I’m going to continue working on the site in our video department, so you haven’t seen the last of me, but I want to say thank you to everyone who has given feedback over the last year. It truly has been a great experience.

Sincerely,
Elle

Because this is a student manager position at Illini Media, the applicant must be a student graduating no earlier than May 2010. Applicants don’t necessarily need to be here over the summer, but we would strongly prefer to hire someone who plans on being here for one entire year.

Applications are available at the Illini Media Help Desk at 512 E. Green St. weekdays from 9-5:30. They are due Friday, February 27.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at producer@the217.com.

The Photo Editor must be a current student at the University of Illinois. All majors are welcome. We’re looking for someone who can manage a small staff of photographers, delegate photo assignments for different stories, find images as needed and manage the input and uploading of photos and images both in print and online.

Some experience is preferred, but we will train the right person.

If you’re interested in the job, please e-mail Tommy Trafton at buzz@readbuzz.com by Tuesday, February 24th. Be sure to include why you’re interested in the job!

1. A compacted livestream. No more picking your player (it’s so confusing!), just press play and out comes the radio … from your computer. It’s truly the way of the future.

2. Search artist or album index, right in the live playlist. That Cure remix that just played totally reminds you of remixes, which reminds you of mashing things together, which reminds you of Girl Talk. So search for it.

3. Recent music forum posts are right there on the side. So you’re looking through the playlist, listening to a local band play on PGU, and BAM! there’s a forum post about that band. It’s all right there.

4. Audio archive box. Now you can see all the recent audio files that have gone up without have to search for them. Listen to an interview with Death Cab for Cutie or an in-studio performance that you may have missed. You need a break from reading, after all.

Go forth and enjoy the new WPGU page. I think you might like it.

It’s a rough world out there. We want to help.

the217.com is looking to expand the amount of people running around who enjoy and have a working knowledge of the Internet and all its wonders. In other words, we want you to work here if you really really like our site and think you could do glorious things for it.

The internship is unpaid (except for payment per completed project, such as writing stories or making videos), and lasts four weeks, beginning right after winter break. Every intern who completes the program will be offered aid in another job placement throughout the company, and will also have a leg up on management positions available in the spring of 2009 on the217.com.

If you’re interested and would like more information, please e-mail me at producer@the217.com, and I will send a formal job description and application. Please do not send resumes until you send your completed application. Because time is limited and we are looking for people with strong writing skills, your written application is extremely important. We will only offer interviews to applicants who have impressive written applications.

This is a fantastic opportunity in media, online publishing, video, photo, writing and more! You will learn many important skills for the scary media world out there, and you will see completed work both on this site and potentially in buzz Magazine.

Inquire now!

Simply put, it’s a miserable time for magazines, and it’s not going to get any better unless we all give them some business.

So here’s a simple solution: buy your friends and loved ones magazine subscriptions for Christmas (or Hannukah, or any wintertime holiday you choose to celebrate). Magazines are cheap, especially now. Places like Spin Magazine are offering two full years of issues for close to 15 dollars. Others can run as cheap as 10 dollars for a year. The best part about magazines is that there’s one for every person. There’s a magazine for nearly every interest.

Go to subscriptionsforchristmas.tumblr.com to learn more, and give the gift that actually keeps on giving … that people will actually want (unlike the jelly of the month club).

•Presentation Editor: This person is responsible for how the site looks: those rotating centerpieces on the front page, the art attached to an article, and the layout of the sections. If you’re organized, have an artistic eye and can write headlines, this might be a good job for you! Photoshop experience is a big plus. This job will start in January 2009.

•Assistant Producer for Calendar: This person is very important to our site: we have the most comprehensive calendar in Champaign-Urbana, and it requires a dedicated producer to make sure all the listings get in and are correct. If you’re extremely detail-oriented and a people person, this is a great job for you! This job will start in January 2009.

•Bloggers: We’re looking for two types of bloggers right now: those who want to contribute to our daily current events blog, The Lowdown, and bloggers who want to create their own unique product by starting a blog hosted on our site. If you like to write and you want people to read what you have to say every day, this is a great outlet for you! These positions are available immediately.

We’ve been waiting to debut these for a little while, and today’s the day! We created them so people who were browsing the site could discuss community and arts and entertainment. We want these to be a place where people will discuss openly and have a good time!

