PCG Editorial Policy

PURPOSE

The Gateway provides technologies and tools to facilitate exchanges of credible and broadly based information on development. The site serves a diverse audience of development professionals, civic and cultural communities, international aid agencies, aid recipients, academics, professional groups, product and service providers, the media and others. It seeks to optimize local, national and international initiatives by providing internet-based systems to coordinate efforts and foster learning.

As a matter of editorial policy the content of PCG is constantly and dynamically improved, quantitatively and qualitatively developed, updated and reviewed based on feedback from various stakeholders and results of regular user surveys and opinion poll. There is an efficient and effective spidering effort to tap online resources along with knowledge filtering to extract the relevant and required information on variety of subjects especially the one identified in portal structure.

The Gateway has established a system of development information based on the editorial judgment of technology team, programme team, and strategy team who are responsive to direction from advisors working in advisory committees. These committees are composed of experts drawn from a wide range of institutions and stakeholders.
The overriding goal is to ensure an open and pluralistic content system dedicated to quality and diversity. Gateway users must be able to trust that the selection of resources, issues, discussion topics, news and technical data on the site is unbiased, and is based solely on fact, careful analysis and the perceived needs of the Gateway audience. This challenge of coupling Internet technologies with sound human judgment--in a manner that is both open and professionally sound--is at the core of the editorial policy of the Gateway.

Individuals and organizations with special development expertise or concerns are encouraged to become involved in Gateway. The Gateway team envisions strong involvement from both users and partner organizations in developing content.

SUPPORT

The Gateway will receive financial support from a variety of grants, in-kind services and project contracts from international development agencies, foundations, individuals and private concerns. All such relationships will be listed on the site, and the Gateway accepts support only on the condition that editorial independence is maintained. Where logos of such supporters appear on the site, they will be labeled "partner" or "sponsor."

LINKS

Gateway guides or editors are under no obligation to link to any site. Their sole criterion is usefulness for the intended audience. Links and resources are periodically checked for suitability. The Gateway nevertheless cannot guarantee the accuracy or reliability of the information drawn from the links or resource communities, and assumes no responsibility for the timeliness or validity of the information derived from them.

ERRATA

The Gateway is committed to correcting quickly any errors of fact or interpretation that stem from decisions or actions of the editorial judgment. Where a question of interpretation is in dispute, the Gateway staff will make all reasonable efforts to arbitrate the issue before making a final decision.

PAID ADVERTISING

The Gateway will accept paid advertising in the form of banners, sponsorships, company listings and special advertising sections. Because this relationship must be transparent and clear to the user, the line between content and commerce must remain clear. All financial support is contingent on allowing the Gateway to maintain complete freedom in selecting the information it presents to users. Advertisements or links to sponsors are clearly delineated.

GIFTS

Gateway employees are required to refuse offers that could be misconstrued by the giver or give the impression to users that the Gateway is beholden to any specific donors or companies. This includes the acceptance of gifts of more than nominal value, non-business travel, or other inducements.

Content Management
The Pakistan Country Gateway, as a country-specific e-development initiative, seeks to integrate, process, and present comprehensive and user-friendly information content from a variety of sources. In essence, the Gateway content management system is designed to provide the tools, procedures, processes and structures that will facilitate access to valuable and credible content for a diverse body of development communities and audiences in Pakistan.

In pursuing e-development through knowledge sharing, the portal draws on both the local and the global resources of data and information so that a broad based, comprehensive, contextual and classified linkage of local and global resources takes place. In this regard, the Gateway re-structures and re-arranges a broad spectrum of local and foreign information repositories, including research reports, economic and sector analyses, statistical databases, specially generated material such as current news, opinion summaries, feature articles, surveys, professional listings, calendars, directories etc.

Content management tasks include, but are not limited to the following:

• A proactive and need-sensitive regime of information management of knowledge repositories and debates.
• Establishing criteria and standards for content providers and quality of compiled information and data.
• Identifying and reviewing sources of information abiding by these criteria.
• Keeping the mechanism of reviewing reliability of information sources constantly operating, where each team member has to be involved into the quality assurance process.
• Identifying key development topics and coordinating the content generation activities of topic specialists in the content team.
• Constantly mobilizing content from various reputable sources.
• Ensuring effective editorial and translation management of the content.

Content Partnership
To ensure quality and steady stream of reliable information sharing, Pakistan Country Gateway develops partnerships with key stakeholders in society. These stakeholders contribute knowledge and information content for the portal website which the Gateway publishes as per its editorial policy.

These partnerships cover the following sectors:

1. Civil Society comprising NGOs, professional and academic associations, and citizen groups etc.
2. Public Sector comprising government agencies working at the local, provincial and federal levels.
3. Private Sector comprising industry, information technology, financial services, and trade etc
4. Media comprising print media, television, radio etc.

From the above given sector, at the thematic kevels, PCG develops partnerships with those initiatives which work on the following and related themes:

• Poverty Alleviation
• Environment
• Gender
• Water
• Nutrition
• Health
• Policy Research
• Education
• Services
• Technology
• Manufacturing

The thematic list is only indicative and not exhaustive. So, organizations working on other related themes can also be partners of the Gateway.

[Source: http://home.developmentgateway.org/EditorialPolicy.do]