GUEST BLOGGER GUIDELINES http://JewPoint0.org

Thanks for being a guest blogger on Darim Online’s blog, JewPoint0. We are big fans of knowledge sharing, and really value featuring voices from the community and the great work you’re doing. These guidelines are intended to give you some context and guidance as you develop your ideas and craft your blog post. They are not strict rules, and if you have any questions about your post, please don’t hesitate to be in touch. Length: 400-700 words is a good ballpark. Much longer and no one will read the whole thing. Make it Engaging:

• Please feel free to include quotes, links to other sites/blogs/Twitter feeds, etc., photos, embedded videos, or other graphics to illustrate your points.

• Please try to end your post with an invitation for readers to share their own ideas, experience, questions, etc. in the comments. Posts that end with a question and/or an invitation stimulate much greater ongoing conversation than posts without.

Perspective/Approach: We value people who are trying new things and sharing their experiences - the good stuff and the hard stuff. In this age where culture, business practices, leadership and technology are all changing so quickly, the learning that comes out of your efforts is incredibly valuable for everyone. We believe that Jewish organizations and leaders must be continuously learning, innovating, and sharing our knowledge so that we all may be able to skillfully and confidently use technology to achieve our goals and fulfill our missions. Not everything needs to be a “best practice”. Transparency and authenticity are the name of the game. Feel free to be bold and provocative, while being respectful of others. Our readers are interested in the human side (staff/leadership as well as perspective of community members), and thus we encourage your to reflect on your work, in addition to describing what you did. This might include:

• What you learned from trying a new idea • Ah-ha moments, for better or worse • How you changed your culture and practice • How your initiative grew or developed • How you or other members of your community perceive this changing

landscape and/or culture • What would you do differently next time

One of the most powerful roles a guest blogger can play is to connect theory and practice. In our blog, we seek to connect the dots between these forces to illuminate for our readers new ways to think about achieving their goals, where they should question assumptions, and how to evolve their work for success in the networked and digital age. Use your piece to help others learn from your perspective, understanding and experience. Feel free to highlight theory/concepts and/or very practical work you’re doing on the ground. Developing the vocabulary of both the tools we use and the culture in which we work today is helpful. By being “on the ground”, you have valuable experience to share, and your work can “bring to life” the theory we are often trying to encourage. We (and our readers) value this perspective so much. Feel free to have fun, tell stories, and share your authentic voice. Please feel free to use your own voice, and to make your post accessible to a wide audience. Some of our readers are very innovative, comfortable with technology, and eager to push boundaries. Others are just stepping foot into this world and developing their vocabulary, conceptual understanding and context for these big ideas. Your posted doesn’t need to be academic in its approach (unless you feel that’s most useful and authentic). However please note:

• We appreciate correct spelling and attention to grammar; • Please avoid any language that would offend readers (if you’re not sure, use

the ‘mom test’ - if you published your post as-is, would your mother approve?); • Give credit to ideas, quotes and sources (this is also blogging culture -- include

links for those sources too!); • If you use any Hebrew terms please define them as we have a diverse

community of readers and want everyone to feel included.

Editorial process: We’re more than happy to talk with you about your ideas, help you frame the blog post, and give you some direction on the types of stories and resources we think would be most powerful. We enjoy learning about your work, and are thrilled to talk with you about it. At the same time, we want to give you as much creative freedom as you’d like. Please let us know how much support you’d like.

Once you’ve drafted the post, we’ll take a look and give you some feedback -- usually minor -- to help it be as successful as possible. While we very much respect your efforts and creative work, Darim reserves the right to make editorial adjustments to your final submission as needed. The technical bits on submission:

• You can submit your draft through a Google Doc or by emailing a Word doc. • Please include links to all sources, names, etc. where you would like us to

format a live link on the blog. • Please also include all images to be used as .jpg or .png files, notation of

where in the post they should be placed, and details of attribution for any graphics.

• Please also include a 1-2 sentence bio about yourself, which can include links to your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, website or employer’s web site, as you’d like.

• Please send the content to the Darim representative who invited you to be a guest blogger on JewPoint0, or if you don’t know, send to info@darimonline.org

The legal bits:

• You may only submit images and other media for which you have the rights to publish on our blog. If you have questions as to whether your content is legit, just ask us.

• When you submit a post to be published, Darim Online has the full rights to use your submission on our blog, our website and in other knowledge sharing and marketing materials.

• Every guest blogger retains ownership of his/her original work, and is welcome to cross post the work on their own blog or website. If you do cross post, please include “This work is cross-posted from JewPoint0.org, Darim Online’s blog” with a link to our blog (http://www.darimonline.org/blog) or to the specific post once it’s up.

Promotion, Comments and moderation: We encourage you to share your post with your own networks by sharing the link on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Darim staff will monitor comments on your post, but we encourage you to also monitor comments so you can learn from them and respond to those who are in dialogue with you. We encourage you to continue the conversation through the comments for a week following your post’s publication, and beyond to whatever degree you are interested. Darim will only delete comments that are grossly inappropriate.

Holler if you have any questions!

Thanks,

Darim Online