Write, edit, and finalize copy for all the pages about blinder HOT 14 CLOSED

I've got a branch with some text updates in it. I'll push it upstream once I get a draft in for every piece. Until then, I'd like to use this issue to review the copy and hopefully get some sign off from folks on the committee.

So far, I've written expanded information for each Blind. These are shown between the blind title and the questions on the proposal form (see attached screenshot). Please review if you have a few minutes:

Personal & Contact Information

Your identifying information is not available to the selection committee during the proposal evaluation process. We gather this information only to have a means to contact you once the selection process is complete.

Talk Information

The information in this section is the primary data used during proposal evaluation and selection. Please do not include identifying information in this section.

Balancing Information

This information is not given to the selection committee until a late round in the selection process. It is used to provide contextual information about proposals and provides additional differentiation between similarly strong proposals.

Help Us Out

This information is not used for talk selection, but it will to make our lives easier if your proposal is accepted. The members of the selection committee will not be given this information during the selection process.

from blinder.

This looks really good to me.

Do you think we should include a sentence or two at the very top explaining that the selection process will be blind? I would still keep the sentence under "Talk information" just to reiterate the point.

One other small edit:

I think 'We gather this information only to have a means of contacting' sounds a little better than to contact.

from blinder.

I think the blinding should be explained on the index

from blinder.

All the stuff you've got in this issue looks great! 👍

from blinder.

of contacting: noted.

from blinder.

True or False: Your identifying information is not available to the selection committee during the initial proposal evaluation process. We ask for this information to have a means of contacting you once the selection process is complete.

If we reveal all info during the final evaluation round, how should this text update to reflect that? I'm struggling on this one.

from blinder.

Here's my draft for the landing page copy. I think it's a bit heavy-handed, but I wanna be thorough and plain in how we talk about the process. Please give this a read. It's meant to be the landing page of the app, to be read before a person completes the cfp form.

Steel City Ruby 2014 Call for Proposals (CFP)

Hi! This page is here to provide you some information about our process for gathering, evaluating, and selecting proposals for this year's Steel City Ruby. Our goal is to select–objectively, transparently–the best proposals from those submitted for this year's event.

What's best mean?

That is a good question. In the context of this year's event, best means most appealing, useful, and relevant to our attendees. While those terms are subjective, we've modeled our selection process to help eliminate biases and encourage open, honest discussion and evaluation based on the comparative merits of the submitted proposals.

Our Process

Unlike previous years, SCRC will be considering Technical and People/Process talk proposals separately this year. We made this decision to ensure we end with good balance of both. A single proposal submission can be included in either or both focus areas, and we will select a balance of both presenters and alternates from each group.

The proposal form is divided into four sections, but only two are used as criteria for acceptance. Talk Information is the primary data used during proposal evaluation and selection. It is imperative to not include personally identifying information in this section. Balancing Information is used to provide contextual information about proposals and provides additional differentiation between similarly strong proposals.

We use the other two sections–Help Us Out and Personal & Contact Information–to contact submitters after the selection process and to help with things like ordering t-shirts and updating the SCRC website.

Here's the basic timeline of how we will move from collecting proposals to announcing the conference lineup:

1. Open & Publicize the CFP: The CFP opens Thursday, 13 March 2014. We will accept proposals through the end of Saturday, 19 April 2014.
2. Evaluate blinded proposals: After collection ends, we will begin reviewing submitted proposals. The review process is arranged in three distinct phases. During the first phase, reviewers will have access only to the Talk Information portion of the proposal responses. A subset of the submitted proposals will advance to the second round, in which the Balancing Information section will become visible to reviewers. From there, the selection committee will narrow the pool further and make their final selections for presenters and alternates.
3. Contact everyone: We will reach out to selected presenters and alternates to confirm their inclusion. We will also contact submitters not selected as a presenter or alternate so that no one is left guessing.
4. Finalize and release lineup: Once all of our presenters and alternates have confirmed their participation, we will announce the final presenter lineup on both the SCRC website and Twitter.

Completing the CFP form

Ok, so you get how the process works. The CFP form is broken into groups that reflect the
blinding levels described above. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk
(*). After you submit your proposal, you'll receive both a browser and email confirmation of your submission. The confirmation contains a unique editing url for your proposal; you're welcome to edit your proposal until the CFP closes on 19 April 2014.

If you have any problems or concerns with the form or the process, please reach out via email to [email protected]. That address goes directly to SCRC organizers tasked with ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate in this process.

Ready? Awesome. Click the link below to get started.

from blinder.

