ECPR PolCom Newsletter – Tutorial

Hi!
This page explains step by step for members of the ECPR PolCom Steering Committee how to create and send the ECPR Standing Group on Political Communication Newsletter, using GitHub.

No coding is required. Everything happens through the GitHub web interface and the ECPR website.

00 · Requirements and Setup

Before you start, make sure the following is in place:

  1. Log-in with:
  • username: ecprpolcom
  • password: shared with steering committee members

Alternatively use your own account or create one:

  1. Create a GitHub account: https://github.com/signup

  2. Ask to be added as a collaborator
    If you’re a steering committee member, please ask thieled to be added to this repository: https://github.com/thieled/ecpr-newsletter

  3. (Optional:) Add billing details and a payment method to your profile settings. No costs will occur, yet this step is required to enable GitHub Models, which is used for the (optional), LLM-powered Step 04 - Summarize a Document

Once you are added, you can:

  • upload files
  • edit newsletter text
  • trigger automated workflows

01 · Create a New Newsletter Issue

Each newsletter lives in its own folder, organized by year and issue number. To automatically create a new folder and copy the template, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Actions tab in the repository
  2. On the left, click 00-Create-new-issue
  3. Click Run workflow (top right)
  4. Enter:
    • Year (e.g. 2025)
    • Issue (e.g. 01)
  5. Click Run workflow

What happens?

  • A new folder is created: issues/YEAR/ISSUE/
  • A newsletter file appears: newsletter_YEAR_ISSUE.qmd

You will see a yellow spinning wheel 🟡 while it runs.
Finished when it turns green 🟢.

Walktrough:

Creating a new newsletter issue.

02 · (Optional:) Upload Documents and Images

Within each issue folder, you can upload:

  • documents (CfPs, job ads, PDFs) → /doc
  • images (used in the newsletter) → /img

Instructions

  1. Click the Code tab
  2. In the folders, navigate to: issues → YEAR → ISSUE
  3. Open either:
    • doc/ (documents)
    • img/ (images)
  4. Click Add file → Upload files
  5. Select your file(s)
  6. Enter a short, informative commit message (example: uploaded cfp innsbruck)
  7. Click Commit changes (green button)

Best practice

  • Do not use whitespace in filenames
  • Use clear names like: cfp_polcom_2026.pdf, krakow.webp

Walktrough:

Uploading an image.

Using Uploaded Files in the Newsletter

All uploaded files are publicly available via GitHub Pages.

Base URL: https://thieled.github.io/ecpr-newsletter/

Always use: base-url + relative/path/from/repo-root/file.type

Example - Relative path: issues/2025/12/img/krakow.png - Full URL: https://thieled.github.io/ecpr-newsletter/issues/2025/12/img/krakow.png

03 · (Optional:) Crop Images to Square Format

Newsletter images work best in 1:1 (square) format. The GitHub repository provides an automated workflow to corp uploaded images.

Instructions

  1. Go to Actions
  2. Click 01-Crop-image
  3. Click Run workflow
  4. Enter:
    • Input path (from repo root), for example: issues/2025/12/img/Krakow.webp
    • Leave output path empty
    • Optional offsets (pixels):
      • -100 moves crop left/up
      • 100 moves crop right/down
  5. Click Run workflow

Result

A new image is created in the same folder: - Krakow_sq.png

It is cropped to square and saved as PNG.

Walktrough:

Cropping an image.

04 · (Optional:) Let a LLM Summarize a Document

To assist you with drafting the newsletter, you can let a language model (gtp-5-mini) create ready-to-use, markdow-formatted newsletter text from a document.

Upload one document for each individual event, call, or opportunity.

Supported formats: - .txt, .pdf, .doc, .docx

(Note: Please note that if you’re using your own account, this workflow only works after you have added payment information to your GitHub profile. For the current workflow, no costs occur though. The account ecprpolcom is ready to go.).

