Originally Posted by rexelle

I couldn't find you guys at clubsfest. :(

How should I go about volunteering with the sil?

I don't think they even had a board up? I think they were the table with a bunch of newspapers scattered about in the atrium

Alright, let me try to clear up a few of the issues here, since the last thing that we want at the Sil is for potential volunteers to confuse their way out of contributing.

First, with regards to getting involved, Chris is correct in saying that you should be attending section meetings for whatever section piques your interest. For those of you who aren't entirely aware of our setup, the Silhouette consists of five distinct sections which have their own set of editors. News, Opinions, and Sports are (I hope) relatively self-explanatory in what it is that they cover. ANDY is the arts and culture section, which includes film reviews, album and concert reviews, interviews with musicians and artists, and other such cultural material. InsideOut is our lifestyle section, often featuring advice columns and material on sex and relationships. Once you know which section you would be most interested in writing for, you can then zero in on the particular set of editors that manage it. Section meetings are the best times for potential volunteers to present themselves, since editors will be giving out assignments for the upcoming week and entertaining ideas at that point. These meetings also give you the best opportunity to meet the entire editing team and your fellow volunteers at the same time. Unfortunately, as Yang has pointed out, the section meeting times shown on the website are outdated, and haven't yet been revised. I've raised this point with our executive editor, and it should be addressed in short order. In the meantime, I'm not sure of other sections' meeting times, but we in the Sports section meet weekly on Fridays at 11:30.

With regards to editing, it is not done on a voluntary basis, but is a paid position within the MSU that is applied for and hired at the end of a given school year. Preferential treatment in this hiring process is one of the main benefits of being a volunteer writer. Obviously, those involved in hiring editors are much more inclined towards those who have demonstrated an ability to write up to standard and under the pressure of our weekly deadlines.

Hopefully this helps those of you who want to volunteer this year. I'll keep my eye on this thread in case you have any more concerns.

Fraser.

You should also possibly consider getting involved with the Frontline (the Soc Sci paper). I'm not sure what their setup is this year (i.e. if everyone is hired and the like), but it's worth a shot too.

I would also suggest trying to get involved outside of Mac as well...there are tons of journalistic opportunities out there.

I would love to volunteer! More so I can try for editing later on! (^.^) What sort of articles are published in each field?

Originally Posted by Faer

I would love to volunteer! More so I can try for editing later on! (^.^) What sort of articles are published in each field?

Great! It all depends on the section, so its imperative that you come by to the section meeting of your choice to learn about what's going on! In terms of News, articles are generally time-sensitive, so what is published is what comes up during the course of the week. Our meetings are Fridays, 130 to 230 or you can send me a private message here on MacInsiders to set up a time to meet in the office!

I'll post the other section meeting times as soon as I know when they'll be.

Ooh I wanted to volunteer for The Silt. since my 1st year but for some reason just never got the right time :$
But now that I know the setup I might as well give it a try and see how much I can help you guys
I am interested in news, opinions and inside out columns.
Could you give the times for the meetings for the above sections. My joining any of them depend solely on their time and my schedule for classes.

Originally Posted by Richa

Ooh I wanted to volunteer for The Silt. since my 1st year but for some reason just never got the right time :$
But now that I know the setup I might as well give it a try and see how much I can help you guys
I am interested in news, opinions and inside out columns.
Could you give the times for the meetings for the above sections. My joining any of them depend solely on their time and my schedule for classes.

You don't necessarily HAVE to go to the weekly meetings in order to volunteer. It's probably okay if you have a class at that time (they wouldn't expect you to skip your class in order to go to a volunteer meeting). Just email someone from The Sil and let them know your situation, I'm sure they'd find a way to meet with you.

I'll have to PM you...I'm pretty sure I've got classes during that time. Is it a weekly commitment, if you decide to volunteer?

Nope, you volunteer when you have the time and there is no pressure to submit something every week. Most people end up volunteering every week because they enjoy it so much

Woah, that's so great!

Rather than glean the info by reading through the thread again, can I just ask you what exactly is covered by some of the sections? From earlier, the sections are the following, right? News, Culture, Arts, Sports, Business, Opinions, etc.. I'm confused as to what Opinions is...

News is self explanatory, ANDY covers music (live, recorded, everything) and movies, Inside Out is culture and sexuality, Sports is sports, Business is business, Opinions is letters to the editor and opinion pieces about pretty much anything.