, helping to translate concepts from the scientific studies to translate technical terms from the tech development, has proved helpful in learning new marketing disciplines. I have been able to leverage my previous knowledge of audience segmentation and marketing technology with new skills such as technical development for more powerful marketing communication strategies, helping to grow the organization and creating a positive image of the concept of food as medicine.”