All staff and students are invited to submit articles if the content is relevant to all students or a large cohort of students. Submissions will not be considered if they are:
- commercial in nature
- defamatory or slanderous
- political advertising.
Please use the guide below when preparing content for submission.
- Article headline: try to think of a catchy headline, where possible and appropriate.
- Article: keep as succinct as possible, using plain English. Aim for no more than 500 words. The first paragraph of your article will be the content that displays in the body of the email (max 75 words is ideal). Any content above this will be added to the Ping! student news blog.
- Tip: Make sure you include the ‘who, what, when, where and why' in your article.
- Tip: Include any relevant webpage links. There is no need to create a full blog article if the content is available on an existing webpage.
- Imagery: if your article relies on imagery, please provide a high-quality image with your submission. (If not, a graphic element will be created using the Ping! branding style). Only submit images if consent to use the image has been received from those in the image.
- Approvals (relevant to staff): articles must be approved by the appropriate supervisor in your area, prior to submission. You will be asked to confirm who has approved the article.
- Contact person: include details of the person who can provide further detail, if needed.
*NB: to reduce repetition in the communication students receive, the same article will not be repeated across multiple editions, unless there is a new angle or information to provide.
Articles promoting approved research studies
In each edition of Ping! students and staff looking to recruit students to participate in their research are able to promote the opportunity via the participate in research studies webpage. A link to this webpage will be included in each edition of Ping!
Please note studies must have received Human Research Ethics Committee (ethics) approval and have been approved by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students) prior to inclusion on the webpage.
Third party articles
Content from third parties (i.e. not from a Flinders staff or students) will be considered based on it meeting one (or more) of the following criteria:
- The article is directly relevant to all Flinders students, or a large cohort of students.
- The article will deliver direct benefit to students.
- The third party has an affiliation with Flinders University (e.g. Don Dunstan Foundation).
*The Student Experience team reserves the right to reject any Ping! article submissions.
Advertising
Businesses looking to promote their services in Ping! will only be considered if their offering directly benefits students and is of no cost to students (e.g. free movie ticket giveaway). Otherwise, third party advertising in Ping! is not permitted.
Out of Scope
The following types of content will not be included in the newsletter:
- Course specific information (e.g. regarding assignments, etc). (Relevant) Flinders’ staff should continue to communicate directly with students with course specific information.
- Student specific information (e.g. emails with personalised exam links, details about student-specific sanctions, etc). (Relevant) Flinders’ staff should continue to communicate directly with students with any student specific information.
- Emergency or significant incident/s information that has affected/has the potential to affect students.
- Time critical information important for students to know (e.g. unplanned system outage)
- Important and/or time critical communication direct from the University Executive (eg. Emails from the Vice-Chancellor or Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students).
For more information, see the Ping! FAQs.
