If you’re considering contributing to the AW80W project, you may have questions about how the process works and what to expect. Therefore, I decided to pin a post about this exact topic.
Get in Touch
The first thing to do if you wish to take part is to send me an email (AW80W.project@gmail.com). Once I’ve received your email, I aim to respond within 48hours.
Selection
Unless I’ve already received numerous responses from women in the country you wish to represent, I will consider all potential participants.
If you have a story or stories you wish to tell and are willing to share it/them, then I’m interested.
Your Story
The easiest way for you to share your experiences with me is via a phone call or video chat, such as through Zoom. This would be scheduled at a mutually agreed day/time with plenty of advance notice. Calls/video will not be recorded. Instead, I will take shorthand notes as you relay information. If anything comes up during the call that you wish not to be published, I will ensure it is removed from my notes.
I understand not everyone is comfortable chatting face-to-face or there may be a language barrier. In which case, I will email a selection of tailored questions for consideration.
Promotion or Anonymity
For any participants who wish to remain anonymous, I will ask you to suggest a pseudonym (alternative name) for your article that is in-keeping with women’s names from your country. I will also use copyright-free stock images that are appropriate for the article. No personal or traceable information will be used that could identify you.
If you would like to retain your own name, this can be facilitated. I also welcome participants using their own images/photos if they wish. In this case, there is an opportunity to link to your own social media or other webpage in the article. Articles that use personalised images are more likely to be boosted on Medium and, therefore, receive a higher number of readers.
Planning and Drafting
Once I have your (cherished) words to work from, I will begin to plan and compose a draft of your article. On completion of this draft, I will happily forward it to you via email if requested. Turn around times for draft articles are approximately 6-8 weeks, but can be longer if I’m conducting multiple interviews.
Publication
The final step is to publish your article. This will be done on the platform Medium.com under my user account @rachelpalmakamace and via the publication Fourth Wave, unless otherwise stated.