Guidelines for Contributing Material to AboutAnnArbor.info
This is a community site which will grow and develop through volunteer contributions. So to be perfectly clear and up front, we do not have a budget to pay for content. However, all articles and photos submitted will have a byline posted to give credit where credit is due. We reserve the right to choose what is and is not posted. Please double check your facts before submitting any material. By submitting material, you are stating that it is your original material and you authorizing us to publish it on the web.
Article Guidelines:
¨ Before putting lots of time into an article, check to see if someone is already working on a similar article by sending a quick email with your topic idea. There are lots of topics which could be explored. In the beginning we are looking more for breadth than depth – meaning that at some point later on we might like to having varying viewpoints on a topic but before we do that we would like to concentrate on covering basic topics of interest
¨ Consider your target audience to be a busy person who generally is fairly smart but is inexperienced about the subject matter. This reader is interested in the topic but wants more of a useful summary about the topic rather than “the 101 things you need to know about xyz” Having 3-10 major points in the article of most relevance is our working guidleline
¨ While we don’t have the confines of print, aim for a length of about 500 words, unless the particular topic seems to warrant more. If it does seem to warrant more, then perhaps the topic could be broken into multiple articles (first choice) or maybe two sections with more of a summary at the beginning for the reader to evaluate how much more they want to know about it before reading the rest.
¨ Please give it your voice. Use personal experiences wherever you feel comfortable so we can give the site personality and independent voices.
¨ Wherever practical, reference Washtenaw County differences like “in Washtenaw County there tends to be a lot of clay in the soil” if writing about landscaping or basements, for example.
¨ If the title could have a 1-5 word lead, that would be ideal. In general, aim for a short a general title as possible. You can add a longer subtitle to expand on what you have to say. If multiple articles become written on a subject, then it might become its own sub section.
¨ If you know of worthwhile sites you would like to reference in your article, put a link to it in your article to them. If it raises any particular questions, we can talk about it later.
Photo Guidelines:
Photos should be formatted to be 500 pixels wide, and ideally “saved for the web” for a quicker load time. The height of the photos is not critical.
We are making this up as we go along, so feel free to make suggestions about the suggestions as they are likely to be used again and again!
Revised 2/13/05