Difference between revisions of "VolunteerList"

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== TSI Volunteering Info ==
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== Old VolunteerList Page Notice ==
  
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We also have a [http://groups.google.com/group/tsi-volunteers/ Volunteer Email List] which we notify when there are urgent projects or major changes to the list below. Please join it if you're interested in helping us out!
+
This page was rewritten from scratch as of 10/7/2008.  The old page still resides in [http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php?title=VolunteerList&oldid=2588 this page's history], but should now be considered obsolete.
  
−
Thanks for your interest in helping us out! A few general notes about our volunteer program:
+
Many of you put your contact information on the old page and indicated your interest in helping out. Thank you, and our apologies for the delay in getting back to you.  We've just had a new volunteer coordinator start working with us, who will be contacting all of you shortly.
  
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* We're looking for people to help grow the seasteading movement, as opposed to the skills for living on a seastead, since, well, there aren't any seasteads yet.
 
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* Volunteer positions are unpaid (the rare exceptions will be stated).
 
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* If you are interested in helping out, please:
 
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** [[FillOutYourProfile]] skills on your seasteading.org account, if you have one.
 
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** Add your name to any skills lists you're interested in.
 
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** Link your name to your seasteading.org profile (if you have one) with <nowiki>{{U|your_username}}</nowiki>, as you can see in the existing entries.  We can get your email address from that.  Otherwise, add some way that we can contact you.
 
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** Add any details, like special skills / qualifications that aren't in your profile skills section.
 
−
** Email us if there's an open project you'd like to take on.
 
  
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== By Skills ==
+
== Overview ==
  
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This section is organized by the skills we are looking for.  Some of these are areas where we have no projects in mind yet, but expect them to come up (for example, graphic design projects come up regularly). Others include references to projects below.
+
Thanks for your interest in The Seasteading Institute's volunteer opportunities!  
  
−
Feel free to add new skills to the Miscellaneous section at the end.  Please don't add/edit skills in earlier sections!
+
As you can see, there are many ways to help.  This page contains three identical lists of our volunteer roles, organized by [[#Strategic Area|strategic area]], [[#Skillset|skillset]], and [[#Urgency|urgency]].
  
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=== Unskilled / Anyone ===
+
If you're interested in helping out with any of the items described here, please drop us a line at [mailto:volunteers@seasteading.org volunteers@seasteading.org].  Feel free to contact us as well if you have your own questions or ideas about how you can help besides what is listed.  We also have a [http://groups.google.com/group/tsi-volunteers/ Volunteer Mailing List] (please join!) which we'll notify when there are urgent projects or major changes to the list below.
  
−
These are general community-feedback projects that everyone can pitch in on:
+
<h3>Volunteering with TSI</h3>
 +
It goes without saying that the best volunteers are ''reliable'' individuals who are ''passionate'' about TSI's mission: To establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems.
  
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* Add clever/funny suggestions to our list of [http://www.yayboo.com/Funny/Top_10_Reasons_To_Live_On_A_Seastead Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead], and vote on existing suggestions. We are printing a T-shirt based on this list, and will revise the t-shirt as the list changes.
+
If you are considering volunteering in some way, thank you! If you're offering help for one of the projects listed on this page, we ask that you only do so if you believe you can commit to the time investment requested (and in the case of ongoing roles, for at least one month).  False starts can sometimes slow things down more than no start at all.
  
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=== Art / Design ===
+
That said, we understand that any donation of time is a generous gift, and that life priorities can fluctuate and require you to leave a volunteer task unfinished.  You'll find us reasonable folks, and we'll appreciate your open and honest communication about these situations if they come up. 
  
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==== 2D Graphic Design ====
+
Also note that we've tried to break down the projects on this page to pretty granular levels, but they're flexible.  If you want to do a portion of a project (or want to do more than one project!), [mailto:volunteers@seasteading.org drop us a line] and we'll see what we can do.
  
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* [http://seasteading.org/users/deanlandolt Dean Landolt] - Graphic design (Photoshop, Illustrator). Modeling (AutoCAD, Sketchup). I've done both professionally, but being a F/OSS developer I really ought to hone my design chops with the Free toolchain anyway.
 
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* [http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/User:Helenlein] - Helen Lein - MA Interdisciplinary Studies from ESC NY - focus on Flow and Creativity, BA Technology Education. Better with words than pictures! Can provide help in content, layout, editing, proofreading, document design and layout, fact-checking. Will maintain records and data using Excel.
 
  
−
==== 3D Modeling / Design / Animation ====
+
<span id="Strategic Area"></span>
 +
== Volunteer Opportunities, Listed by Strategic Area ==
 +
=== Community Projects ===
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="3"
 +
|+ <h4>Community projects:  Website</h4>
 +
! Project/Role
 +
! Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some)
 +
! Description
 +
! Special qualifications
 +
! Estimated time
 +
! Target completion date
 +
|-
 +
| Website Volunteer Coordinator
 +
| 1
 +
| <span id="Website Volunteer Coordinator"></span>
 +
Coordinate efforts of multiple volunteers who help with the website:<br>
 +
- Track status and outstanding dependencies<br>
 +
- Make sure all necessary communication is happening between volunteers<br>
 +
- Help recruit volunteers<br>
 +
| Project management experience a plus
 +
| 3-6 hours per week
 +
| n/a (ongoing role)
 +
|-
 +
| Website Sysadmin / Developer
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Website Sysadmin / Developer"></span>
 +
Address technical problems that come up<br>
 +
Help establish a more mature development environment (source control, etc.)<br>
 +
Watch for and repair broken links<br>
 +
Report on web traffic and referrals<br>
 +
Other miscellaneous technical tasks
 +
| Experience with UNIX-based website administration<br>
 +
Familiarity with Drupal/PHP (or a willingness to learn)<br>
 +
HTML and programming skills
 +
| 2-6 hours per week
 +
| n/a (ongoing role)
 +
|-
 +
| Website Community Manager
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Website Community Manager"></span>
 +
Moderate comments and forums
 +
| Community management experience is a plus
 +
| 2-4 hours per week
 +
| n/a (ongoing role)
 +
|-
 +
| Website Planner
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Website Planner"></span>
 +
Work with Patri Friedman, TSI's Executive Director, to brainstorm and prioritize feature requests, and work with other volunteers to implement those plans
 +
|
 +
| 2-4 hours per week
 +
| n/a (ongoing role)
 +
|-
 +
| Webmaster
 +
| 1
 +
| <span id="Webmaster"></span>
 +
Ideally, we'd find one individual who was willing to take on multiple (or all) of the roles above.
 +
| See above
 +
| 7-14 hours per week
 +
| n/a (ongoing role)
 +
|-
 +
|| || || || || ||
 +
|-
 +
| [[#Website Publicity Associate|Website Publicity Associate]]
 +
|
 +
| (This is a link to the main entry in the "Publicity" section below.)
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-
 +
| Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements"></span>
 +
The [http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_beta/ Book Beta] is generated using Scrivener and MultiMarkDown. The MMD outputs a single large XHTML file. Since it is XHTML, it is cleanly structured (book hierarchy is reflected in H1, H2... hierarchy), and should be easy to parse. We want it split into sections, with TOCs/headers/footers added, and forward/back/up/down links. Much like the [http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_alpha/ Book Alpha], but going 1-2 levels deeper in splitting (sections, not just chapters). This script will become part of our pipeline for the "live" version of the book - it will continuously evolve in Scrivener, and periodically get exported to HTML and PDF for printing.
 +
| Software development skills (likely Perl or Python)
 +
| 20-50 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Little Drupal Projects
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Little Drupal Projects"></span>
 +
There are lots of small Drupal development projects that could benefit the website.  Installing feedburner, configuring our upload module to allow users to upload images and other files, a digg/reddit-style voting system for forum posts, etc.
 +
|
 +
| 5-20 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Pretty Front Page (content)
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Pretty Front Page (content)"></span>
 +
Pretty Front Page - We want to replace the current image & Mark Twain quote on the front page w/ a slowly-updating slideshow with a variety of quotes and images. Perhaps make a screensaver version as well. You'd be responsible for finding inspiring, royalty-free artwork relevant to us (ocean scenes, ships, oil platforms, wind turbines...) and appropriate quotes. Ideally, you'd also find good images for other sections of the site. Some minimal graphic design experience (2D photoshop work) desired, so you can combine quotes and images nicely. A different volunteer would write the code to actually rotate in the images you find.
 +
|
 +
| 5-10 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Pretty Front Page (development)
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Pretty Front Page (development)"></span>
 +
Work with the content volunteer to implement the front page improvements described above.  It would be great to find one person who was interested in both of these roles!
 +
| Drupal development experience, or a willingness to learn
 +
| 5-10 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Website Content Marketing Consultant
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Website Content Marketing Consultant"></span>
 +
Reading books like Made To Stick has made it clear that we have a long way to go in refining our vision and pitch to its bare essentials, so it will have the strongest appeal to the most people. Basically, this project entails working with Patri Friedman to make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary. :)  And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians. There are a number of volunteer projects in this vein; this one targets website content.
 +
| Experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits.
 +
| 5-10 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Volunteer Page Migration
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Volunteer Page Migration"></span>
 +
At this point, this volunteer page would be better suited as part of the main website rather than on the wiki.  Currently, however, it's all in WikiText markup, so it'll need to be ported over and made to look pretty in Drupal.
 +
| A good eye for layout and design.  Some web development experience.  Drupal experience a plus.
 +
| 5-10 hours
 +
| Q1 2009
 +
|}
  
