Wanted: A New AEA365 Volunteer Curator! by Sheila B Robinson

Hello loyal readers! I am Sheila B Robinson, aea365’s Lead Curator and sometimes Saturday contributor and I’m looking for a new partner!

Get Involved: We’re looking for an aea365 intern  – a volunteer curator willing to donate perhaps an hour or two a week to help aea365 continue its commitment to maintaining a high quality daily blog by and for evaluators.

The aea365 intern will primarily assist with:

• Recruiting contributors – sending invitations, communicating with leaders of sponsoring groups
• Shepherding contributors – sending reminders, asking questions, giving thanks
• Uploading contributions – entering posts into the aea365 wordpress-based website (very easy to learn!)
• Contributing  – one aea365 post per month

The commitment requires on average approximately 1-2 hours per week for six months (with the option to continue if it’s working well!) beginning approximately October 1 and running through approximately April 1.

Lesson Learned: I began my position as Lead Curator with a six-month commitment and that was 4.5 years ago! Yes, it’s just that fun and rewarding. I learn so much from reading each post, and I love “meeting” evaluators through my communication with them.

Hot Tip: The ideal intern has contributed before to aea365, or at a minimum is a regular reader familiar with the format, breadth, and style of entries. This individual has good writing skills and communications skills and is interested in making connections across the evaluation community. Finally, the work can be done remotely, from anywhere, and thus the intern should be self-directed, organized, and adept at meeting deadlines.

Serving as an aea365 intern is a great way to build your professional network and expand your knowledge of the breadth and depth of the field. The intern will receive ongoing mentoring throughout the term of the internship as well as support in learning how to use WordPress.

This is a volunteer position, and as such compensation will be in the form of our sincerest gratitude, thanks, and recognition of your contribution!

To apply – on or before Friday, September 8, send the following to aea365@eval.org: (1) a brief letter of interest noting your favorite type(s) of aea365 posts and why, and (2) an example original aea365 post following our contribution guidelines and demonstrating your writing/editing capacity (this can be one that has been published or a new one you compose for this purpose).

Cool Trick: Be sure to follow the contribution guidelines, and proofread your work when submitting your example post.

Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.