Editorial policy
Contents |
Introduction
Designing Buildings Wiki is an open-access platform. You are free to write articles about anything to do with the construction industry, from business planning and design to construction, operation and decommissioning. You can write about theory, practices, procedures, products, services, projects and even companies. All we ask is that articles are factual and balanced (ie they are not promotional pieces) and they are encyclopaedic in style (ie they are not blog posts).
Articles you create will be live on the site from the moment you click 'Save'. We do not have submit and approve process, however, we will check all new articles and all subsequent edits to ensure they comply with our guidelines. Articles that do not comply may be edited, or in extreme cases may be deleted, and inappropriate edits will be undone.
If you are an expert who does not want other people to be able to change your article, then you can protect it. If we receive requests from other users wanting to contribute to the article, we may un-protect it, but we will discuss this with you first.
Think 'encyclopedia' not 'magazine'.
- Stick to the facts. Adopt a neutral position. Do not express your own opinion.
- You don't need to be 'friendly' - this is not a blog.
- Articles are not an opportunity for self promotion. You can include as much self promotion as you like in your 'page about me', but not in your article. To stay impartial, ask yourself what someone else would write about the subject.
- Even if you are writing about your own products or projects, write about them in the third person. You should never need to write 'I' or 'we' in an article.
- Be balanced. If you list the pros, also list the cons.
Make your article accessible.
- Give your article a simple, plain language title. Just say what it is.
- Introduce your subject. What is the background?
- Explain specialist terms and acronyms.
- Avoid long paragraphs, they are difficult to read.
- Use bullet point lists to make information clear and accessible.
- Don't use capital letters unless they are absolutely necessary. Capitalisation makes text difficult to read.
- For more general guidance about writing see Writing Technique.
Terms and conditions
Your article must comply with our terms and conditions. It must not for example include content that infringes intellectual property rights.
Duplicate content
- Your article will get more traffic if it is unique, and tailored to the specific requirements of the Designing Buildings audience.
- We do allow you to post content that already appears elsewhere on the internet, such as articles that appear on your own website. However, search engines may not include the duplicate version in search results. This will significantly reduce the amount of traffic the article receives.
How to use the text editor
- Keep your formatting as simple as possible. Plain text, headings and bulleted lists. Pasting text with more complex formatting can confuse the text editor.
- Save your work regularly just in case.
- For more information see our Help page or watch our video tutorial on YouTube.
About the wiki
Anyone is welcome to use and contribute to the wiki in different ways.
[edit] Engaging with the wiki
You can:
- Contribute to existing articles
- Create articles
- Share articles through social media and other channels
- Contact the CIRCuIT project to let us know what you think and how we can improve
[edit] Add your own content
To contribute to or create an article, you can follow these steps:
- Register as a user
- Read through the editorial policy and guidance on writing and contributing to articles
- See the detailed help page on tips on writing wiki articles
- Try editing a test article
- If editing an article, select 'Edit this article' underneath the article title
- If creating a new article, select 'Create an article'. In the 'Select categories' area, expand the 'Industry context' list and tag 'Circular economy' to add your article to this wiki
[edit] Who is this wiki for?
The articles contain information on implementing circular economy approaches in construction that could be relevant to:
- Architects
- Construction contractors
- Designers
- Developers, owners, investors
- Engineers
- Landowners
- Manufacturers and supplier
- Universities and research
- Urban planners
[edit] About CIRCuIT
The Circular Economy wiki is supported by the Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities (CIRCuIT) project, which is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. CIRCuIT is a collaborative project involving 31 ambitious partners across the entire built environment chain in Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki Region and Greater London. Through a series of demonstrations, case studies, events and dissemination activities, the project will showcase how circular construction practices can be scaled and replicated across Europe to enable sustainable building in cities and the transition to a circular economy on a wider scale.