h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Going_Digital
I stumbled into Domesday Reloaded out of curiosity.
I posted there and you were the first to reply.
You would gather that my concern is with the future of this site.
If you find this post simply reply to it as you would do in the Domesday Reloaded site.
Hope to make contact with you.
Domesday Reloaded - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/domesday

I Ancient Brit

The Domesday Project has been an ongoing saga with the BBC, for many years a group of us have been trying to figure out a way to get it on-line but legal issues prevented it. The 'disposal' of H2G2 by the BBC does seem to be taking a long time but I suppose it is better than just dropping it.

Glad you came over Going_Digital
The Domesday project looks well set for success. It was my objective to invite someone over to h2g2 from another BBC site. We have always welcomed people on arrival just thought I'd try another tack. I'm glad you came over but I gather that you are employed by the BBC in some capacity. My approach to you is unofficial, just a loaner trying out an experiment before the fate of h2g2 is decided. I'm not sure how you will find this post unless you come over and look for it. I can go to the Domesday site and post a link there but that is not very efficient.
Having got you here I'm not quite sure what to do next.
I'll think about it. I think the Blogg comment area has to be along the lines of a message board.
By the way the BBC did involve h2g2 in their ventures with 'Book of the Future' and the 'World War Two'.
I hope you will have a look around h2g2. You are pesently in the Message Centre of Your Space but there is much more to discover.
You can find out quite a bit about me by clicking on my name. This will take you to My Space.
I'll see what I can find out about in the Domseday Site.
See you around Ancient Brit.

Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not employed by the BBC but rather someone who has been involved in trying to revive the domesday project from the digital graveyard that it was assigned to. The original domesday project was an huge undertaking by the BBC and was not very successful at the time, however it remains a valuable historic record of everyday life in the 1980's.

I guess you assumed I was with the BBC due to my involvement in the domesday blog. It is just that I have made a number of friends in the BBC in my attempts to help get the data published. I know the person responsible for technical work on the project and the person who sorted out the legal issues, sadly one has retires and the other is being made redundant. Having been privileged to have an inside knowledge of the development of domesday reloaded I have been answering peoples questions on the blog. I run a community website http://www.domesday1986.com/ for people who are interested in the preservation and future of the domesday project.

I notice that you have suggested that H2G2 should be part of domesday reloaded but although the two have some crossover they are idea and purpose is very different. H2G2 is a compilation of knowledge on all subjects as an ongoing reference work. The domesday project was specifically designed to offer a snapshot of life at the time and the BBC are asking for updated versions of pictures and text to show a comparison to today. Come November if the BBC have their way the project will be shutdown and given to the national archives.

I am far from being disappointed. I have succeeded in my objective and got you over here but I have to admit it as much due to your internet experience as it is to my dabbling. The reason I say that h2g2 could be part of Domesday Reloaded is that there are many researched and edited guides in h2g2 that would well fit the project.
They are also similar in the way that BBC decisions influence their future.
The link that intrigues me is that you and I are tied together by the BBC single sign in system that allocates us with 'U' number. You have been given 14554025 mine is 197657. This is interesting because trace the numbers back to their source and you get h2g2 researchers with number 42 the answer to 'what is life', the question put to the computer in Douglas Adams Novel 'Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Stick U42 into h2g2 web site and we get http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/U42.
It has long been a Hobby Horse of mine that BBC communities should be brought together as one 'Big Internet Society' instead of wallowing around as separate entities.

Personally I think Douglas Adams' best work is The Salmon of doubt, I never really 'got' hitch hikers but that might be because I was at school playing with the BBC Micro in those days.

The old Beeb was my first computer. Bought in 1883 when I took early retirement/redundancy from the Steel Industry. It was 9 years later I took on Windows and the Internet, joining h2g2 in 2002, about the time of the BBC rescue plan :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A896097
You will see I have 'Stumbled' around a bit.
By the way I am stiil using the old h2g2 site. I assume that you are too because your 'apostrophes' are not being corrupted.
PS - We may be joined by Mrs Zen http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/U500175 (Ben of old)
If you get bored please tell me so.

And now of course I have to join in.

I'm hock-deep in the project to try to save h2g2, and we've selected what we obviously hope is a winning strategy. We don't know yet if it is, and we don't know when we will know.

What I do know is that if h2g2's to survive, then a key part will be enabling the ideas of us - the users - to come about. But they have to be both good and workable!

So what are you thinking here AB? In simple terms for a simple fool?

Ben

Ben - I have always believed that the sites using dna the BBC website engine extracted from h2g2 would one day be directly interlinked. No stay at home Archers, disabled members of !Ouch and singled out Message boards. A get together under the stewardship of h2g2. I tried it in tthe early days but my efforts were discouraged. I'm trying it again to demonstate that whilst here in h2g2 we are set up to welcome newcomers we could go out and invite people to become part of one Big BBC internet Community.
Going_Digital has succeeded in convincing the BBC that Doomsday Reloaded is a project worth their attention. It is set up under a Blogging header but the community area of the site is a DNA driven,h2g2 influenced, Message Board.
There just has to be a way of convincing the BBC that there is a place for h2g2 in their future plans for online communication. The proof of the site as a writing centre is easy to demonstrate but it's value as an online community centre goes unnoticed. Is it the International scale of the site that scares them off. ?

Ouch! has now been 'blogged' and for some reason moved over to BBC News after a successful ten years within the BBC Learning family of websites :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ouch/2011/06/ouch_moves_to_bbc_news.html
The DNA driven sites and message boards are being picked off one by one.
They were born here :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/hub/Communities
The remains can be found here :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/