[Community] Fwd: Staffing the IMC

Thu Mar 12 22:28:35 CDT 2009

Elizabeth,

I think the apparent contradictions just stem from the multiple uses and
meanings of the word "staff" - whether it's a noun, verb, capital "s" (i.e.
the old working group), lowercase "s" (anyone who happens to have a specific
role, like Joy as Bookkeeper, Chris E. as Building Manager, VISTAs, Interns,
etc.).  I think that is what Jason meant by putting staff in quotation marks
- we are all too aware that it is imbued with all sorts of contradictory and
demanding expectations, and it becomes confusing to talk about.

I'm glad you agree about the importance of having volunteer staffing at the
IMC; Nicole, Jason, and I, along with a few others, are putting in place the
infrastructure and space improvements that will make this happen in an
effective way.  These efforts also extend into the needs addressed by
Community Connections - signage, public access workstations, functioning
library, up to date orientation materials, and perhaps most importantly,
human faces to greet guests, socialize, and recruit active involvement and
membership.  Staffing will not take the form of a working group, but will be
a general IMC effort amongst all working groups; there will be no separate
meeting, because staffing issues will be effectively covered in Steering and
Community meetings.  We also want to avoid the tribalism and special
interest that comes from the culture of separate working groups that often
forget about general IMC needs and collaborative projects.

We've been back and forth mentally about how to approach this, and what
Nicole and Jason were trying to express is that since our last group
discussion we've concluded that the three of us cannot adequately achieve
our goals of improving the sustainability and efficacy of the IMC while
simultaneously bearing the responsibility of staffing the building (in the
sense of volunteer Staff, keeping the building open during a set,
predictable period).  It's not that we haven't tried, or that others have
not expected that of us.  We've collectively done a whole lot of that kind
of staffing, and I know that at least for Nicole and I, we have felt that
the quality of our larger project work suffers.  These tasks - training,
writing grants, improving technology, composing manuals, and developing
programs - require a level of attention without interruption that we have
not been able to devote as much as we would like.  There are specific
problems posed by the use of the Production Room as an office rather than as
a media production and training room, and it has become clear that Nicole
and Jason especially need an alternative office space that is more private
and quiet.  It has become clear to me that trainings have not been as
effective as they could be, because of interruptions, for which I feel rude
when someone comes to the IMC excited about learning something specific and
tangible, and I have to stop repeatedly to take someone to the Bike Project,
shew away a loiterer that is bothering others, or answer questions that
working groups would be better able to answer.  We are getting closer to
solving this.  We are not confident with anyone promoting open hours until
we see a commitment from others to help maintain open hours, as our hours
are often odd by necessity (not choice) - late, on weekends, and overtime as
it is.  Finally, there have been long discussions over the Bookkeeper list
about deterrents for someone keeping the doors open if he/she is in the
building alone - namely, a recent aggressive and unpredictable male visitor
who was making Nicole and Joy uncomfortable.

We are confident that we can do more for the IMC in a lasting way if we pull
away from the day-to-day operations of the building and towards capacity
building, which is actually closer to our VISTA job descriptions.  We are
ready to make it a smooth transition, which will start with others sharing
in the day-to-day staffing responsibilities (as was once done at the IMC,
anyway - under capital "s").  We also are comfortable taking on the tasks of
making this happen, and facilitating its new start - which has impressively
already begun.  Josh has put together a sign up calendar (in progress),
Brian will host a training/orientation on Friday 3/20 at noon, and Chris R.
and the Librarians are already working on the main space and computers.  We
have not intended to mislead or overpromise things to others at the IMC, and
we are not resentful of any misunderstandings on these topics.  We, too, are
learning and creating as we proceed, and at this point we each have
developed some deep observations of the IMC as an organization, our roles
within it, and how it can survive and grow.

