The Tech Committee maintains the chapter’s infrastructure: the website, the Discord, the calendar, and the tools we use to organize. We help members use those tools, and we help the rest of the chapter use them safely.
None of it is visible while it’s working. All of it stops working when nobody is doing it.
The Website
We maintain the site you are currently on, south.dsanj.org – writing and updating pages, keeping the committee and working group listings current, making sure event and membership links go where they’re supposed to. We also fix what breaks: forms that don’t submit, dead links, pages that won’t load on a phone, as well as everything else you see on the site.
The site is WordPress. If you’ve ever edited a page, you already have most of the skills we need.
Discord
Discord is where most of the chapter actually happens – meetings, coordination, working group channels. We keep it organized, welcome new members into the right channels, and handle moderation.
Moderation isn’t policing. It’s making sure the space stays open to the people it’s meant to be for, and that harassment, spam, and raids get dealt with quickly. It’s a real responsibility and we treat it like one.
Digital Security
This is the part of our work that matters most within the Chapter.
A lot of us do work that puts us at risk – tenant organizing, know-your-rights canvasses, mutual aid, the kind of work that gets people doxxed or targeted. The tools we talk to each other through are watched, and the people we deal with have more resources to come after us than we do.
We run digital security trainings for members, help people lock down their accounts, and help members figure out what to do when something has already gone wrong. You do not need to be technical to take a training or to ask for help.
Events and Meetings Tech
We handle the tech side of chapter events: hybrid attendance so members can join from anywhere in the state, audio and video, and getting the calendar and event pages working, as well as the slides and voting tech we use during general body meetings. If an event needs a form, a sign-up sheet, a shared doc, or some way to collect RSVPs, we can assist and set it up.
Member Data and Internal Tools
We maintain the chapter’s membership and contact data, our mailing list, the forms other committees use for sign-ups and canvass assignments, and the documents the chapter works in. We keep access to those limited to the people who need it.
Tech Support for the Chapter
Part of this committee is answering questions. The form isn’t working. Someone can’t find the meeting. A working group needs a way to collect RSVPs. Come ask.
If you know your way around a computer, a browser, or a spreadsheet, that is genuinely enough. You don’t need to be an engineer, and we’re not going to ask you to build anything.
Join Us
We meet weekly on Discord, and if you are a member, you’re welcome to come listen to a meeting before deciding whether you’re interested.
If you’ve ever wanted to understand how the chapter’s tools work, this is a reasonable place to start. If you already know how to contribute and are a technologist, even better. The list of things that need doing is longer than the number of people doing them.
Find our next meeting on the https://south.dsanj.org/calendar/.