Instructions

  1. Navigate to the sub-folder: issues\YEAR\ISSUE\summarize
  2. Click Add file → Upload files
  3. Upload one document per event/opportunity
  4. Use a clear commit message (example: uploading polcom section cfp 2026)
  5. Click Commit changes

What happens?

  • Summarization runs automatically after upload
  • You can monitor progress under Actions
  • A new file appears in the same folder:
    • yourfile_summary.md

Output contains

  • A flowing announcement text (for the News section)
  • A one-glimpse overview (for Call for Papers / Job Bulletin)

Important: always read and double-check before using.

Example

For example, the markdown-formatted summary for the Call for Papers for the General Conference would look like this:

## Call: Political Communication Between Disruptive Technologies and Democratic Backsliding

::: section

The Standing Group invites submissions to *Political Communication Between Disruptive Technologies and Democratic Backsliding*, a section of the *ECPR General Conference 2026* taking place at **Jagiellonian University** in **Kraków** on **8–11 September 2026**. Chaired by **Johanna Burger** (**Freie Universität Berlin**) and **Thomas Milic** (**University of Zurich**) and endorsed by the ECPR Standing Group on Political Communication, the section seeks research that clarifies how technological change, information disorders, and political strategies interact to affect democratic institutions and public discourse.

We welcome theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions addressing themes such as generative AI and platform dynamics, disinformation and cross-border influence operations, the evolving role of journalism and fact‑checking, and actors’ strategies for resilience and institutional reform. Panel and paper proposals are open until **9 January 2026** — submit your proposal and consult the full guidelines via the link below.

Deadline: **9 January 2026**

<button class="readmore"><a href="https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/SectionDetails/1677">Read more</a></button>

:::

---

## Call – Short

::: job
**Title:** Political Communication Between Disruptive Technologies and Democratic Backsliding (Section S69)  
**Location:** Jagiellonian University, Kraków  
**Deadline:** 9 January 2026  
**Description:** Call for panels and papers on how emerging technologies, information disorders, media intermediaries, and political actors shape democratic vulnerability and resilience.  
<button class="readmore"><a href="https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/SectionDetails/1677">Read more</a></button>
:::

Walktrough:

Summarizing a document.

05 · Edit the Newsletter

The newsletter is written in Quarto markdown, which can be easily transformed in .html but is simpler to edit.

To do so, follow these steps:

Steps

  1. In the Code tab of the repository, navigate to the folder of the current issue: issues → YEAR → ISSUE
  2. Click on newsletter_YEAR_ISSUE.qmd
  3. Click the ✏️ Edit button (top right) - see details below.
  4. Once you’re done editing, click Commit changes.
  5. Add a clear commit message.
  6. Click Commit changes (green button).

Newsletter Structure

You can edit, keep, or delete these sections:

  1. Welcome (editable) & Table of contents (automatically created but can be deleted)
  2. Main News items
  3. Call for Papers overview
  4. Job Bulletin
  5. Publications by members

Do not change anything above: <!-- ===== CONTENT START ===== -->
or below: <!-- ===== FOOTER ===== -->

Markdown Basics

Here are a few markdown formatting basics:

  • Headings: ## Headline
  • Italics: *italic text*
  • Bold: **bold text**

For a more comprehensive guide, see here.

Table of Contents

The table is created automatically from the ## Headlines. To remove it, simply delete this block:

<!-- Table of Contents; Delete if not wished: -->
::: {.issue-toc}
:::

Images

All images included in the newsletter must publicly available, hosted on a web server. Follow the instructions No. 02 and Nr. 03 in this tutorial to upload (and crop images) and find the correct URL.

