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

...are the first words on this page:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3992875.stm

The rest of the page goes on to give an outline of the announcement made today about a radical change that is about spill through bbc.co.uk.

Is h2g2 safe? Can we continue to happily spend our time here?


Geggs

I heard this on radio four earlier, and immediatley logged on... our time here may be brief,
lest we outstay our welcome
presserve our unique badgeristic insanity
on the BBC or elsewhere we go

They won't take us alive.

and if they try; I'll set the badgers on them

I'm fairly sure it won't come to that, I mean they've got all that money saved from letting Channel 4 get The Simpsons

I don't think we'll close. Some of the points from the remit:

"At least 25% of the BBC's online content to be supplied externally by 2006"

h2g2 was initially a non-BBC website; it is built by non-BBC employees. Therefore we are technically external.

"Deliver greater public value through the online medium"

I barely need to argue this one, do I? We have huge value and variety.

"Link bbc.co.uk to more external, high-quality third-party content."

We are probably the best BBC site at doing this, thanks to the EG links.

Ensure bbc.co.uk makes a substantial contribution to towards a 100% digital UK.

We're an online encyclopedia. How much more substantial do we have to be?

Make bbc.co.uk easier for users to find their way around and to give feedback to the BBC.

Again, we are one of the best at this - every EG entry has BBC Links at the bottom.

Additionally:

We are HHGTTG-themed. Everyone knows that HHGTTG is the 'cool' thing at the Beeb right now, what with the new Radio Series, and the forthcoming film. That must make us safe for a few years at least.

We are flexible, interactive, educated and non-dictatorial - all qualities the BBC stands for.

If the worst comes to the worst, I bet Jim Lynn knows a few people who would be extremely glad to host h2g2. It wouldn't be the first host change now, would it?

B

Hmm, good arguments Master B. But I'm still worried.

Do we have a duty under the circumstances to make sure that new threads promote social inclusivity? Should we be looking for sponsors?

Mol

You mean people who advertise?

Not on the Beeb!

B

Tell that to Peter Kay.

Remember peeps, Parkin is available at Dutsons on Bury Road in Bolton, and at local bakers and confectioners in your area

>>Tell that to Peter Kay.

Remember peeps, Parkin is available at Dutsons on Bury Road in Bolton, and at local bakers and confectioners in your area <<

That would have to be the most parochial post I have seen on h2, and to this non-Brit it's unintelligble


MB, if Jim Lynn isn't an employee of the BBC, who does he work for? Or were you referring ot the ?

>>"At least 25% of the BBC's online content to be supplied externally by 2006"<<

Isn't most of the content on h2 externally supplied in that most of us aren't BBC employees. I'm thinking especially the researchers who write guide entries

>> Immediately after the Graf report was published, it was announced that five BBC websites were to close as they were not considered distinctive enough from commercial alternatives. <<

As there is *no* commercial alternative to H2G2 * I think we should be safe for the time being.

RF

* On this planet

Well there were commercial alternatives, but that was in the days before h2g2 was under the Beeb's wing. The dot com bubble put pay to them, and any serious UK based equivalents in the near future.

You mean that I get my first entry into the edited guide, and the BBC starts to think of closing the site. Well isn't that typical of my life!

I agree with Master B, almost all of our content is external because we write it. As for social inclusivity - which other part of society would let those lunatic nighthooverists in? I'll tell you - no-one! We deserve to be kept going for the simple reason we keep 2legs off the street.
I am worried about Talk Buffy though

While not wanting to be complacent h2g2 must be one of the best in class Online Learning Communities. Prof. Stephen Heppell and the ULTRALAB team are some of the leading thinkers in this field and a recent paper (Jones, S & Terrell, I. June 2004) identified some key concepts as Learning, Participants, Facilitation, Community, Technology and Participation. h2g2 scores highly in all these. Also Prof. Heppell stated long ago that 'Content is not king'.

As one of the foudations of the BBC is education I would argue that h2g2 makes a very positive, technologically advanced contribution to that.

You took the words right out of my mouth B, you word stealer you

C'mon! I only manage one or two really verbose posts per month. You can't tell me you were going to say all that?

B

*Lurks looking worried*

*pats Z reassuringly*

Don't worry, we won't go out with a whimper but a bloody great bang!

get your dressing gowns on, round up all the , demo at the towers, storm the bastille,fight them on the peaches, ooh, this is fun....

zdt