VolunteerRoles

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.