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Editorial policy

The APC editorial policy establishes the focus, values, and language and other standards that APC follows to produce and publish information.

Overview

In general terms, information produced by APC:

1. Has information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social justice and/or sustainable development as its primary focus or interest.

2. Is consistent with our values and/or APC’s Internet Rights Charter.

3. Is gender-sensitive and inclusive, and has a feminist perspective, framed within the Feminist Principles of the Internet.

4. Is written in plain language in order to demystify technology, when it is directed to a general audience. If jargon or technical terms are used, they should be explained clearly when necessary, since we expect some of our readers to be non-specialists.

5. Uses:

  • British English of the “-ise” and “-mme” variant.
  • Latin-American Spanish.
  • Standard French without regionalisms. ICT neologisms are mostly taken up from the Grand Dictionnaire, which is put out (and made available online) by the Office québécois de la langue française.
  • Brazilian Portuguese, except when texts are aimed specifically at an African audience, in which case European Portuguese is used.
  • In all languages, APC uses standard terms and avoids colloquial and regional terms when the text is directed to a general audience.

6. Adheres to the highest possible standards of production (is proofread, sources used are adequately referenced, etc.).

7. Includes all necessary acknowledgements. We believe in the importance of properly crediting authors and referencing their work.

8. The content published on the APC website does not necessarily represent the views of all APC members and/or staff. Unless stated otherwise in the authorship information, as in the case of co-signed statements, the views are initially of APC's editorial team.

9. Unless otherwise stated, content on the APC website is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Permission is granted to republish APC materials provided there is a clear acknowledgement of APC included. With online republishers, APC requests that they include an abstract and link to the original publication on the APC site.

Some of these considerations go beyond content, but as an organisation that encourages contributions from people who have no professional training as writers, APC has decided to be explicit regarding its expectations for any type of published content.

 

APC language policy

APC.org is a multilingual site. Content is produced in three of the official UN languages: English, Spanish and French. Even though APC's members are spread all over the world and speak more than 20 different languages, these three languages are the ones that most APC members and readers speak or are able to understand.

APC is an international network, and in order to be a network, we need a common language for communications. The language most members are able to communicate in, even if it is their second or third language, is English. This is why many of APC's globally focused written statements, publications, and other types of content are produced in English. When dealing with regionally focused content, APC provides translations of the original content in English, or produces the original content in Spanish (for readers in Latin America and/or Spain) or French (for Francophone communities in Europe, Africa, Canada and/or elsewhere).

On occasion, for example, in the case of projects that involve partners in countries where none of these three languages is widely spoken, and depending on the targeted audiences, APC produces publications in other languages, such as Arabic or Portuguese.

APC values linguistic diversity and encourages its members and readers to translate APC materials into their local languages. APC encourages members who feel unable to contribute in English to write in another language, with a clear request for a volunteer to provide an informal translation. APC consults its multilingual members to find out what makes a piece of written English difficult or easy to understand.

 

APC language guidelines

These language guidelines apply for anyone who writes for APC and are a crucial tool for APC’s translators, editors and writers.

 

1. APC house style guides

These guidelines must be followed when writing and editing for APC.

 

2. APC reference guide

A thorough list of reference types and how to use them in APC materials, in particular in publications. Available here.

 

3. Writing for a multilingual audience

Some tips for native and near-native English language writers. Available here.

 

Our channels

Based on APC’s experience in doing impactful communications work, and in response to the objectives in the 2024-2027 strategic plan and specific projects we are working on, the communication tools and platforms that APC uses to effectively deliver its key messages to the target audiences are:

APC.org

Our flagship site, APC.org is where all of our resources, news, updates, information about our work and publications are featured.

APCNews

APCNews is APC's bi-monthly multilingual news service on internet for social justice and sustainable development. APCNews includes member and organisational news articles. Its target audiences are APC staff, members and partners, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and organisations, technologists, social justice activists, alternative media journalists, policy advocates, government regulators and ministries, and private sector policy specialists.

GenderIT.org

GenderIT.org is a project of APC's Women's Rights Programme, and is a think tank of and for women's rights, sexual rights and internet rights activists, academics, journalists, and advocates from a range of disciplines and contexts. Visit the GenderIT.org site here.

Take Back the Tech!

This platform is the online home of APC's ongoing campaign TBTT, whose biggest annual campaign takes place during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (25 November-10 December). Visit the TBTT site here.

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch)

The site where we host a collaborative community committed to building an open, inclusive and sustainable information society. The site also offers access to the Global Information Society Watch reports published annually since 2007. Visit the GISWatch site here.

Publications

The publications section in APC.org is an active and comprehensive repository of the research reports, policy briefs and issue papers, presentations, statements and positions, infographics, toolkits, guides, and other relevant publications produced by APC and its members and partners. Some are made available in hardcopy and online, others only online. Visit our publications section here.

APC Talk

The APC Talk section on APC.org (formerly Blog section) is one of its most dynamic in content production, and also one of the sections that our audiences find most valuable as food for thought and a source of information in terms of what the ICT community is up to. Columns like David Souter’s Inside the Digital Society have been valuable content additions that provide useful insights. We welcome contributions for this section from members, partners and the expanded APC community on relevant topics related to ICTs. Check out our APC Talk section here.

Social media

APC is active on Facebook, Twitter-X, Instagram, LinkedIn and @apc@mastodon.social, as tools to reach out to different audiences and build community. Depending on the strategy adopted, some of our projects have their own social media accounts. This is the case for GenderIT.org (@genderITorg in English and @genderitES in Spanish) and Take Back the Tech! (@takebackthetech in English and @dominemoslastic in Spanish), or Africa-related initiatives (@africanetrights). 

 

Procedures and author guidelines

  • Editorial decisions to publish or not to publish an article are a decision of APC staff and specifically the APC communications team, on the basis of its relevance for our community, the quality of the piece, and overall, its adherence to the requirements as established in this editorial policy.
  • You can submit complete works, but also outlines or pitches that the APC communications team can later expand on.
  • All submissions will be proofread and/or edited for accuracy, clarity, quality and length. APC does not guarantee that authors will review their work after proofreading and prior to publication, due to time constraints inherent in the production process, although it is generally possible and desirable.
  • Include any applicable charts, pictures, graphics and images with your submission.
  • All authors of blog posts are encouraged to send a short biography consisting of their name, affiliation and any other relevant information to be added publicly at the end of the piece.
  • All authors who contribute to APC.org are encouraged to promote their contributions once they are published, on their own websites, through social media platforms, through emails to colleagues and peers, etc.
  • The columnists who write for APC.org are carefully selected for their expertise and writing style, and their views on issues do not necessarily represent the views of APC and its network.

 

Contact

If you are interested in writing, editing or translating for APC.org, please contact the APC communications manager, Flavia Fascendini (flavia@apc.org). If you have any comments or suggestions in terms of our editorial policy, write to communications@apc.org.