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* Paul Spooner - Blender Modeling (also Gimp and Inkscape)
 
−
* [http://seasteading.org/users/ajtaka ajtaka] - Blender Modeling, svg coding, vector drawing
 
−
* [http://seasteading.org/users/xoid xoid] - 3d graphics (povray.org)
 
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* [http://seasteading.org/users/jesrad Jesrad] - Second Life and Wings3D modeling
 
−
* [http://seasteading.org/users/deanlandolt Dean Landolt] - Graphic design (Photoshop, Illustrator). Modeling (AutoCAD, Sketchup). I've done both professionally, but being a F/OSS developer I really ought to hone my design chops with the Free toolchain anyway.
 
−
* [http://seasteading.org/users/kenetor Kenetor] - BSc 3D Modeling and Animation, use 3ds max, vray, combustion. will do images in 3D for free, animations i would want to be paid for depending on the content and length.
 
  
−
==== Architectural Design ====
 
  
−
* Charles Lee - Masters Degree in Architecture from California College of Art in SF.  Sent portfolio, and would need to be paid.
+
<br><br>
−
* [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/96/abb Wendy Sitler-Roddier] - Wife of Dominique Roddier, one of our engineering consultants, a professional in architecture design, doing some paid design work for TSI.
+
{| border="1" cellpadding="3"
 +
|+ <h4>Community projects:  Socials & Get-togethers</h4>
 +
! Project/Role
 +
! Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some)
 +
! Description
 +
! Special qualifications
 +
! Estimated time
 +
! Target completion date
 +
|-
 +
| 2008 Conference Volunteers
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="2008 Conference Volunteers"></span>
 +
We could use more manpower to help next week's conference run smoothly!
 +
|
 +
| During the conference
 +
| 10/9 - 10/11
 +
|-
 +
| Ephemerisle
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Ephemerisle"></span>
 +
[http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/ephemerisle/index.html Ephemerisle] is a sort of Burning Man-like festival to be held in international waters.  We want to show the world how seasteading can work in practice -- technologically, politically, and culturally.  We're thinking about July 4th, 2009, off San Diego / LA for the first one. We'll need lots of volunteers! We'll do initial planning in a session at [http://movement.meetup.com/72/calendar/8606039/ our first annual conference], so if you are interested, please come.<br>
 +
<br>
 +
It's very difficult for people to imagine something totally unlike anything they've experienced before.  When trying to sell the idea of political experimentation to people who have spent their whole lives in existing societies, it's hard for them (or any of us) to really <i>get</i> what life would be like if we had the practical freedom to choose and create our governments.  And that can make it hard to inspire people to get behind our vision.  What better way to address this hurdle than to give the world a little taste of the concept in action?
 +
|
 +
| Varies
 +
| July 4, 2009
 +
|-
 +
| Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator"></span>
 +
Organize our monthly socials around the Bay Area.  These are used for pitching seasteading, updating the community, networking, finding volunteers, etc.  This coordinator would be responsible for finding hosts/venues, handling publicity, driving attendance, arranging for refreshments, coordinating with TSI colleagues to organize agendas, etc.
 +
| Local to the San Francisco Bay Area and able to attend most/all of our socials.
 +
| 2-4 hours/week
 +
| n/a (ongoing role)
 +
|-
 +
| Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts"></span>
 +
We're looking for people to who might be willing to host our monthly socials. These are used for pitching seasteading, updating the community, networking, finding volunteers, etc.   
 +
| A venue that can accomodate 30+ people
 +
| 5 hours total to assist with planning and attend the social itself
 +
| January 2009
 +
|}
  
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=== Marine Science Academic ===
 
  
−
(this is one of our rare paid positions)
 
  
−
Chief Scientist / Director of Research. Establish our academic research program, most likely working in conjunction with existing academic institutions (MBARI, Woods Hole, Scripps...) to share facilities and equipment (since we'll be very small to start).  Get grants and conduct research relevant to our mission of establishing permanent ocean communities.  Develop collaborative relationships with other academics in marine science, ocean engineering, and related fields. Be the scientific face of The Seasteading Institute for interviews, at conferences, etc.
+
<br><br>
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="3"
 +
|+ <h4>Community projects:  Publicity</h4>
 +
! Project/Role
 +
! Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some)
 +
! Description
 +
! Special qualifications
 +
! Estimated time
 +
! Target completion date
 +
|-
 +
| Website Publicity Associate
 +
| 1
 +
| <span id="Website Publicity Associate"></span>
 +
You would manage our website's blogroll, try to get reciprocal links, and try to grow blog/website traffic by posting blog entries to relevant places (forums, link-sharing sites) and emailing them to prominent bloggers (when appropriate). One part of this could be to start a blog of your own to help drive traffic to us, as described in the [[#Supporting Blogger|Supporting Blogger]] role below. You'd also analyze our search traffic, figure out how we were getting it and how we could get more, that sort of thing. This could be sliced into multiple projects if you only want to take on part of it.
 +
| SEO, blogging, and promotion experience is a plus.
 +
| 2-4 hours per week
 +
| n/a (ongoing)
 +
|-
 +
| Presentation Coaching
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Presentation Coaching"></span>
 +
Reading books like Made To Stick has made it clear that we have a long way to go in refining our vision and pitch to its bare essentials, so it will have the strongest appeal to the most people.  Basically, this entails working with Patri Friedman to make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary. :)  And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians. There are a number of volunteer projects in this vein; this one targets our live presentation material.
 +
| Experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits.
 +
| 2-5 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Media Coaching
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Media Coaching"></span>
 +
As TSI gains momentum, we're getting lots of [http://www.seasteading.org/learn-more/press media exposure], which means lots of interviews for print, radio, and television.  It would be great to have someone who can help coach us on professional techniques for being maximally effective and compelling in these contexts.
 +
| Professional media coaching experience
 +
| 2-4 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Build Press Kit
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Build Press Kit"></span>
 +
We want to create a digital press kit containing softcopies of general TSI information, press releases, past news articles, high resolution images, and so on.
 +
|
 +
| 3-5 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Supporting Blogger
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Supporting Blogger"></span>
 +
One way to try to drive web traffic to The Seasteading Institute is for other blogs to link to us.  If you have a blog, or would be interested in starting one, that covers seasteading-relevant issues or technologies (e.g. [http://www.blueeconomy.com/ Blue Economy]), you can help.  The idea here is to try to grow your readership independently, and link back to TSI's main site when you can.
 +
|
 +
| Varies
 +
| n/a (ongoing)
 +
|}
  
