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

One of the recurring themes of this November journal has been sharing research sites. I've had a lot of reaction from people who discovered their felonious relatives in the Old Bailey records, or who shared their favourite UK oil painting, or who got lost in the weirdness of the Europeana cultural portal.

I know it's going to be a little bit of work to set it up and maintain it, but this site would benefit from some resources to aid people's research.

The h2g2 contribute pages concentrate a lot on how to write, but there is very little to help people with finding the facts around which they can base their writing. Over the years I've started to write many entries where I've given up after the research trail went cold. I'd be interested to know if others have experienced the same.

There's a lot more to the internet than Google and Wikipedia, if we can unlock it. We could host a community-compiled categorised list of free research sites. We probably also have researchers who do this kind of thing professionally (I don't) and can share some tips.

Would anyone find that kind of thing useful?

Very useful it also has the potential to expand H2G2

I'm only just getting ready to flex my writing muscle over Christmas, and I don't need a lot of research for my particular subject, but I'm sure it would be useful for other subjects. I tend to trust what I read on here a lot more than stuff on other sites so I'd be more confident getting research pointers here than from a google search.

Deb

That's a terrific idea, Icy!

Back a ways, Elektra and I did this Guide Entry on internet sources: A86878949 Maybe that could help start the ball rolling? You're definitely the go-to guy on how to use the OED.

We really do need to get Researchers to pool their knowledge in this area. Especially since we're not into Wikiality, but the real facts - and the stories behind them!

I haven't had to give up on a topic yet. But often, I start with one idea, and get enticed off onto another.

Here's an example: Recently, I started to research the evacuation of Washington during the first Operation Alert in the 1950s. I ended up writing about the women who successfully protested the policy. I started out looking at an old pop song, and ended up with Albert K Bender, who first wrote about the Men In Black. The quesstion, 'Who invented the title Ms?' led to the discovery of a surprising pioneer in women's rights.

Boy, do I love chasing rabbits. (A6359493 )

Thanks Dmitri - I'll take a look at that.

(Oh, the external links on Mary Toft need updating)

Good catch! I'll have to tell the Curators. German wiki cites that Entry.

I don't have any systematic way of researching anything. I tend to wander around at random until I uncover something.

If someone makes a claim about the past, I'll try to find evidence in old books, many of which are available for free on the internet. If, for example, someone mentions that Kells Market Cross was once on Market Street, I'll find an old book that states this. An old book saying "The cross is on Market Street" is more reliable than a modern book saying "it used be on Market Street".

For tourist-type entries, I find Google Maps and Google Earth are invaluable.

Google Earth allows you to measure distances between places very easily, so if I want to know how far from the sea a building is, I can find out in about 30 seconds on Google Earth. It also tells you the longitude, latitude and altitude of any point, which can come in useful, particularly the altitude.

Google Maps isn't as good, but it allows you to use Street View and to zoom in on the images to read signs on buildings - this is very useful. In Google Earth Street View, you can't zoom in, as far as I know.

For mathematics, I'd trust anything I see on http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ even though it is funded by a commercial company. They've made their name through people trusting them to be able to do maths, so they can't afford for there to be any mistakes on their site.

Great suggestions, Gnomon!

www.archive.org has LOTS of books. And you're right - get it fromthe horse's mouth.

They aren't all in English, either, which broadens the possibilities for research.

http://www.gutenberg.org/