Busy neighborhood where my office is located. Business hours Mon - Fri 9:30 to 18:30

“But what does that mean?”, I’ve often been asked. Unless I have more than 5 minutes, I leave everyone with vague answers which of course elicits confusion and make me feel like an arrogant snob. Here is a lengthier description — much more than “I do web stuff”.  It’s not too hard to describe, but it does require explaining my background, which is boring, if not in the realm of TMI to most strangers. Read on if you don’t feel like that stops you!

I’ve been involved in the production process of print newspapers & magazines and websites & blogs. While the role of a contributing writer, photographer, artist and editor is clear, the role of a producer less visible. After all, the finished publication only consists of contributors’ content. But, how does it reach from that stage, a collection of editorial pieces, to the final product? There is a gap in the process, before it goes off to press — or, in the web world, pushed live.

While production may vary greatly from one company to another depending on the size of staff or objective, the production staff is most likely responsible for managing the final stages of production.  At my print newspaper office, the production team, separate from the writers & editors, consists of the copy editors and the layout artists that work nightly from 5pm until press time. It’s no wonder most major newspapers have staffers that are jointly copy and layout people. My internet office is similarly organized into an editorial and a production team. The editors handle all of the editorial parts, while the producers work with the editors to manage the project from beginning to the end. I find that at least 75% of the work is at the production level, simply because the editorial pieces is only a small chunk of the overall finished product. This web content will most likely involve design, promotional content, legal issues, corporate standards, editorial revisions, QA (quality assurance) — each with their own processes.

So, how would I describe the role of a producer? Some suggestions: a project manager, an organizer, a researcher, an editor, a do-all-er.

For me, it started out in the journaling world, back when the word “weblogs” were more common than the shortened “blogs”. The social nature of online confessional writing intrigued me. I was able to connect with strangers as we shared stories and secrets, which provided a strong sense of identity. I detailed my day, my feelings, my thoughts. I also connected with others’ writings & profiles and joined special-interest groups.

It’s not that different today, but I’m no longer a great content producer. No more lengthy journal formats. I’ve become more of a micro-blogger, a Facebook-status or Twitter 140-character writer. Other social aspects I crave are neatly packaged in Facebook — the maintenance of online identity, the browsing of others’ profiles, the messaging. And yet that’s not enough. Add Livejournal, CouchSurfing, LinkedIn and that’s at least 5 active social networking accounts I maintain. Top that off with the more direct channel: AIM/G-chat, e-mail, call/text, and that’s at least 8 ways to communicate.

At some point, I’ve realized I’ve become overloaded. Sure it’s easy to reach someone, but how meaningful is that one Facebook wall post as opposed to a phone call? Welcome to Communication 2.0.

At the moment, I’m using their built-in ‘Blog Post Editor’ that lets me write to both my domain blog and my LiveJournal. Other features I’m going to try: the Twitter, Flickr and Facebook toolbar and Flickr photo updater. The only gripe I have right now is knowing that these integrative features will never fully replace the actual application and sites – it’s still relatively limited. For example, I still have to login to Wordpress to make use of features like tagging. But for simple purposes, quick updating is certainly useful.

Did you know that all the deaths associated with poverty (i.e. hunger and disease) could be alleviated with an estimated $195 billion a year? Several of the world’s wealthiest countries pledged to donate 0.7% of their national income for aid; however, the United States came in last in its progress last year. (Information and data taken from Poverty.com’s International Aid page)

Here are some related resources to check out:

1. Freerice.com lets you “learn free vocabulary & give free rice.” No, you don’t lose your “grains of rice” if you get your word definition wrong!
2. Print a letter to your government officials to support international aid.
3. Food force is an educational game for kids.
4. World Food Program is the official site.

And what do you get when you type in any of those? I’m scattered about. I believe I’m most notable for my free diary designs (made mostly for Diaryland), and my “Which Sylvia Plath poem are you?” online quiz (back when online quizzes were novel, and arguably more interesting — in the early OKcupid days).

I’m glad I finally have my own name out here in the virtual world now. I own it.