Welcome to the Global Voices Posting Guide. This is designed to help you with the more technical side of creating GV content.

GV WordPress System

To write for Global Voices, you have to log in to the GV WordPress installation. WordPress is software we run on our server that makes it easy to write posts.

Authors should receive a login name from the editor who creates their user account. The system login page for WordPress is always available by adding /wp-admin/ after the URL. For Global Voices in English, it's: http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/wp-admin

If you don't have a password or have forgotten it, simply use the Lost your password? link and the site will email you a link to reset it. Remember to make your passwords unique and complex (capital letters and symbols) for security!

If you want to learn more about WordPress, there's good documentation on their wiki.

Creating Posts

Generally speaking, the main task you'll be using WordPress for is creating posts. To get started with a new post, click Posts in the sidebar, and choose New Post.

Posts in WordPress start off as a Draft, which means the post is only visible to you and editors. Eventually your post will get the Published status and be visible on the site itself. Only editors on the site have the ability to publish posts, so you need to use the Submit for Review button on the post and notify your editor that it's ready to be edited and approved.

The content of your post inside WordPress will be autosaved on a regular basis, so you should never lose your work, but it's still good to press the Save Draft button sometimes to ensure that your changes are properly recorded. While you are logged in, changes to posts will automatically be associated with you, and you can go back to old versions of posts using the Revisions block in the post editor.

Notifying Your Editor

When you are happy with your post and have gone through the Story Checklist to make sure it's ready, you should send it to your editor for review. The most basic way to do this would be to copy the URL of the story (in the address bar of your browser) and email it to your editor.

A better way to notify your editor is to scroll to the bottom of the post editing screen to find the Notifications block, search for your editor and tick the box next to their name. That will "subscribe" them to the post, so they will receive an email notification when the post's status changes or someone adds an Editorial Comment.

Once your editor is subscribed in the Notifications block, you can go back to the top and push the Submit for Review button, which will give your post Pending status and send an email to your editor. You can also go to the Editorial Comments block and leave a new comment explaining the post, which your editor will receive via an emailed notification.

Visual and HTML Editing Mode

The post editor in WordPress includes a Visual (what you see is what you get) mode as well as the raw Text (HTML) mode. Posts for Global Voices should work in both modes, so you can use whichever best suits your style and needs. The Visual mode is usually more comfortable for writing, while the HTML mode is extremely useful when you need to figure out a tricky problem.

Aside from the editors built into WordPress, it is a good idea to also use a text editor on your local computer as a backup. Regularly copying your post into a text file and saving it is insurance against a mishap with the website that could potentially lose all your hard work.

Good plain text editors include Textwrangler for Mac, Notepad++ for Windows and [1] for Linux (simply called "Editor" in Ubuntu).

Important: Never copy directly from Microsoft Word!

Pasting text from Microsoft Word into WordPress will cause many formatting problems that can be a disaster to fix. If possible, avoid Microsoft Word entirely. If you must use it always paste the text into a simple plain text editor, then copy it again before pasting into WordPress. This will remove the bad formatting of Microsoft Word. Alternately, you can use the "Paste From Word" button in the Visual editor, which should insert the content while removing the unnecessary formatting.

Important: All code in GV posts should work in both Visual and HTML editors!

Occasionally you may want to use HTML in your post that is deleted or broken when you switch to the Visual editor because of automatic "validation" it performs. Often this happens when embedding an object from a third-party site, like a video or slideshow. When this happens it's tempting to just avoid the Visual editor but you must not do so. Many authors, editors and translators within GV depend on the Visual editor, and any one of them might open your post in the Visual editor, thus breaking your code and making the post confusing to readers. Always make sure that the final code in a post works in the Visual and HTML/Text tabs of the editor before publishing.

Post Types

On Global Voices there are several "types" of post that we create. Each has particular needs and standards.

Long Stories

A long story with images and translated quotes.

"Stories" are the main content of GV, full-length articles with several quotes from multiple sources. Typically, they are detailed explanations of one big idea or several related ideas between 500-1000 words long.

