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

Thanks for the loo brush, Tav.

Ummm... I just saw them pages in the new skin...
Is it me or does it look like the dolphins in the banner are
*leaving* ?
Martin
---
Excuse the footwear induced halitosis

Maybe they were just answering Nature's call, and will be back momentarily.

I've always prefered Carl Sandburg's version of the elephant story - more fitting for h2g2, too!

http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com/2003/02/elephants-are-different-to-different.html

I just put the h2g2 sale announcement out for researchers subscribed to twitter accounts @h2g2c2 and @h2g2_Guide to retweet. Researchers in the facebook group h2g2 Community Consortium can share the announcement there.

[Goes around house gathering pennies from various cookie jars and casserole dishes. Starts counting....]

Can I buy the site with the pennies I've saved?

Blog the Fourteenth Sunday 20th February 2011 So the big news from, well it would be last week now, is that h2g2 has been officially put up for sale. You can read the announcement of that here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/forums/A639056/conversation/view/F77636/T8072491 The Interim Commitee has since been running around like headless chickens... *cough* ...considering its options, and has concluded that actually, the original plan is still the best. In other words, we will continue to to be open to the option of backing a sensible outside bid, bit also prepapre for making a bid on the site ourselves. To this end, the Interim Committe has braved even nuclear warheads and asked those nice people on Magrathea for the use of their workshop. It only cost us one whale and a bowl of petunias too. The idea of Magrathea's Workshop is to provide documentation to describe how h2g2 could be run on a day to day basis once the BBC pull out. http://www.bbc.co.uk/user/U14791015 We aim to look at a couple of topics each week. This week, those topis are new writing guidelines... http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A81601184 ...and permission and user roles. http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A81616494 If you don't want the noonoohootoo to end up with pink sky, black sand, orange sea and regular showers of fish, come over and have your say.

Arrggghhh, they're all links to it on the new skin arn't they?

Bwahahahahahahahaha.

I'll try.

GT

Question: if the bidding process is confidential, how would we even know who the other bidders are? If we don't know who they are, then we won't know whom to back.

They know our name. They know where we live.

So...........they would contact us?

The h2g2 Community Consortium has a google group, a webpage, two twitter accounts and a facebook page. Any serious buyer out there can find us.

That's good, then.

Blog the Fifteenth Saturday 26th February 2011 So Magrathea's Workshop is up and churning out the crinkly bits of fjords. http://www.bbc.co.uk/user/U14791015 But someone needs to oversee the work being done developing documents to describe how h2g2 could work in the future. It doesn't have to be a member of the Interim Committee, in fact, it's better if it isn't. We propose that each topic has a different foreman... err, four women? 42 small furry creatures from Alpha Centuri? We'll schedule the pages so they go up at a rate of one, maximum two, a week so nobody burns out. If you would like to help out, or just check out who to buttonhole and demand that the badgers are sweeter smelling this iteration, check out the conversaton here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/user/U14791015/conversation/view/F20484619/T8086907/page/1

The Entry for discussing Categories and Tags A81968890 is up and I've learned some GuideML too.

! Martin
--- I thought I heard a Dolphin Whistle...

Wednesday 9th March 2011

Magrathea's Workshop is still continuing to hammer away at the concept of NooHooToo. It's getting quite urgent now, as the Interim Committee will have to start the final preparation of the Vision within the next week for so.

New areas of construction that need your input are:

The Unified Guide Theory, whereby what is currently the factual Edited Guide and the non-factual UnderGuide would be merged, with excellence being the only criteria for entry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A81667227

The discussion of how categories and tags could work, especially in conjunciton with the Unified Guide Theory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A81968890

Editorial processes and volunteer schemes, which contains some radical ideas about running the Unified Guide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A82271775

Site structure, which deals with the design of NooHooToo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A82030880

A PESTEL analysis of Political, Econonomic, Social, Technological and Legal challenges to NooHooToo and how we can rise to them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A82191945

Ongoing are the discussions shaping:

New editorial guidelines for the new Guide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A81601184

User roles and rights.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/entry/A81616494

NooHooToo needs you! Get over there right now and Do Your Duty! What will you say to your grandchildren when they ask you what you did in the changeover! Ask not what Magrathea's Workshop can do for you, but what you can do for Magrathea's Workshop. Etc etc etc.

Blog the Seventeenth. Friday 18th March 2011 St Patrick's day was the last day that anyone could express an interest in bidding for the site. We got our expression of interest in very early, but the BBC have been appropriately tight lipped about any other potential bidders. The next steps are both more open and more closed - more open because the BBC will be able to talk more openly to the Interim Committee, but more closed because the Interim Committee may need to treat information like our costings as confidential and not publish them on the site for any competititive bidders to see. The main point is that even if we don't know who's bidding, the BBC do, and no-one now can come late to the party. The other update this week is news of the additions to the Great Big Document. A new version has been posted every night, and it is about 60% finished now. This week's additions are the summary of the Unified Guide Theory discussions, sections summarising the community discussions on Moderation and Disciplinary procedures, Tavaron and Malabarista's delicious new Skins, a very high level look at categories and tagging, and a lot of illustrations and diagrams. You can view the GBD here. Or if that doesn't work, here. Folks have been asking about the Great Big Document, what it is and what is for. It's something we can give to anyone who wants to know about our thoughts on how h2g2 should be run. In theory it's all you'd have to read on the subject, but it does include a lot of links back to the site and out elsewhere. It's not our actual bid, but it's a starting point for it. We'll certainly give it to the BBC, but we'll also show it to other bidders because we want the successful owners to work with us, not against us. How can they know what we want if we don't tell them? The next steps are for us to really start following the bid process as outlined by the BBC, and for us to complete the work on the document. The main bits left to do are how to look after the Community, engagement with the rest of the web, and the minor matters of technology and money. Discussions about promoting the Guide, attraching and retaining Researchers and attracting and retaining Readers are taking place here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/user/U14791015/conversation/view/F20484619/T8121071/page/1 A busy old week at h2g2c3 then.