How to Make an Advocate Profile
By Anna Arkhipova, Simon Vincini, and Nik Doces
May 16th, 2023
Purpose of an Advocate Profile
Advocate Profiles provide a platform for those working in the digital equity space to explain what they do and their perspectives on digital equity. Because digital equity work is largely a grassroots operation happening at community centers, libraries, and so forth, it can be difficult for those engaged in digital equity in their community to learn about and from others doing work elsewhere. Publishing Advocate Profiles helps practitioners find out about each other's work. Additionally, reading across many profiles can help readers to see the breadth of digital equity work.
By providing an interview-style profile, readers are able to get a better understanding of what each advocate specializes in. A good interview piece should:
Help the interviewee present themselves and their work in the best light possible.
Be edited to be concise and easy to follow, while still remaining true to the content of the original interview.
Clearly introduce the interviewee, in a way that hooks the reader's interest.
Each Advocate Profile should also include information about the interviewee, such as name, the digital equity related projects they're working on, contact information, and a photo.
Process Overview
The diagram below covers all of the steps involved in creating an advocate profile with an estimation of the likely amount of time needed for each step.
Time Breakdown
Outreach Process – 2-3 Weeks. Allow time for the people you contact to get back to you.
Interviewing Process – 1-2 Days. One for prep, another for interviewing.
Editing Process – 1-2 Weeks. Allow time for communicating with the interviewee for clarification.
Publishing Process – 1-2 Days. Plug into template and publish on website.
TOTAL – 3-5 Weeks (give or take a few days).
Securing an Interviewee
Choose a Copilot to Help You
First and foremost, confer with your project lead or professor to see if they have any leads as far as advocates. Otherwise, Linkedin is a great place to start looking for opportunities to interview people (and at the same time expand your own network and networking skills). If you already have contact with an advocate, ask them if they know anyone they'd be willing to refer you to.
Finding an Advocate
First and foremost, confer with your project lead or professor to see if they have any leads as far as advocates. Otherwise, Linkedin is a great place to start looking for opportunities to interview people (and at the same time expand your own network and networking skills). If you already have contact with an advocate, ask them if they know anyone they'd be willing to refer you to.
Reaching Out to the Advocate
Once you've found an advocate you'd like to interview, reach out over email.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to prominent people or people you may feel are out of your wheelhouse! Most people love talking about what they do, and would love an opportunity to do so. Better to reach out and get a no than not reach out at all!
Give the person a short and specific timeframe in which they can schedule the interview, as this will help prevent them from forgetting or procrastinating on replying. For example, asking for an interview in the next 3 days or even the next week is better than an open-ended "When are you available?"
No one owes you their time, but everyone owes you a hard yes or no. If you don’t receive a response the first time, wait for a few days, then reach out again with a gentle reminder. Repeat until they officially accept or decline your offer, or until you've moved on to the next phase of your content pipeline
Outreach Email Template
Use the template below to reach out to an advocate. Edit it to fit your needs, but make sure to include all the key information within. You may have to communicate back and forth to agree on a time and provide the interviewee with a Zoom link. An alternate method of communicating your schedule is through the website Calendly.
SUBJECT TITLE: [Interview for DearDigitalEquity.org]
CC: [Copilot email]
Dear [Interviewee first name],
We are [Interviewer and Copilot], and we’re juniors in the Interactive Media Design program at the University of Washington Bothell, working on a digital equity project called Dear Digital Equity. We would like to feature you on a website that we are creating to raise visibility of digital equity work in Washington. Your profile would be featured among [number of profiles currently published] other profiles of local digital equity advocates and practitioners.
You were recommended to us by [insert person here] as a person doing high quality work in our state, and we would love to include that work as part of this profile series. You would have an opportunity to review your profile prior to its publication, at which point you can suggest edits or exclusions.