They normally make use of links, quotes and images from a variety of citizen media about the subject covered, which are displayed in ‘block quote’ sections or ‘translation boxes’.

Stories are displayed as excerpts on the left-hand side of GV, with their thumbnail and a short description that was entered in the "Optional Excerpt" box in wp-admin. Any GV author is welcome to create posts.

Example of a post

Aside from the "Quick Reads" section below, the rest of this document explains the formatting and metadata that should be used for "Long Stories".

See the Style Guide for stylistic (tone, ethics, grammar) considerations to keep in mind when writing posts on Global Voices.

Quick Reads

Quick Reads list on the Global Voices homepage.

Full article: Quick Reads

Quick Reads are short posts on Global Voices that highlight and briefly explain compelling citizen media content from the web within 20 - 200 words. Quick Reads are very popular in terms of traffic and sharing, but have a simpler display on the homepage, where only their headline shows (no thumbnail or featured image).

The way to make a post a Quick Read is to check the following category: TYPE -> Quick Reads

For Global Voices in English, content editors are responsible for Quick Reads.

For Lingua sites, Lingua editors work in collaboration with Content Editors, when available, to publish Quick Reads about stories happening in the regions of their languages.

Lingua Quick Reads do not have to be translated into English, but can be, at the discretion of content editors. See more in the Lingua Content page.

To learn more about how to write great Quick Reads see Quick Reads.

Interview Posts

Example interview post showing how first and second questions are formatted differently.

Sometimes GV posts are based on an interview, if so please use our simple standard format based on bold text ("strong" tag) and blockquotes:

Format interview questions as bold text, starting with the name of the person talking.
Place responses in blockquotes, starting with the name of the person talking in bold.
At the first mention of a speaker write out their name in full followed by their initials in brackets (e.g. Solana Larsen (SL): How long have you been blogging?).
Afterward use the initials only. (e.g. SL: What was your first post about?)

For example:

Solana Larsen (SL): How long have you been blogging?

Jeremy Clarke (JC): Ever since I was born!

SL: Wow! What was your first post about

JC: It was mostly crying and wishing for some milk.

Text Formatting

Quotes

Blockquote reference

HTML blockquotes should be used for any text taken directly from an external source that is more than a few words long.

<blockquote>Quote text.</blockquote>

Remember you don't need quotemarks around the text in a blockquote!

HTML Editor

In the WordPress "HTML" editor you can either type the <blockquote> tag directly or select the quote text and press the b-quote button.

If you have text selected the "b-quote" button will add the <blockquote> tags around the text, otherwise it will open a new tag or close the current one.

Visual Editor

In the "Visual" editor you can use the quote button (giant “ marks) to create blockquotes.

If you have text selected the button will convert it into a blockquote, otherwise the button will turn the current line into a blockquote (or turn it into non-blockquote normal text if it's already a blockquote).

Tip: If you are editing a blockquote in the Visual editor and want to "get out" of it, hit Enter to create a new line inside the blockquote, then use the quote button to disable the blockquote for the current line, which ends the quote on the line above and lets you do something else with the current line.

If you're quoting a comment within the main written text just use double or single quotemarks, depending on what punctuation system you are using. Please be consistent.

Inline Quotes

Short, direct quotes from people or reports etc, can be enclosed in either double "..." or single '...' quotemarks, depending on whether you are using UK or US spelling and grammar.

Any quote longer than a sentence should be enclosed in a blockquote tag on it's own line.

Remember to '"always'" provide hyperlinks for direct quotes if possible.

Translation Quotes

Translation Quote reference

When a post contains a long quote in a different language you should always include both the original text in a blockquote (see above) and the translated text in a Translation Quote. Translation quotes are powered by the .translation class, which changes the style of a quote so that when a normal blockquote and a Translation Quote are one after the other, the relationship is clear from how they are designed.

<blockquote>Original Text</blockquote>
<blockquote class="translation">Translated Text</blockquote>

HTML Editor

In the HTML editor you can use the .translation button to wrap the currently-selected text in a translation quote.

