This is our wish list of skills, time, and resources. If you can offer any of these, please contact us at collective@riseup.net.
Join The Collective
We are actively looking for new collective members who can devote at least 10 hours a month to this project. Our most pressing needs are not of a technical nature, so no technical knowledge is required. If you are aligned with our politics, think our purpose is neat, and have time to commit, then please contact us immediately!Roles for Volunteers
Volunteer Coordination
Because we are so busy, it has been traditionally difficult for us to involve volunteers. So, if you are interesting in volunteering, please be persistent! If you were interested in helping us coordinate other volunteers, that would be even better.Local Tech Support
Many local groups and users in your area probably need a lot of support. Instead of volunteering directly with riseup.net, we would be thrilled if you found someone locally who needed help. We don't have a good way yet for people to request help in their area, so the first step would be to devise such a system.riseup.net Tech Support
We receive a ton of help desk tickets every day. Many of them are general enough that anyone familiar with riseup.net could give an answer. Also, many questions we just can't answer because we don't have anywhere near the time (for example, 'how do I configure my mail client?'). However, most the help desk tickets are a little tricky, and may involve some training to learn how to troubleshoot. We hold regular Sunday morning ticket parties over the phone. If you are interested let us know.Documentation
Our documentation is growing, but is still far from complete. It needs updating, expanding, editing, and cleaning up. It is very important for riseup.net to have good documentation, since we don't have enough labor to handle all the problems people might encounter.Graphic Design
We need a new site design, but are too lazy to do it ourselves. If you have mad html skills, we could use a new look.News Collective
We would like to encourage our users to start local collectives to edit an activist news feed which would appear on the front page of riseup.net (and lists and mail sites) and which users may choose to have mailed to them.Fund raising
We need help in devising and implementing a fund raising strategy and campaign. Our needs are modest, but we need to be more consistent in raising money and requesting donations.Legal Support
From time to time, we have need for legal advice. We are also looking for people who can be on call should a crisis emerge. We would love to talk to you if you have knowledge in the areas of civil liberties, internet law, privacy, or search and seizure.Accounting
We can patch a kernel before you can say 'Free Software,' but this accounting stuff makes our heads swim. There are a lot of questions and consulting needs we have in the areas of budgeting, financial systems, taxes, and non-profit filing requirements. We use GNUCash, an open source accounting package available only on linux. However, any general accounting advice should still be relevant.Programming
We have a ton of ongoing programming projects and needs. Briefly, these include:- baobab/mail: Baobab is our internal tool we use to manage all user services. Currently, only we only use the 'mail' part. It is written in PHP and is undergoing a total rewrite.
- baobab/hosting: Currently, the part of Baobab which deals with automating web hosting is still under development. Once complete, we will be able to host new sites with the click of a button.
- security in the waning days of babylon: There are a whole host of programming projects, plugins, and patches which should be written to increase riseup.net security. Also, we would like to provide resources to allow users to easily use PGP, both with their mail client at home and through the web mail interface.
- sympa: Sympa is the list distribution software used at lists.riseup.net. It is written in Perl. There are many changes which must be made if we are going to continue to offer service to more users.
- feedback/voting: We need some way for riseup.net users to vote on priorities and proposals, and to provide feedback and direction to the collective.
- tickquito: We always have new features and changes we want made to our in-house help desk ticket system (written in PHP).