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

There's an acronym for considering the context you are working in called Pestel. It provides a mnemonic to help you take a good wide look at the things that are going on in the world outside so you can spot things which affect you. We should take a look at the world surrounding noohootoo in this light, and see what's out there that might bite us in the bum. There's a pretty good summary of the technique here: http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm

I just banged together a list of points that seemed relevant to me, but many heads are better than one, so let's look at the list and add a sentence or two for each of them, plus more bullets where necessary.

Here goes.


++Political context

Coaliton's plans for the BBC
Big society


++ Economic and Financial context

Recession
Unemployment
Less disposable income


++ Social context

Disempowerment
Changes in disability support
More time to seek meaning though volunteering
Changes in how students behave and see themselves


++ Technological context

Apps
Podcasting
Lowcost publishing
Video
Promoting through social media
Share this page
Google status
Feeds, subsciptons and syndicaton


++ Environmental context

N/A


++ Legal context

Defamation and libel - eg the Simon Sharma case
Copyright
Licencing
Child protection - the over 16 rule, private messaging etc
Illegal content

And now, without the apostrophe bug:

There's an acronym for considering the context you are working in called Pestel. It provides a mnemonic to help you take a good wide look at the things that are going on in the world outside so you can spot things which affect you. We should take a look at the world surrounding noohootoo in this light, and see what's out there that might bite us in the bum. There's a pretty good summary of the technique here: http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199296378/01student/additional/page_12.htm

I just banged together a list of points that seemed relevant to me, but many heads are better than one, so let's look at the list and add a sentence or two for each of them, plus more bullets where necessary.

Here goes.


++Political context

Coaliton's plans for the BBC
Big society


++ Economic and Financial context

Recession
Unemployment
Less disposable income


++ Social context

Disempowerment
Changes in disability support
More time to seek meaning though volunteering
Changes in how students behave and see themselves


++ Technological context

Apps
Podcasting
Lowcost publishing
Video
Promoting through social media
Share this page
Google status
Feeds, subsciptons and syndicaton


++ Environmental context

N/A


++ Legal context

Defamation and libel - eg the Simon Sharma case
Copyright
Licencing
Child protection - the over 16 rule, private messaging etc
Illegal content

From the model "... version of PESTEL analysis is called LoNGPESTEL. " we also need to incorporate the extra layers:

Local - h2g2's community

National - because it is likely the site will be hosted with a UK based provider

Global - the Community is a global one and we might have to deal with international law in the case of libel or defamation or copyright issues

And from the discussions here and on Google groups we could populate a S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis.

All part of going into Business for yourself, but maybe a samaritan of the virtuals puts in a bid before we have to go through the convolutions of starting a (not-for-profit) business.

! Martin
--- jus' puttin' a muddy boot in

Good catch, Martin.

For Local I was going to use the collaborative entry describing h2g2 here: A80734863

The pestel analysis is about the outside world, not about the site itself, so I'm not sure what to say in terms of National and Global other than that the site will be UK-based. The only other things on a national or global basis are armageddon kicking off in the middle east, but that's not going to have much impact on the site, I hope. But you are right that the egal implications are international. But if we think about them too much then we'll never do it.

I started drafting a SWOT analysis a couple of days ago, but I think we should wait until we've got the bid together first, because how can we know what our strengths and weaknesses are until we've put the bid together? I think we need to concentrate on the details of what we are doing, so I'll put it up here nearer the time.

Ben

The only thing I think I could add is in (I think) the Social box; breaking down age and culture barriers by allowing people to communicate.

Here's the worked up piece. A82191945

I need

suggestions on how we deal with the challenges outlined in the entry

any comments on what I've missed out, your point about the community is a good one, Vip

suitable quotes - not just where I've put placeholders but in other places too

any typos spotted

My access is a fiver an hour at the moment, so I won't be updating this for a while, but keep the comments coming.

Thanks

Ben / Mrs Zen

Perview is my fiend. That should be

suggestions on how we deal with the challenges outlined in the entry

any comments on what I've missed out, your point about the community is a good one, Vip

suitable quotes - not just where I've put placeholders but in other places too

any typos spotted

Hi, Ben and Vip....

My head is spinning from reading the Pezel Analysis. I current get RSS feeds in my email box, but I don't understand how such things work. You mentioned a lot of technology things that I understand even less. I'm not ready for the present, let alone the future! (It seems ironic that medical science helps people like my parents -- and, I hope, my generation -- live into their nineties, even as they feel more and more overwhelmed by technological change. At this rate, beocming a Mennonite looks better and better. )

I agree with your comment that moderation should err on the side of caution. It has been doing that anyway under the BBC. I certainly don't wish to see us get sued. There are implications for the global community which we are part of. The BBC's policy has been that you can't appear to be advocating something that is illegal where you live. This means, in effect, that some researchers will be freer to discuss certain matters than others, depending on their locations. The thing is, though, there are other sites that are also global, and it might help to know how they handle this same issue.

I noted the analysis of attracting students, and the growing competition from other sites for their attention. There may be some other subcontext for this: In the 1990s, in my area, the local schools included Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker" books on their summer reading lists. This meant that a great many young people were discovering these books. Maybe this was happening in other parts of the English-speaking world. I don't think these books are being assigned by schools any more. The best thing that could cappen to us would be more movies based on Adams's books, or more sequels by Eoin Colfer....

I'm gtting forgetful. Not a good sign!

I wanted to make a pitch for courting the . We seem to have a goodly number of older researchers. Some of us are retired or close to retirement. The days of being overwhelmed by the demands of raising families are mostly behind us, and we have free time. The nice thing about the Internet is that our age is no longer a factor. We can discuss things with teenagers and adults of all ages as equals.

Thanks for the comments, Paul. The student thing and the silver surfer thing are both good catches. I'm not sure if the silver surfer thing needs talking about in this section of The Great Big Document, but it certainly needs mentioning. In the bit about engaging the online world, perhaps.

Could you do me a favour and let me know which bits aren't crystal clear? It would help me immensely if I knew which bits need translating from tech-speak to humanese. I may not change them all; footnotes or a glossary might be the way.

Hi, Ben. I'll take a look later tonight. You'll likely be asleep by then, owing to time zone differences. For now, I have laundry, lunch, and a concert to attend to...

I've put a link in for Chris's Pearl Earring series, but it may not work. If it doesn't, then let me know in this thread and hopefully he can put them somewhere they are visible to all and put the link in here.

Ben / Mrs Zen

"Could you do me a favour and let me know which bits aren't crystal clear?" [Mrs. Zen] [post 10]


Here goes:

Under "Channels"

What are "podcasts" and "tablet apps"?

Also, the paragraph on "multi-media ocntent" sounds promising, though I doubt that I will participating in this part of it except to see *other* researchers' videos, etc. Embedding songs? This makes me think of a website I used to visit (before it drove me mad) that played "Jerusalem" incessantly. There might be people who would like a way to turn the music *off,* not on.