The following guidelines were constructed by Petr Vanýsek, the Co-Editor of Interface.
Interface encourages submissions of news from student groups. Therefore, we try to keep the “rules” to a minimum. However, some guidance will help in preparing the material.
Timeliness: Interface is published every three month, therefore a report on something that happened no more than 6 months makes sense. Waiting more than six months will make it “old news.”
Details: Be specific. If you describe an activity, state Where, When, Who. Give the names of the speakers and other actors in the story. Double check the spelling of the names, both persons and places. Consider, whether someone may prefer to be referred to (in a publication) by Ms., Dr. of Prof., instead of a first name.
Formatting: Do not format your documents, except for paragraphs and italics, etc., if you need them. The text will be reformatted anyway. If you are submitting your newsletter, it is better to remove the layout. And please, do not embed pictures in the text. Give only the picture caption and send the pictures separately as individual files.
Photographs: They are fairly easy to take with modern electronics and we like contributions with pictures. They tell a better story.
- Send us digital pictures with the original resolution (it will be usually more than 1 MB in size). Be careful that some mailing software shrinks the files. Do not do that.
- When you focus the picture, focus on the face, but when you compose the shot, center the camera lower – middle of the torso. If you center on the face, you will cut of the feet and have too much of the sky or ceiling in the picture.
- Do not embed the pictures in your text. Give the picture caption in the text, but enclose the pictures as individual files (usually *.jpg).
- With a picture showing several recognizable people, provide names (usually, left to right). A large group photo may not have the resolution to list all the names, but if you have really high resolution, then the list of all the names will be useful. When you are taking photos for Interface, do not be shy to ask people whom you do not know for a name. They will understand.
- Pictures of children at science fairs, etc. are fine, but for anyone recognizable, we are asking that you secure from the parents or legal guardians a release form to print the picture in Interface. We may not publish the names, but we always need the form.
Length: The texts that we receive have usually suitable length. However, be critical when submitting your pictures. As long as they tell a story, we print them. But sometimes we receive similar pictures, which we need to cut.
ECS is looking forward to your contributions. Read the submission guidelines.
