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

Based mainly on the advice in the Map Room of the Geographical Society - I invented this (<./>A13955817</.&gt initially for myself, as a guideline for the entry on Taunton I'm about to try and write because I'm a bit out of practice and at the very least I thought I could take my own advice. But what do you guys make of it? It strikes me that it could be a pretty useful resource as a starting point for people new to h2g2 who want to write an entry about their home town (or wherever) but of course the potential downside is that we could see a proliferation of similar identikit entries.

But hopefully there is enough scope for individuality within the framework that that wouldn't happen.

What d'you reckon, chaps and chapesses?

Sounds like a plan

I reckon being referred to the Map Room will usually be enough for most researchers, though this will probably help those who aren't feeling as keen about writing.

The only misgiving I have with a template is that it confines writers into a specific style, and the uniqueness of certain geographical Entries might go awry. Take for example Montague Trout's 'Elimbah, Queensland' piece. If that followed the template, it would lose it's style and one-of-a-kindness. I think.

But on a plus, it does give newcomers an idea and a goal so as their first foray into PR doesn't end up a complete shemozzle.

A13880900 - A link to the Elimbah one, for interests sake.

I'm with Matt.

A writing frame, as 'tis known to us of a pedagogical bent, is all very well in its place, but results in too much identikit and dreary stuff which is boring to read and/or mark. I loathe them myself.

B

Well, if you were to set it up as an official template, a few disclaimers wouldn't go awry. Notes that not all sections are appropriate for all towns, and that if there's something noteworthy about a town that doesn't fit anywhere in the template to make room for that, too.

The Elimbah entry is a gem because MT is an experienced writer, and an experienced writer wouldn't have need of a template if he (or she) had a clear direction for where they wanted their entry to go. But something like this could be useful to first-time or inexperienced writers, and individualisation could be encouraged in PR or the Writing Workshop.

If used in conjunction with the Map Room, there's plenty of examples of how to make entries unique.

This is a fantastic idea. Perhaps the Aces could be asked to point new researchers towards this as a possible first entry for them?

It might stop the proliferation of "HickTown Kansas - The best thing about Hicktown is the road out." Type of entries.

while I think that the template does give a the resercher an idea of what to stick into an entry, it also suggests limitations to the scope / style which I don't think are needed. Template also sounds just an ickle too wiki !


Though I will likely make sure that I cover all the points from this tempalte in my next geographical entry (I have a feeling that 2 are on the way)