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| − | = Volunteering at the Free Software Foundation Offices = | + | == Volunteering at the Free Software Foundation Office == |
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| − | The FSF is always in need of some help around the office. If you are in the Boston area and want to help out, we'd love to have you come by. Our office is located at | + | The FSF is often in need of some help around the office. If you are in the Boston area and want to help out, Please send an email to sales@fsf.org. If there's a task that suits you, we'd love to have you come by. Our core office hours are 10am-4m weekdays and our office is located at |
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| − | <pre>51 Franklin Street, 5th floor
| + | 51 Franklin Street, 5th floor<br /> |
| − | Boston, MA 02478 | + | Downtown Crossing<br /> |
| − | USA</pre>
| + | Boston, MA 02110<br /> |
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| − | Our office hours are 10am-6pm weekdays, but it is generally a good idea to send an email to sales@fsf.org to give us a heads-up that you are coming by.
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| | ==== Benefits ==== | | ==== Benefits ==== |
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| − | Many people who have volunteered at the FSF have been accepted as interns, and some of those interns have become employees the FSF. Also, spending time here is a good way to meet the staff, but please note that the staff have work to do, so usually can't talk for very long. | + | Many people who have volunteered at the FSF have been accepted as interns, and some of those interns have become employees the FSF. Also, spending time here is a good way to meet the staff, but please note that the staff have work to do, so they often can't talk for very long. Staff typically take lunch between noon and three PM or so - this can be a good time to chat. |
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| − | == Help Any Time == | + | == Recurring tasks == |
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| − | These are things that we always need help with. They are tasks that are on-going or repeating, so if you ever have free time and want to help out, please join us at the office. | + | These are things that we periodically need help with: |
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| − | * Sticker Bundling | + | * Bundling Stickers [[Group:FSF:office volunteers/bundling stickers|(Instructions)]] |
| − | * Make Sticker Packs | + | * Making Sticker Packs [[Group:FSF:office volunteers/making sticker packs|(Instructions)]] |
| − | * Help with shipping | + | * Helping with Shipping [[Group:FSF:office volunteers/helping with shipping|(Instructions)]] |
| − | * Scanning old files | + | * Scanning Old Files [[Group:FSF:office volunteers/scanning old files|(Instructions)]] |
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| − | === Scanning old files === | + | == Other Tasks / Projects == |
| − | | + | * Become part of our online debate team to help reiterate the message and correct misuse of terms and concepts. [[Group:LibrePlanet_Rapid_Responders| (Find more info)]] and [[https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsf-community-team join]] |
| − | The files we are scanning are copyright assignments and employer disclaimers. These are the legal documents that people sign when they contribute to the GNU project. Right now, the FSF has a nice big stack of them that need to be scanned into .pdf format, so that they can be found quickly when contacted about a possible issue. The FSF hired a company to scan them in all at once, but they did it in an unorganized fashion, and without giving them individual file names.
| + | * We are always looking for more translators |
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| − | Our strategy is to scan in a stack of the presorted documents using the automated scanning machine in the back office. We use a program called 'pdftk' to split up the digital scan into separate .pdf files named after each signer and the targeted GNU project.
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| − | It is important to maintain the order of files at all times during this scanning, checking and refiling process. Some documents were originally stapled, but to scan them, they have their staples removed. Not all of these assignments list the person's name on every page, so if the documents get mixed up, that would pose an issue. In any case, documents should be in a partially alphabetic order, which means they do not need to be resorted.
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| − | This effort started with the oldest documents first, going from 'A' to 'Z', batched by each letter, so ask Don where the previous volunteer has left off.
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| − | Grab a the next section of documents and load them in the scanner. It is important that you remove every last staple. Also, remove any tape holding two sheets together. If you don't, the scanner will jam and possibly tear the pages. Tell the scanner to fax the digital copy to your email address, and start scanning. ''TODO: Give instructions on how to use the scanner and have it email the documents to yourself.'' You should watch the scanning process (at least for the first few times), so that you can quickly interrupt it if there is a jam in the machine.
