Script Editor (volunteer)

Background: Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in Eugene, Oregon. Our streaming-media Web site and chief project, The Archaeology Channel (www.archaeologychannel.org; TAC), launched 20 years ago, has become one of the world’s most popular Web sites relating to archaeology and the human cultural heritage. A closely-related spinoff of TAC is The Archaeology Channel International Film Festival, produced each spring in downtown Eugene, Oregon. In 2010, ALI launched its first cable TV programming distributed over a growing nationwide network of stations. Our most popular program is the Audio News from Archaeologica, our weekly radio-style show, produced continuously since 2001, summarizing the top archaeology and cultural heritage research stories from around the world and distributed on TAC and by podcast to a loyal audience in the hundreds of thousands. Most recently, ALI launched our subscription video-on-demand platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service (heritagetac.org), with a growing subscriber base. ALI has numerous opportunities for unlimited growth as an Internet media and public outreach organization and needs to expand its volunteer work force in order to take advantage of these opportunities. Some of our volunteers may become our employees, depending upon their productivity and effectiveness.

Hourly Commitment: Approximately 2-4 hours per week.

Job Purpose: To help our Audio News from Archaeologica team generate professionally well written scripts. This work helps us get our message and image out to the public and thereby effectively raise public awareness of who we are, what we do and why they should care.

Description: Because of its long history, its accumulated experience and vast worldwide network and its ambitious vision, ALI is on track to become an influential participant in the world of media. In a continuing effort to improve our programming, we need a dedicated volunteer to supplement our existing Audio News editing staff to spread the task load for this program that has been produced weekly without a break for the past 20 years.

Here is your chance to get involved with the creative heart of a dynamic and growing enterprise. Your help here will have a direct impact on ALI's productivity and ability to pursue its public mission. The experience you gain will be directly transferable to other positions you may seek in the future.

Key Responsibilities: The Script Editor will generate and receive draft scripts by e-mail on weekends to edit. The editing chore often goes beyond simple copy editing, involving writing and rewriting and checking sources. The end product is a script that is delivered by e-mail to ALI’s production office, where it is processed further before being read and recorded.

Requirements: This volunteer job requires people who have strong interest and demonstrated ability in writing and text editing. We are looking for people who grasp the nuances of the English language and have close attention to detail, not only in terms of words, but also in terms of meaning and expression. The ideal person also will have some background and knowledge relating to archaeology and history. We expect some measure of on-the-job learning and training, but we want to find people who can take us to the next level of competence and productivity as we move further into the world of digital media delivery. Need not be local.

To Apply: Contact Dr. Richard Pettigrew by telephone (541-345-5538) or e-mail (rick@archaeologychannel.org). A resume is required.