Rod's Broadcast: The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Created | Updated Jan 30, 2012
Our Rod is becoming a radio personality. We're not surprised, because we remember a certain video clip. Best of all, Rod is letting the people Down Under know all about us. (Brush your hair and put on a clean t-shirt.) Our new on-air talent has agreed to share some of his copy with us. We are grateful.
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
From time to time I'll be reading bits and pieces that I've written for the website that I use... that website is h2g2 – get your pencil and paper, I'll repeat that in a minute.
If any of you have read The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy you will recognise the reference. If you haven't read it, borrow a copy. It's a trilogy in five parts. Yes, you heard.
Now, the author, Douglas Adams, in his youth, hitch-hiked all over Europe. He made notes about places he saw, passed through or spent time in. One morning he woke up in a field, with a rather unfriendly hangover and … this idea...
A little later, some of his friends gathered around and started a website. It's a Guide. It is not – repeat, Not – an encyclopaedia, though it is learnéd in places – if you look.
It started out as somewhere its members would write about their villages, towns, counties, countries and anything else they were interested in – museums, art galleries, pubs worth visiting, the best coffee houses, cafés... and so on.
A few years on, it became apparent that the original idea of constantly updating it wasn't going to work – there was just Too Much Of It, so the character of the place (the website) gradually evolved. Nowadays you can find articles dating back as far as 1999. There are conversations too, and not necessarily about those articles. Not many of 'em are, actually...
The heart and mind of the place is the Guide – the Edited or Approved Guide where members (called researchers) write articles (entries) on what interests them – places, books, anything under the sun and beyond.
If and when you write an entry for the guide, if you're not too sure about your writing skills you can submit it to a writing workshop where skilled people (and others) will provide help and guidance with knocking it into shape. Once you're confident, you can publish it directly or, if you wish, submit it to Peer Review, where people like you will discuss it, make suggestions and help you to correct any mistakes. After a suitable gestation period it may be accepted for the guide and, if so, sent to a sub-editor, then an editor and then - and then, mentioned on the Front Page and put in the Guide.
There are currently something over 10,000 of these Approved Entries in the Guide – and goodness knows how many that aren't formally approved – so you're not likely to run out of reading for a while.
One further point: If you do have an entry approved (there's no compulsion) You will hold the copyright. Note though, that the website owners (Not Panicking Ltd) also hold copyright to your work – well, they did enable you, eh?
We also have quite a few forums (or should that be fora? Nah. Forums). Among them are Miscellaneous Chat, devoted to just that and Ask h2g2, where you can ask a question about anything you like and have a good chance that someone will know a bit more about it than you. There is also a, er, Ess eX forum, that's SeX, short for Science eXplained where you can ask about things you're unsure about, from Astronomy to Zoology. There are some clever people there and if none in that field of science, chances are you'll be told “sorry, don't know - but from what I've read...” or somesuch.
Originally it was just this idea, see? The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To Life, The Universe and Everything.
Now, it's just this actuality, see? The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To Life, The Universe and Everything.
Have you got your pencil and paper? C'mon, hurry up!
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy – H H G G, two h's, two g's. h2g2. That's little h, number 2. little g, number 2. Dot Com. Put it into your browser's address bar – or do a search.
It is a place whose raison d'etre is, quite simply, Literacy. Yes, that's the thing – Literacy. Mind you, there are times when you can be forgiven for thinking otherwise... but then, it's peopled by, er, people, after all.
It is not a fanclub. I'll say that again: It Is NOT a Fanclub. Naturally, from time to time there are comments, quotations, obscure references but just ignore 'em and carry on... there aren't too many.
Visit. Explore. You can read as much as you like, go where you like, when you like. Wonder at the erudition, at the repartee, at the silliness. Read as much as you like.
Read what you like but if you actually want to say anything, you have to join (but that's mostly painless) and it doesn't cost anything (except mebbe yer sanity).
little h, number 2. little g, number 2. dot com.
Click on the picture below to listen to the recording.