Visual Editor

In the Visual editor you can use the .translation choice in the Styles pulldown menu on the second row of buttons. This will convert the currently selected paragraph or blockquote into a Translation Quote.

If you can't see the "Styles" button': You need to push the "Kitchen Sink" button on the right side of the top row to show the second row which has "Styles" in it.

Tip: The .translation buttons work just like the quote button, see the Quotes section above for more details.

Right-to-left Language Quotes

RTL Quote reference

Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Urdu and other languages are written from right-to-left, so they need a special .rtl class that fixes how they are displayed when we quote them.

<blockquote class="rtl">بدأت تتوالى</blockquote>

HTML Editor

In the HTML editor of the system there is a .rtl button that will wrap the currently-selected text in a right-to-left blockquote.

Visual Editor

In the Visual editor you can use the .rtl choice in the Styles pulldown menu on the second row of buttons. This will convert the currently selected paragraph or blockquote into a right-to-left blockquote.

If you can't see the "Styles" button': You need to push the "Kitchen Sink" button on the right side of the top row to show the second row which has "Styles" in it.

Left-to-right Language Quotes

When writing in or translating to a right-to-left language the opposite class, .ltr, is needed so that quotes in English or other LTR languages display appropriately. The process is the same as described above for RTL, but use the .ltr class and buttons in the different editors.

Contributors

Contributors reference

It is important to credit everyone who helped create a post, not just the main author. We do this by listing additional contributors at the end of the post as there can only be one author per post in the system. A contributor could be someone who helped translate the post, did a lot of sub-editing, or helped in any other way.

Place the contributors paragraph at the very end of every post, under even any ‘Extra Notes’ (see below) added. This allows it to match the author credit directly below.

<p class="contributors">This post was proofread in English by <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/author/solana-larsen/">Solana Larsen</a>.</p>

If you are listing the name of someone who is part of Global Voices, please always link to their GV profile page (like this one) so that people can find their posts and bio information easily.

HTML Editor

In the HTML editor of the system there is a .contributors button that will wrap the currently-selected text with a .contributors tag.

Visual Editor

In the Visual editor you can use the .contributors choice in the Styles pulldown menu on the second row of buttons. This will convert the currently selected paragraph into a contributors paragraph.

If you can't see the "Styles" button': You need to push the "Kitchen Sink" button on the right side of the top row to show the second row which has "Styles" in it.

Notes

Extra notes can be used at the end of posts to add necessary context or information for readers, as well as to give a special style to updates to the post added after publishing.

<div class="notes">text</div>

The display and functioning of the .notes class is exactly the same as the .contributors class outlined above. All instructions apply, just use the .notes buttons and/or CSS class in either the Visual or HTML editor.

Excerpts

Example excerpt with word counter at showing a safe length.

All posts should have a short excerpt that is a compelling tease of your story. The text is edited in the Excerpt box of the post editor, which has a word counter to remind you of the maximum number of words you should use (it turns red when the excerpt is too long).

Excerpts appear on the homepage and other post listings on the site, as well as on Facebook and other social sites when a post is shared.

If a post doesn't have an excerpt, one will automatically be created from the first words of a post, but the results are rarely interesting and often cut off mid-sentence. For advice on how to write a compelling excerpt, please read Tips for Writing Tempting Excerpts.

Permalink URL

The "permalink" of a story is the text used in it's URL to identify it on the site. Anyone who uses links to your posts will see the permalink before they click, and search engines like Google use the words in permalinks to know what they are about, so it's very useful to have the words people will search for related to your story inside the URL/permalink.

Default Permalink: In WordPress the permalink of a post is, by default, automatically generated by converting the title into a URL (replacing spaces with dashes and removing any special symbols and punctuation). This system is very useful because by default it makes sure that keywords in your title are in your URL, but it isn't always the most effective. Some kinds of headlines, like questions or "teasers" designed for sharing on social media might not have all the important keywords in it, so it's often good to edit the permalink and make sure that it is the ideal URL, regardless of what you chose as your title.

