WeAreSTS: guidance for freelance projects

Freelance projects are welcome from STS students and staff. This page offer some basic guidance. Begin with a proposal.

Freelancers develop projects on their own initiative, then submit a completed piece of work ready to review. A lot of journalists work this way. A lot of academics work this way, too.

Proposal process

For WeAreSTS, freelance work involves several main steps. STS students interested in offering freelance work should follow these steps:

1. Talk through your idea with the producer.
2. Submit a plan or proposal that describes what you want to deliver, what the time frame will be, and what, if anything, you think you'll need to complete the work. In doing this, you'll get help shaping the project, and you'll identify technical needs required for finished products.
3. You'll be given responsibility to develop your project as an independent.
4. Submitted projects are reviewed. If accepted, projects are distributed as either regular episodes or bonus episodes.

Specifications

Freelancers work to specifications, and finished projects don’t just drop from thin air. Still, freelancers have a lot of freedom to develop topics and projects in ways they think best.

Proposing coursework

Before using coursework, we need to make some additional checks. For example, any person interviewed will be asked to approve their role in the episode. This is because when they were first interviewed they might not have considered a podcast episode was likely. As a matter of ethics and courtesy, we will want to double check with them that this is OK. We also need to check everyone involved in the work receives proper credit, and that materials used are cleared for copyright purposes.