−
=== Programming ===
 
  
−
==== Drupal Programmers ====
 
  
−
We have many small website projects available for those with Drupal/PHP experience, see [http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/VolunteerList#Website Website Projects]
+
<br><br>
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="3"
 +
|+ <h4>Community projects:  Other</h4>
 +
! Project/Role
 +
! Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some)
 +
! Description
 +
! Special qualifications
 +
! Estimated time
 +
! Target completion date
 +
|-
 +
| Membership Program Administrator
 +
| 1
 +
| <span id="Membership Program Administrator"></span>
 +
We'd like to start a membership program where people pay annual dues in return for schwag, recognition, and other perks. You'd help us define, operate, and grow the program.
 +
| Experience designing/running such things is a plus. (If not, we have a book you can learn from).
 +
| 15-30 hours for setup; 3-6 hours/week for operation
 +
| Q4 2008 for setup
 +
|-
 +
| Academic Outreach
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Academic Outreach"></span>
 +
We'd like to establish relationships with members of academia who are interested in our cause.  This project entails finding (via online research, for example) professors or other individuals who might fit the bill.  It could also involve helping contact them to encourage their own involvement, the involvement of their classes, or just to create awareness.
 +
|
 +
| 5-10 hours per person
 +
| In full swing by Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Schwag Master
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Schwag Master"></span>
 +
Handle seastead-themed merchandise. Work with volunteer designers to make designs, sell them in online stores, etc.
 +
|
 +
| 2-4 hours/week
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Schwagster
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Schwagster"></span>
 +
Create graphic designs that can be used for seastead-themed merchandise (t-shirts, etc.)
 +
|
 +
| Varies
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Regional Associates
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Regional Associates"></span>
 +
These are unofficial roles where you agree to help out with a particular country. We might direct press inquiries from that country to contact you for a quote or interview, ask you to translate or summarize local articles, or for a couch to crash on if we come visit :).  There are not currently any projects to be done here, but we are gathering a list of interested names so that we have them when things come up.
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-
 +
| Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead
 +
| 4
 +
| <span id="Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead"></span>
 +
Add clever/funny suggestions to our list of [http://www.yayboo.com/Funny/Top_10_Reasons_To_Live_On_A_Seastead Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead], and vote on existing suggestions. We are printing a t-shirt based on this list, and will revise the t-shirt as the list changes.
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|}
  
−
* Mathijs Koenraadt of Morningtime Internet Agency
 
−
* Arto Bendiken
 
−
* [http://seasteading.org/users/deanlandolt Dean Landolt] - I've hacked around with Drupal -- I'm not expert but I know me some PHP.
 
  
−
==== GIS Programmers ====
+
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
=== Research Projects ===
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="3"
 +
|+ <h4>Research Projects: All</h4>
 +
! Project/Role
 +
! Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some)
 +
! Description
 +
! Special qualifications
 +
! Estimated time
 +
! Target completion date
 +
|-
 +
| Establish Research Program
 +
| 1
 +
| <span id="Establish Research Program"></span>
 +
We're looking for someone with academic experience in fields like oceanography / offshore engineering / marine science fields to help us hire a full-time Chief Scientist. You would help us write the job req, post it to appropriate places, and evaluate potential candidates. There might also be the opportunity for an ongoing role in assisting the CS in finding grant opportunities and performing research.
 +
|
 +
| 5-15 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Research Maritime Law
 +
| 1
 +
| <span id="Research Maritime Law"></span>
 +
We have a volunteer experienced w/ international maritime law (he helped negotiate the UN Law of Sea treaty under Reagan), and we need someone to coordinate with him on research and interpret his answers. You'd work with Patri Friedman to help define the questions that we need answered, and then work with our expert, Ray (and possibly do some research on your own) to answer them. The result would be published on the site, and might also be suitable for publication in a legal journal, or use as a thesis - at least one past Masters Thesis has covered a similar topic ([http://www.seasteading.org/seastead.org/localres/misc-articles/kardol1999.html]).
 +
| Extensive legal expertise
 +
| 20-80 hours
 +
| Q1-Q2 2009
 +
|-
 +
| Establish Distributed Research Program
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Establish Distributed Research Program"></span>
 +
We think there will be some research projects which can be done in a distributed fashion by seasteading enthusiasts.  We need someone to identify some such projects and organize a program to recruit volunteer researchers online and coordinate their efforts.
 +
|
 +
| 10-20 hours for setup, 2-5 hours/week ongoing
 +
| Setup complete in Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Book Marketing Editor
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Book Marketing Editor"></span>
 +
Our [http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_beta/index.html seasteading book] is one of the main ways we're going to generate greater awareness and discussion of our research so far.  Basically, this role entails working with the author, Patri Friedman, to help the book make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary. :)  And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians. There are a number of volunteer projects in this vein; this one targets our upcoming book.
 +
| Experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits
 +
| 5-40 hours -- depends how detailed you want to get
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Find A Book Publisher
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Find A Book Publisher"></span>
 +
Our [http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_beta/index.html seasteading book] is one of the main ways we're going to generate greater awareness and discussion of our research so far.  We need to find a publisher!  If you've got experience or contacts in the publishing industry, you can help.  Referrals, help writing pitch/proposal letters, and general advice from someone who has done this before would all be welcome.
 +
| Prior experience with the publishing world
 +
| Varies
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Establish Scientific Advisory Board
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Establish Scientific Advisory Board"></span>
 +
Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) will consist of subject matter experts from a variety of scientific fields related to seasteading.  We want someone to help us define the size/scope/function of the SAB, identify and recruit members, and act as the liaison.
 +
| Not quite sure what types of experience would be most relevant (besides having done the same thing before). Some experience with academia, nonprofits, volunteer-based organizations.
 +
| 10-30 hours
 +
| Q4 2008 - Q1 2009
 +
|-
 +
| Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads
 +
| 3
 +
| <span id="Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads"></span>
 +
How might new governments on seastead communities function?  What rights will individuals have, and how far will powers of new governments extend?  These questions will ultimately only be answered by new communities as they form, but exploring and documenting the implications of various systems might help some of those communities get off on the right foot.  It can also increase public awareness ''now'' of what this new world will have to offer.  We're looking for individuals who want to self-organize into researching and documenting this in a more formal manner.
 +
|
 +
| Varies
 +
| 2009
 +
|}
  
−
We have several projects in mind to add more interactive geodata to the website, see [http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/VolunteerList#Website Website Projects]
 
  
−
* [[User:Anatolie|Golovco Anatolie]]
+
=== Engineering Projects ===
  
−
==== Perl/Python Programmer ====
+
No volunteer opportunities at this time.  Work on this area has begun with a professional naval engineering firm we are contracting with.
  
−
We have some scripting projects.
 
