Time: Mon Sep 15 07:00:34 1997
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 06:58:50 -0700
To: Reed Harris <rharris@mail.telis.org>
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in toolbar]
Subject: webmaster for SLL
Cc: supremelaw@ibm.net
Dear Reed,
I would like to request that you give some
serious thought to becoming the webmaster
for the Supreme Law Library ("SLL").
Our current webmaster, although technically
very competent, has been dragging his feet
with the most recent updates to the library.
I am now very unhappy with the rate of his
output (1 month to do 3 cases; we have 30 cases,
total, ready to load = 10 months = too long).
I have given him a well defined structure,
which should enable any good programmer
to design custom macros, to process the
text files in batch mode.
Because all the text files are (or should be)
in the exact same format, all he really needs
to do is to add prologue and epilogue codes
to each text file, and then FTP them to the
website.
Then, the index pages must be built, tested,
and copied to the website with FTP as well.
Without knowing the HTML codes, I should think
that building and testing the right macro would
take all of one hour, give or take 30 minutes.
Here is my "model" for each text document:
PROCODE
TEXT
EPPYCODE
where,
PROCODE is prologue code
TEXT is a document in ASCII text
EPPYCODE is epilogue code
EPPYCODE contains the hypertext link to INDEX.HTML
which is the Table of Contents ("TOC") for
that particular set of files; in other words,
"return to TOC".
A "set of files" is the set of DOS text files
which constitute one court case (e.g. USA v. Gilbertson,
In Re Grand Jury Subpoena ..., USA v. Knudson, etc.)
Higher up the tree, here is the structure:
Supreme Law Library, main page:
Court Cases -----------> List of Cases
Resources (not added yet)
Articles and Interviews
Press Releases
The symbol "------>" means "points to".
List of Cases, main page:
U.S.A. v. Gilbertson ---------> list of documents
In Re Grand Jury Subpoena ...
etc.
If you would like to do your own browsing first,
why don't you download a few of the files in
the grand jury case, by preserving their .HTML
code when you save them to disk? This should
get you started understanding what codes need
to be added, particularly the EPPYCODE. Pick a
small one, like the list of CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS
(document #25, 10226 bytes), or #28 (1844 bytes).
If our current webmaster continues to drag his feet,
I would just as soon spend the rest of the retainer
we paid to him, by having him train you in all the
details. This would be a good transition, and then
you could take over completely, as soon as you are
willing and able.
RSVP
If you do well with this job, and you WILL get paid
(sooner or later), I will be happy to recommend you
to anyone else who may be evaluating you for similar
website design jobs. Then, you can have a back-up
career ready to go, if things don't work out at your
current employer.
Let's start you out at $25 per hour, with 10% raises
every 3 months, if all goes well (and I know it will).
This will bring you just shy of $37.50 per hour,
within 12 months (1.1^4 = 1.4641). Using 52 weeks
per year, minus 2 weeks for vacation, one Full-Time
Equivalent ("FTE") is:
50 weeks x 40 hours = 2,000 hours
2,000 hrs. @ $37.50 = $75,000 per year (annualized)
I don't think the SLL work will be 40 hours per week, however.
If a miracle happens and we get some huge grant,
then you will be working full-time for long stretches.
Maybe Karen might consider working PT as a fund-raiser,
and we could treat SLL as a "charity-type" project.
Did you get the CD-ROM disk which I mailed to you
last week? This would seem to be a good place for
you to begin teaching yourself. I can teach you
some of this, but you will need to teach me what
you are learning about HTML and website programming.
/s/ Paul Mitchell
http://supremelaw.com
copies: off-site archivists
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Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
:
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not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal.
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