Never edit a permalink on a published post

As soon as a post is published it's URL is sent out to the internet in our RSS feed and many other ways, and changing the permalink will make all those links lead to 404 errors, so never edit it after this point unless there's a very important reason! Instead always double-check the permalink before publishing your posts.

Editing The Permalink

Steps to edit a permalink.

A draft's permalink can be edited using the Permalink display right below the post's title on the edit screen. Once a draft is saved you'll see the Permalink listed along with an Edit button. Clicking Edit will show a field where you can change the text, then click OK when you're done and save the draft immediately to make sure your changes aren't lost.

Note that you should never leave empty spaces or special symbols in URLs, instead keep it to simple words separated by hyphens (-).

Multimedia

All posts should include some multimedia because it them more appealing to readers. The most important thing to remember regarding any use of multimedia is that a credit of some sort is required every time. For more information on copyright and permissions for use, please refer to Multimedia Copyright and Attribution.

Adding Images

All posts should have an image at the top. If images are the focus of a post or it contains many beautiful photos, please select the Photos category. If you want to include an image in a post that is graphic or violent, please be sure to review our obscene, offensive and graphic content guidelines.

Uploading and Inserting Images

You should always re-upload images from other sites to our WordPress installation before inserting them into a post. While it's possible to insert them using the image URL from another site (commonly referred to as "hotlinking"), it a bad idea to do so for various security and longevity reasons.

Steps to upload and insert an image:

Ensure you have permission to use the image.
Find the largest version of the image available (ideally over 800px wide).
Download the file to your own computer.
Rename the file so that its name is descriptive. This is important because Google shows results based on image names having keywords. For example:
- Bad: IMG003893.jpg
- Good: bangladeshcomputerlab.jpg
Upload the file to WordPress. Click the Add Media button above the post editor, then the "Upload Files" link in the popup.
Fill in the image metadata fields (described below) with as much detail as possible.
Choose the alignment, link and size settings that fit your image.
Use the Insert into Post button to add it to the post.
- The image will go where the cursor was before you pushed the Add Media button.

Image Shapes, Sizes and Alignment

Uploaded images can be inserted at three sizes: Medium (about half the post width), Large (full post width) and Full Size (Full is whatever size the image was before uploading).

If possible, posts should begin with a full-width "Large" image that illustrates the story and sets the tone. You can have as many other images as you want throughout the post, either photos at full width or right/left-aligned images at half-size.

Here are guidelines for choosing how to embed an image:

Landscape Images (wider than tall):
- If a wide image is important, use "Large" size with no alignment (full post width).
- If the image isn't quite big enough for "Large" size, use "Full" (original) size with no alignment.
- If the image is small or poor quality, use "Medium" size and align right or left.
Portrait Images (taller than wide):
- Tall images should usually be inserted at "Medium" size because the "Large" size will be too tall for smaller screens.
- Consider cropping tall images to square or 4:3 format so they can be shown at full width.
- Align tall images right or left.
Right or Left-Aligned Images:
- For all aligned or floated images, use "Medium" size.
- Aligned or floated images will be shown at 50% of post width regardless of size.
- Avoid having many aligned images in a row. There should be paragraphs between them to avoid rendering issues.

Note on "Center" alignment: Images should almost never be centered in a post because it makes them fit badly against the frame of the site. Either use the "Right" or "Left" alignment (to make the image half width) or leave the alignment at "None" (which will make it left-aligned in most languages but right-aligned for right-to-left languages like Arabic).

Note on super-tall infographic images: If a tall image must be more than 600px tall (i.e. an infographic where users are expected to scroll to see it all) then embed the “Full” (original) size rather than "Large", but before uploading such an image please resize it to 800px wide to avoid wasting bandwidth.

Image Settings

Uploaded image settings

For each image you upload, please look through all of the fields and settings before inserting it into a post:

Title: Short text identifying the photo, like a headline just for this image. If the image is a link people will see the title when they hover over the image.

