A characteristic that makes SIGWEB special and differentiates it from other ACM SIGs is that it has created a dynamic atmosphere where scientists, systems designers, end-users, writers, and people from the humanities all feel welcome and can come together to discuss hypertext and the Web in all its forms. An underlying source of this "buzz" that surrounds any SIGWEB meeting (in both the physical and virtual worlds) is that there has always been a willingness of SIGWEB members to volunteer and foster a community spirit.

Why Volunteer?

There are many reasons for volunteering at SIGWEB. Helping out with the SIG is an excellent way of gaining or developing new skills, knowledge, and experiences. It's also a good way of meeting new people, both within your own research domain and those people who work in slightly less direct areas to the ones that you are interested in. By getting to know the hypertext community, opportunities for collaborations or new research may present themselves. You will also be a valued member of the SIGWEB team, and your efforts will be appreciated by the Executive Board, the ACM, and the wider SIG membership.

What Roles Can I Volunteer To Do?

Anything that you think will benefit SIGWEB. This can be as little as adding #sigweb to any of your Web technology related tweets to something as large as organising a Hypertext Literature Meeting in your local area. Some of our current volunteer efforts include, but are not limited to:

  • Newsletter The SIGWEB Newsletter is our new quarterly publication that aims to communicate with our members news, interviews, and events that are of interest to people in the field of hypertext and the Web. This is currently edited by Jessica Rubart and has regular contributions for her team of volunteers. This includes Claus Atzenbeck who writes an interview series; Danielle Lee who invites students and recent graduates to talk about their work, and Ching Man who writes a social media column. If you have ideas about a regular newsletter column, or would just like to write one of pieces on topics as diverse as conference overviews, application descriptions, or eLiterature reviews, then please contact the editor who would be more than willing to discuss your ideas.
  • Promoting SIGWEB SIGWEB is always looking for ways of communicating and sharing news with its membership. Alvin Chin looks after our twitter account and Jamie Blustein maintains the SIGWEB Linked-in Group. There are many other mechanism that SIGWEB could explore to create social groups for its membership and communicate its activities. If you have ideas on blogs, wikis, social networks, or other "Web 2.0" mechanisms that you think we could exploit, then please contact the Information Director who would gratefully consider your ideas.
  • Others The above describe just some of the volunteer activities currently being carried out by SIGWEB Members. Anything that you can do to contribute to the SIG and the Hypertext Field in general will be greatly appreciated. Volunteering activities can be as large or small an undertaking as you wish but will always be positively welcomed. If you have any ideas for volunteering roles that you would like to do, or see, as part of SIGWEB, then contact the Chair to see how it can fit into existing SIGWEB activities.