We would like to conduct a 30 minute interview with you over Zoom to get to know you and your work and to provide content for your profile. If you have time in the next couple of weeks, we would greatly appreciate it. The times when we are free are listed below, but if none of them work for you, please let us know:
[List possible interview times here.]
For your convenience, the questions we plan to ask are copied below.
[List questions here.]
Thank you in advance for your time; we know how valuable it is.
[Interviewer] and [Copilot]
University of Washington Bothell
[Interviewer email address]
[Copilot email address]
Reminder Email Template
If the advocate doesn't respond, use the template below to ask again. Edit it to fit your needs, but make sure to include all the key information within.
Hi [interviewee first name],
Thank you for agreeing to an interview with us! We just wanted to remind you of our interview on [DATE] at [TIME].
Here is the Zoom meeting link that we’ll be using. [INSERT LINK]
We look forward to meeting with you!
Best regards,
[Interviewer] and [Copilot]
University of Washington Bothell
[Interviewer email address]
[Copilot email address]
Follow Up Email Template
After the interview, follow up with the advocate within 24 hours. Use the template below. Edit it to fit your needs, but make sure to include all the key information within.
Hello [interviewee first name],
Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in our Dear Digital Equity interview! We will send you a drafted copy of your profile for review before it goes live. Please allow us a week to work on your profile, after which we will send you a draft. Then, if any changes are necessary, please let us know within the following week.
We would also like to include a photo of you in your profile. Could you send one to us please? The image specs that will look best on the profile are [minimum photo size & resolution].
Once our website is live and finalized, we will send a calendar invite for our final presentation on [DATE & TIME].
Best,
[Interviewer] and [Copilot]
University of Washington Bothell
[Interviewer email address]
[Copilot email address]
Preparing for the Interview
What do you want to learn from this interviewee?
Before brainstorming questions to ask the interviewee, it's important to consider who you're writing the questions for. Doing your research on the interviewee will help you gain a sense of what you might learn from them, such as different aspects of their work, interests, and experiences. After researching the interviewee, reflect on what you want to know. If you are working with a partner, talk about your learning goals. It may be helpful to decide on a "vision statement" for the interview. This should be a 1-2 sentence statement that helps you get on the same page about what you want to dig into and what kind of story you're hoping to get from the interview.
What will you ask the interviewee?
When writing your interview questions, aim to organize them organically, so that one question follows from and build on the previous one. Aim for 5-10 well-thought out questions, with a few additional questions as backup in case of extra time, any of the questions turning out to be irrelevant, or multiple questions being answered in one response.
You'll want to ask open-ended questions, with a mix of surface-level and in-depth topics.
Surface-Level Questions (2-4)
These questions are surface-level and aim to provide the eventual readers with some basic initial context for the questions that follow. They give the interviewee an opportunity to introduce themselves within the context of digital equity work. Use these to ask about the basics of who they are, what they do, and where they do it.
In-Depth Questions (3-6)
These questions should prompt the interviewee to think deeply about how and why they do what they do, and elicit a rich response. They give the interviewee an opportunity to communicate what's most important to them, their opinions on the subject work, and their past experiences.
Final Question (1)
Your final question should open the floor for the interviewee to mention anything you didn't ask them about. Something along the lines of "Is there anything else you want to talk about?" or "Is there anything you wish we asked you about today?" will do the trick.
Other Best Practices:
Avoid the use of close-ended questions, unless asking follow-up questions for clarity.
Split up dense questions into more manageable “chunks”.
Prepare at least 3-5 more questions than you expect to ask.
Have someone outside your team read through your questions beforehand, to make sure they're clear, focused, and easy to understand.
Asking Follow-Up Questions
No set of questions is one-size-fits all. You'll need to ask follow up questions to follow the threads and get a deeper understanding of what it is your interviewee does and why. Ideally, you're also looking to find what they're passionate about in their work, and you may have to coax that out of them.
Effectively making use of follow-up questions will enrich the interview by helping to fill in the gaps where needed, and reduce the amount of extra communication you'll need to do during the editing stage. You can write some possible follow-up questions beforehand, but more likely than not, you'll have to improvise them on the spot when the time calls for it.
