"Just two hours a week!" my friend Anna swore over coffee a year and a half ago when asking me to become a volunteer for the San Francisco chapter of Webgrrls. "It will be worth it", she promised, "and it's fun."

Suckered in by Anna's charms and promises of networking opportunities for my burgeoning freelance writing career, I stood up to her challenge and took on some administrative duties as the Assistant Workshop Coordinator for the group. I soon understood why Anna had such dark circles under her eyes.

Since then, I have done many jobs, held many titles, and grown with the group as it switched over from SFWebgrrls to the independent San Francisco Women on the Web (SF WoW).

Along the way, I learned how not "just joining," but contributing as an active member in a professional society can be the best thing for a contractor's career, and a tremendous way to make friends with other dedicated and civic-minded gals who just wanna have fun.

I also believe that I am doing my part to promote awareness of women in the industry, and thus raising the consciousness of the technology community as a whole.

SF WoW is a soon-to-be non-profit organization dedicated to the professional development of women in the Internet or high-tech industries.

They sponsor a very active discussion list, workshops, job fairs, networking opportunities, mentoring resources, speakers, and my latest undertaking, the Top25 Women of the Web yearly awards ceremony that recognizes women's excellence in Internet and Web design, business ideas, and technological leaps.

As of this writing, we have about 700 members and about 40 active volunteers, but both of these stats are on the upswing. Membership is free, but we charge at the door to attend workshops, monthly meetings and special events.

People living outside the Bay Area can also reap many benefits from our buzzing listserv that addresses technical questions, ethical issues, high-tech news, and more, or by becoming an active mentor for women who desperately need your technical expertise.

Despite Anna's plea, I spend many more than two hours weekly volunteering my time for SF WoW. I first started out coordinating workshops for the SFWebgrrls chapter, mainly receiving people's checks for the event, advertising the classes, and confirming that every seat was full.

In return, I got to speak with many members and got closer with the other volunteers who are Web designers, business-owners, and programmers. Making friends and making business contacts was finally starting to happen for me!

After my feet were wet and I knew what it was like to belong to a group, I wanted to feel more in charge of a major change, and I headed up my own Special Interest Group.

I established Intergrrls, a small organization that brainstormed methods for all of the Webgrrls chapters around the globe to communicate and benefit from one another. Though we had the best intentions, I learned my limits quickly and understood that this project was too much work for one person to steer.

Around the same time, our chapter of Webgrrls became independent and turned into SF WoW, and I dove head first into being one of three lead organizers for the Top25 Women on the Web event.

Working on Top25 has been tremendously exciting. I am still working with my friend Anna; and a new volunteer, another Karen, has also given up at least ten hours of her life every week for the same cause.

We enjoy one another's company very much, and we, The Three Musketeers, are all learning project management and what it means to put on an affair with an expected audience of almost 500 of our peers.

Calling for nominated candidates, assembling judges, securing the venue, broadcasting the event over the Internet...the list of technical and character challenges goes on and on, and I have gained knowledge of an absurd amount of resources, negotiating skills, organized pools of volunteers, etc. And, I've had the pleasure of meeting some of my own inspirations of women in the field of technology, including Moira Gunn, host of NPR's radio show TechNation, and Soledad O'Brien, current MSNBC correspondent and former host of TheSite. For more info on the Top25 event, take a look at the Top25 Website .

Balancing out the many pluses of my unpaid work, a women's organization also has its drawbacks. Women are socialized to be very democratic, and often times no one wants to be the person to make a decision because they don't want to play the heavy, so the amount of stammering before making a move can be annoying.

Also, we subsist completely on volunteer power, so often times deadlines aren't abided, work doesn't get done, and the cogs of progress screech to a grinding halt if someone's job or home life gets hectic.

And, as with many other volunteers, I had to learn how to say "no." A few hours a week could quickly become a full-time job if I allowed it, and I had to set my boundaries early on.

SF WoW has become the best general resource for my life as a writer in the high-tech industry and as a general computer buff. I don't buy any computing book, any peripheral, software or hardware, or take any class without first posting to the discussion listserv and absorbing the wisdom of other's experiences.

The local website keeps me in touch with upcoming events, our generous pool of volunteers, and new program ideas to reach out to women in the community and to get them involved in computing.

If I want to learn a new program or skill, I can suggest a workshop on the topic, or try to assemble a study group of others looking to undertake the same skill set. I can also seek out a mentor to offer advice, and in return, act as a mentor for women looking to get involved in writing, computers, or the community.

The Website and the listserv provide an instant and educated network of women who can answer any technical or product question, make recommendations for Web design or Internet tools, or offer career advice.

Regional ISP reviews and nearby women's and computing resources are logged as reference material for me to click on when I need it.

SF WoW is like Girl Scouts for techie chicks, and the growing website is our handbook and manual. The meetings, events, workshops, speakers, news updates from company insiders, industry gossip and product samples have been a tremendous asset to my career and social life.

The organization and its strong Web presence has truly enhanced me. I've met hordes of other like-minded women, tapped an active knowledge database, found work, friends, and answers. Since becoming a volunteer, the organization has only become more valuable to me. I guess I can forgive Anna.