  
−
* Brian Mendenhall
+
=== Other Projects ===
  
−
=== Publishing: Authors / Book Agents ===
+
{| border="1" cellpadding="3"
 +
|+ <h4>Other Projects: All</h4>
 +
! Project/Role
 +
! Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some)
 +
! Description
 +
! Special qualifications
 +
! Estimated time
 +
! Target completion date
 +
|-
 +
| Recruit A Volunteer
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Recruit A Volunteer"></span>
 +
Find a friend who can help with one of our volunteer tasks!  There's obviously a wide variety of expertise that we need, and many projects have small time commitments.  If you think you know someone who might be able to help, please speak to them and ask!
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-
 +
| Grant Research
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Grant Research"></span>
 +
Help do research, under our guidance, to find grants which TSI might be good candidates for.
 +
|
 +
| 3-5 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Grant Applications
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Grant Applications"></span>
 +
Work with us to help draft grant applications for TSI.
 +
| Prior experience applying for grants is helpful.
 +
| 5-10 hours
 +
| Q4 2008
 +
|-
 +
| Administrative Assistant
 +
| 2
 +
| <span id="Administrative Assistant"></span>
 +
It would be great to have somebody who can assist our Executive Director with administrative tasks -- responding to general e-mails sent to info@seasteading.org, for example, or maintaining a list of TSI contacts.  We'd like to get his time freed up to focus on more strategic things.  This work could be done remotely.
 +
|
 +
| 2-3 hours/week
 +
| n/a (ongoing)
 +
|-
 +
| Your Own Idea
 +
|
 +
| <span id="Your Own Idea"></span>
 +
Have an idea how you could help that's not on this list?  Drop us a line at [mailto:volunteers@seasteading.org volunteers@seasteading.org] with your ideas and relevant experience.
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|}
  
−
* Project: Publish Seasteading Book
 
  
−
=== Miscellaneous ===
+
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
<span id="Skillset"></span>
 +
== Volunteer Opportunities, Listed By Skillset ==
 +
=== Strategic ===
 +
[[#Establish Research Program|Establish Research Program]]<br>
 +
[[#Establish Scientific Advisory Board|Establish Scientific Advisory Board]]<br>
 +
[[#Establish Distributed Research Program|Establish Distributed Research Program]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Planner|Website Planner]]<br>
  
−
== By Projects ==
+
=== Software ===
 +
[[#Webmaster|Webmaster]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Sysadmin / Developer|Website Sysadmin / Developer]]<br>
 +
[[#Little Drupal Projects|Little Drupal Projects]]<br>
 +
[[#Pretty Front Page (development)|Pretty Front Page]]<br>
 +
[[#Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements|Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements]]<br>
 +
[[#Volunteer Page Migration|Volunteer Page Migration]]<br>
  
−
* Volunteer work goes a lot better if you're excited about the project, so here are some of the specific projects we have in mind.
+
=== 2-D Art / Design ===
−
* If one looks like fun and you have the relevant skills, please email us - volunteers@seasteading.org.
+
[[#Pretty Front Page (content)|Pretty Front Page]]<br>
−
* Because of the nature of volunteer-based work (people flake, you can't tell how reliable they are in advance, their free time and interest fluctuate) we prefer to give people projects (temporary) rather than roles (permanent).  But some things are naturally roles.
+
[[#Schwagster|Schwagster]]<br>
−
* There will be more projects available in the future, check back here later.
 
  
−
=== Community ===
+
=== 3-D Art / Modeling / Animation ===
 +
No projects currently available, but please [mailto:volunteers@seasteading.org let us know] if you'd be willing to help out in this area in the future.
  
−
==== Website ====
+
=== Legal ===
 +
[[#Research Maritime Law|Research Maritime Law]]<br>
 +
[[#Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads|Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads]]<br>
  
−
===== Site Associate =====
+
=== Marketing & PR ===
 +
[[#Website Content Marketing Consultant|Website Content Marketing Consultant]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Publicity Associate|Website Publicity Associate]]<br>
 +
[[#Presentation Coaching|Presentation Coaching]]<br>
 +
[[#Media Coaching|Media Coaching]]<br>
 +
[[#Build Press Kit|Build Press Kit]]<br>
 +
[[#Book Marketing Editor|Book Marketing Editor]]<br>
  
−
You would administer our Drupal website, moderate comments, watch for broken links on the site, report on web traffic and referrals.  Website administration experience, some HTML / programming skills required.  Ideally you'd also manage / coordinate of volunteers - the whole website would be your baby, and you'd help Patri brainstorm / prioritize feature requests, and coordinate volunteers (and occasionally professionals) in getting them implemented.  Alternately, that aspect could be handled by the Volunteer Coordinator.
+
=== Writing & editing ===
 +
[[#Supporting Blogger|Supporting Blogger]]<br>
 +
[[#Grant Applications|Grant Applications]]<br>
  
−
Offered so far (Thanks a ton!  We will assign this soon):
+
=== Publishing Help ===
−
* {{U|thebastidge}}
+
[[#Find A Book Publisher|Find A Book Publisher]]<br>
−
* [[User:Themorgantown|Daniel Morgan]]
 
−
* Brian Mendenhall
 
−
* Patrick Moelands - Webmaster at a company, 10+ years web design, 5 years linux experience.
 
  
−
===== Wiki Administrator =====
+
=== Administrative ===
 +
[[#Webmaster|Webmaster]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Community Manager|Website Community Manager]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Volunteer Coordinator|Website Volunteer Coordinator]]<br>
 +
[[#Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator|Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator]]<br>
 +
[[#Membership Program Administrator|Membership Program Administrator]]<br>
 +
[[#Schwag Master|Schwag Master]]<br>
 +
[[#Administrative Assistant|Administrative Assistant]]<br>
  
−
('''Handled by {{U|joep}}''')
+
=== Anybody ===
 +
[[#Recruit A Volunteer|Recruit A Volunteer]]<br>
 +
[[#2008 Conference Volunteers|2008 Conference Volunteers]]<br>
 +
[[#Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts|Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts]]<br>
 +
[[#Academic Outreach|Academic Outreach]]<br>
 +
[[#Grant Research|Grant Research]]<br>
 +
[[#Ephemerisle|Ephemerisle]]<br>
 +
[[#Regional Associates|Regional Associates]]<br>
 +
[[#Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead|Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead]]<br>
 +
[[#Your Own Idea|Your Own Idea]]<br>
  
−
Guide the direction of the wiki, encourage people to use it, refactor the content, structure the content, fight spam, etc.
 
  
−
===== Secret GIS Project =====
 
  
−
This is a fun idea we'd like to keep secret, which would involve a moderate amount of GIS programming, in conjunction with an online store, and some visual displays (Google Maps, Google Earth KMZ output, etc.).  It might produce some revenue (that you could share in) and publicity.  You can use any platform you want for serving the data, but it will need to talk to our Drupal site for user information.  We'd probably be willing to pay for this, since it is potentially revenue-generating and should be high-quality.
+
<span id="Urgency"></span>
 +
== Volunteer Opportunities, Listed By Urgency ==
 +
=== High Urgency ===
 +
[[#Establish Research Program|Establish Research Program]]<br>
 +
[[#Research Maritime Law|Research Maritime Law]]<br>
 +
[[#Membership Program Administrator|Membership Program Administrator]]<br>
  
−
===== Little Drupal Projects =====
+
[[#Webmaster|Webmaster]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Volunteer Coordinator|Website Volunteer Coordinator]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Publicity Associate|Website Publicity Associate]]<br>
  
−
Lots of ideas:
+
=== Moderate Urgency ===
−
(coming soon - need to transcribe from elsewhere)
+
[[#Ephemerisle|Ephemerisle]]<br>
  
−
===== Non-Programmer Website Projects =====
+
[[#Presentation Coaching|Presentation Coaching]]<br>
 +
[[#Media Coaching|Media Coaching]]<br>
 +
[[#Build Press Kit|Build Press Kit]]<br>
  
−
* Pretty Front Page - We want to replace the current image & Mark Twain quote on the front page w/ a slowly-updating slideshow with a variety of quotes and images.  Perhaps make a screensaver version as well.  You'd be responsible for finding inspiring, royalty-free artwork relevant to us (ocean scenes, ships, oil platforms, wind turbines...) and appropriate quotes.  Ideally, you'd also find good images for other sections of the site.  Some minimal graphic design experience (2D photoshop work) desired, so you can combine quotes and images nicely.  A different volunteer would write the code to actually rotate in the images you find.
+
[[#Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements|Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements]]<br>
 +
[[#Book Marketing Editor|Book Marketing Editor]]<br>
 +
[[#Find A Book Publisher|Find A Book Publisher]]<br>
  
