How to blog on NTNU News - Kunnskapsbasen
How to blog on NTNU News
Do you have an idea for a blog post? NTNU News offers a blog service for employees who wish to write generally and popular-scientifically about research, applied subjects, education, and innovation. A blog post can provide an exciting insight into the processes leading to research results and success stories.
Norsk versjon: Blogge på NTNU Nyheter
How to blog
The first thing you do is contact your nearest communication employee. They will help you evaluate whether the blog is the right channel or if the content might fit elsewhere. It could, for example, be that what you want to convey is suitable for Norwegian SciTech News or should be suggested to external media, and it can be good to clarify this first. If you are in doubt about who can assist - see the overview of press contacts.
Types of blog posts
You can get blog posts published under NTNU News, in Norwegian or English. A blog post usually follows one of these formats:
- Tell about your Ph.D. or a research project.
- Convey a perspective or a topic from a project you are working on.
- Convey research results or tell about the process along the way.
- Debate articles or columns based on a subject.
Perhaps you want to convey from your research - and thereby support applications for research funds or make yourself attractive as a partner.
You can also tell about what exactly you are researching within a larger research project, and thus highlight your angle and your contribution.
Administrative employees could, for example, blog about services or other things that support research, education, and innovation.
Repeated blog posts
A project or a professional community can blog under its own tag and thus avoid having to create a separate blog solution. Then you will get a link to a page where all blog posts from the project or professional community are gathered. Example: Here you can see the URL to all posts that are tagged with "klima": https://nyheter.ntnu.no/stikkord/klima/
How to write a good blog post
In a blog post, you communicate directly with the reader. It is important to convey the message so that it is easy to read. Even professionals prefer this. Therefore, you must write clearly and easily to get the blog post published.
Here are some tips for you when you are going to write:
- To be read, you must capture the reader: The chance to be read is in the title, intro text/ingress, and perhaps at the beginning of the text itself. Here you must tell the reader what the text is about, and in a way that engages. We do not need to be super precise in the title and intro text. If you write about a project, it is the conclusions, main findings, and the project's problem that are most important.
- Avoid expert language: Write "for everyone" and avoid industry-specific terminology. Sometimes professional words have to be included, and then they must be explained. Keep in mind that someone who does not know your subject should understand what it is about.
- Dare to put a period: Sentences often become long. A period makes reading easier and helps to get your message across. Because blogs are on screen, it is smart to divide the text into fairly short paragraphs.
- Think orally: We choose different words and simpler formulations orally. Something to remember when we communicate to a wide audience.
- Choose active language: For example, "I research" instead of "the project addresses". "Algorithms were developed" - rather: "We developed algorithms".
- Subheadings: A good trick to help with reading often involves subheadings. If a point or argument is quite long, it can still contain subheadings.
- Captions: A picture without a caption is missing something. The caption can tell what is going on in the picture, or it can contain a point from the main text. People who are recognizable in the picture should be named. Also remember that photo credits should be included - who took the picture. And - if you did not take the picture yourself, you must make sure to get approval for the use of the picture/illustration.
- Let others read your text: Feel free to ask someone outside your field to look at the text. This can provide a new perspective on both content and form.
Pictures
Picture illustrating the case: Illustrations must be in landscape format and preferably 16:9 with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Your communication employee can help you get the picture right. If you have pictures that illustrate what you want to convey, you must make sure that you have the rights to the picture. Any people who are depicted must have given their consent for the picture to be published. Remember that you can discuss pictures with your communication employee, perhaps you agree to take new ones. Also see NTNU's image bank and Stock Photo.
Profile picture of you: We would like to have a profile picture of you together with the byline in the post.
Spread post
When the blog post is published, you get a link that can be shared in different channels. You can ask your nearest communication employee if the post might be suitable as a tip for external media or in trade magazines. What the communication employee can help you with depends on whether they have time.
Remember to update your profile page on NTNU. This comes up high in searches and should be as up-to-date as possible. On the profile page, you can link up to your blog posts under the Dissemination tab.
Guidelines
Blogs should be well-written, easily accessible, and be a channel for communication to people outside your field of expertise. Texts with heavy professional terminology must therefore find other channels. The blog should not be used for personal, non-professional expressions of opinion. The blog should not be used for information that is internal information to employees.
A blog post represents the author's own opinion. Nevertheless, there are guidelines for what should be published on NTNU's platforms, and the editorial staff reserves the right not to publish posts that conflict with this. This includes content that
- intends to promote a product or service
- has a theme that is not about research or the university and college sector
- is in conflict with privacy and information security