We've moved, ! Update your bookmarks to https://thesouthpacific.org! These forums are being archived.

Dismiss this notice
See LegComm's announcement to make sure you're still a legislator on the new forums!

Luca for Minister of Propaganada: A Tale of Souls and Swords Eternally Retold
#1
Rainbow 
[Image: 239.gif]
"So, it has come to this"
Hoi

My name is Luca. If you haven't heard of me before, allow me to introduce myself. Likely, I am better known as Refuge Isle, GA/SC/Issue author, founder of Refugia, and Arch-Admin of its offsite community. I have previously given aid to other regions experiencing staffing trouble, including our allies in the East, serving as TEP's deputy WAA minister, as well as developing training materials for the EPSA while operating within that military. I'm one of the SPSF's best chasers, and I'm also involved with the collection, analysis, and presentation of data across the general NationStates universe. More information on résumé highlights, including my r/d records can be found in the history page linked in my signature. Some data-related publications can also be found in Refuge Isle's dispatches.

At the present moment, however, I've come to witness a concerning situation; the ministry that's charged with integration and engagement, has regrettably been unable to locate a successor to Viet's dynasty of leadership. Where an office would otherwise go unfulfilled, there exists a responsibility that it be staffed by individuals with the South Pacific's best interests at heart. After being kidnapped and brainwashed into submission by my peers, I have sought to fill this vacancy through the launch of this apparently unopposed campaign.


Anticipate, Prepare, Intercede

One of my priorities for Engagement will be the general education and awareness of what each ministry does, delivered to the region, to cast the widest possible net for prospectives.

Recently a publication released by the South Pacific Independent News Network aimed to address the question of how familiar residents and legislators were with various ministries. The information in this article is misleading, however, only sampling 23 players, 20 of whom were legislators (likely because only they were pinged). The graphs presented within this publication may give the appearance that the general public is well informed about each ministry. This is not supported by the sample size, especially in a region with a thousand World Assembly nations. We should be working with the realisation that prospective members do not know what they do not know.

More engagement requires more capable bodies, and capable bodies will follow where their interests take them. It's the belief of this campaign that the most high-quality members of TSP's future need only the awareness of their available options. This is not only necessary for the health of our ministries, but for the health of TSP and NationStates at large by capturing players' interest and giving them a reason to keep coming back. To this end, a dispatch must be developed and embedded within the WFE which invites players to join the South Pacific's administration, with organised snapshot summaries of each ministry and how players could envision themselves within them.

As we progress through the summer (or winter as the case may be for you), TSP needs to catch players when they return from school, and catch them on the platform that they are most predisposed to (Discord). On this subject, I propose highlighting a different area of government every weekend. This area could be an individual ministry, or broader topics like the role of legislators. During these spotlight weekend events, we need to provide friendly, open, and easy-access to information that sheds light on areas of government players may feel otherwise uncertain about committing to. These events should feature demonstrations about what goes on there and generally reduce the trepidation of exploring our government world.


Production and Sustainability

Finally, as I understand it, planning and talks have been going on for some time for a cards component for the South. Cards can be a valuable asset in acquiring and retaining World Assembly nations, boosting endorsement goals, as well as being tangible reward opportunities for players who compete in events or contribute to the work of our government. It is vital that TSP launch a cards program at any degree of complexity after having talked about it for so long. The program can then be augmented and improved upon, but perhaps perfect being the enemy of good is what has held us back from doing anything at all.

It's this campaign's view that the Ministry of Engagement should be responsible for recruiting and integrating new players into the Coalition's government and community, maintaining public infrastructure such as dispatches and other guides, setting unified presentation standards, and providing graphics to the government and citizens of the Coalition. That is this campaign's view, because that is the literal text of the law. However functionally, the ministry is marketed as a catch-all for content generation. This work is not necessarily in the line of outreach/integration, and occasionally conflicts with the legally stated role of Media. Reconciliation appears to be necessary regarding the roles of these two ministries since their split, further evidenced by a prospective minister calling for Media's abolition.

No ministry should feel like purgatory with too high of workloads, and all components of the South should lift together. I am interested in working with the next Minister of Media to determine what forms of content creation would be better suited to that department.

With this, there's much for me to learn, and I look forward to becoming familiar the ins and outs of Engagement. There are likely more qualified candidates for this field, but interest appears to have not compelled any of them to materialise. So we'll all do the best we can, hey?