Thanks again for your concern and suggestions,
Stephen

On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 6:23 PM, Elizabeth Simpson <elizacorps at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> As you may have noticed, Jason and Nicole wrote contradictory things (He
> said they do staff, she said they don't)... so there's some clarification
> that may need to happen for your expectations to match.
>
> I was referring to a meeting I had with Jason, NIcole and Steve in which
> they said that, between the three of them, there could be someone in the
> space at any given time 9-5 so that the doors can be open. This is not all
> of them being there 9-5, but that any given time, the door would be open
> because ONE of them would be there.
>
> Is this possible?
>
> Of course having member-staff on top of that is vital and necessary- this
> is simply triage, especially as the door locks are changed and people will
> rely on it to get inside. In the past our biggest area of burning
> relationships is folks not being able to get in, not knowing when it was
> open. At this point, faulty info or not, we've pretty heavily promoted that
> it's open 9-5 m-f and I think it's important to do that, while building
> member-staff capacity to cover that and more.
>
> Thanks everyone for all our work- many of us are doing overtime- please
> take care of yourselves to prevent burnout!
> E
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A strong people need no leader
> - Zapata
>
>
>
> --- On *Tue, 3/10/09, Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> From: Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Community] Fwd: Staffing the IMC
> To: elizacorps at yahoo.com
> Cc: community at lists.chambana.net
> Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 11:49 PM
>
>
> Hi Beth and everyone,
> This is something that has been a commonly assumed responsibility for me,
> Stephen and Josh, but it is not part of our stated goals or roles at the
> IMC.
> While we have been trying to serve as both "staff" and VISTAS it has not
> worked.  Stephen and I have each been brought on to achieve specific goals
> that often do not coincide with staffing the building - in fact, thought we
> have tried to balance the two, staffing the building means constant
> interruption and dealing with the day-to-day running of the IMC rather than
> planning the bigger picture and building sustainability, as our roles call
> us to do.  For example, I am supposed to be writing and researching grants
> and leaving documentation for the IMC - I simply cannot do this when I am
> interrupted constantly.  Stephen is supposed to be running workshops and
> trainings and cannot be called away from these at random.  As we move into
> the spring, we are focused on meeting with community members and need to
> have flexible schedules.  We have each been working well over the 40 hour a
> week commitment and for us to say that we will be in each day from 10-5 is
> not realistic.  Tonight, I did not come home from work till 10pm so I will
> not be at the IMC at 10 tomorrow morning.  However, I can commit to
> "staffing" a few hours per week and build other schedule responsibilities
> around  that.
>
> Staffing the building should be a shared responsibility.  If we as a
> community want to have the doors open, then the responsibility of
> acclimating people to the space must also be shared.  I don't mean for this
> email to sound like a complaint, but I want to be sure that people
> understand that Stephen and I are asking the community for help in
> accomplishing something that is important to us, our work, and the needs we
> see at the IMC.
>
>
> Nicole
>
> On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Elizabeth Simpson <elizacorps at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>  Nicole (and everyone)
>>
>> It's my understanding that there are 3 vistas who are 'around' from 9-5
>> m-f. I know that their/your primary job is not to staff the IMC, however, it
>> seems ideal to focus on getting staff when there is less chance of vistas
>> being around (also to focus on a smaller chunk of times, so that they can be
>> covered consistently). So, my suggestion is to focus on staffing 5-8 on
>> weekdays and noon-5 on saturday.
>>
>> At one point we all talked about you, Steve, and Jason coordinating so
>> that at least one of you could be in the IMC (read: the door can be
>> unlocked) at any given time m-f 9-5. Is this still a possibility?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> elizaBeth
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> A strong people need no leader
>> - Zapata
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On *Tue, 3/10/09, Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>* wrote:
>>
>> From: Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [Community] Fwd: Staffing the IMC
>> To: community at lists.chambana.net
>> Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 1:07 PM
>>
>>
>> FYI, we talked abou a staffing initiative at the steering meeting last
>> week and this is what is happening.  Let me know if you're interested in
>> staffing or want to be part of this discussion.
>> Nicole
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>
>> Date: Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 12:05 PM
>> Subject: Staffing the IMC
>> To: Bob Illyes <illyes at uiuc.edu>, Hada Pekli <pinkbootz001 at gmail.com>,
>> Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>, Stephen Fonzo <
>> fonzo.stephen at gmail.com>, rachel <conscience.lifter at gmail.com>, Jason
>> Keist <jkeist2 at gmail.com>, JOY <imcbooks at gmail.com>, Chris Ritzo <
>> critz1 at illinois.edu>
>>
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>> Thank you all for expressing an interest in staffing the IMC.  Please let
>> me know if there is anyone missing from this list.  This was everyone, to my
>> best recollection.
>>
>> I think that the hours when we will need staffing are as follows:
>> Monday - Thursday: noon-8pm
>> (I understand that it might be hard to get staff from 5-8 on Thursday, but
>> many people expressed that it's really hard to staff and run a productive
>> meeting, so for now, we can leave that up).
>> Friday: noon-5pm
>> Saturday: noon - 5pm
>> Sundays: right now the church uses the IMC from 10-2pm.  I don't think
>> there is a big need for staff on Sunday nights nor is that a popular time to
>> volunteer.
>>
>>
>> I will put this out to the list and would like feedback:  it seems that
>> there are a few ways to "staff" the space:
>> 1.) Simple open hours where the staff can work, read, etc. and greet
>> guests who may arrive
>> 2.) A work day (like shows, librarians & production have done)
>> 3.) Plan some kind of activity like an open gym or listening party or
>> something easy that will bring people into the space for activities that
>> don't require too much prep.
>>
>> Does that seem reasonable?  Brian, I know that you had volunteered to give
>> a training on staffing the building the weekend of March 20/21.  Would that
>> work for others?  We can also send a call out  to the general IMC list and
>> invite people to join, since this is a project that is best shared by many
>> volunteers.
>>
>> Let me know if there is anything I've forgotten or anything to add.
>> Thanks everyone!
>> Nicole
>>
>> --
>> Nicole Pion
>> Outreach and Development Adviser
>> AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
>> Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Nicole Pion
>> Outreach and Development Adviser
>> AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
>> Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Community mailing list
>> Community at lists.chambana.net
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/community
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Nicole Pion
> Outreach and Development Adviser
> AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
> Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community mailing list
> Community at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/community
>
>

-- 
Stephen Fonzo
Media Training Advisor
AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/community/attachments/20090312/48b4278c/attachment-0001.htm