−
===== Site Publicity Associate =====
+
[[#Website Sysadmin / Developer|Website Sysadmin / Developer]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Planner|Website Planner]]<br>
 +
[[#Little Drupal Projects|Little Drupal Projects]]<br>
 +
[[#Website Community Manager|Website Community Manager]]<br>
  
−
You would manage our blogroll, try to get reciprocal links, and try to grow blog/website traffic by posting blog entries to relevant places (forums, link-sharing sites) and emailing them to prominent bloggers (when appropriate).  One part of this could be to start a blog of your own covering news about seasteading-relevant technologies, something like [http://www.blueeconomy.com/ Blue Economy], which would try to grow independently and link to the main site frequently.  You'd also analyze our search traffic, figure out how we were getting it and how we could get more, that sort of thing.  SEO/blogging/promotion experience is a plus.  This could be sliced into multiple projects if you only want to take on part of it.
+
[[#Establish Scientific Advisory Board|Establish Scientific Advisory Board]]<br>
 +
[[#Establish Distributed Research Program|Establish Distributed Research Program]]<br>
  
−
===== Improve Book Beta Webpage (Perl/Python programmer) =====
+
[[#2008 Conference Volunteers|2008 Conference Volunteers]]<br>
 +
[[#Administrative Assistant|Administrative Assistant]]<br>
 +
[[#Recruit A Volunteer|Recruit A Volunteer]]<br>
 +
[[#Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator|Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator]]<br>
 +
[[#Grant Research|Grant Research]]<br>
 +
[[#Grant Applications|Grant Applications]]<br>
 +
[[#Academic Outreach|Academic Outreach]]<br>
  
−
(Someone took this on but I haven't heard from them in months, so it is probably available)
+
=== Some Urgency ===
 +
[[#Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads|Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads]]<br>
  
−
The [http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_beta/ Book Beta] is generated using Scrivener and MultiMarkDown.  The MMD outputs a single large XHTML file.  Since it is XHTML, it is cleanly structured (book hierarchy is reflected in H1, H2... hierarchy), and should be easy to parse.  We want it split into sections, with TOCs/headers/footers added, and forward/back/up/down links.  Much like the [http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_alpha/ Book Alpha], but going 1-2 levels deeper in splitting (sections, not just chapters).  This script will become part of our pipeline for the "live" version of the book - it will continuously evolve in Scrivener, and periodically get exported to HTML and PDF for printing.
+
[[#Website Content Marketing Consultant|Website Content Marketing Consultant]]<br>
 +
[[#Volunteer Page Migration|Volunteer Page Migration]]<br>
 +
[[#Pretty Front Page (development)|Pretty Front Page (development)]]<br>
 +
[[#Pretty Front Page (content)|Pretty Front Page (content)]]<br>
  
−
==== Socials / GTGs ====
+
[[#Supporting Blogger|Supporting Blogger]]<br>
 +
[[#Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts|Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts]]<br>
 +
[[#Regional Associates|Regional Associates]]<br>
  
−
===== 2008 Conference Coordinator(s) =====
+
[[#Schwag Master|Schwag Master]]<br>
 +
[[#Schwagster|Schwagster]]<br>
  
−
('''Filled by {{U|crasch}}''')
+
=== Other ===
−
 
+
[[#Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead|Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead]]<br>
−
We could use more help with the conference - contact conference@seasteading.org and Chris will find projects for you!
+
[[#Your Own Idea|Your Own Idea]]<br>
−
 
 
−
===== Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator =====
 
−
 
 
−
Work with Patri & Joe to schedule, organize, and run monthly GTGs in the SF Bay Area.  These are used for pitching seasteading, updating people, networking, getting volunteers, etc.
 
−
 
 
−
===== Ephemerisle =====
 
−
 
 
−
[http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/ephemerisle/index.html Ephemerisle] is a sort of Burning Man-like festival to be held in international waters.  We're thinking about July 4th, 2009, off San Diego / LA for the first one.  We'll need lots of volunteers!  We'll do initial planning in a session at [http://movement.meetup.com/72/calendar/8606039/ our first annual conference], so if you are interested, please come.
 
−
 
 
−
==== General ====
 
−
 
 
−
===== Volunteer Coordinator =====
 
−
 
 
−
('''Filled by {{U|jhogan}}''')
 
−
 
 
−
With Patri, identify TSI projects that can be helped / implemented by volunteers, prioritize them, find people to take them on, and manage/monitor progress.
 
−
 
 
−
===== Establish Membership Program =====
 
−
 
 
−
We'd like to start a membership program where people pay annual dues in return for schwag, recognition, and other perks.  You'd help us define, operate, and grow the program.  Experience designing/running such things is a plus.  (If not, we have a book you can learn from).
 
−
 
 
−
People:
 
−
* {{U|fredaron}} - I'll read the book
 
−
* {{U|Thorizan}} - As will I.  I'd like to do what I can to help here.  This looks like a great endeavor.
 
−
* {{U|lasse-birk-olesen}} - I'll read the book.
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
===== Marketing Associate =====
 
−
 
 
−
Reading books like Made To Stick has made it clear that we have a long way to go in refining our vision and pitch to its bare essentials, so it will have the strongest appeal to the most people.  We're looking for someone with experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits, to help us.  We'd use this messaging places like: the website, in talks, in interviews, in the book, etc.  Basically, work with Patri to make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary :).  And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians.
 
−
 
 
−
* {{U|julias}} will help out with this some.
 
−
 
 
−
===== Schwagster =====
 
−
 
 
−
Handle seastead-themed merchandise.  Work with volunteer designers to make designs, sell them in online stores, etc.
 
−
 
 
−
* {{U|lasse-birk-olesen}}
 
−
 
 
−
==== Regional Associates ====
 
−
 
 
−
These are unofficial roles where you agree to help out with a particular country.  We might direct press inquiries from that country to contact you for a quote or interview, ask you to translate or summarize local articles, or for a couch to crash on if we come visit :).
 
−
 
 
−
* Australia
 
−
** {{U|Temujin}} - perhaps regional ambassador for Australia and/or Asia. I should be able to handle translation to Chinese.
 
−
* Brazil
 
−
** João Leite - I live in Brazil and I have experience with public speaking, I speak Portuguese (native), English, Spanish (fluent) and German (advanced).
 
−
* Denmark
 
−
** {{U|lasse-birk-olesen}}- I can currently go to all of Denmark, Southern Sweden, and Northern Germany and evangelize in Danish and English, orally and in writing. I have experience in speaking to an audience.
 
−
* Finland
 
−
** {{U|ajtaka}}
 
−
* Italy
 
−
** {{U|Pippolo}}
 
−
* Netherlands
 
−
** {{U|eelco}}, {{U|Joep}}
 
−
* New Zealand
 
−
** {{U|ferrouswheel}}
 
−
* France
 
−
** {{U|jesrad}}
 
−
* United Kingdom
 
−
** {{U|NoDachi}} - Located in the Midlands, can be a regional correspondent or researcher. Can offer floor space if needed ;)
 
−
* Venezuela / Mexico
 
−
** {{U|njquintero}} - I am able to manage a regional group and organize conferences.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Research ===
 
−
 
 
−
==== Establish Research Program ====
 
−
 
 
−
We're looking for someone with academic experience in fields like oceanography / offshore engineering / marine science fields to help us hire a full-time Chief Scientist.  You would help us write the job req, post it to appropriate places, and evaluate potential candidates.  There might also be the opportunity for an ongoing role in assisting the CS in finding grant opportunities and performing research.
 
−
 
 
−
==== Establish Scientific Advisory Board ====
 
−
 
 
−
We want someone to help us define the size/scope/function of the SAB, identify and recruit members, and act as the liaison.  Not quite sure what types of experience would be most relevant (besides having done the same thing before).  Some experience with academia, nonprofits, volunteer-based organizations.
 
