Traditionally, volunteerism and professionalism have been perceived in opposition. Nevertheless, in present day collaborative environments, this distinction is increasingly blurred. By no means could we define a volunteer as someone who delivers lower quality. Often volunteers working for various good causes are motivated to perform at their very best standard, as they are emotionally engaged with the causes and, because their work is often highly visible, they would not dare to perform suboptimally.

The cluster of notions related to the term prosumer plays a prominent role here. Prosumer is a portmanteau word first coined by futurologist Alvin Toffler in the early 1980s as a contraction of proactive consumer, and most often refers to hobbyists who perform basically on par with professionals. . .