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

Hi

I've put a diagram of my interpretation of the Unified Guide Theory here:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B2ZHau0jbhEIMTc0ODg3NjYtMWZkNi00MjIyLWI1MmEtMTE2MTQyZDIzYWFm&hl=en&authkey=CO65vp0G

Let me know if the link doesn't work.

Ben

Great work Hon... I'm so lucky to be married to you, you do housework and diagramming. Just a few questions..

What purpose does separating out certain entries as 'showcase' entries serve? This is an addition division - what's it there for?

>> What purpose does separating out certain entries as 'showcase' entries serve?

It's an attempt to highlight the truly excellent. I'd like to see an annual "best of h2g2" book for sale in all good South American rivers, partly to raise money, partly to bring in readers and partly to bring in writers.

The idea is to open up h2g2 for a wider range of readers by providing a wider range of writing and to make the really cool stuff easy, or easier, to find.

>> This is an addition division - what's it there for?

It's not really an additional division more a way of highlighting the truly excellent. Um... how can I explain....? A showcase entry on - I dunno - Mary Queen of Scots - would be categorised with its historical period, as biography and history, maybe also categorised by the different places it mensions. In fact ANY entry about Mary Queen of Scots would be categorised in those ways. But this entry is super-excellent reading so it is ALSO categorised as a showcase entry.

Have I explained that ok?

Ben

Ummm. I rather thought Pinn meant that the Showcase was the Unified Guide actually. Ie what was called the Edited Guide and the Underguide is now the Showcase, and everything has to be seriously good to make it in.

Not that we necessarily need to do that, and I haven;t read the thread in a few days, so I might be wrong of course, but...

Lovely picture though.

I think that having only one bar and setting it that high's unworkable. This approach gives us the chance to offer writers as much or as little help as they need, and it rewards real quality while making it possible to maintain and build up the day to day content. Sort of like health and safety standards for all restaurant kitchens as the base line and just a few of them having Michelin stars.

Combining the Underguide and Edited Guide: I've never had any problem with the Underguide being there. I just have no interest in it. As long as it is always possible to tell that a Guide Entry is fact rather than fiction, I've no objection to the Underguide being combined with the Edited Guide.

Lovely diagram, and I like all the different things on the right hand side!

For me Showcase (as discussed somewhere...) is like a badge of honour. In addition to being in the Edited (Unified) guide, it's so good it gets extra mention.

(Boy, I think it's time to set up a h2g2c2 glossary, and start picking the favoured terms and definitions...)

I suppose I just volunteered...

F20484620?thread=8101246

It's already underway. More terms are good though.