Below, I’ve posted our policy on forums. The forums will be moderated, mostly for on-topic and appropriate content. We don’t like trolls, and you shouldn’t either.

So log in and post!
Elle

–
The217.com encourages on-topic discussion about a variety of subjects through our community forums. It is our policy not to delete any posts based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove any posts or threads that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.

In a nutshell, don’t attack people or groups for no reason. If you think something sucks, explain why it sucks.

We’re definitely OK with critique of anything, including our own products and the sister products of Illini Media. Justify what you’re saying, though. You can explain why a story in the Daily Illini wasn’t well-written, or that you think a music review from buzz was way off the mark, as long as you explain what you’re talking about. We will also accept unabashed praise.

Don’t post anything inappropriate such as pornography, violent or threatening material. Racism and sexism and all other ism’s will not be tolerated. It’s 2008; get with the times.

On-topic discussion is the name of the game here. If someone starts a thread, reply to what they’re saying. Internet trolls (and trolls of any kind, they’re just creepy) will not be allowed to perpetuate the black hole effect of the Internet. For more information, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Don’t advertise your stuff here. It’s really cool that you’re starting a company or that you’re trying to sell your car (and brave, in this economy), but this is not the place for it. The Daily Illini has a great classifieds site, try it out sometime. We do encourage hyping your music/comedy/theatre show, however.

Reviews of restaurants and albums will be more beneficial to all members of the community on the Restaurants page or the Artist Index.

Don’t post something twice. Become familiar with the “edit” button. While we’re all fascinated by what you’re saying, it can’t be so good that we want to hear it twice. Break your posts up into paragraphs. Large blocks of text are known to cause eye strain. Capitalize stuff. Make an attempt at using good grammar.

Make sure your images are a reasonable size if you’re going to post them. A good rule of thumb is around 320×240 at 72 dpi. Do you like to wait 10 minutes for a thread to load?

No spam!

This forum exists so the community will have a fun place to discuss all manners of topics. Please keep it fun and lively. We want to be able to participate in the discussion and not spend all of our time moderating. The217.com was created to celebrate this great place known as Champaign-Urbana, and these forums were created in the same likeness. Show some love, people.

And now for the boring legal part:

The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Posts containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from posting on the217.com.

If you think we wrongfully removed your post, please e-mail the site producer at producer@the217.com. All e-mails will be read and considered equally.

Go to Pygmalion Music Festival.

It’s absolutely incredible that we have such an amazing weekend for us here in CU. Acts are coming from all over the country, and local bands have a chance to play alongside well-known bands. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Anyone who says CU is just a town in the middle of nowhere, that there’s nothing fun to do here, etc. is just plain wrong. The list goes on and on, but I believe Pygmalion to be the epitome of cool in the area.

Now in its fourth year, and building credibility daily, Pygmalion is being covered by national publications such as Pitchfork and The Onion. Artists are submitting their stuff from all over. And if you don’t take advantage of it, you might be a fool.

Even if you don’t want to spring for the festival pass (which, at $50, is extremely reasonable, not to mention the tote bag full of goodies you get along with it), you can still check out different shows. Think of it as a way to find new music that you might have never heard of. Be enchanted by the four part harmonies and face-melting guitar of Elsinore. Dance your ass off at Dan Deacon. Revel in the indie-rock of Black Mountain. Whatever you do, do yourself a favor and see at least one show this weekend (starting tonight). If you need any recommendations or help, the fine folks in CU have made it easy for you:

-Carlye Wisel, a former buzz writer and Music Editor and founder of OverUC.com, has done an excellent job in pre-coverage for the festival.

-smilepolitely.com, a self-proclaimed “Champaign-Urbana culture blog” and online magazine has run various previews for the fest.

-And of course, we here at the217.com have made every effort to keep you informed, and will continue to do so throughout the weekend.

So get out there, grab your camera, and rock. You won’t regret it, I promise.

pygmalionmusicfestival.com

Food + Drink
Stage
Arts
LGBT

If you’re interested in blogging in any of these areas, email me at producer@the217.com. If you’d like to write in another area, please hold off until mid-August (I’ll post another entry when we’re looking for more people).

Thanks everyone!