Go Farther: We Need a Fandom Job Site

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 came up in a recent podcast, but it's something deserving of it's own post.  It's a  a business idea if you will that I welcome some of you out there to try, be it as a hobby or something commercial.  Just let me know – hint, hint.

We need a fandom job site.  By we I mean "us assorted fans, geeks, otaku, nerds" and the like.  Well, and the world, but that's only because the world needs us nerds and fans and technophiles.

I'm not talking a website for jobs applied to fans (though that might be cool, if difficult).  I'm not talking about anything for profit.  I'm talking about a site where people post their needs for people to help with fannish events and projects and endeavors so they can find the right folks.

Consider a few examples of who could be recruited through such a site:

  • People could recruit for convention staff.
  • People could recruit for speaking and doing events at conventions.
  • Fannish websites and similar endeavors could find new staff.
  • People doing nonprofit projects that may look good in a portfolio, could find contributors.

Of course this is a tool to do what I love to emphasize – fansourcing, leveraging your fandom connections to get things done.  In this case, it's a way to help people make new connections, stretch themselves, improve themselves, and maybe get something to put on a resume.

I don't see it being hard to implement:

  • The technology is probably already out there in one form or another anyway.  You could start something in Drupal or even Joomla, or slam together some code modules.
  • The talent base is probably easy to find as well – your basic "LAMP" knowledge would let people run it.
  • There are plenty of fandom people with design skills as well who could make the look just right.
  • A lot of people would probable be on board to do it.  Though,ironically, sourcing a site like this would probably be easier if a site like this existed.
  • The basic job-search metaphor is very familiar to people.

Oddly the main challenges I see would be that promoting it properly would be hard (so people didn't get the wrong idea), and policing it properly would take work to make sure posts are legit, control spam, etc.  You'd need a dedicated core of people to do it . . .

So, got some spare time?  Spare programmers? Spare ambition?  Want to help your fellow otaku, fans, and geeks?  Here's a suggestion right here . . .

. . . plus imagine how this'd look on a resume and what kind of contacts you'd make.  Why if you did this it could lead to full, paying jobs someday . . .

– Steven Savage

News Of The Day 7/27/2010

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Disney buys Playdom, GameStop buys Kongregate, and everyone else is buying StarCraft II. It's your must-know news for career geeks, profans, and protaku!

Career:
Local government may not be a place for you: up to a half million public jobs expected to be cut. Of course that's an estimate, and we'll see what happens when people experience the repercussions.


Economics/Geekonomics:
Who owns US Treasury Debt? Lots of juicy information – including one thing I didn't know is how much Japan was invested in the US.

US Consumers are a lot more pessimistic. Really, I wonder why . . .

Also in case you forgot the last decade was lousy for US job growth. Plenty of political arguing in the comments.

Culture:
Are things getting too attractive too fast. Some food for thought, though I can't say I agree with all of this.

Anime and Manga:
Cowboy Bebop writer Dai Sato blasts the Japanese anime industry and culture, and says anime is dying out. He also feels that the 'Cool Japan' concept is being manipulated politically.

Technology:
Working in the area of printer technology not exciting? Well Lexmark is showing growth and some good deals. Maybe you want to get that resume ready . . .

Video:
Tech company Elemental gets $7.5 million from a Disney VC branch. Their stuff sounds interesting, but I'm interested in their future with an investory like that – I figure that's a sign they know what they're doing. Plus the article notes they're hiring, so people – go for it.

Video Games:
Zynga is going to announce its alliance with SoftBank of Japan. Which of course is of no surprise to anyone. What we will get is more details, and probably a better picture of Zynga's plans – and Japan's plans. Meanwhile get some insights on Zynga from Bryan Reynolds who makes a few points I hadn't thought of, including that some of the smaller social games represent a return to "the old days."

It looks like GameStop's future strategy is a bit more clearer – they just bought online game company Kongregate. It seems like their goals are a mix of moving with the times, expanding and brand consolidation, where GameStop will be a mix of stores, services, free games, and even community. I have to say I'm pretty bullish on them – and I think the approach that's evolving seems to differentiate themselves from Best Buy and other retailers.

Big News: Disney buys Playdom for $763 million. That's a big purchase by Disney of a good company that makes good products and is smack in Silicon Valley. This ALSO positions Disney to compete with . . . Zynga, Playfish/EA, and . . . well maybe GameStop? A new front in the Everything Wars? Looks like it – and I wonder how geeks are going to react to Disney snapping up so many geektastic properties, though Kingdom Hearts seemed to herald the re-Hipness of Disney.

EverQuest II to launch a free-to-play version with a twist – the free-to-play version will have lots of pay-for-options that would affect gameplay, so thus the separate game. An interesting idea, though it seems to be very limiting on free players, enough to seem awful blatant. Still, watch and see what happens – it's another free-to-play experiment we can learn from as we vaguely try and predict the future.

StarCraft II launches today. Surprising, I know.

Total Nerdity:
In 1956 Arthur C. Clarke predicted Sattilite TV and GPS

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think GameStop's overall strategy for the next few years is?

– Steven Savage

The Lessons Of Fandom: Customer Service

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So last week we discussed how fandom teaches you good business sense, one of those useful "general skills" you'll need in your life.  This week we'll explore another thing fandom teaches you.

Customer Service.

As I noted previously, many fandom activities are run like businesses – conventions, websites, etc.   They may not make money, of course – they may not be intended to – but they are like businesses in almost all regards.  Thus they are very educational to work on because you learn good business sense.

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