The correct URL is always the base URL:

https://thieled.github.io/ecpr-newsletter/

plus the relative/path/from/ecpr-newsletter, for example:

https://thieled.github.io/ecpr-newsletter/issues/2025/12/img/Krakow.png

Use this code snippet to insert images - simply replace the URL:

![](https://thieled.github.io/ecpr-newsletter/issues/2025/12/img/Krakow_sq.png){.newsimg width="180"}

Buttons

You can edit the URL and displayed text (“Read more”) of the clickable buttons:

<button class="readmore">
<a href="https://example.com">Read more</a>
</button>

Overview Blocks (CfPs & Jobs)

The items in the Call for Paper and Job Bulletin section are both formatted by a section called ‘job’. You can edit or remove **Title**, **Location** etc. as you wish:

::: job
**Title:** ECREA
**Location:** University of Brno
**Deadline:** NN
**Description:** Short blurb describing the CfP
<button class="readmore"><a href="https://example.com">Read more</a></button>
:::

Walkthrough

Editing a .qmd.

06 · Edit the Publications Section

The newsletter includes a section ‘Recent Publications from our Members’.

Per default, all publications listed in the publications.bib file under /issues/YEAR/ISSUE/publications/ are included and auto-formatted in APA format.

You have three options to edit the publications list:

  • Use a citation manager like Zotero + BetterBibTex to create the .bib entries
  • Manually change .bib entries
  • Ignore .bib and manually format the publication list

Here, I’ll focus on the first method:

Steps

  1. Add the publication items (articles / books) to a Zotero folder of your choice; ask Daniel to get access to a ecpr-polcom-newsletter shared Zotero folder.
  2. Export the items: You can export a single entry or the whole folder in .bib format.
  3. Navigate to /issues/YEAR/ISSUE/publications and edit ✏️ the publications.bib file.
  4. Delete (or manually edit) the template entries and paste your copied entry.
  5. Commit the changes and make sure to re-render the .qmd file (see No. 07 below).

Walkthrough

Editing the publications list.

07 · (Optional) (Re-)Render the Newsletter to HTML

The newsletter must be converted from .qmd into email-safe HTML and with inlined CSS (style guides) for compatibility with E-Mail programs like Outlook.

Luckily, this process is triggered automatically whenever you commit changes in a .qmd file in the /issues subfolder.

Rendering and deploying the html code to the github sever can take a moment (about 30 Sec. - 3 Min.). You can monitor the progress in the Actions tab:

  • As soon as the 02-Render-and-inline-newsletter process has finished 🟢, the .html file is ready.
  • As long as the pages build and deployment process pending 🟡, changes in the newsletter are not yet ‘live’ in the online version of the newsletter. Have patience: Sometimes changes are visible in the live online version with some latency, even after the process has finished.

If you think something has not worked correctly in the automatic workflow, and want to trigger a re-rendering, follow these steps:

Steps

  1. Go to the tab Actions
  2. Click 02-Render-and-inline-newsletter
  3. Click Run workflow
  4. Enter:
    • Year
    • Issue
  5. Click Run workflow (green button)
  6. Wait until the process has finished 🟢

Result

A new .html file appears in the issue subfolder:

newsletter_YEAR_ISSUE.html

Online Preview of the Newsletter

Copy the file path, for example: issues/2025/12/newsletter_2025_12.html

Add the base URL:

https://thieled.github.io/ecpr-newsletter/issues/2025/12/newsletter_2025_12.html

Open the URL in your browser to preview.

08 · Send the Newsletter via ECPR

The final step is to copy the ready .html code to the ECPR newsletter webmail, send a test mail, and then send it to the members.

Steps

  1. Open the .html file on GitHub (in the issue folder)
  2. Click Copy raw file
  3. Go to: https://ecpr.eu/MyECPR/MyProfile?myProfileTabs=MyGroups
  4. Click on ‘Manage’ next to Political Communication group
  5. Open Send an Email
  6. Click CREATE AN EMAIL FOR ALL GROUP MEMBERS
  7. Click Source code (icon top left)
  8. Paste the copied HTML into the message field, nothing eles.
  9. Add a email subject
  10. Testing: Send a Test Mail to your own account (and have some patience) before sending it out to our members.
  11. Send final version: Once you’re satisfied with the content and layout, send the final version.

Walkthrough

Sending.

Done 🎉