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Welcome to eHow Title Selection!
Welcome to eHow Title Selection!
My name is Kendra, and I am the Title Manager for the eHow Title Selection Community. In essence, eHow Title Selection is the process by which a community of about 50 people choose what titles should become assignments for eHow writers and filmmakers to execute and publish through Demand Studios.
As those of you who are eHow writers peruse the pages of available writing assignments in the Studio, many of you have surely wondered: how do these bizarre, adventitious yet informational titles get selected for eHow assignments? Well, let me try to shed some light on the enigma of eHow Title Selection.
The birth of the eHow assignment begins in Title Production where three separate communities scrutinize potential title candidates. These communities, Title QA, Title Edit and Keyword QA (each of them discussed earlier this week on this blog), select, mold and assign relevant keywords to each title. After this process, these titles live in our Title Bank, where they eagerly await the possibility of transforming from a slew of phrases into a developed article on eHow.
Once in the Title Bank, titles transition into what we like to call our Title Distribution process where we decide whether they should be turned into articles or videos and where the best fit might be. We do this by creating Work Orders based on a given site’s (in this case eHow) specific criteria. These Work Orders pull title contenders based on keywords, categories and templates. The titles are filtered through a Duplicate Checking Community, which ensures each title’s uniqueness (discussed earlier today).
At this point, titles are then ready for review by our community of eHow Title Selectors, who have been trained to understand the eHow voice and editorial style. eHow Selectors choose titles based on Guidelines from eHow’s Editorial Team, which cover the main rules of eHow rejections and selections. However, the Guidelines are only a starting point. Selectors are required to use their editorial instinct and writing experience to wade through the awkward, trivial and yes, sometimes disturbing titles that find their way into Title Selection. Such gems like “Can I Bring My Knife to Disney World?” or “Performing Surgery With a Rusty Scalpel” are typically rejected based on simple common sense.
So how does the process work? Before the title’s fate is determined, it must pass through our gauntlet of Title Selectors, who decide whether to accept or reject it. All in all, eHow Selectors have a very challenging job. They must act quickly when seeing ambiguous titles, and they must remain ready to adapt to ever-evolving Guidelines. Just as Bob so perfectly recited, “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” so we in eHow Title Selection have made adapting to change our mantra.
All things considered, the eHow Title Selection process is relatively new. In fact, the Title Selection tool is only about four months old. In this short time, we have made some great progress thanks to the combined efforts of multiple teams and individuals, and as always, we are constantly looking for ways to improve.
Of course, the eHow Title Selection Community deserves a special shout-out in this post. Almost all of our eHow Title Selectors have been or currently are writers for eHow. Many of these Selectors have been working within the Studio for over a year, and their continued attention and diligence in eHow Title Selection is imperative to getting assignments to eHow. In order to understand who makes up the eHow Title Selection Community, take a gander below at just a few of our awesome eHow Selectors.
Debra Bacon
Debra is an award-winning journalist and editor who has managed and assisted with managing several interesting businesses, including The Country Press Group in Malakoff, Texas, which published four newspapers in East Texas. She is a former member of the Texas Press Association and the Texas Community Newspaper Association. Debra has been writing for eHow since April of 2009, and she has been a Title Selector for over four months.
Dawn Werner
Dawn has been writing for Demand Studios for nearly two years and has written many how-to and informational review articles for various websites. She is a member of several online writing groups and is also a self-published author of a romance novel. Dawn has been a Title Selector for nine months.
Don Bolen
Don is a research scientist with more than 30 years of experience in laser design and applications. Bolen holds many U.S. Patents including three for the Excimer laser presently used for LASIK eye surgery. He presently is an engineering consultant, author of three nonfiction books and provides content for Demand Studios. Don has been a Title Selector for over three months.
Tara Kimball
In her own words, “I’ve been [an approved writer] for eHow since December 2008. I’ve written approximately 100 articles. I love eHow. It’s a fantastic resource for just about everything, and now I understand why. There’s a great community behind the scenes making it happen!” Tara has been a Title Selector for over three months.
So, that is eHow Title Selection in a nutshell. Thanks for your interest in how assignments are chosen for eHow. Hopefully, you have a better understanding of the responsibilities and challenges in eHow Title Selection.
