Our Content Methodology

We’re often asked—how does Atma develop its content? Do you have a content methodology—that is, a content philosophy?

The short answer is yes, absolutely. Let us explain.

First, Atma means “higher understanding,” and that’s what we aim to deliver through all of our content solutions. Our videos and learning content offer a distinctive blend of accurate facts and analysis infused with our unique content methodology, philosophy, and editorial approach.

In essence, as social scientists, our academically rooted methodology provides in-depth, reliable analysis of the intersection of business, global affairs, cultures, and countries and offers practical, actionable insights.

To achieve these unique insights, our editorial approach is a collective hive effort involving teams of subject-matter experts.

 

A word about our experts.

We put together a team of subject-matter experts for each new country, business, or global topic. Most of them possess a master’s or PhD in business or the social sciences. We strongly value the practitioner-academic model, and most of our experts are professionals who have extensive experience actually working, managing, and operating within and across cultures. We integrate theory with practical, real-world experience and insights.

Of relevance, they have worked and usually lived in-country for an extended period of time. Our experts may or may not be native to that country or culture. We believe that just being born into a country or culture does not make someone an expert on that culture. In fact, living as a foreigner in another culture or country can often provide an essential point of view that complements a native perspective. Accordingly, each team includes both native and non-native experts. They are diverse by a wide range of visible and invisible characteristics such as location, age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, thought, and perspective.

We are convinced that drawing experts from a broad pool makes for better, in-depth, and more accurate learning content—and the breadth of perspectives and experiences leads to richer debate within our content teams.

We assign a lead expert to develop the content according to our guidelines, which is then vetted for accuracy and thoroughness through our exhaustive, inclusive peer-review process.

The result is that this hive editorial approach allows our subject-matter experts to speak with a collective voice grounded in fact and analysis, not individual opinion or perspective.

Do our writers have opinions? They most certainly do. Don’t we all? But opinions belong in op-eds, not in our learning content. By using a practical framework and academic methodology, we take great care to ensure that no one subject matter expert’s perspective dominates the analysis. Accordingly, our learning content is the work of Atma’s hive mind rather than that of a single author. We believe strongly that what is conveyed is more important than who writes it.

We value and preserve the integrity and high quality of our learning content. It helps that we’re independently owned and our founder embodies the practitioner-academic mindset.

 

The Atma Methodology

A few more notes on our learning content methodology, philosophy, and editorial approach.

• We believe that the clarity of our content development follows the clarity of our thought.
  • As a result, we’re committed to providing thoughtful, analytical insights through objective, well-researched, academically comprehensive perspectives.
  • We ground our analysis in seasoned insights that are globally accepted and applicable.
• We value the experience and perspectives of our learners and users while still upholding our editorial independence. In other words, rest assured that social media does not influence our editorial process.
• Our approach is what we call “globally centric with honest optimism,” meaning that we strive to ensure that anyone in the world will feel that our learning content is relevant for them and our analysis is honest and fair.
• Our users rely on us to keep them well informed about cultures, countries, business, and key global issues. We’re expanding our library of video content to include the G20, more regional insights, and the social sciences.
• Let’s be clear that we’re not a news source. There’s plenty of them out there. But since many news sources lack the depth of knowledge about a country or culture and occasionally insert a perspective rather than provide a fact-based analysis, we seek to help professionals and educators fill that gap. We use objective data and research to inform our analysis, and all of our editorial output is fact-checked and peer-reviewed.
• We recognize that as institutions transform globally, they are often hiring social scientists to guide their understanding of an international market, either by geographic region or by culture. Atma operates at the intersection of business, global affairs, and culture, utilizing education and technology to transform how professionals, educators, and students equip themselves with critical, accurate, and unique insights.
• Fact-checking and corrections:
  • All of our learning content is checked for accuracy and credibility. We also consider whether the context and presentation of the facts are fair. Having said that, we’re not perfect, and occasionally we make an error. We aim to acknowledge serious factual errors and correct such mistakes quickly, clearly, and appropriately. If you identify a factual error, please email us!