Caption: Text that shows below the image. It should summarize the content briefly and attribute the author and source of the photo as well as indicate permission for use. See the Style Guide section on images for more information.

Alt Text: Usually the same as Title. Should describe what the photo shows, this is used for visually impaired people to know what is in the image.

Description (optional): A more detailed explanation of the photo, if you want.

Alignment: Whether the image will float to the left, center, right or not at all. See Image Shapes, Sizes and Alignment section above for guidelines.

Link to: Where the visitor is taken when they click the photo. Whenever possible choose "Custom URL" and enter the URL where you found the photo. Never use "Attachment Page".

Size: Whether to insert the "Large", "Medium" or "Full" size of the image. See Image Shapes, Sizes and Alignment section above for guidelines.

Tip: Always check how images look using the Preview button

Image embeds can have strange interactions with text styles that aren't obvious when editing a post. Before publishing always check the post preview to make sure everything looks right.

Image-related screencasts:

Note: These are out of date. Please be patient and we will make some new videos soon.

Screencast: Images and thumbnails in posts on Global Voices
Screencast: Links in images and image captions on Global Voices
Screencast: Copyright and Creative Commons Basics on Global Voices

Thumbnails

GV Thumbnail chooser

Thumbnails are the small square images that show in all archives next to the post excerpt. Every post should have a thumbnail chosen.

For attribution purposes, a full (non-square) version of the thumbnail should also be present inside the post content along with a caption stating the image's source. If the image can't be inserted in the post add a note at the bottom of the post stating its source.

Choosing a thumbnail

To set a thumbnail, find the GV Post Thumbnail Chooser box on the post editing screen and click on the image you want to use. Images uploaded to a post should be present in the box once you have saved the post (i.e. save the post as a draft after uploading a new image so that it will show in the thumbnail box).

If you already have the URL of a square thumbnail image from another GV post (i.e. if you are working on a translation) then it can be entered in the Use this URL field in the thumbnail box. Be very careful with this setting though; only square images should be used.

Cropping thumbnails for visibility

Some photos become confusingly small when shrunk down to thumbnail size. In such cases, you should upload a new version that is cropped to show a smaller part of the image and use that for the thumbnail.

You can crop it on your local computer (Preview on Mac works well) or use the image cropping tool inside WordPress after uploading, but if you use the WordPress tool please re-upload the image first so that your cropping doesn't affect the original version of the image that you embed inside the post.

Featured Images

Featured images on GV are similar to thumbnails but much larger (400px wide by 300px high). They are used if the post is featured by an editor so that it shows in the sliding features box on the home and category pages.

Like thumbnails, featured images should also be in the body of the text with a caption for proper attribution.

Before adding a featured image, check that the size is at least 400 x 300px. Otherwise it won't fit.

Choosing a featured image

To add a featured image use the "Featured Image" box in the right sidebar of the WordPress post editor. Click "Set Featured Image" to open the image uploader popup. Either upload a new image or go to the "Media Library" tab at the top to see a list of photos already uploaded.

Click the image you want and use the Set Featured Image button to save your choice.

When the post has been published please check the homepage to ensure your featured image looks good in the slider.

Adding Videos

Videos can be a dynamic addition to a post, either as the subject of the story, or for background information or flavor.

We don't usually create original video at Global Voices and our site is not set up to actually host custom video. We do however encourage you to include embedded YouTube (and similar sites) video when it is relevant to your story.

Always link to the video as well as embedding it, see the Video section of the Style Guide for details.

Make sure embeds work in both the Visual and Text/HTML tabs of the editor. Some embeds may not work in the Visual editor, because of it's strict standards even though they work in the HTML editor. You should never depend on using only the HTML editor in these cases, and instead find another way to link to the content. See the Visual and HTML Editing Modes section for details.

Graphic/Violent videos: If you want to include a video in a post that is graphic or violent, please be sure to review the Graphic Content guidelines in the Style Guide.

