Greetings from New York!
Today, my article on self-driving cars got published at De Correspondent. (It's in Dutch - but here's a wacky Google Translation
Two weeks ago, I decided to mail data expert Dimitri Tokmetzis of De Correspondent with my article, to see if he was interested. He was, in particular in the part where the car is used to gather lots of data. I rewrote the article to make it more about data and the (ethical) consequences and more accessible. And now my article is featured on the best investigative journalism site in the nation. I couldn't be more happy.
That milestone wouldn't be there if it wasn't because of you guys. If it wasn't for lil giving me the push to start my own blog. If it wasn't for thenewgreen posting about it here, and the good discussion that followed with am_Unition that kickstarted my research on the topic.
If it wasn't for kleinbl00 helping me way more than I could've wished for.
Huge thanks to you all and everyone else I didn't shout out to. I've only just surpassed the one year mark here on hubski. I'll try to make the next year even better!
Glad I could give you a nudge in the right direction. :) Big ups for carrying the torch so far! Edit: "so far" as in "damn, that's a long way!", not "so far" as in "I plan to knock you over and steal that pretty torch!". I've gotta work on my words...
Treat my city well boss, that's great news and I hope to hear plenty more of it :)
Would you mind going into a little more detail about the process? I've always been interested in submitting some opinion pieces but I am not quite sure what it would entail. In any case, congratulations!
Well, in my case there were a couple of boxes to check off. First, find the right person to approach. Papers and sites often have an email for people to pitch their article ideas to - don't use those, they're often not well read or, in my case, the person reading it probably can't / won't judge your piece for what it's worth. Find a journalist or person who writes about the same thing you write about, or someone who know his / her shit. They're already interested in your topic, so they're easier to convince to read your writeup. Second, write something that you stand behind completely. Not just because you agree with what you say - because that's almost always the case - but also because the facts check out. Use multiple sources, do your research well. Make sure that your piece makes a strong point. This is necessary because you have to convince that journalist that your piece is good. Third, keep it short. In emails as well as your piece - you can always expand on ideas or explanations later, when the editing process starts. Kill your darlings, as they say. If you've got more questions, feel free to ask.
I have this theory that those who are passionate / geeking out about something are also the people who are most open to other interests. Part of the glue that keeps this community together, I think.I love that everybody on here is so passionate about something. People without interests are boring.