Ryan - brilliant. That's a rare offer from Shava - she's thoroughly overqual'ed for the task, but would do a great job.
Crowdvice: take her up on the offer to be an advisor - pick her brain! and if you don't have someone handy, you can hire her for 2 weeks while filling the spot. SJ observing a funny star-alignment On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 12:21 AM, Ryan Prior <[email protected]> wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Shava Nerad <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, May 17, 2010 at 8:25 PM > Subject: Re: [FC-discuss] Diaspora: please hire a secretary immediately > To: Ryan Prior <[email protected]>, Discussion of Free Culture in > general and this organization in particular <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected] > > > At 08:08 PM 5/17/2010, Ryan Prior wrote: >> >> I got the opportunity to meet and speak with Shava Nerad (CC'd in case >> she'd like to make a recommendation), previously of the Tor group, who > > The Tor Project (http://torproject.org -- I was executive director for > a couple years when they went from unincorporated (and largely > unfunded) cypherpunk open source group to 501[c][3] > research/educational charity, with a half mil yearly budget, and > started to get recognition as a tool for democracy, human rights, free > press, and change agents. I still do volunteer press monitoring for > them. > >> helped change and then maintain Tor's image during the time when it >> was getting started and was highly visible in the media. Retaining >> somebody of her intellect and savvy can help a project out a lot while >> simultaneously taking a lot of burden off of active developers and >> hackers. >> >> Between GNU Social, Diaspora*, Free Culture and friends, we have a >> very large number of people fielding questions and developing ideas. I >> think it would serve us all very well to have somebody taking the lead >> in dealing with the media and interested citizens; Diaspora* is in a >> very commanding position to find that person, feed him or her, and >> make the most out of the present situation.\ > > Hey, Ryan, SJ, and all y'all I know, and please to meet you to those I don't! > :) > > I bet I won't get these to the lists cc'd because I am not on them, so > if you could forward this, I'd appreciate it. > > First, let me say I've been promoting the hell out of Diaspora* on > Twitter and every privacy discussion I've been in online or off, > around Harvard and MIT particularly.... > > That said, seeing what you need, I have a few thoughts. These are > expressed strongly, but they are, of course, only my opinions. > > First, what you are describing is not a secretary but a PR person. If > you could get anyone at all, one probably with good chops in social > media, and if you're very lucky, a person who knows how to raise funds > too. If you are going to turn this into a project that pays people, > you can certainly take advantage of the current rush of press and > social media, good discussion, and so on to turn this into something > sustainable. > > Your expectations should *start* there, and reducing that is an issue > of compromise. > > I'm happy to help with some advice and such, but right now I am on a > ramen diet myself, working on my own project. I could put more than a > few hours into this if it paid, myself, but not more than part time > (10-20h), and not any further than the summer because by then I'll be > hosed for time with my game company. > > So, in order of preference, this is what I'd do: > > 1) find someone with professional fundraising/social > media/open source/PR experience who will give (what, 10-20h/wk?) into > you forever, as a volunteer (I'm sure they're out there, but they > might take a LONG time to find, which would be an issue over the > summer) > 2) find someone with some subset of those things that include > fundraising who will be willing to volunteer until they raise some > money, and then pay them to stay on for the duration if they work out. > 3) find someone like me (or me) who will take stoopid low pay > for the field to raise money and deal with PR and so on, who'll kick > start what you are doing, and then you can maybe find someone like > #1/#2 from there on? > 4) find a volunteer who can do a significant subset, probably, > but just needs the experience (maybe a summer intern?) to put on a > resume, and will work free > 5) find someone who'll work cheap and has some large subset of > what you need. > > Which of these seem good to you depends on where and how you look, > obviously. If you don't want me, maybe the best use of my limited > volunteer time would be to look for the person you decide you want to > look for? > > Happy to help, either way! > > Yrs, > > -- > > Shava Nerad, CEO, Oddfellow Studios > [email protected] > +1 617-767-6735 (cell) > skype: shava23 > Shava Suntzu in SL > http://oddfellowstudios.com > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
