[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] editor roles version 2.something

[Rogan Hamby]

This is part of an ongoing discussion where there seems to be some
consensus that we should have some defined roles on the web team.  The
original proposal was modeled after the traditional hierarchy of newspapers
just to see where that analogy took us.  Interestingly, in that very first
discussion we decided that the WIKI was too much to deal with but by the
follow up meeting we had a volunteer for Wiki Wrangler and that is going
very well.

As of the last meeting there was consensus that the newspaper model had too
many roles for the size of our labor pool.  With that in mind this is
flattened out.  The two challenges in inherent in this is that some role
need to be made broad and able to to be duplicated so that if the labor
pool grows we can accommodate that (presumably there may be more to do
too).  At the same time some roles if duplicated may have people stepping
on each other's toes a lot.  So, some of those considerations are embedded
in this.

Editor in Chief - This would be combined with the traditional role of the
managing editor.  So, this person would be a liaison with the Oversight
Board and make sure the site reflects the community needs and that other
roles properly coordinate their activities and stay on track.  This means
that they are responsible for making sure that changes happen on schedule
and that everyone is doing their jobs and assigning / soliciting for jobs
to be done.  Additionally, they have the task of recruiting new blood as we
need it, an inevitable task.   They should also be capable of some basic
technical tasks, e.g. updating plugins from within Wordpress, managing
Wordpress structures, some basic CSS tweaks needed, checking the site for
screen reader compatibility, etc...  They would also lead in making sure
layout changes are done appropriately though it would be a team challenge
to address those needs.  The changes being down to the downloads page is an
example of this.  In a perfect world when we have more volunteers we would
have a separate layout editor who could focus on those usability issues a
bit more.  Additional tasks to watch are the updating of content that may
not be a specific responsibility but needs to be reviewed (e.g. adding a
new mailing list to the Get Involved section) and other one off tasks.

Server Admin - This is a job being done by Ben Shum right now.  Ideally
this shouldn't be a large time investment.  The rest of the web team should
be able to handle most issues within Wordpress without involvement from him.

News Editor - This could be a one or multiple people role.  Because news
tends to be a timely thing they will need to coordinate closely to make
sure they don't step on each other's toes but I imagine it mostly being a
single person.


Community Editor - This is the section that would have the advocacy
function.  Examples of content include FAQs, installation maps, and more.
 Elizabeth has talked about the need for this in the Oversight Board
meetings this last year.  This could easily be multiple people.


Conference Contributor - I break this out separately because with the
rising interest in regional conferences (I've heard from several) I think
we may have contributors who do nothing but editor a static page for their
conferences and those may come and go.


Wiki Wrangler - I think the work being done now speaks for itself.   I
think a great job is being done now but I think there would be merit in
more with specialized knowledge sets.

for example, when I have some time come open I may jump in and look at
testing older submitted SQL against current versions to make sure its good
(it should be though there may be better ways now) and then creating an
index page by versions.  I think one thing the Wiki Wrangler(s) could also
do is give feedback to the web group as to what skills they see needed.
 For example, I could easily see an old OpenSRF page that is a mess and
they need someone to review it and make recommendations.



-- 

Rogan Hamby, MLS, CCNP, MIA
Managers Headquarters Library and Reference Services,
York County Library System

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit
me."
-- C.S. Lewis <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1069006.C_S_Lewis>
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