Thank you very much again for applying to the position. Below you will find more information about your job. It is 2-fold:
1- Article preparation and copy/paste on MP3Travel.
2- Copy/paste on TeleAtlas, setting Googlemaps and data entry.
Above all you have to keep in mind that everything posted on MP3Travel is meant to be listened as audio guides.
1-
+Article preparation.
We ask you to choose an historical landmark or a place of interest for travelers. Check out our database to make sure no one has covered it yet. Excluded are hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, recreation facilities, etc, because that place must have an historical interest for tourists. If you have doubts about your choice don't hesitate to submit your choice.
Your inspiration can come from your own experience and research but we also recommend non-copyrighted contents like Wikipedia, Wikitravel, World66, etc. You then edit the text in accordance to our guidelines. Take a note of the landmark precise physical address because you will need it later. Often these websites use Googlemaps to show the location of the monument. This will also be useful.
Your article must be around 500 words but no less than 450 and no more than 550. Here are a few examples:
http://mp3travel.com/en/taxonomy/term/93/9
If you think that the monument you want to write about really deserve more than 550 words, it is always possible to break it into 2 articles. One could be for example on History and the other one on Architecture.
You can choose any landmark you want to write about with one condition: every other choice must be located in North America, i.e. if you pick the Eiffel Tower in Paris your next monument must be in the US or Canada (Statue of Liberty in New York or Basilica Notre Dame in Montreal).
We have some very precise rules to apply:
-Remove all quotes, hyphens and brackets.
-The dates cannot appear like this: '1520-1523' and should be rewritten. 'from 1520 to 1523' is an example on how you may write it.
-Remove dots when possible like in 'B.C.' (replace by BC) 'U.S.' (replace US) 'St.' (replace by Saint) etc.
-Remove when possible local language names.
-Remove foreign languages accents: à is replaced by a, ç is replaced by c, etc.
-The articles must be timeless. Remove facts about renovations, schedules etc.
-No titles in the body of articles
-No mention about movies shot there
-No 'opening hours' or entrance fee
-No long lists of people (artists, buried there, lived there, etc). Keep it to a maximum of 5 in a sentence.
-No personal diary or story. Don't say "I have visited...", "I like this place because..." or "We went to..."
-Separate clearly each paragraph
-Historical anecdotes and interesting facts are of utmost importance.
-Measurements should be kept for towers, cathedrals or large monuments. Use the word 'meters' and not 'm.' or 'inches' and not 'inch.'.
-Spot and change words repeated too many times. Look at this article. Can you notice which word appears too many times?
-There is no deadline to submit your article
Note that if you get 3 rejected articles in a row we will not accept anymore submissions and your account will be canceled.
This is an example of an original article from Wikipedia compared to what appears on MP3Travel after a proofreader/writer's work here.
Why so many little rules? Because to read the articles we use digital voices that sometimes cannot figure out how to read a word or a punctuation.
+copy/paste to MP3Travel
Open an account on the website.
On the right hand side menu, click on Create content and then on Article.
Enter the title.
Choose the appropriate guide categories (country, state, city if available)
Copy/paste your article.
Click Submit.
Your article goes then to moderation where all the rules mentioned above are checked along with the article's appeal for travelers.
2-
+Data entry
After moderation we will open an account for you on TeleAtlas.
Log in and choose the appropriate location content.
At the top click on the Locations tab.
Just on top of the monuments listings click on Add...
Click on Add Address and fill out as many boxes as you can. (Administrative area = a state in the US, a prefecture in Japan, etc. Leave 'Postal code sub' blank.)
Click Use this address and check the accuracy of what your entered.
You can click on the Save changes button on the upper right side of the page at any time to save your work.
+Setting Googlemaps
Click on Manually place...
In the box 'Precision' choose User-defined point.
On the left hand side Google map, grab the green marker and place it on top of the landmark. It helps to set the map on 'hybrid' which allows you to see a satellite picture of the area.
Click on Use this position to close the window.
You can click on the Save changes button on the upper right side of the page at any time to save your work.
+Copy/paste to TeleAtlas
At the bottom click on Pick category.
First always choose 'Attractions: Monument & Historical Site'.
You can pick a second category if it is a church (Attractions:Place of Worship), a museum (Attractions: Museums), etc.
Click on Use this category.
Below the categories enter the title of the article in the 'Location name' box and copy/paste the article in the 'Description' box. There is a known bug that doesn't always allow you to paste right away all the text. If this happens, highlight the content in the 'Description' box (use Ctrl+A keys ) and paste again (Ctrl+P) the text. Sometimes you have to do it 3 or 4 times and press the Save changes button in order for the whole article to show up. This bug will be fixed soon.
Don't forget to click on the Save changes button on the upper right side of the page before clicking on Done.
+Payment
You will get US$1 per article uploaded and mapped. You can repeat this process as much as you want and write as many articles as you want. We only pay through PayPal at the end of each month when your grand total reach at least US$10.
You can find an online version of these guidelines here:
http://mp3travel.com/en/node/597/ (but with no highlights and non-active links)
You can now submit the name of the landmark for your sample-article!
Thank you very much.
