http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive An entire Lightstalkers thread via RSS/XML. en-us Hey everybody -- in case you haven't checked out the Member Directory lately, here's a link: "http://lightstalkers.org/ls/directory.cfm":http://lightstalkers.org/ls/directory.cfm As you can see, we're rocking the globe, and some of us are starting to post excellent photo galleries. (Special props to "Matt":http://lightstalkers.org/ls/profile.cfm?client_id=38 and "JP":http://lightstalkers.org/ls/profile.cfm?client_id=142 for helping test that out.) We are, however, badly underrepresented in *Oceania* and *Central America*... If you know anybody in those areas, "send them an invitation":http://lightstalkers.org/ls/search.cfm, will you? It's a short trip to global domination from there. Aight, that's it for now -- thanks for using the site! Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:53:40 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive Shinji, I will have a couple more people to add to the list soon. A friend down in DR who is a documentary film maker, up here in NYC at the moment. And perhaps some others in the Central America region. Meanwhile, I want to renew my suggestion that the profiles contain a Home Address field and a Current Location field, and your regional divisions could then more accurately reflect our worldwide distribution. For example, I am up here in cold grey NYC at the moment, but that is a temporary thing,and the Central America region would not be looking empty if it were not for the fact that I temporarily changed my location. Though I have to return to NYC from time to time, my home base is DR. People who are interested in contacting me might still want to have that Home info available to them, or simply know that my home base is outside the US. Fri, 12 Nov 2004 11:07:55 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#528 OK, never mind, I see that you are already way ahead of me and have already created a home location field. Sorry to be so slow. One of these days, Shinji, I will catch on to the fact that you are the Master of The CyberUniverse! Good Going. Fri, 12 Nov 2004 11:10:47 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#529 Hey man -- those new people will be very welcome -- it'll be great when we can say that we have Lightstalkers on every continent (except Antarctica, I guess)! Re: the location thing -- yeah, I did pop in that additional field. I do also grok your suggestion about multiple locations in the directory, etc; it's just proving a bit trickier. I have to come up with a fairly "intelligent" system, so that it doesn't get cumbersome for people who do only have one location. Anyway, I'll see what I can do! Fri, 12 Nov 2004 13:45:08 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#530 Yeah, we need people from other areas, because we are weighted, as one would expect, toward North America, but one problem is the language barrier. I have asked several people in Spanish speaking countries (Cuba included) if they would like to be on it, but the fact that everyone is English speaking put them off. Otherwise, they liked the idea. This may change, though, and since many of us are multi lingual, we may eventually be able to lure these people on, if they see that postings in Spanish will be understood and answered. We have already had some French activity, so I figure it is inevitable. I am working on it. While I am on this subject, let me suggest that the map of the member directory reflect the Home Location field rather than the current location field. Sat, 13 Nov 2004 17:38:58 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#537 Hi Jon -- thanks for the interesting reply. What you say about the language barrier makes sense, and hadn't occurred to me. Can I pick your brain? Other than the basic issue of language ("Gallery" vs. "Galería"), do you see anything about Lightstalkers' structure that wouldn't work for a native Spanish-speaker? Ie., cultural differences? Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:25:25 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#567 Shinji, i will think on it (have been thinking on it, in fact, but no answers yet). I have a slide show that I have to give tonite, so all my energy is focussed on that, but afterward I will be free to devote some energy to this matter. Cultural differences dont appear to be a problem, certainly not for the people I know. It is just a matter of language, but how we can get round that I am not sure yet. I dont think that the English words used to describe the fields etc are a problem either, because these people are used to decoding computer programs etc whose instructions and terminology are all in English. Any one can figure out what the Gallery is (though in Santo Domingo a galeria is a porch!). It is just that they feel there is no one to communicate with since everyone else is writing in English. Well, no worries, we will figure it out. Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:42:52 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#571 Thanks for that Jon, it's useful info. Right, translating the text of the interface itself is not too hard. The bigger issue is basically that of support; if Spanish-speakers run into problems, I'm not really going to be able to provide the same level of service I can to English speakers. Ah well... Wed, 17 Nov 2004 13:33:48 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#572 Ah, I hadnt thought of that, mainly because I experience so few problems witht he site that I didnt anticipate that others might have problems and need help. OK, I think we can solve this too. Of course I would b e happy to handle those problems, as I speak the lingo, but I am an idiot when it comes to html and all the other computer stuff. I hope this will change over the coming year, I need to educate myself about these matters. Meantime, maybe we can find a Spanish speaker who is also computer fluent to handle this. In all honesty, though, I dont think people need much support. Maybe intially there were kinks, but it seems to run pretty smoothly now, and the site is pretty intuitive, by which I mean that if I can figure it out, I am sure others can! And certainly most people in the various graphics fields have training in digital forms of communication, so they come to this with a fairly high level of technical literacy. by the way, If you want help translating the the text of the interface, count me in. Let me talk with some of my spanish speaking friends and see what they think about all this. Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:40:47 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#576 Very exciting! I appreciate your interest; I think it only makes sense to extend LS beyond the world of just English-speakers. Anyway, localizing the interface is a pretty large task for me, even though the amount of text that would actually need translating would be pretty small. I'll certainly be asking you more questions when I get to that! Thu, 18 Nov 2004 16:10:28 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/lightstalkers-global-recruitment-drive#578