I'm not sure if this fits the criteria for Ask Historians because it doesn't have much to do with a specific era of human history, but there really aren't any better venues to directly ask historians for input.
I earned a Master's in History almost three years ago, but never found work. And since I live in an isolated area it's hard for me to "stay in practice." I'm wondering if there are any organizations, universities or programs that are currently undertaking significant historical projects that need help from the public?
One example I could think of is the War Department Papers project where people transcribed scanned documents from the early years of the American republic for a website. I'm getting bored not being able to do much related to history and I'd like to at least have a marginal role to play in transcribing, researching, writing or helping on an ongoing project.
If this is in the wrong place, I apologize, but hopefully someone will have some insight.
There is a website called trove which has a massive amount of archived digital copies of newspapers going back quite a time. They need volunteers to read the images and transcribe the text/correct the text recognition program's transcription so that passages can be searched for. It's not glamorous but the work people do gives researches and the general public access to wealth of information.
There's a newer site that's trying to be a clearinghouse for online history projects for volunteers - helpinghistory.com. It's a little thin right now but perhaps you'll find something you'd like to do off this list?
The Ancient Lives Project is looking for the public's help to transcribe the Oxyrhyncus Papyri, ancient papyrus fragments found in Egypt.
All you have to do is choose which Greek letters are written on the papyrus you get to "work" on. There are guides and sample letters to help you figure out which letters are which.
The Smithsonian has a great one. If you have the means, I might also attend a conference or two in your region every year and you'll at least be able to engage people with a similar interest.
Another alternative besides transcribing online collections would be to independently write and try to publish your work. Perhaps you could try turning your MA thesis into an article? If you do get published, it might help you get a job. If nothing else, submitting to journals would get you some feedback from established scholars in your field. It's far from a perfect book, but Writing your Journal Article in 12 Weeks offers a crash course.
If you're interested in genealogical work, the Latter Day Saints familysearch.org has jobs for volunteers transcribing names and dates from immigration/birth/death/marriage records.
Using the Genius annotation platform to bring forth primary source documents, we are trying to help make it easier for research, analysis, and contextualization of key texts needed to understand the past. Its volunteer-based so we crowd source the operation but are always looking to create lasting, organic communities where people can just share what they're interested in and have a space to investigate it even more.
Operation War Diary is transcribing/tagging the WW1 battalion war diaries that are being digitized by the (British) National Archives.
Ancestry also has an indexing project running, called the World Archives Project, which, as the name suggests, involves indexing all sorts of archives from all over the world.
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2013/nr13-11.html
National Archives and NOAA are asking people to help transcript and enter data from Naval ship logs to try and understand changes in the oceans over time.
This is a pretty cool project.