Upside: Contribute an Article
The majority of our articles are written by staff or professional technology authors, but we always have room for thoughtful contributions from within the analytics and data management community.
Whether you are a vendor, consultant, skilled technology writer, hands-on BI practitioner, manager, analyst, data scientist, or end user, we are interested in working with you if your article provides valuable, relevant insight for our audience.
Why Write for Upside?
Upside is the website about the intersection of business and data analytics from the experts at TDWI. Your work will appear alongside leading minds in business intelligence, analytics, and data management.
TDWI is the leading source of in-depth education and research on all things data. For more than 20 years, TDWI has been advancing the art and science of realizing business value from data by providing an objective forum where industry experts, solution providers, and practitioners can explore and enhance data competencies, practices, and technologies.
Upside articles are promoted via the Upside newsletter, which reaches over 50,000 readers interested in analytics, BI, and data management. Additional promotion is handled through TDWI’s social media presence, including over 62,000 global professionals in the TDWI LinkedIn community.
Please review the following guidelines before sending us your proposal. When your proposal is ready, please send it to our editorial director, James Powell: jpowell@tdwi.org.
Upside's Audience
Upside delivers timely, actionable “short-format” information on transforming data into intelligence, insight, and ultimately impact within any enterprise. We pride ourselves on our unbiased, vendor-neutral focus.
Executives and business leaders come to Upside for the information they need to understand and profit from business intelligence, analytics, and data management strategies. From big data to AI, predictive analytics to data integration, data management to data platforms, Upside explains the technology, best practices, and techniques organizations can use to drive smarter, more profitable decisions.
Upside is also devoted to serving IT leaders, developers, and implementers -- from data scientists and visualization developers to technology architects, BI architects, and data architects. We help these practitioners create new data ecosystems and find the right applications for new technologies, all to improve the bottom line.
We focus on practical information. Our readers are looking for new techniques and approaches they can use today. Please don’t just describe current trends and buzzwords; provide actionable information for putting new technologies or ideas to work in readers' own environments.
Article Topics
Here are some of the topic areas we cover:
- Analytics (real-time streaming analytics, edge analytics, text analytics, predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics, in-memory analytics, analytics in the cloud, data discoverability)
- Big data, including security, privacy, governance, and evolution (Apache Kafka, Storm, Spark, etc.), and regulations (such as the GDPR and CCPA)
- Machine learning/AI/generative AI
- Digital transformation
- Data literacy and data-driven culture
- Data platforms and technologies (data mesh, data fabric, data virtualization, cloud data)
- Next-generation architectures/data warehouse modernization
- Cloud services (technologies, platforms, migration to the cloud, on-premises vs. cloud vs. hybrid platforms, cloud data, cloud analytics, multicloud environments)
- Data management (data storage including data lakes and lakehouses, cloud data management, data catalogs, master data management, structured/unstructured/semistructured/streaming/real-time data, data integration, data preparation/ETL, data modeling)
- Data observability and data quality, and data monitoring
- Staffing, skills training, and building a career; finding new employees, retaining/retraining employees
- Cognitive computing; natural language processing, text analytics, and text disambiguation
- Self-service data preparation and visualization, analytics democratization
- Changing data-related roles, including data scientists, chief data officers, and chief analytics officers
- Interesting data use cases (mind sensors, virtual reality, etc.)
- Data storytelling and visualization (dashboards, metrics, self-service analytics)
- Mobile business intelligence
- The changing role of IT and self-service BI
- Bridging the gap between business and IT
After you've chosen a topic, the next step is to narrow your focus and choose one aspect of the topic to discuss. Here's a list of suggestions to spark some ideas.
- How to evaluate and select a [topic]
- Best practices for [topic]
- Top traps in implementing [topic] and how to avoid them
- Top five trends in [topic] and what you need to know about them
- Measuring [topic] ROI
- Where the [topic] trend is headed
- [Topic] installation and implementation tips and tricks
- Anticipating and solving transition / integration issues in [topic]
- Integrating [topic] in your enterprise
- Overcoming resistance to [topic]
- Avoiding problems in [topic]
- How to optimize [topic] for [BI technology or discipline]
- Securing [topic]
- Getting the most out of / customizing / extending [topic]
- Training your users / IT staff in [topic]
General Submission Guidelines
1. An article must be previously unpublished (has not appeared in any print or online publication anywhere in the world nor on any website and is not simultaneously being offered to another publication during our evaluation)
2. An article must be ours to publish exclusively for a minimum of 90 days
3. All articles must be vendor neutral (author cannot promote any vendor’s product or technology)
4. Articles must between 700 and 1200 words; longer articles typically must be easily divided into a two-part story.
If we agree to publish the article, we will send you a writer’s agreement to sign that outlines these and other terms.
Manuscript Guidelines
Language: The editors are happy to consider submissions from around the globe. However, we strongly recommend that authors for whom English is a second language have their work reviewed for proper grammar, style, and English usage before submitting it to Upside. Articles that would require significant rewriting by the editorial staff cannot be considered for publication.
Formatting: Your manuscript should be saved in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) and sent as an attachment. Please do not use styled templates with special formatting; limit formatting to bold, italics, and bullet lists. You may include tables in your article. We prefer Times New Roman font, 12 point. Do not submit an article saved from Google Docs (conversion errors are problematic for us).
Biography: Your document should include a short biography (no more than 40 words), including your name, job title, company name or affiliation, and email address. Point out any current responsibilities or list one or two career highlights. Please be sure you have your employer's permission to use their name in your bio.
For example:
[Author name] is the [job title] at [company name] where he/she is responsible for [job duties]. You can reach the author at [publishable e-mail address] or [social media address(es)]. (Contact info is optional.)
OR
[Author name] is the [job title] at [company name]. In his/her career, [Author last name] has [2 or 3 career highlights]. You can reach the author at [publishable e-mail address],or [social media address(es). (Contact info is optional.)
Illustrations: If your graphic was created in Microsoft PowerPoint, please send the PPT file with your article submission. Otherwise, illustrations can be sent in a graphic format (.jpg, .png, .tif, etc.). In the text of your manuscript, indicate placement of each chart or graphic by inserting a copy of the image followed by a caption: "Figure 1: Short description of the graphic."
Only original graphics created specifically for your article can be included with your manuscript. Do not include any graphics (for example, an illustration found online) for which you do not have express, written permission to republish on Upside.
Author agreement required: All authors are required to sign a writer's agreement prior to acceptance of an article. We require exclusive publication rights for a minimum of 90 days, after which rights may be shared between TDWI and the author (or his/her employer).
Please contact our editors if you wish to see a copy of this agreement before you make a proposal or submit an article. Note that all articles are included in the Upside archives for an unlimited period.
If you are interested in submitting an article on behalf of your employer, please be sure your employer is willing to provide the necessary exclusive publication rights before proposing the article.
Compensation: TDWI does not compensate authors for the articles we publish in Upside.
If you have any further questions, or to submit an article or proposal, contact the editor.