−
 
 
−
==== Research Maritime Law ====
 
−
 
 
−
We have a volunteer experienced w/ international maritime law (helped negotiate the UN Law of Sea treaty under Reagan), and we need someone to coordinate with him on research and interpret his answers.  You'd work with Patri to help define the questions that we need answered, and then work with Ray (and possibly do some research on your own) to answer them.  The result would be published on the site, and might also be suitable for publication in a legal journal, or use as a thesis - at least one past Masters Thesis has covered a similar topic http://www.seasteading.org/seastead.org/localres/misc-articles/kardol1999.html.
 
−
 
 
−
Some legal experience is necessary - a law student or currently practicing lawyer would be ideal.
 
−
 
 
−
* {{U|zavislak}} - I'll have the ability to do independent research for law school credit during the next two years. I'll see what I can come up with on my own, but if you have any suggestions about particular topics, let me know!
 
−
 
 
−
==== Turn Book into PDF for printing ====
 
−
 
 
−
(Done by '''{{U|DanB}}''')
 
−
 
 
−
==== Web Research ====
 
−
 
 
−
People:
 
−
* {{U|lasse-birk-olesen}}
 
−
* João Leite -  I have some experience with academic researching, and I have already worked as an assistant-editor to an academic website.
 
−
* {{U|Thorizan}} - I can get and organize information on any topic you would like me to research.  I'm here to help.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Engineering ===
 
−
 
 
−
* Eng Consulting Crew - Add your name here if you're willing to be emailed / pestered with occasional engineering questions.  Mention your specialties.
 
−
** [http://seasteading.org/users/eelco eelco] - Mech. E
 
−
** [http://seasteading.org/users/seymour77 seymour77] - Ocean Engineering, Power systems, support infrastructure.
 
−
** [http://seasteading.org/users/sundiver sundiver] - I have extensive and varied marine experience that could benefit your organization...In almost any aspect of your endeavors, I can express an opinion on whether something is fiction or fantasy, and support it.
 
−
** Ron Woodward - Professional Engineer licensed in the state of Indiana, Living in Virginia near Virginia Beach.
 
−
* Manual Labor in San Francisco, CA, USA
 
−
** [http://seasteading.org/users/andrewdblevins andrewdblevins] - I would be up for helping with heavy lifting and manual labor over a summer when you get ready for construction.
 
−
* Model Testing
 
−
**  [http://seasteading.org/users/Vincecate Vince Cate] would be happy to test seastead models in the ocean
 
−
 
 
−
=== Administrative (none at this time) ===
 
−
 
 
−
=== Miscellaneous (Feel free to add new project ideas / roles / whatever!) ===
 
−
 
 
−
Feel free to add new roles here!
 
−
 
 
−
==== Website stuff ====
 
−
* Misc IT work/skills
 
−
** {{U|Pippolo}} - I could help in Information Technology (I'm a Networking Manager)
 
−
** Ivan - I work in IT and developer workloflow system.  I have MCSE, MCDBA certificate's
 
−
** {{U|xoid}} - Unix sysadmin
 
−
** {{U|Mikhail}} - Unix/Windows system administration, hosting skills,
 
−
* Misc Design work
 
−
** {{U|Tuk}} - I'm a professional webdesigner with 5 years (2 pro) experience working with web/graphic design and site administration. I'm mainly profficient in xHTML, and CSS, but I've got experience working with most major CMSes, running blogs/forums etc. I can do minor backend work, and can work with PHP/ASP files.  So basically if you need any help with the website frontend I can do it. I'm not a "programmer" though, I leave scripting to the smarter guys :)
 
−
* Misc Programming
 
−
** {{U|aquatsr}} - Extensive C/C++, MATLAB, and MathCad skills, Moderate Perl, PHP, SQL, Python skills
 
−
** {{U|LegioNovaInvicta}} -  I am able to program in C, PHP, HTML, Javascript
 
−
** {{U|Mikhail}} - Programming skils (Perl/PHP/C and some other languages, database programming),
 
−
** {{U|deanlandolt}} - Python is my language of choice, but I can work with PHP and the like. I also have a bunch of front end experience with Flash and javascript libraries (jQuery in particular is my savior these days).
 
−
** {{U|Marco.antonio.costa}} - I've programmed in PHP, C/C++, Javascript and SQL. I use GNU/Linux mostly.
 
−
 
 
−
==== Business / Entrepreneurship ====
 
−
 
 
−
* Medical - [http://seasteading.org/users/libertariandoc libertariandoc]: I'd like to take on the research and some development for medical plans and facilities
 
−
* General - [http://seasteading.org/users/whysean whysean] - "Former HavenCo CEO looking for work :-) - I am willing to help in any way that does not involve moving anywhere."
 
−
* Recreational - [http://seasteading.org/users/NoDachi NoDachi] - Interested in the potential of setting up Bar/Club on a larger Seastead. For the sale of alcohol, entertainment and the possibility of small scale recreational drug licensing. Some DJing experience.
 
−
** Potential of setting up a music/news radio station on Seastead. Shortband radio or intranet.
 
−
** Potential of annual 'ocean music festival'.
 
−
* Import/Export - [http://seasteading.org/users/NoDachi NoDachi] - Interested in the potential of acquiring none-essential items from terrestrial sources for retail on the Seastead. E.g. Alcohol, multi-media.
 
−
* Aquaculture - {{U|Thorizan}} - One thing for which seasteads would be aptly suited is aquaculture, and I can research companies like OceanSpar and other organizations working with NOAA to see if we could even get some capital and/or grants to help with our research to the extent that it correlates with their own.  Anything to help our cause.
 
−
 
 
−
==== Infrastructure ====
 
−
 
 
−
* General Skills
 
−
** {{U|finch}} - fish culturist, general handyman, some experience with commercial fisheries harvest/management/enhancement.
 
−
** {{U|andw00t}} - I can any work as the electrician, the electronician, the radioian, the radarian incliuding disel power generation.
 
−
** {{U|LegioNovaInvicta}} - I am a first year Electronic Engineering with business management student. Therefore I have acquired a background in Physics, Maths, Circuits and assembly programming.
 
−
* Defense
 
−
** Russell Whitaker
 
−
**  {{U|firefool125}} - i may not be an expert, but ever since i was little i have loved everything there was to know about military warfare and defense technology, so if there is anything that you need to know about defense of the seasteads then I will know it, be able to find out about it, or be able to find the right person to help you with it.
 
−
** {{U|Halcyon}} - Im trained in the use of firearms, (pistols, assault-rifles, heavy-machineguns,grenades). Im trained in military warfare, first response, tactics, and troop supervision.
 
−
** {{U|NoDachi}} - Previously trained through Paramilitary organisation, including a variety of small arms, teamwork and leadership principles. Can offer a level-headed and realistic contribution to any defense strategy. Previously offered advice and insight to the FreeNationFoundation micronation project.
 
−
 
 
−
* Power Generation
 
−
** BenderFry - I have a BS in Chemical Engineering, with 3 years production experience.  I could assist in control systems and power generation (specifically of the turbine based systems).
 

Revision as of 05:23, 7 October 2008

Old VolunteerList Page Notice

This page was rewritten from scratch as of 10/7/2008. The old page still resides in this page's history, but should now be considered obsolete.

Many of you put your contact information on the old page and indicated your interest in helping out. Thank you, and our apologies for the delay in getting back to you. We've just had a new volunteer coordinator start working with us, who will be contacting all of you shortly.


Overview

Thanks for your interest in The Seasteading Institute's volunteer opportunities!

As you can see, there are many ways to help. This page contains three identical lists of our volunteer roles, organized by strategic area, skillset, and urgency.

If you're interested in helping out with any of the items described here, please drop us a line at volunteers@seasteading.org. Feel free to contact us as well if you have your own questions or ideas about how you can help besides what is listed. We also have a Volunteer Mailing List (please join!) which we'll notify when there are urgent projects or major changes to the list below.

