About

This is the editorial style guideline for blog posts on the Social Impact’s Insights page. The goal to create consistency among contributions from different authors. It is not meant to erase an individual author’s voice!

Text

Before drafting, answer the following questions:

1. Who is the key audience?
2. What are the main messages you are trying to convey to your key audience?
3. What value will readers get from this post?

Voice

• Use a consistent active or passive voice
• Language should be clear, professional, and jargon-free (or jargon-defined)
• Avoid using flowery language e.g. endless adjectives and overt self-promotion
• Avoid using overly casual terms or an overly casual tone
• Narrative non-fiction can be used to engage readers or emphasize a point. Avoid using narrative fiction.
• All language should be inclusive. When specific geographic regions or specific populations are mentioned, use empathy and contextualize factual statements.

Grammar

Depending on the nature of the post, use first or second person in plural. In some cases, singular may be preferred. All posts should have at least one copy edit.

Terminology

The audience of these posts includes social sector organizations, open source for good practitioners and social impact professionals. Terms that are used in other GitHub platforms might need to be defined for these audiences, including developer, maintainer, and repo. (more info coming)

Length

Posts should be a maximum 500 words, if possible, to keep entries succinct.

References

Wherever possible, add references for cited facts and quotes. Clearly state if an idea is an opinion or emerged from Social Impact research, program work or our partners.

Images

Ensure images are public domain, the author has permission to use the image, or the image was created for the post.

Color and style guidelines for images

Forthcoming