Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2018, 3:58 AM Subject: mySociety: A new call to join the WhatDoTheyKnow team
We’re seeking people to join the WhatDoTheyKnow <http://WhatDoTheyKnow.com> team, dealing with the day-to-day administration of the site. Over seven million people viewed our Freedom of Information website WhatDoTheyKnow last year; it now hosts almost 50,000 requests for information and has around 150,000 registered users. The site, which is managed on a day-to-day basis by volunteers, is continuing to grow. Last year we ran a successful call for volunteers <https://www.mysociety.org/2017/02/23/could-you-join-the-whatdotheyknow-team/> which led to a new cohort of people joining the core volunteer team, and a number of others taking on associated roles. We have decided to make the call for volunteers an annual event, as it’s always useful to have more people involved in running and improving the service. The site’s growth isn’t the only factor: people move on, circumstances change, and there’s always a need to keep the pool of volunteers topped up. Volunteers, like mySociety staff, work remotely from home, and can pick the days or hours that suit them best. There is no set number of hours required. Administrator roles Would you be interested in joining the team as an administrator? Currently that role involves: - *Considering, and acting on, requests to remove material from our site* The material in question could be something big (like the accidentally released personal information of thousands of staff at a public body), something small (such as an individual’s phone number), or, to give a recent example, the address of a vice-chancellor’s official on-campus residence which the university doesn’t think should be published. - *Assisting users* with using our site, providing advice on requesting information and helping resolve basic issues with their accounts. - *Managing the service* by resending bounced emails, dealing with messages that public bodies have misdirected, and maintaining and extending the database of public bodies which the site relies upon. Other roles Due to the requirements attached to their grant funding, the efforts of mySociety’s paid staff are currently focused on developing the WhatDoTheyKnow Pro service <https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/pro> and supporting deployments of our Alaveteli FOI software in other countries. To support the operation of WhatDoTheyKnow in the UK we’d also like to find volunteers could take on some additional roles. If your skills fit any of the descriptions below, you’d make a great addition to the team: - *Team administrator* Could you help us keep track of legal deadlines, organise (and perhaps chair or minute) our regular team meetings and ensure we follow up on outstanding items? - *Volunteer developer* It would be useful if we had volunteers able to make tweaks to the site’s software to support the growth of the site and the work of the other volunteers. Tasks could include improvements to the administration interface, and making updates to the static pages on the site. This role would provide an opportunity to get experience working with mySociety’s highly professional development team, or offer a chance for an experienced developer to help out a team working on an impactful civic project. - *Strategic fundraiser* Could you help us obtain the funds we need to keep WhatDoTheyKnow.com running and ensure that the operation is sustainable as it grows? This would be an opportunity to work with volunteers, and you’d also work in tandem with mySociety staff, including the professional fundraiser we’re currently also seeking to recruit <https://mysociety.workable.com/jobs/688726>. - *Documentation specialist* The volunteer team, along with mySociety’s staff and trustees, have developed a substantial number of policies governing how the site is run. These are filed in the staff Wiki, and also, where possible, made public on the site. Tending to both these aspects of our documentation would be a great help to the team, and to users. - *Public body database administrator* Behind WhatDoTheyKnow is perhaps the largest database of public bodies in the UK — would you like to help maintain and improve it? There may be opportunities to support new WhatDoTheyKnow Pro features which are in development, for example by curating lists/groups of public bodies. - *Regional, or sector, specialist* Would you like to join us and help improve our service in a particular geographic or sector area? Perhaps you would like to help ensure we have full coverage of public bodies in, say, Manchester, and ensure they’re well described. - *Journalistic / communications volunteers* We would like to do more to promote and encourage high quality use of our site, for example though a regular blog post pointing to notable responses received each month. Requirements If you’d like to join us, and think you’ve got something to offer, then please do get in touch. There are no formal requirements for our volunteer roles, although due to the way we work the ability to write clear, professional, emails is essential; and when corresponding with our users we need excellent communicators who are able to provide to support to people from a broad range of backgrounds. A number of our current volunteers had not made significant of use of the service themselves before joining the team. You don’t need to be an avid Freedom of Information requestor, activist, campaigner or journalist to join us; but if you are, that’s great too. While we do need people who can regularly share the workload associated with dealing with incoming user support, and takedown requests, there are also opportunities to carry out self-contained projects, or help out on an occasional basis. What are the benefits? While these are unpaid positions, you may enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting a service that is of help to the UK population, often empowering users to uncover information that would otherwise remain unknown. All at mySociety and WhatDoTheyKnow are immensely grateful for the work put in by volunteers: their contributions release mySociety staff and the rest of the team to focus on elements of the service where their skills are best used. But there are some fringe benefits, too: - You’ll gain experience in running a high traffic website processing a high level of user-generated content. - You’ll work as part of the team on often complex cases involving data protection law, defamation law, and sometimes requiring tricky journalistic and moral judgments. - You’ll take a vital role supporting a key part of the UK’s democratic and journalistic infrastructure, helping at the front line of tackling fake news, and helping inform public debate on a wide range of important matters from security and defence to benefits, health and care. WhatDoTheyKnow volunteers have gone on to careers in the law, and experience with the team may well be useful for those considering entering journalism, or roles in information management. Volunteers may be invited to mySociety events and meet-ups, providing a chance to take part in discussions about the future direction of the service and the organisation’s activities more generally. There have been a number of conferences <http://alaveteli.org/community/conferences/> held, where those running Freedom of Information sites around the world have got together to share experiences: one or more volunteers may be invited to join in, with travel expenses paid. While our volunteer roles are unpaid there are funds available to cover travel and training costs. Applying Please write to us <https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> by the 23rd of April 2018, introducing yourself, letting us know about any relevant experience and skills you have, and telling us how you think you may be able to help out. If you’ve made use of our service, or FOI, do tell us about that: we’re always interested in hearing users’ stories. Other ways to help If volunteering to join the WhatDoTheyKnow team isn’t for you, perhaps you could: - help categorise responses on WhatDoTheyKnow <https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/categorise/play>, - spread the word about our service <https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/credits#promote>, or make a donation <https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/credits#donate>. — Image: Clark Tibbs <https://unsplash.com/photos/oqStl2L5oxI> from mySociety https://ift.tt/2GJXk7M via IFTTT <https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=gmail> ―― View topic http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/4Ifi4ElMbAqhuBYA3O1pNx Leave group mailto:newswire@groups.dowire.org?subject=Unsubscribe
