If you're in a hurry or hate reading long nominations--I'm usually in both situations--just skip to the "credentials" section at the bottom. The rest of it is to let you know more about what you're getting if you vote for me.
Introduction
What kind of site do you want GIS.SE to develop into?
The vision behind Stack Exchange (as I understand it) is to create communities that generate high quality, enduring, universal answers. This has implications for the questions that we accept, which in turn affects the kind of people we attract to the site.
Daily decisions made by the moderators you elect will subtly influence the kinds of questions that appear and the tenor of the answers. In this fashion the moderators are more than mere "janitors" keeping the pages free of spam and flame wars. They will shepherd the site into its second year and help shape its success. Give some thought to who the candidates are, what they do, and the kinds of questions and answers they have already contributed. Which ones have acted in ways most sympathetic with your vision of this site?
Approach
GIS is a wonderful field for many reasons. Chief among them are (a) it unites interesting people from disparate scientific and technical backgrounds, (b) it provides graphical and analytical tools for understanding the world, and (c) it integrates scientific thinking with computing. I would like to see questions (and of course answers) that highlight these aspects.
In case you're wondering, my background is eclectic (like that of many GIS people): advanced degrees in mathematics and significant professional work in university teaching, statistics, environmental investigation, and software development. Yes, I do have some GIS experience too: as a developer, as a consultant, as the former editor of an industry magazine, as the founder of several GIS listservers, and as an active contributor on the ESRI listservers and forums since 1996. (I enjoy building and nurturing online communities with shared interests.) If you would like to know more--the good, the bad, and the ugly-- Google me: I'm Bill Huber and my company is Quantitative Decisions (Pennsylvania, USA).
Having confessed my biases, I would like to emphasize that I don't intend them to get in the way of good moderation. This site belongs to the community: to you. Thus my approach to moderation is to be alert for situations where a decision can affect the nature of this community and to consult you concerning the proper action. These situations come up frequently: when questions are marginally off topic, should they be closed? Modified? Should they cause us to update the FAQ? This conversation takes place in comments and on the meta site. I have been active in both ways: the pundit badge documents that I have contributed many highly-voted comments. On the meta site you will find that I have raised questions about the shape of this community here (progress of GIS StackExchange) and here (what is this site about, really?)
Credentials
I have worked on making useful contributions to this site:
- A relatively large number of silver badges (enlightened, good answer, necromancer) attests to many highly voted answers.
- Several badges document community-building activities: civic duty (voting), convention (activity on meta), strunk & white (editing).
- A large number of upvotes demonstrates a commitment to encouraging well-formulated questions and good answers.
- Some downvotes--but not too many (about 2.5%)--is evidence of careful consideration in voting. I'm not afraid to downvote badly formulated questions or incorrect answers, because this is another tool to improve the site.
- An average score of over 50 points per answer is high for this site, showing a focus on quality over quantity. (However, I greatly respect the many people who are willing to contribute answers to highly specialized questions, even though such answers rarely get many votes. These people deserve to be better recognized.)
I also have relevant experience on other SE sites, including substantial reputation on three others and, recently, as a moderator for one of them. Becoming a moderator increased my commitment to contributing to all these sites and has opened my eyes to the many ways community members can help strengthen and build these resources beyond just answering questions. Whether you vote for me or not, I hope that you also will be inspired to keep growing and enhancing the value of our GIS community here. We have the potential to become the premiere site for GIS: please help make it so.