My name is Kendra, and I am the Title Manager for the eHow Title Selection Community. In essence, eHow Title Selection is the process by which a community of about 50 people choose what titles should become assignments for eHow writers and filmmakers to execute and publish through Demand Studios.
As those of you who are eHow writers peruse the pages of available writing assignments in the Studio, many of you have surely wondered: how do these bizarre, adventitious yet informational titles get selected for eHow assignments? Well, let me try to shed some light on the enigma of eHow Title Selection.
The birth of the eHow assignment begins in Title Production where three separate communities scrutinize potential title candidates. These communities, Title QA, Title Edit and Keyword QA (each of them discussed earlier this week on this blog), select, mold and assign relevant keywords to each title. After this process, these titles live in our Title Bank, where they eagerly await the possibility of transforming from a slew of phrases into a developed article on eHow.
Once in the Title Bank, titles transition into what we like to call our Title Distribution process where we decide whether they should be turned into articles or videos and where the best fit might be. We do this by creating Work Orders based on a given site’s (in this case eHow) specific criteria. These Work Orders pull title contenders based on keywords, categories and templates. The titles are filtered through a Duplicate Checking Community, which ensures each title’s uniqueness (discussed earlier today).
At this point, titles are then ready for review by our community of eHow Title Selectors, who have been trained to understand the eHow voice and editorial style. eHow Selectors choose titles based on Guidelines from eHow’s Editorial Team, which cover the main rules of eHow rejections and selections. However, the Guidelines are only a starting point. Selectors are required to use their editorial instinct and writing experience to wade through the awkward, trivial and yes, sometimes disturbing titles that find their way into Title Selection. Such gems like “Can I Bring My Knife to Disney World?” or “Performing Surgery With a Rusty Scalpel” are typically rejected based on simple common sense.
So how does the process work? Before the title’s fate is determined, it must pass through our gauntlet of Title Selectors, who decide whether to accept or reject it. All in all, eHow Selectors have a very challenging job. They must act quickly when seeing ambiguous titles, and they must remain ready to adapt to ever-evolving Guidelines. Just as Bob so perfectly recited, “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” so we in eHow Title Selection have made adapting to change our mantra.
All things considered, the eHow Title Selection process is relatively new. In fact, the Title Selection tool is only about four months old. In this short time, we have made some great progress thanks to the combined efforts of multiple teams and individuals, and as always, we are constantly looking for ways to improve.
Of course, the eHow Title Selection Community deserves a special shout-out in this post. Almost all of our eHow Title Selectors have been or currently are writers for eHow. Many of these Selectors have been working within the Studio for over a year, and their continued attention and diligence in eHow Title Selection is imperative to getting assignments to eHow. In order to understand who makes up the eHow Title Selection Community, take a gander below at just a few of our awesome eHow Selectors.
Debra Bacon
Debra is an award-winning journalist and editor who has managed and assisted with managing several interesting businesses, including The Country Press Group in Malakoff, Texas, which published four newspapers in East Texas. She is a former member of the Texas Press Association and the Texas Community Newspaper Association. Debra has been writing for eHow since April of 2009, and she has been a Title Selector for over four months.
Dawn Werner
Dawn has been writing for Demand Studios for nearly two years and has written many how-to and informational review articles for various websites. She is a member of several online writing groups and is also a self-published author of a romance novel. Dawn has been a Title Selector for nine months.
Don Bolen
Don is a research scientist with more than 30 years of experience in laser design and applications. Bolen holds many U.S. Patents including three for the Excimer laser presently used for LASIK eye surgery. He presently is an engineering consultant, author of three nonfiction books and provides content for Demand Studios. Don has been a Title Selector for over three months.
Tara Kimball
In her own words, “I’ve been [an approved writer] for eHow since December 2008. I’ve written approximately 100 articles. I love eHow. It’s a fantastic resource for just about everything, and now I understand why. There’s a great community behind the scenes making it happen!” Tara has been a Title Selector for over three months.
So, that is eHow Title Selection in a nutshell. Thanks for your interest in how assignments are chosen for eHow. Hopefully, you have a better understanding of the responsibilities and challenges in eHow Title Selection.
