Online Community Organizer

Steve Dale — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:21:56 +0000

Reading Seth Godin’s blog this morning I came across what was a very relevant item for me, about jobs for the future – the Online Community Organizer. The proximity of Seth’s description of this role with the position I’ve identified and am currntly recruiting for the Information Authority couldn’t be closer. I trust Seth will not mind me replicating the post here:

"If you want to
hire a union organizer, you probably know what to look for. Someone
with resilience, passion, persistence and excellent interpersonal
skills.

What if you want to hire someone to build an online community?
Somebody to create and maintain a virtual world in which all the
players in an industry feel like they need to be part of it? Like being
the head of a big trade association, but without the bureaucracy and
tedium…

It would help if that person understood technology, at least well
enough to know what it could do. They would need to be able to write.
But they also have to be able to seduce stragglers into joining the
group in the first place, so they have to be able to understand a
marketplace, do outbound selling and non-electronic communications.
They have to be able to balance huge amounts of inbound correspondence
without making people feel left out, and they have to be able to walk
the fine line between rejecting trolls and alienating the good guys.

Since there’s no rule book, it would help to be willing to try new
things, to be self-starting and obsessed with measurement as well.

If you were great at this, I’d imagine you’d never ever have trouble finding good work."

The problem for me (and anyone else seeking this skill set) is that we’re fishing from a very small pond, which I can verify from the very few applications I’ve received to date. However, if you’re out there and see something of yourself in this role description, please apply via the Information Authority web site. A more detailed description of the role is included in the attached PDF document.
Download lsc_ia_ia_community_and_stakeholder_management_sd_final.pdf

Job vacancies at The Information Authority

Steve Dale — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:14:21 +0000

I thought I should make the most of this blog to publicise a number of job vacancies that will be advertised in the Guardian this coming week. The positions have been created as part of the strategy I’m developing for the Information Authority Secretariat. The Information Authority has been established as an independent body
to set and regulate data collection and reporting standards for all organisations
involved in further education and training in England and Wales. A key component of the strategy will be the creation and development of communities of interest and practice across the further education sector to enable a more open, collaborative and transparent environment for information and knowledge sharing. A community platform is planned, utilising Web2.0 technolgy and social media applications. The community platform will be available to all data providers and users across the further education sector, including schools, colleges, training providers, agencies and non-government department public bodies.

Quite an ambitious plan, and hence why I’m recruiting the key individuals make it all happen. A copy of the job adverts that will appear in the press and in various web site this week, including Jobserve, Gurteen and TFPL is attached

to this posting. Anyone interested should apply through the information authority web site where an application form will be available from Tuesday 17th July.

Download info_sec_lsc_x126.pdf

Communities and Collaboration » Jobs

Online Community Organizer

Job vacancies at The Information Authority