CZ:Nomination page/Editorial Council/Joe Quick

I would be very honored to serve on the Editorial Council for Citizendium.

I joined Citizendium a little before the public launch and have been involved to a greater or lesser extent ever since. I was a member of the Executive Committee (which was an advisory body to the Editor in Chief) until the recent ratification of the Charter made that committee obsolete. I also served as Approvals Manager, a role in which I tried out a variety of strategies to encourage the approval of Citizendium's best articles and one in which I think I have gained a great deal of insight into parts of the editorial process here at Citizendium. I also proposed the Charter drafting committee and then chaired it, though I am very glad to say that the work and leadership of that committee was very much a collective effort.

My time as Approvals Manager has provided me with my largest single block of experience with editorial matters here at Citizendium. At times, I was very active in promoting approvals, though I found that over-promoting sometimes leads to the approval of articles that might have deserved a little more attention before going through the approval process. At other times, I have been very hands off, and have discovered that approvals still happen, though in spurts, and some very good articles do not receive the attention they deserve. I also worked up initial plans for a variety of promotional and recruiting efforts, though I was unable to follow through on most of them because i did not feel my non-elected position gave me the authority to pursue those efforts to their conclusions.

There are two important projects that I would pursue as a member of the Editorial Council, in addition to its regular responsibilities. I would like to see the project launch a major recruiting campaign to draw to the project editors who will represent the broadest possible range of expertise and authority; I think the project will thrive if we can attract editors in such a way that no author ever has to wonder if she will receive guidance from an expert. Second, and this is related to the first project, I would like to see the Editorial Council think about how we define and appoint editors; I believe we would serve the interests of the project and the public best by appointing experts to editorships that narrowly and clearly align with their areas of professional expertise rather than assigning all editors to sometimes vague general areas of knowledge.

I'd be happy to discuss the above ideas or any others on my user talk page or by email. Please don't hesitate to contact me.