Volunteering with TSI

It goes without saying that the best volunteers are reliable individuals who are passionate about TSI's mission: To establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems.

If you are considering volunteering in some way, thank you! If you're offering help for one of the projects listed on this page, we ask that you only do so if you believe you can commit to the time investment requested (and in the case of ongoing roles, for at least one month). False starts can sometimes slow things down more than no start at all.

That said, we understand that any donation of time is a generous gift, and that life priorities can fluctuate and require you to leave a volunteer task unfinished. You'll find us reasonable folks, and we'll appreciate your open and honest communication about these situations if they come up.

Also note that we've tried to break down the projects on this page to pretty granular levels, but they're flexible. If you want to do a portion of a project (or want to do more than one project!), drop us a line and we'll see what we can do.


Volunteer Opportunities, Listed by Strategic Area

Community Projects

Community projects: Website
Project/Role Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some) Description Special qualifications Estimated time Target completion date
Website Volunteer Coordinator 1

Coordinate efforts of multiple volunteers who help with the website:
- Track status and outstanding dependencies
- Make sure all necessary communication is happening between volunteers
- Help recruit volunteers

 Project management experience a plus 3-6 hours per week n/a (ongoing role)
Website Sysadmin / Developer 2

Address technical problems that come up
Help establish a more mature development environment (source control, etc.)
Watch for and repair broken links
Report on web traffic and referrals
Other miscellaneous technical tasks

Experience with UNIX-based website administration

Familiarity with Drupal/PHP (or a willingness to learn)
HTML and programming skills

2-6 hours per week n/a (ongoing role)
Website Community Manager 2

Moderate comments and forums

Community management experience is a plus 2-4 hours per week n/a (ongoing role)
Website Planner 2

Work with Patri Friedman, TSI's Executive Director, to brainstorm and prioritize feature requests, and work with other volunteers to implement those plans

2-4 hours per week n/a (ongoing role)
Webmaster 1

Ideally, we'd find one individual who was willing to take on multiple (or all) of the roles above.

See above 7-14 hours per week n/a (ongoing role)
Website Publicity Associate (This is a link to the main entry in the "Publicity" section below.)
Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements 2

The Book Beta is generated using Scrivener and MultiMarkDown. The MMD outputs a single large XHTML file. Since it is XHTML, it is cleanly structured (book hierarchy is reflected in H1, H2... hierarchy), and should be easy to parse. We want it split into sections, with TOCs/headers/footers added, and forward/back/up/down links. Much like the Book Alpha, but going 1-2 levels deeper in splitting (sections, not just chapters). This script will become part of our pipeline for the "live" version of the book - it will continuously evolve in Scrivener, and periodically get exported to HTML and PDF for printing.

Software development skills (likely Perl or Python) 20-50 hours Q4 2008
Little Drupal Projects 2

There are lots of small Drupal development projects that could benefit the website. Installing feedburner, configuring our upload module to allow users to upload images and other files, a digg/reddit-style voting system for forum posts, etc.

5-20 hours Q4 2008
Pretty Front Page (content) 3

Pretty Front Page - We want to replace the current image & Mark Twain quote on the front page w/ a slowly-updating slideshow with a variety of quotes and images. Perhaps make a screensaver version as well. You'd be responsible for finding inspiring, royalty-free artwork relevant to us (ocean scenes, ships, oil platforms, wind turbines...) and appropriate quotes. Ideally, you'd also find good images for other sections of the site. Some minimal graphic design experience (2D photoshop work) desired, so you can combine quotes and images nicely. A different volunteer would write the code to actually rotate in the images you find.

5-10 hours Q4 2008
Pretty Front Page (development) 3

Work with the content volunteer to implement the front page improvements described above. It would be great to find one person who was interested in both of these roles!

Drupal development experience, or a willingness to learn 5-10 hours Q4 2008
Website Content Marketing Consultant 3

Reading books like Made To Stick has made it clear that we have a long way to go in refining our vision and pitch to its bare essentials, so it will have the strongest appeal to the most people. Basically, this project entails working with Patri Friedman to make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary. :) And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians. There are a number of volunteer projects in this vein; this one targets website content.

Experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits. 5-10 hours Q4 2008
Volunteer Page Migration 3

At this point, this volunteer page would be better suited as part of the main website rather than on the wiki. Currently, however, it's all in WikiText markup, so it'll need to be ported over and made to look pretty in Drupal.

A good eye for layout and design. Some web development experience. Drupal experience a plus. 5-10 hours Q1 2009




Community projects: Socials & Get-togethers
Project/Role Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some) Description Special qualifications Estimated time Target completion date
2008 Conference Volunteers 2

We could use more manpower to help next week's conference run smoothly!

During the conference 10/9 - 10/11
Ephemerisle 2

Ephemerisle is a sort of Burning Man-like festival to be held in international waters. We want to show the world how seasteading can work in practice -- technologically, politically, and culturally. We're thinking about July 4th, 2009, off San Diego / LA for the first one. We'll need lots of volunteers! We'll do initial planning in a session at our first annual conference, so if you are interested, please come.

It's very difficult for people to imagine something totally unlike anything they've experienced before. When trying to sell the idea of political experimentation to people who have spent their whole lives in existing societies, it's hard for them (or any of us) to really get what life would be like if we had the practical freedom to choose and create our governments. And that can make it hard to inspire people to get behind our vision. What better way to address this hurdle than to give the world a little taste of the concept in action?

Varies July 4, 2009
Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator 2

Organize our monthly socials around the Bay Area. These are used for pitching seasteading, updating the community, networking, finding volunteers, etc. This coordinator would be responsible for finding hosts/venues, handling publicity, driving attendance, arranging for refreshments, coordinating with TSI colleagues to organize agendas, etc.

Local to the San Francisco Bay Area and able to attend most/all of our socials. 2-4 hours/week n/a (ongoing role)
Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts 3

We're looking for people to who might be willing to host our monthly socials. These are used for pitching seasteading, updating the community, networking, finding volunteers, etc.

A venue that can accomodate 30+ people 5 hours total to assist with planning and attend the social itself January 2009




Community projects: Publicity
Project/Role Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some) Description Special qualifications Estimated time Target completion date
Website Publicity Associate 1

You would manage our website's blogroll, try to get reciprocal links, and try to grow blog/website traffic by posting blog entries to relevant places (forums, link-sharing sites) and emailing them to prominent bloggers (when appropriate). One part of this could be to start a blog of your own to help drive traffic to us, as described in the Supporting Blogger role below. You'd also analyze our search traffic, figure out how we were getting it and how we could get more, that sort of thing. This could be sliced into multiple projects if you only want to take on part of it.

SEO, blogging, and promotion experience is a plus. 2-4 hours per week n/a (ongoing)
Presentation Coaching 2

Reading books like Made To Stick has made it clear that we have a long way to go in refining our vision and pitch to its bare essentials, so it will have the strongest appeal to the most people. Basically, this entails working with Patri Friedman to make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary. :) And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians. There are a number of volunteer projects in this vein; this one targets our live presentation material.

Experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits. 2-5 hours Q4 2008
Media Coaching 2

As TSI gains momentum, we're getting lots of media exposure, which means lots of interviews for print, radio, and television. It would be great to have someone who can help coach us on professional techniques for being maximally effective and compelling in these contexts.

Professional media coaching experience 2-4 hours Q4 2008
Build Press Kit 2

We want to create a digital press kit containing softcopies of general TSI information, press releases, past news articles, high resolution images, and so on.

3-5 hours Q4 2008
Supporting Blogger 3

One way to try to drive web traffic to The Seasteading Institute is for other blogs to link to us. If you have a blog, or would be interested in starting one, that covers seasteading-relevant issues or technologies (e.g. Blue Economy), you can help. The idea here is to try to grow your readership independently, and link back to TSI's main site when you can.

