V.O.I.C.E Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education

October 2007

A A A

Active GUI element

Static GUI element

Code

WPS object

File/Path

Command line

Entry-field content

[Key combination]

more

by Christian Hennecke, © October 2007

Christian Hennecke is the Editor in Chief of the VOICE Newsletter. While being a geographer originally, he runs an IT consulting and service company.

For a while, the editorial staff has effectively been consisting of Mark, William D Loughman, and me, plus James Moe who helps a lot with formatting and proof-reading. Mark isn't able to work on the Newsletter as he used to which is why he stepped down from his position as Editor-in-Chief in 2004 in the first place.

Our Tips Editor, William D Loughman, had to retire from his position several months ago. Last year, I decided to cut down on translations and proof-reading to avoid burn out. However, real life issues have further reduced the time that I can donate to the VOICE Newsletter to a considerable extent several times. Since contact with authors and the first preparation of articles has almost exclusively been handled by myself and nobody else builds the final issue, issues have been delayed—by several months.

Open positions

Earlier this year we published calls for new Associate and Tips Editors, but we haven't received a single response or offer so far. So we are asking you once more:

We are looking for a new Associate Editor who can help with the communication with authors, preparation of articles, and coordination of the team on a regular basis, and who builds an issue in case the Editor-in-Chief is not available.

Also, a new Tips Editor is needed who creates the tips page from tips found on the Internet or submitted to VOICE directly.

Detailed descriptions are available below. If you are interested, please contact us at editor@os2voice.org.

The bottom line is:

An Alternative?

What if the situation does not improve or gets even worse? Close down the German edition completely? Switch to a bi-monthly or quarterly schedule? Shut down the whole Newsletter?

This has stopped being fun and become a burden due to the changes over time. I've been thinking about handing the job to someone else but that would be merely treating some symptoms and not cure the disease, of course. Chickening out is not an option, so let's give this another try:

If the community is not willing to invest the time and talent required to support itself by keeping this information resource survivable, it may be time to consider an alternative approach similar to the one Pete Grubbs of the former OS/2 e-Zine brought up a while ago: invest money instead.

Essentially, the editorial staff—including translators and proof-readers—would receive an allowance as compensation for a defined monthly work schedule. Nothing to make a living but at least something to help justify spending all that time on the project.

Authors would remain unpaid. As a motivation, there could be a vote for the best articles once a year with prizes for the top three. The prizes could consist of, e.g., software, hardware, gift coupons for books, audio CDs, video DVDs, or money.

Maybe even a printed version could be created.

Funding would have to be provided by vendors, user groups, and individuals. Certain amounts could entitle the donor to place ads in the Newsletter or the VOICE web site. VOICE could handle the collection and management of financial resources, and act as a directorate.

An important issue is how access to the Newsletter would be handled. On one hand, free access for everybody wouldn't exactly help with collecting funds. If VOICE members got free access and everbody else would have to pay a small amount, this would encourage people to join. Restricted access could also be a motivation for authors: A published article could be worth a certain access period, e.g., six months. On the other hand, people might perceive this as monopolization of information.

We are eager to know our readers' opinion. What do you think of the approach? Would you be willing to pay to secure the future of this magazine? Send your comments and suggestions to editor@os2voice.org.

---

Job Descriptions

Please see the following for detailed descriptions of the open positions.

Associate Editor

The requirements for the position are as follows:

• Persistence: We need a commitment to the job for a longer period. There is no use in training someone who's going to leave again two months later.
• Reliability: We rely on you getting your work done, and done correctly, before certain deadlines. Of course, there always is the possibility of things getting in the way—in such cases tell us about it in a timely manner.
• Grammar and spelling knowledge: As many tips do not come from native speakers, proof-reading and editing is required.
• XHTML/CSS skills: Knowledge of which tags there are and what a CSS class is appropriate.
• Basic OS/2 and REXX knowledge: You know how to run programs via the command line and adapt existing REXX scripts to your system.

The job consists of:

• Encouraging people to write articles if, e.g., you see interesting messages in OS/2 resources.
• Review of submitted articles, communication with authors regarding content, phrasing, and bylines.
• Formatting articles according to our author guidelines.
• Team coordination
• Possibly giving advise to the translation team, e.g., regarding idioms and jargon.
• Building the final version of the VOICE Newsletter issue if other editors are not available. Compared to former times, the build process has been largely automated and become a lot easier. We may switch to a CMS at a later point.

Tips Editor

The requirements for the position are as follows:

• Information resources: You should be subscribed to at least a few of the OS/2-related mailing lists and newsgroups, and scan these for interesting information on a regular basis.
• Grammar and spelling knowledge: As many tips do not come from native speakers, proof-reading and editing is required.
• Reliability: We rely on you getting your work done, and done correctly, before certain deadlines. Of course, there always is the possibility of things getting in the way—in such cases tell us about it in a timely manner.
• Persistence: We need a commitment to the job for a longer period. There is no use in training someone who's going to leave again two months later.

The following is desirable but not required:

• XHTML/CSS skills: Knowledge of which tags there are and what a CSS class is appropriate.

The job consists of:

• Scanning information resources for potential tips.
• Assembling tips that come from above resources or have been submitted directly to VOICE. This includes a short introduction for each tip.
• Proof-reading including corrections of awkward phrasing as well as bad grammar and spelling. Our proof-readers do edit the Tips page, too, but they shouldn't have to completely rephrase things.
• Formatting the Tips page according to our author guidelines.
• Possibly giving advise to the translation team, e.g., regarding idioms and jargon.