Journal Entries
Hallowe'en without anagrams...
Posted Oct 19, 2010
is like kippers without custard.
Seriously! Would someone please explain their connection to me?
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Oct 19, 2010
Now here's an idea for you
Posted Jul 31, 2010
The 'Field Companion'.
Every man and his dog has a smartphone. You can jot notes, take photos, record a video or audio track, even pinpoint your location with GPS.
So how about a h2g2 Field Companion applications which allows you to do proper field research? You set up a new project and have several large friendly buttons which allow you to assemble a narrative as you visit a place, rather like a portable scrapbook. Then, when you get home, you dump it all onto a PC and write it up. It could provide a map of the place using Google Maps, say, and map markers showing where each fragment was recorded.
I have no intention of getting an iPhone and even less of writing an app for one, but when Windows Phone 7 comes out I think it will be a lot easier to do somehting like this.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 31, 2010
Colours to the Mast
Posted Apr 26, 2010
I return to h2g2, and within a few days I find myself wading deeper than advisable into a debate about what kind of stuff should be in the EG. And once again I find myself being misrepresented as having a blinkered mindset and vision of what an EG entry should be about.
So, these following points encapsulate, for the record, what I think the EG should be about:
* Each EG entry should be able to stand on its own merits. You should be able to pick up a magazine with a short article in it, plucked straight from the EG, and read it as an entertaining article in its own right without having to understand its original context. This implies:
* It should not be an exercise in being part of a clique or belabouring an in-joke. I dislike cliques and in-jokes at the best of times, these simply showing that you are a sheep of a slightly different colour. When some of my license fee goes towards publishing this drivel, I start to see red. This view in itself implies that:
* It should not be written to 'pay homage' to Douglas Adams or his works. Paying Homage is a feeble exercise in humour at the best of times and shows a lack of originality. We have a rump of people here who seem to think that they just need to tick a set of boxes to get their work accepted.
* Finally, it should have some grounding in the concerns of others outside h2g2. That is, people who have never visited the site beforehand. I'd like to see people *share* their *experiences*, mainly because NO OTHER site is set up with this express purpose. Moreover, the EG should be a *starting point* for getting people to try new things or take a different look at the world around them, not an end in itself.
Now, the next time someone has the effrontery to accuse me of trying to impose my vision on the Guide, perhaps they'd care to acquaint themselves with what I've written above so they actually know what they're talking about. It would make a change.
Discuss this Journal entry [19]
Latest reply: Apr 26, 2010
A reason for returning
Posted Apr 20, 2010
I'm going to come back to h2g2 because I think it needs people like me. And when I come back I'm going to start a campaign called GOYA AWARE. It's not to cultivate appreciation of nihilist Spanish artists. It's an acronym for Get Off Your Arse And Write About Real Experience. This implies that most, if not all, research for an article should be done *away* from the computer. It involves getting out, perhaps with a notepad and camera, experiencing something and reviewing it later for the EG.
Any takers?
Discuss this Journal entry [12]
Latest reply: Apr 20, 2010
Plus ca change...
Posted Oct 28, 2009
I've not been around here a lot for the past year. The only reason I'm back is because someone wanted to reprint one of my articles for a book, which was nice, and my account needed to be re-activated. I asked for a copy of the book as my 'fee'.
So, I come back to find that h2g2 is still functioning mainly as a social club/DNA fan club. If I put on my licence payer's hat, I would find it very difficult to justify why most of the input on the site devoted to this. The BBC should ban every conversation that has nothing to do with the EG and the Edited Guide, and let h2g2 concentrate upon what it does best.
If people want to indulge in idle chatter, they can always put links to blogs, Facebook & MySpace on their Personal Spaces which, let's face it, are far better suited to this kind of discussion than the creaky facilties that h2g2 provides. The world has moved on, and there are far better places for idle chatter than here, but h2g2 hasn't realised this. If h2g2 actually grasped the nettle and ceased this kind of hosting, then those of us who enjoyed factual writing for its own sake could do it knowing that it was now an object of first importance.
Discuss this Journal entry [29]
Latest reply: Oct 28, 2009
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Felonious Monk - h2g2s very own Bogeyman
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