Embedding YouTube videos

Embedding a YouTube video is easy, but it's important you do it the right way. The HTML code you can copy on the YouTube site is very finnicky and can break when viewed in the Visual Editor and/or when it is imported for translation. To avoid this issue you should always use the simplified WordPress Embed system.

See the WordPress Codex article about Embeds

The process is simple, just get the URL of the video/object you want to embed and paste it into your article on it's own line, like this:

Here is a video that illustrates my point:

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0jNwMR9FiM[/embed]

There you have it, what a great video explanation!

This system is great because if the video or the embedding system ever break your visitors will still see the link to the video!

It will still work if you skip the [embed] and [/embed] tags, but if the embed ever stops working those tags will help visitors understand what you expected them to see.

Embedding other kinds of Video

The YouTube embedding system is actually very general (based on a standard called oEmbed), and a lot of other kinds of videos can be embedded the same way.

The full list is very long but here are some of the popular services that should work with the [embed] tags: Vimeo, Flickr, DailyMotion, Viddler.

If you try the [embed] method and it doesn't work then you can use whatever HTML the video site gives you for embedding, but please be careful and make sure that the embed code works well with both the HTML and Visual editors in the WordPress admin.

If the embed just won't work

If an embed does not work with both the HTML and Visual editors (or if it doesn't work with either) you can always just take a screenshot of the video/thing and embed that in your post instead. Add a link to the video/object on it's homepage to the image so that when people click it they will be taken to the video. For bonus points get a screenshot with the big "Play" button visible, so that people click it before they realize it's just a screenshot ;)

That is a foolproof method when things get too complicated, and is not likely to cause any problems during saving or translation.

Translation

In the event that subtitles are not available for a video, be sure to include a description of what happens in the video as well as a blockquote translation of any important dialogue immediately following the embedded video. Videos that are relevant because of what is spoken will be lost on readers who do not speak the original language if we do not include a a translation.

Video Subtitles

Formerly known as "Universal Subtitles", Amara is a service that lets you add subtitles to videos hosted on YouTube, and the GV sites have support for embedding videos with Amara support so that they can be subtitled by translators. This uses the normal [embed] system, but with the unisubs attribute set to 1.

Example:

[embed unisubs="1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0jNwMR9FiM[/embed]

Note: Currently Universal Subtitles is unable to handle the YouTube short URLs with the domain youtu.be. You must always use the full youtube.com version of the URL instead.

Global Voices Amara Team

Global Voices has a team you can join on Amara, where videos that need subtitles can be added and worked on. Read the Using Amara To Subtitle Videos guide to learn how to become a member of the team and use Amara to add subtitles to videos.

Video Credits

Videos are normally credited in the text just before the actual video url is embedded. Make sure you include information on:

WHO uploaded it;

WHERE they uploaded it to;

WHEN they uploaded it;

WHAT it shows (a brief description, in case the embedding is disabled).

For example:

Infodabidjan.net [fr], a news website, posted on its YouTube profile this citizen videoshot on April 1, 2011:

As usual with copyright there is some fuzziness as to what is allowed when embedding YouTube and other videos. A trailer is intended for promotional distribution and there should be no problem (especially if the filmmakers themselves have uploaded to YouTube and enabled embedding).

Adding Social Media

Quoting and embedding social media from around the world is a big part of many Global Voices stories. Below are guidelines for making use of content from various services.

In all situations be mindful of other people's expectations of privacy in their online postings. Don't quote or embed tweets that are "private" and consider the safety of the original author before quoting from any service.

Twitter

Embedding tweets from Twitter.com

In most cases the best way to quote a tweet is using the "embed" code from Twitter:

Find the tweet on Twitter.com
Hover over the tweet and click the "•••more" button.
Choose "Embed" and copy the HTML that pops up.
Click on the "Text" tab of your post in WordPress, paste the embed HTML in to the post editor.

Note: This will not work with the "Visual" editor in WordPress. You will have to use the HTML tab (labeled "Text") while embedding tweets.