Some typical follow-up questions are (but aren't limited to):
Tell me more.
“Could you give an example of a time when __?”
“Why __?”
“What do you mean by __?”
Good times to ask follow up questions include:
When the interviewee mentions something you don't fully understand.
When the interviewee mentions something in broad terms, and you'd like them to be more specific and give an example.
When the interviewee is notably passionate about something they're talking about.
When the interviewee mentions something that stands out to you as a contradiction.
When you want to know the reason behind something the interviewee said or did.
Asking Follow-Up Questions
No set of questions is one-size-fits all. You'll need to ask follow up questions to follow the threads and get a deeper understanding of what it is your interviewee does and why. Ideally, you're also looking to find what they're passionate about in their work, and you may have to coax that out of them.
Effectively making use of follow-up questions will enrich the interview by helping to fill in the gaps where needed, and reduce the amount of extra communication you'll need to do during the editing stage. You can write some possible follow-up questions beforehand, but more likely than not, you'll have to improvise them on the spot when the time calls for it.
Some typical follow-up questions are (but aren't limited to):
“What do you mean by __”
“Could you give an example of a time when __”
“Why __”
Good times to ask follow up questions include:
When the interviewee mentions something you don't fully understand.
When the interviewee mentions something in broad terms, and you'd like them to be more specific and give an example.
When the interviewee is notably passionate about something they're talking about.
When the interviewee mentions something that stands out to you as a contradiction.
Conducting the Interview
Interview Etiquette & Tips
At the Start
Start by introducing yourself. Who you are, what your role is, and who you are conducting the interview on behalf of. Let them know who will be asking questions (interviewer) and who will be taking notes (copilot).
Respect the interviewee’s time and acknowledge your gratitude for allowing you to conduct the interview in the first place. This is a good time to reiterate your estimate of how much time the interview will take.
Provide the interviewee with a brief overview of what you intend to interview them on, and why you are doing so.
If conducting over Zoom, have your camera turned on if possible.
Make sure Zoom's chat feature is turned on when you schedule the meeting, in case they have links to send you.
During the Interview
Be polite and pay attention to your tone.
Avoid interrupting the interviewee while they are speaking.
Don't ask more than one question at a time – the interviewee will forget which one they're meant to be answering.
After a question is answered, be sure to acknowledge that you heard what they had to say, or politely ask for clarification/reiteration in cases of confusion or poor audio quality. If you're not sure you understood, try briefly summarizing what they said back to them and ask if you understood correctly.
Make sure the interviewee actually answers the question. They may go on a tangent or answer a different question than the one you asked. Wait for them to finish, then remind them of the original question. If they misunderstood, you may need to clarify.
DO NOT center the conversation on yourself. This is the interviewee's space to talk about their experiences. You may comment on what you understand or you'd like to hear more about, but avoid spending time talking about your own opinions and point of view. Instead, use that time to ask more follow-up questions.
At the End
Thank them again when the interview is over.
Follow up with a thank you email 24 hours later (see templates in the section above).
Taking Notes
Make sure your copilot is ready with a document that includes all your interview questions, to take notes and record observations in. Note down the interviewee's responses, and highlight important points so both of you can reference them during and after the interview. Be detailed and try to capture not only what they said, but how they said it. You don’t need to note things down verbatim, but a few quotes here and there will help capture their character and aid you greatly in your editing process.
Recording & Transcribing the Interview
Since this will eventually become a published interview, you will need to record the interview so that you can transcribe and edit it later. This is not optional.
Ensure you have permission from the interviewee before hitting record on Zoom (or your recording device if you're conducting an in-person interview). If they refuse, reiterate that you need to have their word-for-word answers on hand in order to publish the interview.
