Newsletter Editor Help

Create a Newsletter Issue

Before any articles can be added to an issue, an issue must be created. An issue can be created without publishing it.

  1. Content > Add Content > Newsletter Issue
  2. Required fields:
    1. Title should remain the default "IEEE INFORMATION THEORY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER"
    2. Editor
    3. Issue Month
  3. Optional fields which should be added before publishing:
    1. Image.  Is used in lists of all issues, serving as a thumbnail of the issue. Strongly recommended.
    2. Abstract. Appears together with the thumbnail image. Typically it contains the table of contents. One sample is:
      "President's Column. From the Editor. Awards and IEEE Fellows. Board of Governors: New Members. Congratulations to the 2024 Lecturers. ITSoc Distinguished Lecturer Talks at Linkoping University Information Coding Division and KTH Division of Information Science and Engineering. IEEE Information Theory Society Board of Governors Meeting. Call for 2024 Award Nominations. Upcoming Conferences & Workshops. Call to Action."
    3. See here for several sample thumbnails. 
  4. Click "Save" button at bottom.

Create an Article 

The Newsletter Editor can create an article as a member would.

Note that the preferred size for the image is 653×419 pixels.  At the same time, the image will be cropped to 200×200 pixels for the thumbnail. 

Approve and Publish an Article

When a member has submitted an article, the Newsletter Editor should receive an email.  If the submitted article is ready for publication:

  1. Make sure the authors are set correctly:
    • "Add Article Author (is a member)" is used for persons that have an account on itsoc.org. Their name, affiliation and portrait are pulled automatically from their profile.
    • "Add article Author (is not a member)" is used for persons who do not have an account. Their data should be added manually.
    • If an author is an IT Soc member but does not have an account, you can ask them to login to itsoc.org.  This first login automatically creates an account. 
  2. Issue. Select the issue this article appears in.
  3. Type = article, in general.  If Type = obituary, then it will additionally appear on the Issue's page.  If Type = President's Column, then it will appear on the issue' page, but this is not expected to be used since the President's Column will appear in BITS.
  4. Save as "Published".  The author will receive a notification email.
  5. Click Save.

Once an article has been published, it will be publicly accessible from the article’s URL.  However, if the issue it appears in has not yet been published, then the article will be difficult to find.

If the submitted article needs changes:

  1. Save as "Draft" and click Save.  The author is not notified automatically. 
  2. Contact the author. If necessary, the author’s email address is found under the article's "Authoring Information" tab.
  3. Instruct the author to again “submit for review” when the changes are finished.  The Newsletter Editor will receive a notification email.

List All Issues and Articles

Special Blocks

The Newsletter Issue page has several special blocks.  

Block: Upcoming Conferences and Workshops

The Upcoming Conference and Workshops block is populated automatically with "Events".  To add an item:

  1. Navigate to Content > Add Content > Event
  2. Enter the data, including location
  3. Post to Mailing List = No (Important to change default, as "Yes" will send an email to members)
  4. Post to Social Media = No
  5. Publish on Newsletter = Yes
  6. Change the "Saved as" field from Submit for Review to Published
  7. Save

Block: Call to Action

The Call to Action block is populated automatically with "News" items.  To add an item:

  1. Navigate to Content > Add Content > News
  2. Enter the data
  3. This is a Call = Yes.  Enter Deadline
  4. Post to Mailing List = No
  5. Post to Social Media = No
  6. Publish on Newsletter = Yes
  7. Change the "Saved as" field from Submit for Review to Published
  8. Save 

Block: Obituary

This block is populated automatically with any articles for which Type = Obituary.

Block: Awards/Distinguished Lecturer Component

There is an awards/distinguished lecturer component which can optionally be displayed on the issue page. This is the only component which is not populated automatically.

To add the Awards Component:

  1. For that issue, select Layout from the left-side edit menu
  2. Select Add Block where the Award component should appear. Usually it appears right above "Articles" section. To place them this way, first click Add Block within the "Articles" section. Once the Awards componet is created (as guided below), manually move the components.  
  3. Choose "Create custom block" placed on the top right. Select "Newsletter Awards". "Configure block" should then pop up.  
  4. In the "Configure block", add title field and "Awards or Distinguished Lecturers". See below for adding awards.
  5. Add Block (at bottom)
  6. Save Layout (at top left)
  7. Once clicking Save Layout, the Awards section will pop up in the main page of the newsletter issue automatically. 

Awards are added manually:

  1. For that issue, select Layout from the left-side edit menu
  2. Find the Awards block, click on its pencil icon > Configure (at the top right)
  3. Awards can be added by clicking on down arrow next to "Distinguished Lecturer". If award recipients are not found, it is needed to adding the recipients in the database. See below for adding recipients in the database.
  4. Update (at bottom)
  5. Save Layout (at top)

To add new award recipients in the database: 

  1. dd
  2. dd

Publish Newsletter

Publishing a new Newsletter means that https://www.itsoc.org/newsletter points to the latest issue.  In addition, the newsletter will appear under All Newsletters

  1. For the issue, set Published = Yes (found at bottom near Save button)
  2. Navigate to configuration > search & metadata > url redirects > Filter on /newsletter
  3. Edit the final path: In this case, the url of the latest issue.

Inform the Online Editor when the new issue is published — a member of the Digital Presence committee will work with the editor to create the table of contents email to send to members.

(The Newsletter group page is /newsletter-group. This may be used to add a new editor and other exceptional cases.)

[email protected]

The email address [email protected] should be forwarded to the Newsletter editor. See "@itsoc.org email forwarding" on the Online Editor help page