The resulting code will have a <blockquote> with the full tweet text as well as a name credit and timestamp, which is convenient because it means you don't have to worry about those things. Even though it's simple in the editor, when you preview and publish your post, the tweet will show with images and Twitter styling because of Javascript.

Manually creating a tweet quote

If you decide for some reason not to use the embed code from Twitter you should wrap the tweet text in a <blockquote> and ensure that it has the following elements inside:

The @name of the Twitter user linking to their profile.
The full text of the tweet, including any links.
If there are other @mentions in the tweet, link them to the relevant Twitter user.

Never insert a screenshot of a tweet into your posts

A screenshot of a tweet can seem like a simple solution but has several flaws that make it unnacceptable, including that they are not readable by visually impaired people and are hard for translators to manage. Please never use screenshots when quoting from Twitter.

Editorial guidlines for using tweets

Always introduce each tweet with a sentence that contextualizes why this Twitter user is interesting or relevant as a source.
While introducing the tweet, include a link to the single tweet that you will be quoting.
Always try to include the real name of Twitter users when introducing their tweet as a way to add more credibility to the source; add their Twitter handle in parentheses after. If you don't know their real name, use the '@...' Twitter handle.
Don't cite RTs (re-tweets) - always go back to the original tweet.
If you want to indicate a spelling mistake in an original English tweet, you can add the word "sic" in square brackets after it to inform readers that any errors or apparent errors in the copied material are not from transcription - i.e. that they are reproducced [sic] exactly from the original writer or publisher.

Translating Tweets

When the tweet is not in the same language as your post, simply include a translation blockquote (<blockquote class='translation'>) after the tweet embed code (<blockquote>).

See the #Translation_Quotes section of this document for details and tips for using them.

Only translate the content of the tweet itself, the links, date and username will already be visible inside the original tweet embed.
Never translate the tweet embed code! Add a new translation blockquote for the translated text.
Do not translate hashtags.
If you need to add an editors note into your translation (e.g. to explain an abbreviation) wrap it in square brackets ([...])

Facebook

When including information taken from Facebook, try to include as many relevant details as possible.

These might include:

user's profile name;

date published;

direct link to wall post/status/photo/video etc (this is found in the 'timestamp';

name of group/page plus translation if in another language;

background information on the source - who are they?

Vine

Vine is a Twitter-subsidiary service that hosts 6 second videos. Embedding of Vine posts is supported on the Global Voices site using the [embed] code similar to YouTube videos. For example:

[embed]https://vine.co/v/huhh5eLVgB2[/embed]

Would be replaced by the video when the post is viewed. By default the video autoplays and loops forever (the nature of Vines) but sound doesn't play unless requested by the user.

To enable sound by default (not recommended as it can be very annoying) add "play-audio" in the embed code like this:

[embed play-audio]https://vine.co/v/huhh5eLVgB2[/embed]

To use the alternate "postcard" format (more info surrounding the video) pass it as the "type" parameter:

[embed play-audio type='postcard']https://vine.co/v/huhh5eLVgB2[/embed]

As with all external media any embedded Vines should be accompanied by an explanation of who the creater is and why the video is interesting or important. There should also be a text link to the vine's URL, in case the embedded video stops working in the future.

Social Media Fair Usage

Images circulated on social networks such as Weibo, Livejournal, Facebook, or Twitter do not automatically count as being in the public domain. It all depends on the context and who the original photographer is.

Some countries have lax copyright policy, so it is common for people to circulate images from even mainstream media.

In some cases, the original photographer may not want to be identified if there is a free speech issue, and it might be clear from context that the person intends for the photo to be widely distributed without identification.

Certain photo sharing services on Twitter, like Twitpic, have in their terms in conditions that the photos are intended for sharing and they even include an embed code. But sometimes users aren't aware of this and it's good to ask just in case.

Photos posted on either Facebook or Livejournal (in some ways, an ordinary blogging service just like Wordpress or Tumblr) wouldn't automatically mean you could republish unless indicated. You'd have to ask first. But again, sometimes there is some context that indicates it would be OK to do it, or maybe everyone is already doing it with the approval of the source and we could too.

