Who am I to say?

People often ask me what I do for a living. My neighbours in the small community of Lac le Jeune, British Columbia know I can be tucked away in my house for hours at a time, see my lights on at 4:00 a.m., and probably worry about my social life! I’m often spotted paddling on the lake in my kayak or snowshoeing on the trails in the middle of the day. When my friends and family find me answering the phone at home they continue to ask: “Oh, aren’t you working today?” implying this thing I do sitting in front of my computer can’t really be work.

People I meet online are surprised to learn that I rarely set foot on the Simon Fraser University campus, and razz me about working in my pyjamas and the background noises during conversations, like dogs barking and bluegrass music. Sometimes I’m addressed as Dr. Currie in email correspondence, but most people have figured out that I’ve created this community leader persona by taking full advantage of what everybody else in this field can teach me, learning all about this online community business as I go along. This thing I do is hard to describe.

I call myself the SCoPE community coordinator. Other titles are used for this type of work: host, producer, moderator, convenor, animateur, and leader. I chose coordinator because it sounds like I help to make things happen, rather than oversee or delegate. I often actively participate in the activities I coordinate, slipping in and out of my coordinator role.

On paper this is a part-time job, but in reality it’s with me a good part of the day and evening, and most weekends and holidays. A typical morning in my home office might include checking in on the current discussions, log files for recent participants, profiles for new members, and RSS feeds for members’ blogs. I read and respond to email that has rolled in through the night, following links and flagging items to read or respond to later, or to add to the community calendar. This is the part of my routine where I go off on tangents. Reading to stay current and participating in discussions in other communities is big part of my work. I come across new people, tools, trends, and ideas every day. Occasionally, I have Skype or other synchronous meetings. These are the real-time events that sometimes cut into my flexible work habits, but mostly my work is asynchronous which is the way I like it. If I’m not concerned with coaxing a seminar discussion along that is going through a quiet spell, I’m busy planning the next one – corresponding with the upcoming facilitator, updating the SCoPE site with new details, or thinking about ways to spread the word. Or I might be writing a monthly newsletter, or monthly summary reports for the person who processes my invoices each month. Usually there are other projects on the go, such as conference presentations to prepare for, workshops to attend, reports and research proposals to write, and so on. Throughout the day I’m in and out of the SCoPE site to do little checks here, and little tweaks there. How do I describe my work? Flexible, demanding, exhilarating, humbling, and inspiring.