Conflict of Interests Declaration

In the South Pacific, I am a legislator and member of the Office of WA Legislation and the Ministry of Media. I am a soldier in the SPSF. My World Assembly membership is presently mobile and used in SPSF defence operations.

Outside of the South Pacific, I am the founder and Arch-Administrator of Refugia, a position whose responsibilities may be largely summarised as OOC community administration, and the facilitation of free and fair elections. I have no other citizenships or commitments.
[-] The following 12 users Like Luca's post:
  • anjo, Free Las Pinas, HumanSanity, Jay Coop, moe, Moon, Purple Hyacinth, Quebecshire, Somyrion, Stan Melix, USoVietnam, Witchcraft and Sorcery
Reply
#2

Could you elaborate a little bit on your own experiences starting in TSP, when you were a newcomer, and what kind of obstacles you faced? 

What do you think is the biggest obstacle towards getting newer members integrated into our community?
[-] The following 3 users Like moe's post:
  • HumanSanity, Luca, Stan Melix
Reply
#3

(06-05-2021, 04:26 AM)moe Wrote: Could you elaborate a little bit on your own experiences starting in TSP, when you were a newcomer, and what kind of obstacles you faced?

What do you think is the biggest obstacle towards getting newer members integrated into our community?

Sure, fun question. To the first:

I came to the South in October of last year. I was a member of The Black Hawks at the time, and was looking for a military to defect to, but only if it would have been a cultural fit. As it turns out, this was easier said than done and rebuilding my entire social connections from scratch was about as difficult as I thought it would be. Most of the people I talk to now either hadn't been founded or hadn't moved to the region yet. But this is how it goes in any new place. As chat regulars, if we can talk to new people when they arrive, and just chat with them like normal people (outside of telling them to read dispatches, WA up and endorse people), I think that's a boon to general integration. We have several more dedicated people who go out of their way to do this now.

So, one area that was a little weird was the role of legislators, and that's why I touch on this a bit in my campaign post. How it was presented to me was "legislators are like citizens, basically". Well, that doesn't tell me too much, I already have a citizen role and I'm not super into designing complicated legal structures for RP purposes (*kicks GA out of view*). So what legislator actually means is the ability to run for office, the ability to vote on candidates for office, in addition to the ability to steer the direction of the region by creating and voting on treaties and referendums. This is different from other regions where access to one or more of those items may be easier to get to, as well as regions where all of those abilities don't come in a bundle. There is, I believe, room to improve on the marketing of what legislators do and why basically all TSPers should become one.

The next area relates to ministry staffing. I've worked in several different departments in different regions before, including FA, WAA, GP, and content creation. The reason that I've been in these places is because I personally like the work that's involved, and it's more convenient to do that work if there is a reason and a cause for it. In TSP, we don't readily have access to adverts for each of these ministries and what they do. If you get caught by an interested minister or you specifically seek one out, you can probably get in sooner or later depending on how much you or they badger the other, but there is no unified system. Our WFE sort of treats its audience as cattle instead of colleagues. With the exception of WAA and SPSF, there is no obvious gameside display of our departments and how to get involved with them. When those departments do not have RO slots either because of the CRS crowding, that reduces the visibility further.

My concern is that if I, who have been on NationStates for years, have some difficulty locating something, it will be prohibitively difficult for someone who started yesterday to get involved. The closest we have to the general concept of a one-stop-shop is this executive thread, but even here we see that the applications for these ministries may be considerably different. Some link to a TSP thread where staff may apply, others say to direct message the minister on Discord, others link to google forms (some of which are entirely unmonitored). The executive branch thread, itself, would better served as a unified application collector to make sure the most eyes are on it, and it would absolutely fall under the mission of the Ministry of Engagement to oversee such a system. Our goal has to be that people do not fall through the cracks or get picked up by other regions.

To the second question:

I think it's fundamentally the same in any region, or even in any social dynamic. The thing that allows someone to get integrated into a community is a compatible dynamic between how much the new person feels motivated to be around, and how much the establishment expresses a reason for them to do so. So if we've already demonstrated that we're friendly and sane by interacting with them on arrival as human beings, the next step is to fish for the things that they like doing, the things that they are driven, interested, and want to do. Locate the matching interest from our array of activities and services, and create the vision inside of them of how they could comfortably fit and live within that system. We want them to be able to see themselves living here, and then they will.

