A "FAQ" is a list of frequently asked questions with their answers. If you are experienced with other e-mail discussion lists, then you may know that the participants on some mailing lists work together to develop a "FAQ" that collects answers to questions that come up frequently during list discussion. Some FAQs also include information relevant to the e-mail discussion list that might be of general interest to listmembers. A FAQ can help both new members and old members. A FAQ can be a good way to "pool" together a lot of knowledge and information from many listmembers.

Volunteers are needed to help develop a FAQ for deafintl. Good writing skills and organization skills are usually helpful in writing a good FAQ. If you don't want to write, you might still be able to help by researching for information.

In its most basic form, a FAQ simply collects questions that have been asked on an e-mail discussion list (in this case, deafintl) and summarizes the responses that other people shared on the list. If you have access to the web you can find old questions (and the responses to them) through the deafintl on-line archives. If you don't have web access, you may contact listowner Kara Harkins for more information on how to receive old deafintl posts through e-mail.

Summarizing old questions and responses on deafintl could be an excellent beginning for a deafintl FAQ. But some FAQs for some e-mail discussion lists are even more ambitious. Sometimes the people who help develop a FAQ for a discussion group decide to research for additional answers to questions that have come up on the list. Sometimes FAQ contributers even research information for questions that have not yet been asked--but that would be relevant to the mission of the list. When FAQ contributers do this extra work, they can help develop a very useful source of knowledge both for everyone on the e-mail discussion list and for everyone on the Internet who has access to the FAQ.

If you would like to help develop a FAQ for deafintl, please contact a listowner at owner-deafintl@waste.org and let us know what you're willing and able to do. What kind of task do you want to do? Do you only want to research information (and let someone else do the writing for you)? Do you only want to write something (and use information that someone else has researched for you)? Are you willing to write some information about something you already know about that you think might be of interest to deafintl listmembers? How much (or how little) work are you able to do, and how much time do you think you might need to do it?

The most important FAQ-related task we need right now is for someone to coordinate the deafintl FAQ. The FAQ coordinator would need to help coordinate the work of other FAQ volunteers. For example, if one person wants to do research but doesn't want to write and another person wants to write but doesn't want to do research, the FAQ coordinator could put these two people in touch with each other so one of them can research a topic and the other person can write about it. Also, the FAQ coordinator would need to collect feedback from deafintl listmembers about what topics should be covered in the FAQ; then the FAQ coordinator would discuss with other FAQ volunteers to decide how to prioritize the work (which parts of the FAQ should be done now, which later) and who should do which part of the work. When the FAQ has enough information in it to be useful, a FAQ coordinator is usually also the person responsible for posting the FAQ to the e-mail discussion list to share with deafintl members and also to collect their feedback on the FAQ. The FAQ would also be posted on the web (probably at http://patriot.net/~ashettle/deafintl/faq).

A FAQ is usually never "finished"--most FAQs are continuously expanded and added to. Some FAQ coordinators also research or write parts or all of the FAQ themselves, but other FAQ coordinators only coordinate other FAQ volunteers. That means the role of the deafintl FAQ coordinator will partly depend on how many other people volunteer to help with the FAQ. However, even if the FAQ coordinator does not need to do much of the research or writing, the FAQ coordinator would still be responsible for editing the FAQ to make sure it is well organized and structured or outlined in about the same way throughout.

You may volunteer to coordinate the deafintl FAQ even if you have never helped develop a FAQ before. However, if working on a FAQ is a new experience for you, it would be very helpful for you to read several different FAQs from different e-mail discussion lists and maybe also from some Usenet Newsgroups so you can see how other FAQs are written and organized. You do not have to organize the deafintl FAQ in exactly the same way as other FAQs (no two FAQs are exactly the same) but knowing how other FAQs are "done" could help you create a better FAQ for deafintl.

If you are interested in coordinating the deafintl FAQ, please contact a deafintl listowner to let us know you are interested. Share with us why you would like to help and what skills you have that you think would make you a good FAQ coordinator. Be aware that we sometiems take a while to reply to emails when we get tired or busy. If you're seriously interested in helping, please send us another email!

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This page was last updated on 31 January 2004 by Andrea Shettle.