Contributor Guidelines and Policies

1. What to Write:

The One One Four is a daily weblog magazine dedicated to providing diverse, high-quality content for the English speaking community in South Korea. Our focus is different than the guidebooks, expat directories, diary blogs, and English teachers forum boards that already exist. We aim to be current and informative about all things relevant to the entire English speaking community, and not exclusively focused on issues related to the English teaching industry. In an effort to reflect the diverse experiences of the English speaking community, which can include frustrating cultural differences, we do welcome contributions that are critical of Korean culture, society, and trends. However, The One One Four is not interested in rants or condemnations about inevitable frustrations surrounding cultural differences. Our goal is to focus on what Korea has to offer and to help connect our readership with all the people, places and events that are of interest or of benefit to them. The One One For wants to be a site that helps diffuse the frustrations and pressures of culture shock by helping connect people with information about their surroundings. We hope to offer an escape from the seemingly endless discussions of work, cultural frustrations, bad experiences and alienation. We want readers to view their surroundings with a wider lens, be informed of what’s happening around them, and experience the diversity of things their city has to offer. That said, contributors should keep in mind that no subject is ever truly off the table. Stories, events and perspectives on any topic will be considered if the appeal is wide enough or relevant enough to be of interest to our readership.

We are looking for posts and articles that are current, informative, insightful, and engaging. Our content will focus on Seoul, Daegu, and/or Busan, but is not limited to these cities. Pieces about places, events or trends outside of the country should relate to places, events or trends currently happening in or of interest in Korea. Also, pieces about something that happened in the past should have some relevance to the present. For example reporting on how awesome that concert was last week in Seoul is not that interesting, unless the same band is coming to Daegu this week.

Prospective contributors are encouraged to read through the sites archives to help gain a perspective on the type of content that we publish and the spirit it is presented in. All the guidelines presented here are to help you avoid having ideas rejected and not to discourage you from pitching new ideas. The sky is the limit but the limits are firm. (Don’t be a hater, its boring and we are all sick of it. Aren’t you?)

As bloggers, our approach will not be the same as mainstream journalists, but our content will be as professional and valuable. We should approach each piece as an average member of the English speaking community. Our perspective is that of the people in the crowd or up in the nose-bleeds, rather than the perspective of those with backstage passes or access to exclusive parties.

2. Categories:

Arts (includes Film) – museum shows, galleries, openings, happenings, graffiti, street art, films, dance, architecture etc.
Fashion – people wearing clothes, shops, shows, designers etc.
Life&Style – community, shopping, work, where to go, what to do etc.
News/Announcements/Events -what’s happening
Music -Korean bands, foreigner bands, shows, stores, festivals
Food – restaurants, stores, products, cafes, reviews, chefs, stalls, street food, recipes
Spotted! – found something hard to find? take a picture and tell everyone where you bought it and how much
WTF? – a photo that will cause the viewer to say “What the fuck?” that is related to Korea. Funny konglish is generally not accepted unless it is so funny the editors actually urinate in thier pants.
Interviews – talking to cool and interesting people
“The One One Four On…” an in-depth look at, or guide to, something unique about Korea and living here as an English speaking foreigner.

3. Editorial Definitions:

Posts will be published daily, and are updates of news/announcements/events/trends in any category. Posts should be approximately 100 words and include a photo.
Articles will be published daily. Articles should be 200 -500 words in length and should include at least 4 photos.
Features will be published weekly (WTF?, Spotted!, Interviews) WTF? and Spotted! should follow the same guidelines as posts above. Interviews should be 500-1000 words in length and should include at least 6 photos.
“The One One Four On…” are for the ambitious contributor. Think of them as comprehensive guides to anything relevant to the English speaking community. Most online guides are either for tourists, dated, or incomplete. We aim to make these more current, and of benefit to readers who are living, rather than sightseeing in Korea. These can be serious, or a bit quirky, but always informative.

4. Submission Requirements:

All submissions should include at least one photo that you have taken yourself or have received permission to use.

All submissions should be written with a 100 word max. lead-in to introduce and entice readers to click “read more”. These 100 words are included in your total word count.

Provide adequate contact information (names, websites, phone numbers, and directions).

