Planning and capture
#Before the activity
#Start with a small content brief. Record the audience, central question, purpose, likely formats, owner, and publication channels. Decide what must be captured and whether anything needs special consent, privacy, or attribution.
During the activity
#Capture should be light enough that it does not take over the work. A basic record may include a short log, clear photographs, credits, useful quotes, measurements, links, and the next question. Larger projects may need someone responsible for documentation so the maker does not have to do two jobs at once.
Editing and publishing
#Move raw material into a shared, searchable location. Keep dates, credits, permissions, and project links attached. Select the primary story before producing variations. Check facts, edit for clarity, and prepare alt text, captions, or transcripts.
Adapt the primary piece to each channel's constraints. Give enough context for someone encountering alwaysbecooking for the first time, and assign responsibility for replies.
Response, reuse, and review
#Record useful questions, corrections, contributions, and follow-up ideas. Connect published work back to its source. Review what was useful, what caused confusion, and whether it led to a visit, contribution, conversation, reuse, or new question. Reach is one signal among these.
Supporting infrastructure
#This workflow needs simple shared infrastructure:
- an idea backlog for observations and unfinished stories;
- a calendar for time-sensitive publishing and recurring programmes;
- a clear status for each piece, such as captured, editing, review, scheduled, published, or archived;
- a media library with searchable files, credits, consent, and usage notes;
- reusable briefs, capture guides, and publishing checklists;
- periodic editorial reviews where new formats can be proposed and weak routines can be dropped.
The system should make contribution easier without making every person produce polished content. Someone may submit one photograph, a voice note, or an observation. Editing and publishing can remain a separate responsibility.
Publishing principles
#Evidence over performance
#We prefer concrete details over broad claims and evidence of work over staged activity. We can show uncertainty, failed attempts, repairs, and changes of mind. We do not need to film everything or turn participation into performance.
Consent, credit, and care
#People should know when and where material about them may be published. Contributors, sources, photographers, translators, and knowledge holders should be credited. Cultural and community knowledge requires context, consent, and benefit to the people sharing it. Work involving children, private spaces, sensitive locations, or personal information needs stronger limits.
Language and access
#Language should follow the people and subject. Assamese and other local languages should be used when they make the work more accurate or accessible. Published media should include captions, transcripts, image descriptions, and readable visual treatments where the format allows.
Platforms and corrections
#We will learn the habits of each platform without letting an algorithm determine our subjects, pace, or voice. Corrections should be visible. Old work should be revisited when circumstances change. The goal is a body of public work that people can recognize, use, question, and contribute to over time.