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| − | Next, you need to split the pdf file with pdftk. Here is the source of the script to use when splitting files:
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| − | <pre>
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| − | #!/bin/bash
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| − | # Please make the file name the last name of the contributor (first letter capitalized), then a period, then the name of the package in all caps.
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| − | # For employer disclaimers, add the word 'disclaimer' after the package name
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| − | pdftk A=temp.pdf cat A1-2W output Lastname.PACKAGENAME.pdf
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| − | # make sure to add the last scanned document as a comment at the end of this file
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| − | </pre>
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| − | * Copy and paste it into a new file named 'splitpdf', and run the following command in the same directory as the file:
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| − | <pre>
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| − | chmod +x splitpdf
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| − | </pre>
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| − | * Once you've done that, change the arguments to the first command, instructing pdftk to create a single file for the pages that form a single document.
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| − | * The 'A=temp.pdf' part can be left unchanged. the 'A' is a variable that is used as a shorthand in the rest of the command, when referring to temp.pdf.
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| − | * 'A1-2W' Tells pdftk to select pages 1 through 2 and to rotate them 'West' (90 degrees CCW). Since you will be scanning both sides of the documents and not all documents use the back side, you will usually need to skip that side, after checking. In that case, the first two page document would be selected as 'A1 A3'. (Odd numbered pages select the front, and even numbered pages select the back.)
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| − | * Change the output name, as instructed in the script above. If a document references multiple projects you can list them like 'Smith.GIMP-GLIB-EMACS.pdf'. Make sure to end the file name '.disclaimer.pdf' if it is a disclaimer. Also, sometimes a company will be the entity that assigns its own copyright, instead of the copyright of its employees. In that case, put the company name in place of "Lastname", replacing spaces with dashes. | |
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| − | Then copy and paste your first line on the following one, change the details for the next document, and repeat. Once you've covered all of the documents, run the script and check the resulting pdfs against the stack you scanned.
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| − | <pre>./splitpdf</pre>
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| − | Make any fixes necessary, and then once everything is good, make a comment at the end of your splitpdf file saying where you left off scanning. Since you will be sending that file too, it's a way to communicate with Don about the last scanned file.
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| − | <pre># I've finished scanning up to 1992 S</pre>
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| − | Zip up the pdfs and splitpdf.
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| − | <pre>tar czf 1992S.tgz *.pdf splitpdf</pre>
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| − | Then email the .tgz file to Donald. His address is his name AT fsf.org.
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| | == Time Dependent Volunteer Opportunities == | | == Time Dependent Volunteer Opportunities == |
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| − | We have some volunteer opportunities that are time dependent, such as our biannual membership mailing. Those will be announced to our local volunteer mailing list (please email sales@fsf.org to get on the list if you aren't already) but are also listed here as well. | + | We have some volunteer opportunities that are time dependent, such as our biannual membership mailing. Those will be announced to our local volunteer mailing list (please email [mailto:sales@fsf.org sales@fsf.org] to get on the list if you aren't already) but should be listed here as well. |
Volunteering at the Free Software Foundation Office
The FSF is often in need of some help around the office. If you are in the Boston area and want to help out, Please send an email to sales@fsf.org. If there's a task that suits you, we'd love to have you come by. Our core office hours are 10am-4m weekdays and our office is located at
51 Franklin Street, 5th floor
Downtown Crossing
Boston, MA 02110
Benefits
Many people who have volunteered at the FSF have been accepted as interns, and some of those interns have become employees the FSF. Also, spending time here is a good way to meet the staff, but please note that the staff have work to do, so they often can't talk for very long. Staff typically take lunch between noon and three PM or so - this can be a good time to chat.
Recurring tasks
These are things that we periodically need help with:
Other Tasks / Projects
- Become part of our online debate team to help reiterate the message and correct misuse of terms and concepts. (Find more info) and [join]
- We are always looking for more translators
Time Dependent Volunteer Opportunities
We have some volunteer opportunities that are time dependent, such as our biannual membership mailing. Those will be announced to our local volunteer mailing list (please email sales@fsf.org to get on the list if you aren't already) but should be listed here as well.
