Roles
The following roles are available in the SRCF:
System administrator
The job of sysadmin is not particularly a glamorous one, but it is one of the most important: the SRCF could struggle along without a committee, but without the sysadmin team the service would grind quickly to a halt.
Much of the day-to-day administration of the SRCF involves responding to user requests, either by running one of the SRCF scripts to create a database or add a user or whatever, or by explaining patiently why what they want is stupid. The simplest requests can be dealt with by anyone with a shell and a keyboard, but occasionally a closer familiarity with what is actually going on, and some greater ingenuity and problem solving, is required.
The admins are also responsible for developing and maintaining the scripts and tools to make life easier for both themselves and the users, so software-engineer types will have some opportunity to exercise their skills. The SRCF has been writing scripts for more than a decade, and some 2000-vintage Python and Perl is still in operation, so there's plenty of modernisation work to do.
Since system administration is a shared responsibility, the amount demanded of any individual is not too severe. Each admin is mostly welcome to pick and choose which tasks they are willing and able to deal with, and focus on those. If you do nothing at all, and do not intend to start doing anything, we would appreciate it if you would give up your admin rights to simplify bookkeeping, but as long as you are doing something, even if that's just approving membership requests or fixing the permissions on a group account, you are freeing up the time of people who can do more involved things, like script development or service deployment.
Some experience of system administration is preferable, but of course we realise that the SRCF is a place that many people go to gain that experience; however, knowing your way around the Linux command line is probably essential if you are to carry out any serious administrative work. If you lack that experience but are still keen to help the SRCF, don't be discouraged – there's a good chance we will be able to find something else for you to do. Just ask!
Committee
The committee as a whole is responsible for appointing sysadmins and making decisions on behalf of the society, e.g. what to do when some user makes an unusual request, or offers help of some kind, or violates the Terms of Service. They meet at least once a term for this purpose, usually in a pub. What goes on in these meetings is detailed in the minutes, and all our minutes are published, so if you're interested just take a look.
Each role has additional responsibilities, which are detailed below:
Chair
The Chair is in some sense the public face of the SRCF: they are likely to be the one writing and sending announcements to the users regarding e.g. the AGM, and they will be the primary point of contact for anyone who wants to know What The SRCF Thinks on some issue.
Their job is to make sure everyone else is doing their job, as well, so how much work is involved depends a little on how good the rest of the committee is. For example, if the Junior Treasurer suddenly does a vanishing act, it will be up to the chair to pick up the pieces (although someone else may be co-opted for the role).
Secretary
The Secretary records the minutes of each meeting and writes them up afterwards to be published on the minutes page. These are an important part of helping users to understand what the society does, and reminding the committee of their day-to-day duties, so getting them done promptly and accurately is essential.
They may also have minor constitutional duties, e.g. some forms need to be signed by the Secretary.
Junior Treasurer
The Junior Treasurer is responsible for ensuring we have an accurate, up-to-date record of how much money the SRCF has, where it goes, and where it comes from. They will have their address published on the donation page so will occasionally receive cheques, which they then need to take to the bank to pay in.
They are also responsible for maintaining our bank accounts, so some paperwork will need doing, and statements will need to be checked to ensure everything that we expect, and only those things, are in there.
At the end of the (calendar) year, the SRCF (like all registered societies) needs to compile a report of its finances and submit it to the Proctors. Finding and filling the relevant forms is a tedious but not altogether difficult task.
Publicity Officer
As you'd expect, the Publicity Officer is responsible for attempting to make sure that everyone who could benefit from the services of the SRCF is aware of this fact. Organising the stash we occasionally sell has historically been their duty, and they will often also write notices for the Chair to send out (or to send out themselves) to our mailing lists regarding any social or society events we organise.
Reminding everyone that the SRCF exists every now and then helps to gather the user support – staff volunteers and donations – that we rely on. People are often very willing to help when we ask!
Co-opted roles
The Committee has the right, according to the constitution, to co-opt any members of the SRCF to fill any additional roles as it sees fit. This has in the past been used where two people wanted one role and both seemed suitable: elect one and co-opt the other. The constitution is vague on what the co-opting mechanism is for, so much is left to the imagination.