VOLUNTEERING WITH UXMATTERS

The UXmatters Editorial Team is responsible for:

• establishing editorial policies, processes, and guidelines for UXmatters
• developing style guidelines and documenting them in the UXmatters Guidelines for Style and Usage
• publishing content that appeals to our target audience and is consistent with the magazine’s goals and image
• ensuring an adequate flow of high-quality article submissions by
  • recruiting authors and columnists
  • approving writing assignments
  • working with authors to develop their article proposals
  • contributing ideas for articles or series of articles
  • developing new columns
  • planning and developing special issues
• overseeing all aspects of planning, editing, and production for issues of UXmatters
• determining what content to publish in each edition
• setting deadlines for the submission of drafts and editing and revision cycles and maintaining the editorial calendar
• reviewing article proposals and submissions for
  • the quality and relevance of the information they provide
  • structure and flow
  • clarity and conciseness
  • consistency and readability
  • technical accuracy and fairness
  • legal and ethical issues
• ensuring article drafts adhere to our submission guidelines, as well as the UXmatters Guidelines for Style and Usage
• accepting or rejecting article proposals and submissions
• reviewing all images and photographs
• providing constructive feedback to authors, graphic designers, and photographers
• checking facts
• researching supplementary background information
• editing copy and articles
• ensuring the consistent and proper use of the English language
• writing titles for articles
• writing captions for figures and tables
• selecting pullquotes for articles
• assigning topic categories for articles
• proofreading

Editors who are responsible for developmental editing must be knowledgeable in one or more aspects of User Experience (UX) in addition to having editorial skills. However, editors who are responsible for copyediting need not have any background in User Experience.

The responsibilities of the UXmatters Web Development & Production Team include:

• reviewing UX design specifications
• prototyping Web-site functionality
• developing
  • responsive Web-page templates to design specifications
  • all functionality on the UXmatters Web site to design specifications
  • standards-compliant HTML5, Less/CSS3, JavaScript, MySQL, and PHP code
  • CSS style sheets for the Web site
  • print style sheets
• ensuring that the UXmattersWeb site is
  • highly performant
  • cross-browser compatible
  • accessible
• validating all code to ensure the high quality of the Web-site implementation
• establishing and implementing production procedures and standards, including
  • quality standards
  • page-layout standards
  • search-engine optimization standards
  • accessibility standards
  • standards for advertisement specifications
• managing the production process
• establishing and tracking production schedules in the editorial calendar
• preparing all content for production by applying the appropriate CSS classes
• laying out all Web pages to ensure the effective
  • flow of copy on Web pages
  • placement of images on Web pages
  • chunking of copy into sections on Web pages
  • placement of pullquotes
• assigning topic categories to all articles
• optimizing all content on the site for search engines
• ensuring all content on the site is accessible
• publishing all issues on the UXmatters Web site on schedule
• tracking advertising in the advertising calendar—including the dates on which ads are posted and should be taken down
• ensuring that advertisements meet specifications and are placed appropriately on Web pages on the site
• backing up all code, Movable Type, and databases
• maintaining an archive of all production-quality content we’ve published on the site
• maintaining the site by ensuring that all
  • internal links are working properly
  • obsolete URLs redirect visitors to the correct Web pages on our site
  • external links to and from other Web sites are current and correct
  • errors in the content get corrected
  • content is up to date
  • parts of multi-part articles are linked to one another
  • columns, articles, profiles, and images from our archives are available on the site
• setting up online tools and access accounts for UXmattersteam members, including
  • development tools
  • Movable Type
  • project-management tools
  • email accounts—as well as email accounts for contacts by sponsors, authors, volunteers, and readers
  • mailing lists
  • social networks
  • community blogs
• ensuring that no spam appears in comments or on mailing lists or blogs

The UXmatters Marketing & Communications Team is responsible for:

• planning and implementing marketing and communications programs that promote UXmatters and its products and services through social networking, advertising, and collateral materials
• communicating the value of UXmatters to the UX community
• communicating the value of User Experience to the business and software development communities
• writing copy for the UXmatters Web site and email newsletters, social-media posts, community blogs, presentations, brochures, press releases, brochures, and advertisements
• monitoring and moderating comments, social networks, and community blogs
• publishing the UXmatters email newsletter to promote new content on the UXmatters Web site
• promoting newly published UXmatters content on social networks
• publishing excerpts from UXmatters content on social media and community blogs
• analyzing the effectiveness of social networking, advertising, collateral, and other communications programs
• representing UXmatters and giving presentations at conferences
• conducting competitive analyses
• maintaining mailing lists
• creating a brand strategy for UXmatters and our columns
• developing branding for UXmatters and our columns, including designing logos and creating names and taglines for columns
• creating visuals that promote the magazine’s brand image and appeal to our target audience, including infographics
• establishing standards for graphic images, illustrations, infographics, charts, graphs, and photographs
• coordinating photo coverage for interviews and conference reviews
• setting deadlines for graphic designers and photographers in the editorial calendar
• creating graphic images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and photographs for articles, presentations, brochures, and advertisements
• photographing authors, events, conferences, interview subjects, products, and images for articles, presentations, brochures, and advertisements
• reviewing all graphic images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and photographs to ensure they conform to standards
• preparing graphic images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and photographs for production
• designing presentations, brochures, and advertisements
• maintaining an archive of
  • all marketing and communications copy
  • presentations
  • original artwork for all infographics, graphic images, illustrations, charts, graphs, photographs, brochures, and advertisements
• developing a media kit
• managing media relations
• developing and implementing a public-relations program for UXmatters
• writing press releases
• encouraging bloggers, Web directories, and other Web sites to provide information about and links to UXmatters
• writing blog posts, making comments, and posting announcements on UX blogs and the discussions boards and mailing lists of UX organizations
• responding to comments, as well as requests for information and feedback UXmatters receives via email

The responsibilities of the UXmatters Business-Development Team include:

• envisioning, analyzing, and developing the UXmatters business model
• leading product-development efforts, including
  • managing product-development budgets
  • defining product- and customer-requirements for new products and services
  • determining the scope and functionality of new products and services
  • successfully taking new products and services from concept to market
  • establishing pricing for products and services
• soliciting and managing customer feedback
• selling products and services by
  • developing leads to prospective customers
  • analyzing sales data, projecting trends, and meeting sales targets
  • developing and maintaining good relationships with key customers
  • managing customer accounts and maintaining customer records
• keeping accounts of sales of products and services
• obtaining and managing sponsorships from corporations and other organizations by
  • ensuring the UXmatters Web site generates advertising revenues
  • developing and implementing an advertising sales strategy for UXmatters
  • setting prices for advertising
  • acquiring new advertising sales accounts
  • developing and maintaining good relationships with sponsors and advertisers
  • selling advertising space and sponsored Tweets
  • preparing advertising contracts for sponsors
  • negotiating agreements with advertisers
  • managing advertising sales accounts and maintaining records
  • analyzing advertising sales data, projecting trends, and meeting sales targets
  • maintaining an advertising calendar
• negotiating free services in exchange for an acknowledgment on our Web site
• handling business administration, bookkeeping, and accounting
• preparing budgets
• invoicing
• approving purchases