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

Entry: Marching Music Bands in Northern Ireland. - A87852351
Author: Thomas - U15001093

The entry is a book review about a book that tells the story about Ulster Protestant Bands. The author of the book accompanied one of those bands for around a year and tells his story on a balanced and unbiased level.

The intention on my side to write this entry is to give it to the notice of a wider readership who might not be that familar with the subjet of that book and are not from Northern Ireland. The entry addresses more, but not exclusively, the people living in those parts of Great Britain where such events are rather rare to witness.

The entry also aims at giving a contrasted view on the subject in regards of the media reports which are often one-sided and negative. This is a matter these bands have constantly to struggle with. The prejudices are maintained by the media because they concentrate and report rather from and about "tension hot spots" where rioting and misbehaviour by provocations from and on both sides were the cause of it.

I think, that it is right to bring the reverse of the story regarding the background of these bands to the fore in order to support a more balanced view on them. What the reader of the book and so I hope, as well from my review can take is, that these band members are normal people, neither interested in politics nor in riots when on marching. They simply love and not less of them really live for their culture and music. The bands are a centre for socialising among themselves and with others from their wide community. That there are still less people from the outside of their Protestant community is due to the still maintained divide on political and sometimes really sectarian grounds in Northern Ireland.

I´ve just selected the parts from the 14 chapters which I found important to cite in order to give a view on what is essential and to point out where the problems they´re confronted with come from.

The book itself is an insight into the diversity of culture in that part of the UK which is often neglected in Britain or loathed because of the negative press they receive because a minority of bullies like to play rough during the high season which culminate in the 12th July parades. The fast majority of these marching events went peacefully and decent by consent among the two communities there. What the outside world is present with are the few "hot spots" at the usual places when rioting occures. If there isn´t any rioting at all, as this happened in Belfast on the 12th July las year, there is no media cover. This onesided picking of sensentionalism is part of the reasons for why the negative picture of these bands still prevail. I like to point out the realities not mentioned by the press.

The author of the book is himself a journalist by profession.

Hi Thomas

First let me welcome you, we all like to see new authors contributing here

As you said the Entry is a bit long, I count it as 4,903 words as I read it, I try to keep a maximum of 5,000 words for a single entry, and most here think that that is far too long.

Your subject is very interesting, and can make a great addition to the Guide.

I do not understand Irish politics and need a bit of an explanation about 'Unionist', 'Loyalist' and 'Republicans'. I suspect the first is Protestant, pro UK and the later two are pro-Irish Republic, but that is just a guess. The terms have far different meanings in the US.

As you are writing about a marching band my first question is how many people are involved, and what instruments do they play? No need for exact numbers, just a feel for what the band is. You also mention flag bearers, I would like to know a bit about them also.

Just a note to let you know something it took me a while to learn, I do not want to read the answers here in this thread, but in the revised Entry itself.

Thank you for contributing Looking forward to seeing this progress!



F S

Hi Florida Sailor,

Thank you for your words of welcome.

I didn´t count the number of words used in my entry.

Unionists and Loyalists are on the same side, they are both British and Irish but not in the way the Irish Republicans and Nationalists see themselves as Irish. Their loyalty belongs to the British State and Crown.

As the entry states, it is a book review in the first place to give people who are not familiar with the subject an first insight on what is behind that tradition of marching bands in Northern Ireland.

I can provide you some links regarding the numbers of people being members of such bands but this has to go through this conversation, not the entry itself because it would expand the topic too much and led away from the book review itself.

I´m sorry but won´t alter my entry in any way. I can add further information and links via this thread. That is, to me, the proper way to handle further questions.

Thanks for reading the entry and for your compliments.

Regards,
Thomas

Hello Thomas

Thanks for contributing this to h2g2, it is an intriguing topic and one that I don't know anything about other than the negative images reported in the news.

The aim of Peer Review is to encourage other people to read what you have written and make suggestions that they feel will make your entry better. Especially bearing in mind that not everyone who wants to read this will be from Northern Ireland and necessarily know enough to be able to appreciate what you have written fully.