It's always a bit tricky to decide so feel free to discuss with your editor if in doubt.

Twitter

Don't quote from a Twitter account with protected/private updates; be aware that Storify may bypass this.

Be aware of what tweets you include - make sure you don't violate anyone's right to privacy.

Some tweets have to be anonymous to protect the Twitter user concerned. Try in these cases to give a little context if it will not impact the user, e.g. "@anon_China, an anonymous Twitter user from Kunming province, China, tweeted on Friday March 18:"

Facebook

Posting material from Facebook pages, groups, or individual profiles is tricky, as sometimes content that might once have been publicly available is sometimes subsequently made private by the user.

There is also an ethical perspective to consider. Many people using Facebook still don't realise that their images and content may be taken and used in a news/media context. You may need to consider the implications of including an individual's name and comments made on Facebook in a GV post - will it put them in danger or affect them at all?

A good rule of thumb is to only use content that is freely available in the public domain; i.e. that can be viewed by anybody and is not viewable only by Facebook friends of the individual. Always try and link directly to the comment or comment thread.

However, if news is broken on Facebook then it is permissable to use information or material from a personal profile. Please discuss with your editor.

Groups and pages are different. If anyone can join, then the content is in the public domain. Bear in mind that some Facebook groups need approval to join, in which case use of information/material may need discussing with your editor.

Note on Storify.com

Storify is a social media aggregation tool we sometimes use to quickly assemble stories from Twitter and Facebook. We only use it in breaking news situations where the increased speed is vital.

Bear in mind that "Storified" posts can not be translated directly because it stores the tweets in a locked-up format, so to facilitate translation all posts will have to be manually "de-storified" by an editor, with tweets broken out into text blockquotes, which is quite time-consuming.

Making Changes After Publication

Occasionally changes have to be made to GV posts after they have been published.

Minor errors and mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes! Sometimes, readers will flag errors in comments, other times bloggers mentioned in posts will spot an error or misquote, or sometimes GV authors and editors might spot something.

If the error is minor, like a spelling mistake or misquote, authors should go into the post and edit it themselves. It's important to notify your editor of these changes, as a request may have to be made to also make your new changes in translations of the post.

Changes to translated posts use this form to request the amendments. It automatically sends a notification of the request to GV's Multi-Lingual Editor.

Major changes

If something in the "meaning" of the post or the "situation" has changed, it merits an update note in the post. Please contact your editor to discuss this step.

Updates should be placed at the top of the post for maximum visibility, in the following format (in bold):

Update (27 February, 2011):

The situation in Bahraini capital Manama has worsened significantly since this report was published...

Apologies

Occasionally, it may be relevant to offer an apology for an error or misquote. Often this will be in response to a comment pointing out the change required. Authors can reply to comments as a means to address issues in a post.

If a more substantial is necessary, please speak to your editor. These type of apologies should be placed at the base of the text, formatted as 'Contributors Notes', and may require translating into other languages in translated versions of the post.

Video Tutorials

If you need any extra help, check out the Global Voices video tutorials.

GV Posting Guide

Contents

GV WordPress System

Creating Posts

Notifying Your Editor

Visual and HTML Editing Mode

Post Types

Long Stories

Quick Reads

Interview Posts

Text Formatting

Quotes

Inline Quotes

Translation Quotes

Right-to-left Language Quotes

Left-to-right Language Quotes

Contributors

Notes

Excerpts

Categories

Permalink URL

Multimedia

Adding Images

Uploading and Inserting Images

Image Shapes, Sizes and Alignment

Image Settings

Thumbnails

Featured Images

Adding Videos

Embedding YouTube videos

Embedding other kinds of Video

If the embed just won't work

Translation

Video Subtitles

Video Credits

Adding Social Media

Twitter

Facebook

Vine

Social Media Fair Usage

Note on Storify.com

Making Changes After Publication

Video Tutorials

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