Directions should include the name of the nearest major landmark (for taxi drivers) and walking directions from said landmark. Please include any other pertinent facts (i.e., 3rd door past Family Mart, etc.) as this will not only help our readers, but also allow us to add the location to our interactive map.

Use the contributor templates to ensure that you have fulfilled the section-specific requirements before submitting your post/article for publication.

Be forewarned that any submissions that violate the spirit of our enterprise will not be considered. Read our Mission Statement if you are uncertain what this means. In short, if it offends, angers or cites any unwanted drama or lawsuits, we won’t run it. Please don’t waste our time with ignorant, racist, pig-headed bullshit.

Also, as you may have just gathered, the use of cusses, swears and other salty language is perfectly fine as long as its not used just for the fuck of it.

5. Photo Requirements:

All photos must be no smaller than 600×450 pixels and 314 dpi. They must not contain any time stamps, watermarks or any added text. If you are unclear on any of these specs you should contact the editor in charge of your category for help. If your photos are bigger than specified or in need of minor corrections please submit them early so we can fix them for your post. If you are a novice photographer but want to take your own photos for your post contact your editor for some handy tips and literature that we can provide.

In some instances The One One Four may be able to provide you with the equipment you may need but don’t have, such as cameras, camera equipment, lighting, sound and video equipment and software. Please let us know well in advance if you need any special equipment.

Although this is hopefully self-evident, images containing the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer (porn!) are strictly prohibited.

6. Weekly Posting Schedule (for Publication):

Every week, we will publish the following number of posts from each category:

News/Announcements (11), Arts (5), Life&Style (3), Film (1), Music (1), Fashion (1), Food (5), Interview (1), WTF? (1), Spotted! (1)

There will be a public calendar for all contributors to access and view the date their post/article will be published. Also, it will be used to track topics so contributors can plan for future posts, avoid repeats, or write follow-ups.

7. Contributor Rotation

This will be determined by the number of contributors. In the music category, if there are four contributors then each contributor would be responsible for one article per month, with a rotating submission and publication date. For example, Contributor 1′s article will be published at the start of Week 1 and the publication of Contributor 2′s article will follow at the start of Week 2. Contributors will be assigned a place on the public calendar. Your place in the rotation will determine your date for submission.

8. Submission Deadlines:

Articles/Interviews/”The One One Four On…”/Spotted!/WTF? must be submitted 2 weeks before the assigned publication date. This is to allow editors sufficient time to edit and fact-check the information.

Posts(News and Announcements) should be submitted by 12 am for next day publication.

9. Editing and Fact-Checking Policy:

All posts/articles will be edited to ensure that they have been written in accordance with our mission statement and satisfies the goals for writing that are stated above.
All posts and articles should be edited for spelling and grammar by the contributor. Please only submit something that you have edited yourself. We expect our contributors to have pride in their work and respect this publication process. The One One Four expects a professional working relationship with contributors who are dedicated to providing quality content from the beginning of the process onward.

All post and articles will be subject to our fact-checking process. However, you should contact third-parties to confirm the details provided in your article/post before submission. We want to ensure that the information in your post/article is accurate. Submitting a review of a restaurant means little, and does nothing for our reputation, if a reader takes the time to check it out and the restaurant has subsequently closed. In another instance, a reader might attempt to lunch at a restaurant only to find out that they don’t do lunch. Providing inaccurate and old information makes us an irrelevant resource.

Submission of a post/article does not guarantee publication. If you contribute a post/article to The One One Four, you submit these aware that we reserve the right to edit for fluency, accuracy, and style. Contributors will be made aware of the decision to publish or not publish their post/article in advance. If we decide not to publish your post/article, you will be informed of the reasons for that decision. Contributors may choose to revise their post/article and re-submit it to us.

10. Payment:

As a not-for-loss business in a very niche market with limited advertising dollars we unfortunately cannot afford to pay our contributors for their work. We hope that some day in the future we will be able to hire some contributors as staff writers and photographers. For now we are at the mercy of generous people like you to keep The One One Four up and running. We thank each and everyone of you for supporting us with your contributions.

There are some instances when we will be able to help contributors with costs related to their contribution. If you feel that there are excessive costs related to a project that you need help with you can make a request to your category editor. Please include a detailed breakdown of all the costs you expect to incur and how they relate to the project. Your editor will have the request approved by a managing editor and they will contact you with an offer of assistance if it is deemed appropriate.