Florida Sailor, as you can guess from the name, is from Florida. He has enjoyed reading your article, but understandably does not know some unfamiliar terms that people from Northern Ireland use every day, just as if I went to Florida there are doubtlessly words, expressions etc that I would struggle with and not understand unless I asked someone. If you want to encourage a wide readership to enjoy your entry, it is a good idea to ensure that it has as wide an appeal as possible and provide explanations in the entry as to what these terms mean.
After all, you want readers to keep reading – you can't expect them to stop reading your entry and read through long conversations on the off-chance that an explanation can be found there.

In this case, Florida Sailor has asked for definitions of 'Unionist', 'Loyalist' and 'Republicans'. Presumably you do not want people to stop reading because they are unfamiliar with what you are writing about. I also assume that you do not want to interrupt the flow of what you have written on what could potentially become a long diversion. As you have said, you do not want to expand the entry too much or be led away from what you want to actually write about.

In these sort of cases, you can add a simple footnote at this point in the text. That way the flow of your conversation is not interrupted, but you can also provide a definition that allows people unfamiliar with the topic to be able to continue reading.

Please be aware that any suggestions made are done to try and understand your entry, and to make it easier for others to understand. It isn't a criticism, merely an attempt to help your entry become easier for other people to enjoy.

You have the right to say, 'I'm sorry but won´t alter my entry in any way'. In which case, Peer Review probably isn't for you. Peer Review exists here to help you develop your entry, not criticise it or take it away from you, but suggestions for changes and improvements will be made. You do not have to agree with them all, but at least present a willingness to be open to suggestions and consider them.

If you want your entry to stay exactly how you have written it, you might consider whether h2g2's newspaper would be a better option for you. This would bring a larger readership, but would mean that your entry does not become part of the Edited Guide.

If you have any questions about any of the above, feel free to ask. We're a friendly lot here on h2g2 and just want to try and help.

<BB<

Thank you Bluebottle for your thoughtful reply which is very appreciated.

There are obviously some mistakes regarding my reply to Florida Sailor and I´m going now to sort them out as good as I can. Some clarifications are needed, as I see it.

When I wrote that I won´t alter my entry, I´ve given the reasons for why in regards of the already lenght entry. The problem is, that I can´t alter them as I see no facility to edit anything in this entry. That´s because I´ve not seen any button on the page that would lead me to this. So I´ve to assume that there is hardly a way to do that. Alternatively, I suggested to make further explanations on the topic via the conversation thread. Either way, I don´t whether it is really better to make them in the entry. If that´s the case, I should have considered that before, but it had expanded the entry far more.

The reason that lies on the core of this entry is more to wake an interest on the book itself and therefore I´ve picked those parts from it in quotations I´ve considered to be of interest. But it´s clear to me that the interests and the considerations of what is important of a books content goes with the varieties of the readers own expectations.

In contrast to how my reply came across, I´am open to any suggestions and I also consider them as a thing of improvements. So I wasn´t rejecting them, I merely have the problem of how to do it. That is for me the way this site has it´s facilities and any help, guidance or advice in this regard is of course very welcome on my side.

As this was the first entry I´ve ever made on h2g2, I ask to excuse my errors and I´m sorry if my reply has been percepted as a tag harsh. It wasn´t meant to be.

I still couldn´t find the facility where I can add a simple footnote in the text and without the ability to enter the original entry myself, I´m lost on any thoughts how to do that.

I´m also posting on other websites, message boards that have edit facilities and quoting facilities which makes it easier for the user to highlight a quotation in a frame and also by the edit facility to either cut out or insert text passages. If such facilities were available on this site, I´d have no problem to alter anything in the text to improve it and of course to adopt suggestions that would make the entry better.

So if you could guide me on this problem to solve it, I´d be happy to follow your advice.

Kind Regards,
Thomas

Hello Thomas

If you have any questions about h2g2, feel free to ask. As this is your first entry we can understand that you are unfamiliar with it all.

