The LG Backpage

By Ben Okopnik

Dear readers:

I'm going to get straight to the point - the Linux Gazette needs your help. No, I'm not going to ask you for money; what we really, really need are volunteers. People who are willing to commit a few hours of their time and effort every month to doing some of the work that's necessary to get LG out. Without that help, I see the Linux Gazette slowly grinding to a halt in the not-too-distant future - and that's a future I'd prefer to avoid.

I'll be honest with you: I love LG, and would like to see it continue, even after I've moved on to something else (as hard as I find that to imagine.) I see it as a terrific resource for Linuxers, both new and experienced - a place where people can ask questions about Linux and explore the answers along with The Answer Gang; a place for articles, humor, and challenges; a way to make Linux "Just A Little More Fun"; most importantly, a way for our community to communicate. Behind the scenes, though, there's a lot of hard work going on - and just a few people carrying the load. If one of us has a problem, or is tied up by large amounts of Life Happening in a given month, then... there's no one left to carry the ball. That, my friends, is a serious problem - or so says the engineering part of my brain. It's a system with lots of vulnerabilities and no backup.

What I'm trying to do is create a system in which there's not only a significant amount of safety but also less strain - a system in which we, the staff of LG, get to participate in the fun as well as create it. Producing LG, making it come alive can be really enjoyable... but not if it's a chore. More hands would make it light work - and add to the general level of fun.

What We Need

At the simplest, most basic level, we need people who are communicative and punctual. Punctual, because LG has fixed deadlines; communicative, because the rest of the team relies on you to either deliver or notify. That is, you're expected to either 1) do what you've committed to do, or 2) tell us, as early as possible, that you've run into a problem. Either one is fine - but making an explicit commitment and not doing either of the above is a disaster in the making. (These skills would make you a valuable employee or business partner anyway - so get'em while they're hot.)

Going beyond that - there is a process to publishing LG; consequently, there is a need for people who can carry that process forward. I'll try to detail that process here, but do note that it's constantly evolving (comments on improving the process itself are also welcome, particularly if they come with an offer of help attached.)

• At the beginning of each month, just after an issue has been published, we need reviewers. Our proofreaders and our tech editors are going to miss some things; in theory, when I audit the articles before (and after) publication, I'll catch some of those errors... but I've learned that I'm not perfect (who would have thought???), and need some backup.
  

  "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."
   -- Linus Torvalds
  

  Time commitment: ~2 hours per month.
  Description: Review all the published material carefully as soon as possible after publication; notify the Editor of any layout, technical, spelling, etc. errors.
  
  
• As articles come in, I inspect them for their applicability to LG, their readability, and a number of other characteristics; once I've decided that they're acceptable, I upload them to our Subversion repository and mark them as 'RELEASED' in the issue's "STATUS" file. At that point, they become available to our technical editors, who then vet the material for technical accuracy and ensure that any included code actually works/compiles/runs.
  Time commitment: Variable, but averaging ~1 hour per article
  Description: Requires technical knowledge on a variety of Linux topics, or at least the ability to research the answers. This is a position where we need a number of people with a range of qualifications: if you're knowledgeable about any area of Linux, we'd be glad to have your help.
  
  
• After the technical editors approve an article, we need proofreaders to check over the spelling and the grammar. Presumably, the tech editors will scrub out some of those while they work, but the proofreaders are responsible for the final polish and gloss.
  Time commitment: Variable, but averaging ~1 hour per article.
  Description: Requires a solid knowledge of English grammar and idiom, as well as an ability to use a spellchecker (and to correct it when it's wrong!)
  
  
• There are several regular columns in LG; all of these require at least two people apiece, a cooperative effort to produce that content on a regular basis. Feature editors collect and arrange the material - whether it's the incoming TAG mail for The Mailbag, reader comments for Talkbacks, silly/fun chatter for The Laundrette, or the latest Linux news for NewsBytes - and submit it for inclusion in LG.
  Time commitment: At least several hours per month.
  Description: The duties of a feature editor can be fairly complex, depending on the task. Since there's already at least one editor for a given feature, what we really need is assistant editors who will "learn the ropes" and perhaps take turns at the job.
  
  
• As time goes on, resources change and disappear - that's part of the nature of the Web. Some of our regular columns from the past - e.g., Shane Collinge's "HelpDex" cartoons - have slowly petered out; some, like Thomas Adam's "The Weekend Mechanic" (which he reintroduced following John M. Fisk's original column) just went away due to the author's lack of available time. In any case, LG needs a hip and knowledgeable talent scout - someone who will hunt up new and relevant content, coordinate with the Editor-in-Chief, and (if it passes muster) contact the author(s) to determine if they'd like to have their work appear here.
  Time commitment: If you spend much time browsing the Web, there's no additional time commitment necessary.
  Description: Keeping your eyes open for suitable content doesn't take much time, but requires good judgement and solid coordination with the Editor-in-Chief.
  
  
• If you can't decide - if you're not sure what you're qualified to do - volunteer anyway. We need general assistants, and will be happy to discuss your abilities and how/where you can best use them at LG.
  Time commitment: Up to you.
  Description: Depends on your skills and our needs.
  

Of course, we're always looking for authors and translators.

Friends... help me - help us - keep LG running. It's a good way to "pay forward" for the value that you get from reading the Gazette, for the value and power you gain from being a part of the Linux community. Join us today by emailing me at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette

Talkback: Discuss this article with The Answer Gang

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Ben is the Editor-in-Chief for Linux Gazette and a member of The Answer Gang.

Ben was born in Moscow, Russia in 1962. He became interested in electricity at the tender age of six, promptly demonstrated it by sticking a fork into a socket and starting a fire, and has been falling down technological mineshafts ever since. He has been working with computers since the Elder Days, when they had to be built by soldering parts onto printed circuit boards and programs had to fit into 4k of memory. He would gladly pay good money to any psychologist who can cure him of the recurrent nightmares.

His subsequent experiences include creating software in nearly a dozen languages, network and database maintenance during the approach of a hurricane, and writing articles for publications ranging from sailing magazines to technological journals. After a seven-year Atlantic/Caribbean cruise under sail and passages up and down the East coast of the US, he is currently anchored in St. Augustine, Florida. He works as a technical instructor for Sun Microsystems and a private Open Source consultant/Web developer. His current set of hobbies includes flying, yoga, martial arts, motorcycles, writing, and Roman history; his Palm Pilot is crammed full of alarms, many of which contain exclamation points.

He has been working with Linux since 1997, and credits it with his complete loss of interest in waging nuclear warfare on parts of the Pacific Northwest.