That doesn't mean that you're going to get 100% of the people 100% of the time. Some things don't work out and some things look more enticing to people than we can make ourself seem. But the core of integration is not telling someone to do something, but my making them feel welcome and wanted in our complex world, as we are available to receive then. The rest follows naturally.
[-] The following 4 users Like Luca's post:
  • HumanSanity, moe, Moon, Stan Melix
Reply
#4

I like your campaign, Luca! It's my opinion that you are qualified for the job, but obviously (and you have admitted this yourself), you literally are not a staffer in MoE. An obvious question: what steps will you take to acquaint yourself with what is going on in the Ministry?

How will you engage staffers?

What kind of leadership roles might you delegate to senior staffers/advisors/deputies?

Will you continue Viet's regular(ish) updates on MoE projects? (you can find this in the MoE subforum)

There are several ongoing projects that you haven't really addressed (which is understandable). However, I'd still like your thoughts on them, even if they are somewhat general and unspecific. So, what are your thoughts on:
[-] The following 1 user Likes Purple Hyacinth's post:
  • Stan Melix
Reply
#5

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: I like your campaign, Luca! It's my opinion that you are qualified for the job, but obviously (and you have admitted this yourself), you literally are not a staffer in MoE. An obvious question: what steps will you take to acquaint yourself with what is going on in the Ministry?

The same as one might become acquainted with the happenings of legislators without having been there before, I suppose: Read and talk to people. The rest remains to be seen. Although I'm aware through TSP records that it is not unheard of for a ministry to not have any candidates wish to stand for office, it's long been my position that whenever this situation occurs, it is a failure of the department and a situation in need of intervention. That is to say, there is only so much that can be said about the prospect of an outsider entering as minister when there are no alternative options.

All that we can do is the best we can.

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: How will you engage staffers?

How will I engage them? Well, I only have one mode of interacting with people, so if you've interacted with me before, that's what to expect.

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: What kind of leadership roles might you delegate to senior staffers/advisors/deputies?

So basically, when there's something to be done, what I'm used to is opening a discussion on the subject. What's the problem? What's to be done? What are the options? What are the hang ups? And a lot of times people have different ideas about how things could work, lot's of stuff that I probably haven't thought of. So, to me, when there are large infrastructure projects, it should be an interactive event talking about the issue, finding capable and interested people, and have them knock it out with whatever support they need. If it stops working out for them, or something in the situation changes, we can talk about the issue once again.

Arbitrary social hierarchies serve no productive purpose.

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: Will you continue Viet's regular(ish) updates on MoE projects? (you can find this in the MoE subforum)

If you are referring to the concept of changelogs, then yes I have a tendency to do such a thing, myself. Regular notifications of development updates are not only useful to keep people apprised of changes and hyped for new tools and features, but also to track your own work and self-assess your progression.

Beyond the main development thread, there looks to my eyes to be a lot of wasted effort in this subforum, with concocting pseudo-corporate board room style presentation of concepts with placeholder posts waiting endlessly for updates that will never arrive. There is zero need to be putting work and effort into those résumé padders when the same work could be applied to projects, directly, in areas that will actually get eyes.

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: the unified dispatch system? (link to the actual dispatches)
I am absolutely a firm believer in master dispatches with links to other vital areas of government and reference. Gameside players will be looking for these as the starting points for figuring out who we are and what's going on in our region, and this is the best way that we can reach those players immediately with the most important information. It's critical that all information in these dispatches and the links they point to contain relevant, timely, accurate, and up-to-date information for our players.

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: internal recruitment telegrams (some automated, some manual)?
I will review the details of the program and it's specific verbiage upon the start of the term. The primary function of NS is a nation sim, and that doesn't necessarily involve being a part of our community, so it's up to us to make the case and use the resource carefully to get in touch with the hesitant. Telegrams can be a useful way to reach citizens who may otherwise not feel comfortable investigating our larger community on their own, but it only takes a few to overwhelm them and suggest to the player that they should block all of them permanently.

(06-05-2021, 07:00 PM)Purple Hyacinth Wrote: the Wiki project, mainly to update non-roleplay articles? (link to the Wiki)
Yes, I'm also aware of the Wiki, and I've been considering for several days and have yet to determine why in the world this is under the purview of the Ministry of Engagement. The mission of MoE is outreach, engagement, standards, and infrastructure.