You should have an Edit Entry button in the right-hand column of the entry. Clicking on this should allow you to edit what you have written.

If you get stuck again at all, let me know.

<BB<

Hello Thomas
This is a very interesting entry thank you for your contribution
Regarding Footnotes this might help

The text below is a paragraph from one of my entries

The southern end of this earthwork is at the village of Bradenham and proceeds north in sections as if a line of Morse code. The size varies so much that it is hard at times to remember it is the same type of monument or built for the same purpose. The route continues north via Ivighoe and BirkhampsteadThe Birkhampstead section is lost beneath the town and no longer exists. and terminates at the village of Potten End.

The Birkhampstead section is lost beneath the town and no longer exists.

Please note do not put a space between the marker put leave a space after the second marker


The section of text between and will be removed from the body of the text and put in a numerical list below the body of the entry

The removed text will be marked in the body of the entry by a blue number so it can be easily found in the footnotes at the bottom. Give it a try its fairly simple when explained.

Thanks again for a fine entry

Hello bobstafford,

Thanks your for your post and your advice on using footnotes. I´ve looked at the facilities provided on the entry frame to see where there is anything that points to that. I couldn´t find anything and frankly, by my own reading, I don´t pay that much attention to footnotes in books unless there is some special explanation added below the text.

Most footnotes are references to other authors the author of the book at hand mentions for citation and copyright reasons. For I´ve just written a book review and cited what the author wrote and has cited himself from interviews with people, I didn´t regarded it that helpful to use footnotes. More to the point, the entry is shaped as a review on the book so that readers of the entry get a more indepth insight into the content of the book itself. To use footnotes by myself would not just extent the already long written entry, it might rather conflate the text and my reference to the cited passages from it if I would go to write explanations to used terms.

I have therefore, to make it easier for me and more to make it easier for the reader, taken some links that lead to various sites on the internet for further informations. I´ve edited the entry today with those links accompanied by a short hint to the linked site is all about.

I hope that the solution I´ve taken to give the reader further information on links that can explain the background to organisations and historical events that play a part in the book, will help to serve the demand for explaining some terms used in that entry.

I thought it better to go that way and in case a reader wants more information on the topic itself, he can get it via the links.

I´m not that familiar with writing entries on this site I´ll have to learn how to use footnotes in case they seem to be appropriate. I might remember your advise in the future.

Thanks for your compliment, very appreciated.

Thomas

Compliment deserved! good luck with this entry keep in touch

I'm surprised that this hasn't received more attention.

Anyone else with any comments?

<BB<

So am I BB but its not alone there must be a backlog. I would very much like to see this in the guide

This is interesting, but I suspect the long quotes from one book are going to be way over the limit for 'fair use'. A review of this book should be shorter, and have limited quotes - but I'd really recommend a real Guide Entry on the bands. One of our Artists would no doubt LOVE to draw some Lambeg drums.

I'd agree that you need a more basic explanation of what all that marching is about. And I double-agree that this is way too long as it stands. Modern readers have short attention spans, and 1500 words should really be the outside limit. Seriously.

People, even I get bored after that, and I'M an editor.

Could I make a suggestion? It would be really cool to see:

1. An explanation of the story behind the holiday and the bands.
2. A description of some of the bands.
3. Some songs they play, with links, if possible, to samples.
4.Something about the instruments.
5. A brief bibliography, including the book you've quoted.

Oh, and the best way to edit the entry?

Just hit 'Edit Entry' from the sidebar. You'll see the parser box then.

I have to agree with the above points. This entry suffers from the 'book review' approach and ought to be re-written in original prose with minimal quotations. More context and flow is needed to make it readable. I believe a well-written original article is more likely to awaken an interest in the reader than one that borrows heavily from another source.

Are you still around, Thomas?

<BB<

The author appears to have ed .

I'd like to propose Flea Market, anyone willing to second?

<BB<

If my voice counts, I'm in agreement here. It needs work, maybe somebody will give it some love.