A Blog Around The Clock

It has 'Coturnix' written all over it, don't you think? I am even wearing my PLoS t-shirt right now as I am typing this!

But, why is it necessary to move to San Francisco? My wife is terrified of earthquakes and CA is one state she always said she would never move to.

Looking at the job description, everything can be easily done sitting in my pajamas here in Chapel Hill, or on a submarine, or on the Moon. It's all online:

PLoS ONE Online Community Manager

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit advocacy and publishing organization located in the China Basin area of San Francisco, California. We publish a growing collection of Open Access scientific and medical journals whose complete contents are freely available online. Our long-term goals are to create an online "public library of science" containing every scientific and medical paper ever published, and to develop the information technologies needed to maximize the value of this resource. For more information about PLoS, visit http://www.plos.org/.

Job Description

PLoS ONE is a high volume, efficient and economical system for the publication of peer-reviewed research in all areas of science and medicine. But what makes PLoS ONE really different happens after publication - users are able to annotate, comment on, and rate articles. To facilitate and moderate this post-publication interaction, we're looking for someone with a scientific background to help guide PLoS ONE through high growth, gather feedback from the online community and keep discussions on topic.

You will be responsible for managing the PLoS ONE user community, monitoring the discussion threads, expanding membership and organically growing the site based on community feedback. PLoS ONE will be adding new technology to foster relationship-building throughout the year and you will help shape this technology. You will also work with focus groups and external communities to gather feedback and promote PLoS ONE.

This should not be your first role with an online community. We would like a couple of years experience working directly within an online community, preferably with an online scientific community.

This is a full-time, permanent position available immediately at our San Francisco office, and we are looking to fill it as soon as possible. Our salaries are competitive for nonprofit organizations, but less than comparable salaries in the corporate environments. Compensation is dependent on qualifications. PLoS offers a benefits package which includes vacation, 401(k), health, vision and dental coverage.

The responsibilities of the Online Community Manager include, but are not limited, to the following:

* Field questions from the online community.
* Work to grow the number of participants and activity on the site.
* Moderate the discussions threads and forums (which will be scientific in nature).
* Help keep the online community free of spam and on topic.
* Create and implement specific policies to guide positive growth in the online community.
* Identify problems and create solutions to social and technical problems in the forums.
* Translate online community requirements into business opportunities.
* Work with marketing team to develop e-marketing campaigns specific to the online community.
* Communicate technical issues to the web team and advise the online community on issues.
* Use an in-house Content Management System to update the website.
* Perform statistical analysis using web logs.
* Upload files to Unix servers using standard and secure FTP programs.
* Carry out other technical and site administration duties as required.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities

* 2-5 years of "hands on" professional experience with moderation and management of online communities, specifically online scientific communities. Compulsive participation a plus.
* Strong understanding of online communities, blogging and current online culture.
* A broad understanding of and enthusiasm for science.
* Strong verbal and written communication skills for monitoring online communication.
* Must work well with others; be willing and able to support end users in a constructive manner.
* Understanding, experience and comfort with Open Source technology.
* Proven ability to effectively analyze and communicate complicated technical and social issues to a management team.
* Good judgment and the ability to handle multiple conflicting goals without active supervision.
* Sense of humor and the ability to handle screaming masses of highly opinionated scientists without going insane.
* A passion for and an understanding of how to leverage Web 2.0 tools for social change.
* Must be passionate about working with the scientific community.
* Excellent analytical and problem solving skills.

Education

* BA Degree or equivalent experience.

Application Procedure

If interested please send resume and cover letter to jobs@plos.org and use the job title as the subject of your email. No phone calls or visits, please. Principals only - email from recruiters will be ignored.

If there is any aspect of this job that you think I am unsuited for, let me know. If there is another person who you think would be a great candidate for this, let that person know.

Update: Actually, a total move to SF is not out of question (now that we discussed this at home). Still, SF is the most expensive city to live in (so people are leaving for the sub/ex-urbs and adding to the rush-hour traffic even more). I was thinking I could start out in SF for a month or two, then work from here and just go to SF when needed.