Needs on SI

SI is almost two years old, and we’ve been doing a good share of evaluating. We will be changing many aspects of the site here in January including the addition of policies, more intensive moderation, and new staff members. However, we could use some help in some other areas, and I’d like to bring them to your attention.

Staff Needs

Graphic Designer—We need a designer who is able to add a photo to each article. We are getting to the point where we have our articles edited and ready for posting four to seven days in advance of their publication. So, we need a graphic designer who could go in once or twice a week and add the necessary graphics.

Posting Editor—We need someone to help get articles ready for posting after they have been edited. This would include basic computer language skills. We already have two individuals who help with this, but the addition of a third would be a great benefit to the site.

Archive Editor—SI now has over 400 articles on the site that have been posted on the front page. However, our software does not allow for easy access to the archives. I’d like to bring someone on board who could create a web page that would have all articles archived by topic and by author in PDF format. This is especially important to a large number of our readers who are not web savvy.

Sunday Sermon Editor—In the past, we had someone who posted an MP3 sermon each Sunday; it was a nice feature to the site. So, if you listen to a lot of sermons on your MP3 player and would have a burden to highlight good messages for our readership, please contact me.

Bulletin Insert Editor—We provided a popular feature in the early days of the site called “Tempered Steel.” TS was a review of articles on SI in the format of a church bulletin insert. Many pastors appreciate providing this educational service to their membership. However, it is too much for our current staff to handle. If you would be interested in providing this feature, you would need some basic experience with publishing software. I would like to have one or two inserts a month for our readership.

Filings Editors—Greg did a great job with this aspect of the site. My vision for the future is to have five to seven people (men and women) who could contribute to this valuable aspect of the site. If you know someone who has a nose for news on the Internet, please send me your suggestions.

Financial Needs

Our site continues to demand more financially. We had our bandwidth donated for the first year, but with the added traffic, we have started to pay for the service although at a reduced rate. Also, we have added a site editor this year, Adam Blumer, and we pay him for his services. This was a needed step because I was no longer able to keep up with the demands of the site. Since Adam’s addition, the site has been much more consistent in regards to lining up authors, keeping posts at a consistent length, recruiting advertisers, and several other tasks.

We have had a host of new advertisers join up this year, and this has helped. However, we still had a monthly deficit that was made up by a couple of donors. Coming into the new year, we have a monthly financial need of about a couple hundred dollars a month. If you would be interested in contributing to this, please contact me. SI is set up as a corporation but is not currently set up as a nonprofit.

New Leadership Team

I am excited about what the new staff has already been contributing over the past month to the site. We have already filled six positions without even having to talk about it. About seven or eight people have been collaborating for hours on the future of SI. In 2007, with our current plans, we will have articles posted by 50 writers and over 40 others who contribute in some direct way to the site. I believe that by March 1, many of our weaknesses will be shored up and that several new initiatives will be moving forward!

If you would like to help in any of these areas or have ideas of who would be a good choice, please email me at jasonjanz@sharperiron.org.