The Center for Media and Democracy is planning to hire a full-time webmaster who can work with CMD staff and the general public to promote online activism in support of CMD's mission. Specific responsibilities include:

• Dealing with security issues [2] to ensure that information on our computers is properly backed up and to guarantee the confidentiality of emails, internal messaging and private information entered on our site (such as internal staff information and personal information entered by site users). Security responsibilities may include implementation of antivirus, firewall, backups, software patches, and SSL for email.
• Keeping the software up to date on our two main websites, PR Watch.org [3] and SourceWatch.org [4], and developing other websites as needed. PR Watch uses Drupal [5]/CivicSpace [6] as its content management system; SourceWatch uses MediaWiki [7]. Both CivicSpace and MediaWiki are open source software that that use PHP and MySQL. In addition to installing upgrades of the software as new versions appear, the webmaster should work with the CivicSpace and MediaWiki developer communities to help develop the software in accordance with CMD's needs, including adding features that enable closer interoperation between the two packages.
• Using our internet presence to promote citizen journalism and other forms of activism in support of media reform and democracy. This may include developing online petitions, distributed journalism projects, flash campaigns and outreach to bloggers and other online journalists. The webmaster will be responsible for testing and possible implementation of online activism tools provided by vendors and open source projects such as ForwardTrack [8], AdvoKit [9], CitizenSpeak [10] or Democracy In Action [11].
• Integrating the Center's existing information systems to improve efficiency and eliminate redundancy. In addition to our two websites, CMD also currently uses an offline Filemaker Pro database to track contacts and donors and uses several separate online systems for inter-staff messaging as well as a distribution-only listserv (powered by Mailman) with more than 16,000 subscribers. Each of these information systems is separate and ought to be better integrated.
• Training CMD staff in the use of our computer systems.
• Working with other staff to improve our online fundraising, including adding more complete and enticing registration options to all CMD websites.
• Assisting in the distribution of content from CMD's websites to other blogs and media outlets.

Computer skills needed

• General understanding of Internet and computer technologies: database, web, email, including the ability to use those technologies in designing online campaigns and fundraisers involving interactive online forms and multi-directional online communications.
• Skills in website maintenance, using Dreamweaver or some other site management software.
• Experience with HTML, PHP and MySQL. Familiarity with Unix, the Macintosh OS X and Apache web servers is also helpful. Knowledge of other computer languages such as Perl or JavaScript may be helpful but is not essential. A candidate for the job does not necessarily need to have all of these computer skills on the date of hire, but should have the ability to learn them all.
• Experience installing and configuring open source software is a plus.
• Familiarity with Wikipedia and with wikis in general is a plus.
• Ability to provide tech support to the office staff, especially dealing with office computer hardware problems.
• Graphic design skills for web design or print design using programs such as Fireworks, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Flash, Freehand, PowerPoint or Quark XPress would be a plus, as would experience with Filemaker Pro and Mailman.

Organizing skills

• Understanding of online advocacy campaigns, fundraising and marketing, including techniques such as email list management, email blasting, meetups, and contact relationship management (CRM).
• Understanding of tools and metrics for measuring the effectiveness of our online presence.
• A past track record of successful online organizing and/or fundraising is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with like-minded non-profit organizations, open source software developers and/or high-profile bloggers is also a plus.

Application process

Please send resume and letter of application by May 27 to: CMD, 520 University Ave., Suite 227, Madison, WI 53703; email editor@prwatch.org. No phone calls please.