My Volunteer Experience - Alexander Bull
Alexander Bull
Alexander has been a volunteer with Connecting Up since 30 September 2019. He has a Bachelors degree in Social Sciences from the University of Adelaide and a Certificate II in Business Administration from TAFESA. He is passionate about social and cultural issues, particularly those that effect the most vulnerable in society. Alexander has previously volunteered for other organisations, such as Anglicare and JFA Purple Orange, and has volunteered around working in the printing industry and disability services.
Total Hours 609 This Year 67 Joined 30 September 2019 Last Check-in 21 October 2025
Alexander joined Connecting Up initially in 2019 to gain experience, and enjoys developing his skills and practical knowledge, in a way that positively contributes to the community. Alexander gained part-time work with a nursing and disability services provider in 2020 and has continued to volunteer remotely around his commitments in 2021 undertaking information management projects on specific service types that have been needed to be standardised to improve the directory.
In 2023 Alexander volunteered remotely to update records for SAcommunity and we greatly appreciate his help again with information management projects. Alexander has always been very supportive of the program and in online meetings has always spoken very positively of his experiences which has helped improve confidence for our newer volunteers. Alexander transitioned into part-time contract work in November with a construction company.
Over 2024 Alexander returned to us remotely and in-person and has been improving and correcting specific data fields such as councils and electorates as part of the Information Management Team with Volunteer Rex Porter. He is also adding generic images created by volunteer Brad to service listings to make it easier and faster for users to identify relevant core services using these pictures for improvements in access.
Telephone Techniques: 11 September 2024
Digital Training and Development | Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform
Volunteers and interns have access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform, which offers live and recorded webinars, workshops, and webcons led by subject-matter experts on various technology topics relevant to the not-for-profit sector. Alexander selected and summarised webinars of interest below:
Introduction to responsible AI applications
Introduction to responsible AI applications
I found this webinar to be quite enlightening. Whilst I am sceptical about the use of AI software in the social services, I think the presenters made some great points about how AI software can be effectively used in order to achieve organisational outcomes.
When it comes to a lot of discourse around AI software/applications, the software and/or applications are treated as if it they are somehow miraculous, magical or divine by nature. As a result of this approach, practical realities, risks, problems etc. are not considered in real-world terms or are even outright ignored. I thought that this webinar did clear up some of the concerns that I have about using AI in social services provision.
The webinar explored the practical realities, both positive and negative, attached to using this software and did not treat AI tools as something miraculous or divine. The importance of developing effective frameworks around how AI software is used within the social services was something I greatly appreciated. Something that I have learned through my social sciences studies and as administration assistant in the disability sector is that it’s not just the tool, it’s the hand that wields it that matters.
CARE'ing about AI and ethics
I enjoyed how ethics around using AI software/tools in the social/human services was discussed in a very practical and down-on-the-ground way. As someone who has contributed to service provision in administrative capacity within the disability sector, I appreciated the emphasis put on the importance of how technology can be used safely to achieve organisational outcomes.
A key aspect of this webinar that I appreciated was the focus on pre-emptively addressing issues that come with adopting AI software tools with the intention of enhancing service provision. I think the use of a framework such as CARE is extremely important when it comes to ever changing face of service provision. Considering how much service provision is done through or involves the use of software, it is extremely important that one is aware of the limitations of the software one uses.
SAcommunity Wednesday Team 11 December 2024
Volunteers: Rex Porter, David Webb, Alexander Bull, Chris Baldwin, Anubhav Dattagupta, Jason Chun Kwan Lam and Van Lam Nguyen
Connecting Up Team End of Year Lunch 17 December 2025 with CEO David Spriggs
We thank Alex for continuing to volunteer with us outside his commitments.
Thank you Alexander