For transcribing, you can make use of Zoom's automatic transcription features (only available for cloud recordings), or use another text-to-speech technology to do something similar if cloud recording is not available to you. If you have not recorded a Zoom meeting before, after you end your cloud recording you should receive two different emails: one with the recording, and another with the audio transcription. After the interview, save the recording and transcript somewhere you won't lose them, then listen and read through to check that the transcription got everything down correctly.
In the event that automatic transcription is not available at all, you will need to transcribe the interview yourself. This can be done by hand or using audio transcription tools to assist you. Depending on what you're doing, you'll have to do some research and find out which tools work best for your purposes. Ultimately, you're aiming to get the interviewee's exact words down on paper before you make any edits.
Editing the Interview
Editing the Interview into a Story
Editing the interview can be very time consuming if you don’t approach it with a goal in mind. The interview itself will be highly information-dense and isn't going to be very easy to follow. It's your job to turn the interview into something easily digestible and attractive to the reader. Remember, the ultimate goal is to support the interviewee in making their argument and pitching themselves impactfully. You want the writing to come off as dynamic and human.
Writing an Introduction
First, use a combination of the interviewee's introduction and your research to write a short introduction paragraph that details who the interviewee is and what they're working on. Insert this before the body of the interview, so the audience has an idea of who this person is before they read. After doing this, make sure you cut out your introduction question and response from the interview body to avoid redundant information.
Line-Level Big Picture Editing
Start by formatting the transcript into a paragraph format. Do not change anything yet, but feel free to cut out any pauses or filler words (um, uh, etc.).
Before you make any edits, you must understand the crux of what the interview was trying to say. You can't edit to support what the interviewee had to say without really understanding the core meaning of it. If you skip this step, you'll be making more work for yourself later, so don't skimp.
Read through the transcript in its entirety. Think carefully - what is the interviewee trying to say? What are the main points they're hitting? Why is it important to them to hit those points? Then, read the transcript again on a paragraph-by-paragraph level. For each paragraph, ask yourself what it's doing. What part of the whole is it communicating, what purpose does it serve? Make a note of these things separately.
Lastly, consider your audience. Who's going to be reading this interview? How deep of an understanding of the subject matter are they going to have?
Using this understanding, do these things:
Cut out any chunks that are redundant or irrelevant to the central point.
Cut out any chunks that focus on the interviewer over the interviewee
Rearrange the paragraphs into an order such that each paragraph's new information builds on the information given in the previous one.
Look for places where the interviewee uses acronyms or jargon. The first time they use those, define them in parentheses or use a footnote to do the same.
Mark any parts where you aren't clear on what the interviewee meant.
Sentence-Level Detail Oriented Editing
After you have the overarching structure planned out, it's time to get into the nitty gritty. Choose one of your paragraphs and examine it sentence-by-sentence. Just like with the paragraphs from before, for each sentence, ask yourself what it's doing, then using that understanding repeat the process detailed above on a sentence level.
You can theoretically spend infinite time editing, so it helps to set a time limit for yourself. The amount of time depends on you and how fast you work, but you should give yourself enough time to pass over everything and do a final read through.
Using Consistent and Accessible Language
When editing on the sentence level, you will run into the question of how to deal with things like jargon, slang, and colloquial language. There is no one-size-fits-all guidelines on how to go about this, so what you should do is this:
Avoid using jargon or overly complex wording where simple wording will do. Sometimes it's necessary, but when it's not, go with the simple English version.
If the interviewee uses an acronym or especially niche jargon, consider defining it in parentheses the first time they use it. You might also consider linking to a wikipedia page for topics that necessitate extra reading to understand.
Regarding slang, there isn't a hard and fast rule. Just make a decision and stick to it consistently across the whole interview.
Hooks and Highlighting Quotes
People generally don't read huge blocks of text if they don't have to. Thus, you can do a few things to help pull them into reading:
Use a snappy headline that communicates the interesting core of what the advocate does.
Try to make the first sentence of the advocate's introduction paragraph as snappy and informative as possible as well.