Varies n/a (ongoing)




Community projects: Other
Project/Role Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some) Description Special qualifications Estimated time Target completion date
Membership Program Administrator 1

We'd like to start a membership program where people pay annual dues in return for schwag, recognition, and other perks. You'd help us define, operate, and grow the program.

Experience designing/running such things is a plus. (If not, we have a book you can learn from). 15-30 hours for setup; 3-6 hours/week for operation Q4 2008 for setup
Academic Outreach 2

We'd like to establish relationships with members of academia who are interested in our cause. This project entails finding (via online research, for example) professors or other individuals who might fit the bill. It could also involve helping contact them to encourage their own involvement, the involvement of their classes, or just to create awareness.

5-10 hours per person In full swing by Q4 2008
Schwag Master 3

Handle seastead-themed merchandise. Work with volunteer designers to make designs, sell them in online stores, etc.

2-4 hours/week Q4 2008
Schwagster 3

Create graphic designs that can be used for seastead-themed merchandise (t-shirts, etc.)

Varies Q4 2008
Regional Associates 3

These are unofficial roles where you agree to help out with a particular country. We might direct press inquiries from that country to contact you for a quote or interview, ask you to translate or summarize local articles, or for a couch to crash on if we come visit :). There are not currently any projects to be done here, but we are gathering a list of interested names so that we have them when things come up.

Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead 4

Add clever/funny suggestions to our list of Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead, and vote on existing suggestions. We are printing a t-shirt based on this list, and will revise the t-shirt as the list changes.




Research Projects

Research Projects: All
Project/Role Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some) Description Special qualifications Estimated time Target completion date
Establish Research Program 1

We're looking for someone with academic experience in fields like oceanography / offshore engineering / marine science fields to help us hire a full-time Chief Scientist. You would help us write the job req, post it to appropriate places, and evaluate potential candidates. There might also be the opportunity for an ongoing role in assisting the CS in finding grant opportunities and performing research.

5-15 hours Q4 2008
Research Maritime Law 1

We have a volunteer experienced w/ international maritime law (he helped negotiate the UN Law of Sea treaty under Reagan), and we need someone to coordinate with him on research and interpret his answers. You'd work with Patri Friedman to help define the questions that we need answered, and then work with our expert, Ray (and possibly do some research on your own) to answer them. The result would be published on the site, and might also be suitable for publication in a legal journal, or use as a thesis - at least one past Masters Thesis has covered a similar topic ([1]).

Extensive legal expertise 20-80 hours Q1-Q2 2009
Establish Distributed Research Program 2

We think there will be some research projects which can be done in a distributed fashion by seasteading enthusiasts. We need someone to identify some such projects and organize a program to recruit volunteer researchers online and coordinate their efforts.

10-20 hours for setup, 2-5 hours/week ongoing Setup complete in Q4 2008
Book Marketing Editor 2

Our seasteading book is one of the main ways we're going to generate greater awareness and discussion of our research so far. Basically, this role entails working with the author, Patri Friedman, to help the book make seasteading sound cool and awesome, rather than weird and scary. :) And to appeal to a broad audience, not just crazy libertarians. There are a number of volunteer projects in this vein; this one targets our upcoming book.

Experience designing inspiring/sticky marketing, preferably with small non-profits 5-40 hours -- depends how detailed you want to get Q4 2008
Find A Book Publisher 2

Our seasteading book is one of the main ways we're going to generate greater awareness and discussion of our research so far. We need to find a publisher! If you've got experience or contacts in the publishing industry, you can help. Referrals, help writing pitch/proposal letters, and general advice from someone who has done this before would all be welcome.

Prior experience with the publishing world Varies Q4 2008
Establish Scientific Advisory Board 2

Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) will consist of subject matter experts from a variety of scientific fields related to seasteading. We want someone to help us define the size/scope/function of the SAB, identify and recruit members, and act as the liaison.

Not quite sure what types of experience would be most relevant (besides having done the same thing before). Some experience with academia, nonprofits, volunteer-based organizations. 10-30 hours Q4 2008 - Q1 2009
Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads 3

How might new governments on seastead communities function? What rights will individuals have, and how far will powers of new governments extend? These questions will ultimately only be answered by new communities as they form, but exploring and documenting the implications of various systems might help some of those communities get off on the right foot. It can also increase public awareness now of what this new world will have to offer. We're looking for individuals who want to self-organize into researching and documenting this in a more formal manner.

Varies 2009


Engineering Projects

No volunteer opportunities at this time. Work on this area has begun with a professional naval engineering firm we are contracting with.


Other Projects

Other Projects: All
Project/Role Urgency (1-3, 1=high, 3=some) Description Special qualifications Estimated time Target completion date
Recruit A Volunteer 2

Find a friend who can help with one of our volunteer tasks! There's obviously a wide variety of expertise that we need, and many projects have small time commitments. If you think you know someone who might be able to help, please speak to them and ask!

Grant Research 2

Help do research, under our guidance, to find grants which TSI might be good candidates for.

3-5 hours Q4 2008
Grant Applications 2

Work with us to help draft grant applications for TSI.

Prior experience applying for grants is helpful. 5-10 hours Q4 2008
Administrative Assistant 2

It would be great to have somebody who can assist our Executive Director with administrative tasks -- responding to general e-mails sent to info@seasteading.org, for example, or maintaining a list of TSI contacts. We'd like to get his time freed up to focus on more strategic things. This work could be done remotely.

2-3 hours/week n/a (ongoing)
Your Own Idea

Have an idea how you could help that's not on this list? Drop us a line at volunteers@seasteading.org with your ideas and relevant experience.




Volunteer Opportunities, Listed By Skillset

Strategic

Establish Research Program
Establish Scientific Advisory Board
Establish Distributed Research Program
Website Planner

Software

Webmaster
Website Sysadmin / Developer
Little Drupal Projects
Pretty Front Page
Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements
Volunteer Page Migration

2-D Art / Design

Pretty Front Page
Schwagster

3-D Art / Modeling / Animation

No projects currently available, but please let us know if you'd be willing to help out in this area in the future.

Legal

Research Maritime Law
Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads

Marketing & PR

Website Content Marketing Consultant
Website Publicity Associate
Presentation Coaching
Media Coaching
Build Press Kit
Book Marketing Editor

Writing & editing

Supporting Blogger
Grant Applications

Publishing Help

Find A Book Publisher

Administrative

Webmaster
Website Community Manager
Website Volunteer Coordinator
Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator
Membership Program Administrator
Schwag Master
Administrative Assistant

Anybody

Recruit A Volunteer
2008 Conference Volunteers
Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts
Academic Outreach
Grant Research
Ephemerisle
Regional Associates
Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead
Your Own Idea


Volunteer Opportunities, Listed By Urgency

High Urgency

Establish Research Program
Research Maritime Law
Membership Program Administrator

Webmaster
Website Volunteer Coordinator
Website Publicity Associate

Moderate Urgency

Ephemerisle

Presentation Coaching
Media Coaching
Build Press Kit

Book Beta Webpage Software Improvements
Book Marketing Editor
Find A Book Publisher

Website Sysadmin / Developer
Website Planner
Little Drupal Projects
Website Community Manager

Establish Scientific Advisory Board
Establish Distributed Research Program

2008 Conference Volunteers
Administrative Assistant
Recruit A Volunteer
Bay Area Seasteading Socials Coordinator
Grant Research
Grant Applications
Academic Outreach

Some Urgency

Constitutional/Legal Systems For Seasteads

Website Content Marketing Consultant
Volunteer Page Migration
Pretty Front Page (development)
Pretty Front Page (content)

Supporting Blogger
Bay Area Seasteading Social Hosts
Regional Associates

Schwag Master
Schwagster

Other

Top 10 Reasons To Live On A Seastead
Your Own Idea

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