Media publication, chronology and journalism, fall in my opinion squarely within the legal outline of the Ministry of Media. This is a topic I would be keen to discuss with the incoming minister of that department.
[-] The following 1 user Likes Luca's post:
  • Stan Melix
Reply
#6

As a candidate in the MoE election, will you commit to abstaining in the MoE election?
4× Cabinet minister /// 1× OWL director /// CRS member /// SPSF

My History
[-] The following 1 user Likes Jay Coop's post:
  • Stan Melix
Reply
#7

(06-06-2021, 04:21 PM)Jay Coop Wrote: As a candidate in the MoE election, will you commit to abstaining in the MoE election?

No.

I'm rather sensitive to situations where someone feels pressured to not vote when it's their legal right. As an staunch advocate for democracy, I encourage everyone to vote as often as possible. In an election or referendum, some option must be selected and it's not up to someone else to make my decisions for me. Therefore, it's not only important for me to signal my own trust and interest in the democratic process, I must actually be directly participating in that system, myself. By exercising my opinion in a one-person to one-vote ratio, my voice has the same worth as everyone else's and no more.

That is democracy.
[-] The following 2 users Like Luca's post:
  • Free Las Pinas, Stan Melix
Reply
#8

One of the biggest issues with my term was that the schedule has to be constantly shifted with constant delays due to unexpected difficulties, real-life schedule mismatches, and over-optimistic predictions. What can you do to prevent this?

Btw, I really like that the gist of this campaign is about the actual strategy to attract new players with the ministry's soon-to-be-finished infrastructure.
Chief Supervising Armchair
Reply
#9

I know that most of the backend for the ministry's projects has been finished, but what would you do about the maintenance and feature-adding of these backends? Would you assign the work to someone else or would you try to do it yourself?
"After he realizes this newfound power of his to override the hopes and dreams of republicans, he puts all of the united provinces under his control."
one time minister of culture

[Image: rank_trainee.min.svg] [Image: updates_lifetime_1.min.svg] [Image: detags_lifetime_2.min.svg]
Reply
#10

(06-07-2021, 11:10 AM)USoVietnam Wrote: One of the biggest issues with my term was that the schedule has to be constantly shifted with constant delays due to unexpected difficulties, real-life schedule mismatches, and over-optimistic predictions. What can you do to prevent this?

Btw, I really like that the gist of this campaign is about the actual strategy to attract new players with the ministry's soon-to-be-finished infrastructure.

Simply put, that cannot be fully done.

Pop up problems, and real life issues are unavoidable, and to be expected. There's an often made comment that what moderators do in communities is spirit-draining volunteer work, and that's plainly true. At a certain level of involvement in NationStates' regional governments, the same should definitely be said as well because it's the same deal. All of the work that people do here is on a volunteer basis; we don't get paid, and we have lives and relationships to maintain at the same time. And yet, these communities only really function with that work, and a lot of people depend on it too. So what do you do?

There's a balance between what's expected of you (which is often too much), what you're able to do (which can change), and what must be done or else it's community negligence. What's important is that we contribute what we can, when we can, and keep moving in a steady direction. Deadlines are often arbitrary things we make up and aren't super relevant in practicality. The best projects, I think, are the ones that work like Lego blocks. Start with something, and maybe it's not the bees, but keep stacking improvements onto it and it'll get there.

(06-07-2021, 09:42 PM)im_a_waffle1 Wrote: I know that most of the backend for the ministry's projects has been finished, but what would you do about the maintenance and feature-adding of these backends? Would you assign the work to someone else or would you try to do it yourself?

I feel like this question is looking for a specific type of answer but is not particularly specific, itself.

In general terms, the role of MoE is keeping things working: Outreach, recruitment, engagement, facilitation of new players and their needs, keeping dispatches and telegrams modern, accurate, timely, etc. TSP is a large and powerful region, but its competence and infrastructure is the biggest aid to it remaining so. That work will never be finished in the same way that TSP isn't doing things the same way it was ten years ago.

Administration is ultimately about the continuity of what the people before us made and what the people after us can work with. Where it relates to labour, the people who are most familiar should work with interested newer workers to ensure that there is a constant continuity of information between those incoming and those outgoing. And I'm certainly looking forward to being a part of that process.
[-] The following 1 user Likes Luca's post:
  • Moon
Reply




Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)





Theme © iAndrew 2018 Forum software by © MyBB .