Use bold font or subheadings to highlight the interview questions. This makes the interview's content easier to scan.
Highlight 2-3 quotes from the interview. Pick out the quotes that best represent the interviewee and their work, and display them in large text in between paragraphs. Ideally, these should go near the paragraph where they were said. You can see an example of this in the section on publishing below.
Have Someone Else Review the Completed Draft
Your copilot is a good choice to read a completed draft of your completed draft profile because they were at the interview and can catch issues that those not present might not catch. Once that has happened your draft is ready for review by your professor. Consider also showing it to another person who isn't involved with the process at all, to see how a fresh pair of eyes perceives what you've put together.
During the editing process, you'll have to communicate with the interviewee. When you've got a decent first draft, email it to them and ask them to review it. You're looking to find out if you're representing them and their words accurately. This is also your time to ask them to clarify or add to any parts of the interview that were unclear to you in post.
Make edits based on the interviewee's feedback and volley it back to them until both of you are satisfied with the profile's quality. Consider showing it to another person who isn't the interviewee as well, to see how a fresh pair of eyes perceives what you've put together.
Once you've got a final draft, you're ready to publish.
Running Your Work by the Interviewee
Publishing on the Website
Website Profile Layout
The profile layout should be consistent across all profiles, the guidelines for which are as follows:
Advocate Profiles Page
Profiles should be laid out in a grid with a maximum of three profiles in each row. The cards should include the advocate's photo, name, role, and a "read more" link.
All of the profile images should be a consistent aspect ratio and quality (see Advocate Photo Specifications). Followed by the advocates name and brief description (see Style Guides). It's important that these specifications be followed as strictly as possible to ensure a cohesive theme and professional image.
Every profile in the grid should be spaced equally from the profiles next to it.
Individual Profiles
Each profile should contain a header with the advocate's name, their role, the authors of the interview (you and your copilot), and the date, in that exact order.
The header should use larger text and be visually distinct from the text body. Use the same amount of padding between each line.
Display the advocate's photo to the right of the text, and make sure it's inline with the header text.
The body should start with an introduction paragraph that is visually distinct from the rest of the text.
The rest of the body should contain the interview itself. Make sure to bold the questions so they stand out, and format them like this:
Q: What is your definition of Digital Equity?
RT: Digital equity to me just means that everyone has the opportunity to get online.
The quotes you picked for highlighting should be displayed in large text between paragraphs.
The bottom of the profile should contain profile cards linking to 4 other profiles. If you can, pick out advocates who are working in similar spaces.
All photos and text in each profile should be of consistent font point and photo dimensions, this consistency across pages will help solidify these profiles as professional quality.
Formatting Examples
Below are two different profile headers, one incorrectly formatted, the other correctly formatted.
Incorrect Header Formatting:
Note the poor aspect crop on the profile image, as well as the misaligned text with awkward padding.
Correct Header Formatting:
Note the correct image aspect ratio, high quality photo, and properly aligned text.
Correct Body Formatting:
Note the introduction paragraph in italics and the question in bold.
Correct Quote Formatting:
Note the large text and generous amount of spacing.
Advocate Photo Specifications
All headshots of the advocates should be of HD resolution and contain just their headshot i.e no half body shots, selfies or otherwise distracting elements (not posed with their dog for example). All profile photos should be in a 1:1 aspect ratio (square). If advocates cannot provide a square headshot photo, crop it down as best as you can. If no profile photo was provided, use the placeholder image found in the shared media drive (which should also be adjusted to be 1:1 if it's not already that size ratio.)
How to Publish on the Website
At the time of writing, the website is being hosted on Squarespace. Get in contact with whoever maintains it to get a collaborator invite, then use the templates available there to copy out a new profile page, then fill it out with your header and interview information.
Meet the Team
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Simon Vincini
COLLABORATOR
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Anna Arkhipova
COLLABORATOR
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Nic Doces
SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTOR