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

Since the Faint Blues are already represented, we probably have to do this.

Matriculated 1976, but at least still alive. (First fact : the UofO is reputed to have more dead alumni than any other academic institution in the world)

There are a few others out there. I know many of you like to be discreet about it, but it might be time to come out...

Thanks Pinniped! This could be a lengthy one - ideally, we'd have an Entry on Oxford University and on each college as there's quite a bit more focus on choosing a specific college than there is at other universities. Which college did you go to?

But then again, it depends on how much info we end up with - if we had a really long Entry on Oxford, we'd have to divide it anyway (for the mobile service as much as anything).

Keble, which probably figures.

You're certainly right about length and scope. Even disregarding individual college Entries (which would run to a lot : certainly well over 30, though I'm not sure how many) I racked up a list of a dozen separate Entries, no trouble.

There are probably only half-a-dozen colleges that would command an individual Entry, I reckon. Certainly Christ Church and Magdalen, plus maybe Balliol, Merton, Oriel, University. I guess otherResearchers would have their own slant, though. (A good way to describe the Uni might be a semi-travelogue - Entries on the main thoroughfares of the town, and the places off them).

Quite a tough call writing Oxford. I'm probably not ideal on account of elapsed time, but I also think that Oxford doesn't fit the model set out on the top page for 'Alternative Prospectus' Entries. It doesn't really belong to today's students in the way that most other Unis do.

Maybe it's just me, but the history seems more appropriate than the prospectus style. Maybe there's a risk in the elitism thing, but there's surely a lot more to the place than a contemporary snapshot. Like it or not, Oxford changes it's people, and for a thousand years it's people have then gone on to change the world.

Let's see who else shows up before we go too much further

Just to get us started, here's a very rough draft. Mainly for structure. Guidance on comtent particularly sought.

A11381997

I think the structure of this is really good. I think it'd be good to have insider information on things such as atmosphere - but that would be better in individual college Entries (which hopefully we'll get as time goes on!)

I do think that the application process can be confusing to outsiders, though, and I think it might be worth explaining how that works - the whole preferences thing (in the Entry Requirements section).

Thanks, Pinniped - great stuff.

Thanks, Natalie

Let's give it a few days and see if anyone else comes in. If not, I'll have a go single-handed.

On the application process, preferences etc - there's already a good description including Oxbridge vagaries in the EG : A626762

I'm looking to head off to Oxford next year, so this will be very interesting if finished in time. If there's any area I might be helpful with, let me know, but obviously I haven't actually started a course yet , so I'm probably utterly useless to you. i was going to offer myself up for the applications process, but that does seem to be covered already.

Hi Vamster

Not at all useless. Your ideas about what to include are as valid and as valuable as mine.

...OK, so that's not very valid, and even less valuable, but a team of two certainly sounds better than a team of one...

Surprising that no-one else has shown up. Still, give it a while longer yet...

Pin(mindful of the fact that it's bad form to go around outing Researchers on the basis of their academic orientation)

I am going on a school trip to keble college tommorrow, so I should be able to write an entry on that. Plus my mum works at stroud college so I might be able to get some info. Just thought I'd let you know.

...only I'd kind of thought of doing Keble myself, it being my Alma Mater and all.
It's a moot point whether Keble merits an Entry in a less-than-Universal collection of Oxford colleges. It could be done, I think, but it would probably need to be anecdotal rather than guide-book factual.

Yeah, after thinking about it - please leave Keble to me, if you don't mind

Does each college merit a full entry? Or should it be a collective entry, with paragraphs on each one, from whatever experience we have of them? I think you're right though, about it being anecdotal. It's a much better way of describing a place where people live and work than mere facts and figures, and would probably be more helpful; information is always available in prospectuses, etc.In short, I suggest a twist.

But then again, will it fit into the Edited guide rules?

Thanks for this, everyone.

In an ideal world, we'd have an Entry on each college, and link to each in each Entry, as otherwise the Entry will be extremely long. We try to steer clear of really long Entries - among other things, they cause problems for the mobile service.

The Guide isn't a place for Entries that are formed from purely personal opinion, but it's still possible to include anecdotal stuff in Entries and keep within the Edited Guide rules - it's just a matter of how it's put together. We do have Entries with 'This Researcher remembers:', followed by a blockquote, or another way to phrase it is 'some students have found that such-and-such a bar is a good one' etc. As comments like these will be among historical stuff and so on, they can help form really good balanced Entries.

Ok, be my geust.

University of Oxford was great - did my clinical years im Medicine there - started out in St. Andrews, Scotland though -----they don't have a page for that though......he he he.

Wattaray

No page for St. Andrews?

Any progress on the Oxford Project?

No. No progress.
It would be interesting as a co-operative effort, but I've no real desire to write a solo piece on the subject, or even to be the main contributor to a collaborative piece.
If anyone else wants to take it on, with or without that early draft as a basis, then be my guest.