Under Revision as of June 6th, 2012

The BBC provided h2g2 editorial and hosting services between 2001 and 2011. As we took our leave of the BBC, we organized into volunteer teams in order to provide h2g2 with these services ourselves. This document explains our approach to the challenge of assuming the BBC's h2g2 duties.

BBC editorial services included setting and maintaining editorial standards and policy, publishing the Front Page, promoting Front Page entries through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, and responding to inquiries from researchers and the general public.

BBC hosting services embraced a wide range of technical and community activities including providing servers, developing and maintaining software, encouraging and acknowledging researcher contributions, moderating content, and mediating disagreements. The BBC also has been providing the legal structure and business environment under which h2g2 operates, from copyright statements to bank account reconciliation.

In the face of our biggest adventure to date, researchers have carried on a long tradition of organizing volunteer schemes to meet challenges head on. The Volunteer Teams include Editorial, Technical, Community, Arts and Design, and Comms Team. These teams plan to work with and extend current Volunteer schemes.

Editorial Team

The h2g2 Guide Editors will continue to fulfill the current Guide-related tasks of the BBC editors, including oversight of the Scouts, Curators and Sub-Editors. They will seek to improve existing editorial processes through a combination of automation and delegation. Additionally, they will work with current volunteer schemes, other teams and the wider community to begin the process of reinvigorating the Guide. To see what you can do to help ensure the health of the Guide, click here.

Technical Team

The h2g2 Technical Team will take the lead in software development and coordinate with Noesis on h2g2's server and other technical needs. The Tech Team's first undertaking is the No Researcher Left Behind programme to migrate h2g2 from BBC to Noesis servers and match researchers with their contents.

Do you have experience coding or testing software? Please follow this link to volunteer.

Community Team

The h2g2 Community Team will address the needs of the h2g2 community, coordinating the efforts of ACEs and Moderators, encouraging and acknowledging researcher contributions, and mediating disagreements. The Community Team aims to make sure the site remains a place where people want to be. If you wish to volunteer for moderator duties, please send an email to h2g2moderators at hotmail dot co dot uk

h2g2 Arts Editors

The Arts Editors will coordinate the efforts of illustrators, photographers, animators, pod-casters and other artists to improve the usability of the site, illustrate entries, and provide artwork for h2g2 organizations and marketing efforts. To improve h2g2's aesthetics and design, please follow this link.

Communications Team

The Communications Team publishes the h2g2 Announcements and other notifications, chases down answers to questions, updates the FAQs, and keeps researchers apprised of changes here on h2g2 and through conventional and social media, including Twitter and Facebook.

Interim Teams

The Editorial, Technical, Community, Arts and Design, Business and Comms team assignments are temporary until after the completion of the No Researcher Left Behind program and a method of fair online elections can be adopted. Once we are safely transitioned to our new home, some volunteers may choose to stand for elections; others likely will stand down.

Your help and support is deeply appreciated.