Guest blogger editorial guidelines
At DFF we are delighted to welcome guest entries on our blog from our colleagues and friends from the digital rights and human rights field. The DFF blog serves a number of functions for our organisation as well as the communities we collaborate with. These include:
- Highlighting the activities of DFF grantees, DFF itself, and the broader field of digital rights organisations and activists;
- Exploring issues of interest and relevance to the broader digital rights and human rights field;
- Narrating DFF’s collaborative strategy process.
Our audiences
The main target audiences of the DFF blog include:
- DFF’s grantees, partners and the broader field of digital rights and human rights organisations;
- Organisations and individuals for whom DFF, the activities of its network, and digital rights issues are new;
- Individuals or organisations who want to learn more about key issues in digital rights including academic researchers, donor organisations, journalists, and students.
Guidelines on approach and orientation to the work of others
- Locate your work within and among that of a broader field of work; recognise and credit the work of others that you are building on;
- Critique approaches (politely), but never critique individuals or organisations;
- Offer support and engagement: If you are a “leader” on a particular issue, approach, or topic, help us strive to strengthen and better connect the field.
Guidelines on content and language
- Do not assume the reader will have advanced knowledge of technology and/or law, and explain any terminology or processes that may be complex. Explain technical terms where they can’t be avoided entirely;
- Expand all acronyms on their first use and, where it may be helpful, provide a link to a relevant external explainer;
- Be mindful of inclusive cultural and gender references when using examples, idioms and pronouns. Seek to avoid colloquialisms or phrases that may limit accessibility to readers from different backgrounds, cultures or relationships to the English language;
- Overall, we encourage tone that is casual enough to be accessible, while also being formal enough to be understandable and respectful. We like to say “Speak your mind, being mindful of who our blog posts reach”.
As with any endeavour that involves offering an organisational resource or a platform to a broader network, we are keen to adopt an inclusive, constructive, “do-no-harm” approach and ensure that our blog posts — be they authored by DFF staff or invited guests — contribute to empowerment, cohesion and cordial debate within the digital rights and human rights field.
We thank all those who bring their wisdom and perspective to our blog for bearing these guidelines in mind and for adhering to them when drafting guest posts.