Note: this proposal was approved by Christopher in late September 2012. Please send comments to efc@clst.org.

In late August 2012 Christopher let me know that he could use a hand with the maintenance of the Captain Ellsworth House site. This site was developed for Facing West and the other house partners to help tell the story of the house in a way that would better position the house for sale. The site is built on WordPress, making maintenance something I would be very familiar with.

Definition of Role

Christopher will make me an administrator on the Ellsworth House WordPress site. He will regularly supply me with assets, including pictures, rough text of stories, and notice of upcoming events and milestones. I will turn these rough assets into finished stories for the “Journal” section of the house site.

Most of the rest of the site (history, village, team, contact) is static and complete. However, if any small tweaks are required, I will help with small tweaks to the static content of the site.

The front page of the site includes a slideshow (fig 1, 2, 3, etc). I will add or remove figures from the slideshow as required.

The front page also includes a gallery of renovation pictures. I will add pictures to that gallery as needed.

I will train one or two other authors to contribute to the site. This will include basic documentation of WordPress and peculiarities of the Ellsworth house theme.

Scope

The house site has been built in WordPress using a custom theme. I will not be responsible for modifying the theme in any way. While I am capable of fiddling with PHP and themes, this is not expected to be part of my duties with regard to this site.

My role is dependent on receiving raw material and direction from Christopher or other partners on the project. I will not be responsible for hounding folks for this content. If it is not supplied, I will simply send a note to Christopher saying that no updates were made.

Timeline

The first two months will require special attention to initial population of stories and galleries. During this period I will develop six to eight journal entries with Christopher. This will also be the period during which I help a couple other authors come up to speed on WordPress and this site.

It is expected that new content will be made available for the site on a weekly basis. I am prepared to spend some time every week editing and preparing new journal entries, slides, and gallery shots. However, if new source material is not provided in a given week, I will not be responsible for making updates.

Costs

As a consultant, I do not charge by the hour. Given that the first couple months will require the greatest attention, I will charge $2,500 per month in September and October. In November Christopher and I will evaluate whether continued services are required or other authors are ready to maintain the site on their own.

Eric Celeste

Eric brings over 15 years of library and 30 years of technology experience to his consulting. At MIT Eric shepherded the creation of DSpace, open source digital repository management software developed with HP and now deployed at hundreds of institutions worldwide. At the University of Minnesota Libraries he encouraged the development of the UThink blog service, a wiki-based staff intranet, LibData, and the University Digital Conservancy. He works with non-profit institutions on appropriate uses of technology for informing, communicating, and collaborating with their constituencies.