True or False: Your identifying information is not available to the selection committee during the initial proposal evaluation process. We ask for this information to have a means of contacting you once the selection process is complete.

If we reveal all info during the final evaluation round, how should this text update to reflect that? I'm struggling on this one.

This seems false-- we do use who people are in the last round to make sure people aren't doing more than one talk, etc. What about...

Your identifying information is not available to the selection committee until the last round of evaluation and is important to have a means of contacting you. We will never share your contact information.

from blinder.

Some people will be really interested in the landing page copy, some won't be. Could we put at the top something like "CFP Submission form is open, read on if you're interested in our process!" in addition to the link at the bottom?

from blinder.

Here's my edit suggestions! Mostly minor. Bigger changes:

• We have considered tech/not in the past, just not been as up-front about it and haven't had people select themselves into it.
• I added some examples of identifying info that should be left out of the proposal
• We are going to use personal info in the last round
• Timezone of the end of the day

Steel City Ruby 2014 Call for Proposals (CFP)

Hi! This page is here to provide you some information about our process for gathering, evaluating, and selecting proposals for talks for this year's Steel City Ruby. Our goal is to select–objectively and transparently as possible–the best proposals from those submitted for this year's event.

What's best mean?

That is a good question. In the context of this year's event, best means most appealing, useful, and relevant to our attendees. While those terms are subjective, we've modeled our selection process to help eliminate biases and encourage open, honest discussion and evaluation based on the comparative merits of the submitted proposals.

Our Process

SCRC will be considering Technical and People/Process talk proposals separately this year, formalizing the balance we've had and enjoyed in previous years. A single proposal submission can be included in either or both focus areas, and we will select a balance of both presenters and alternates from each group.

The proposal form is divided into four sections, three of which are used as criteria for acceptance.

Talk Information is the primary data used during proposal evaluation and selection. Please help us to remain as unbiased as possible by not including personally identifying information in this section such as pronouns, websites, or company names.

Balancing Information is used to provide contextual information about proposals and how they would fit together as a whole conference. There are no wrong answers to these questions!

Personal & Contact Information is used to make sure of things like one person not doing two talks (it's totally fine to submit more than one proposal but we'll only select one per person).

Help Us Out is not used at any point during the talk selection process, but if you're selected, it will help us immensely with things like ordering t-shirts and updating the SCRC website.

Here's the basic timeline of how we will move from collecting proposals to announcing the conference lineup:

1. Open & Publicize the CFP: The CFP opens Thursday, 13 March 2014. We will accept proposals through the end of Saturday, 19 April 2014 (11:59pm Eastern Time).
2. Evaluate blinded proposals: After collection ends, we will begin reviewing submitted proposals. The review process is arranged in three distinct phases. During the first phase, reviewers will have access only to the Talk Information portion of the proposal responses. A subset of the submitted proposals will advance to the second round, in which the Balancing Information section will become visible to reviewers. From there, the selection committee will narrow the pool further and make their final selections for presenters and alternates, using the Personal & Contact Information to make sure no one has two talks.
3. Contact everyone: We will reach out to selected presenters and alternates to confirm their inclusion. We will also contact submitters not selected as a presenter or alternate so that no one is left guessing.
4. Finalize and release lineup: Once all of our presenters and alternates have confirmed their participation, we will announce the final presenter lineup on both the SCRC website and Twitter.

Completing the CFP form

Ok, so you get how the process works. The CFP form is broken into groups that reflect the
blinding levels described above. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk
(*). After you submit your proposal, you'll receive both a browser and email confirmation of your submission. The confirmation contains a unique, private editing url for your proposal; you're welcome to edit your proposal until the CFP closes on 19 April 2014.

If you have any problems or concerns with the form or the process, please reach out via email to [email protected]. That address goes directly to SCRC organizers tasked with ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate in this process and who have recused themselves from the blinded rounds of review.

Ready? Awesome. Click the link below to get started.

from blinder.

oooh just saw your PR. i'll transfer this to a commit so you can see the diff.

from blinder.

omg this is my first opportunity to use the prose diff feature they added to github, really, and it's hamazing

https://github.com/jnf/blinder/pull/show/30/files/68a8b71#diff-68a8b71b633e6c075ba85c74a772405e

from blinder.

"Your identifying information is not available to the selection committee until the last round of evaluation and is important to have a means of contacting you. We will never share your contact information."

I like it. Thanks. :)

from blinder.

Wow, the prose diff is pretty awesome.

from blinder.