At the moment it’s a shell site, but you know what they say, seeing is believing. Very little/no content yet, pending the contributions to be made. I have already purchased the domain name and the hosting and I’m willing to make further financial commitments, pending a response from people who I hope will become contributors.
I think the name 'ourworldhistory.org' is generic and memorable. It doesn't suggest bias, and I'd assume it would hold a favourable position in general on search engines for queries like 'world history' etc.
Functionality The site itself is semi-functional, don’t expect much from links and navigation, nothing is set in stone as I’m hoping to take input on the best way to lay out the site and make the information most accessible. However, the search Engine on the site is FULLY functional, and its specific to Egyptsearch and OWH (obviously OWH is empty, but it solves the ‘searching ES problem’ USE IT AS YOU WISH, it works great!), the content is dependent on contributors, so I want to see how many regulars would be willing to take the extra step and be a part of this project. The site is able to be multimedia rich, linking to videos etc.
Community I’ve built basic community functionality into the site allowing for members to join and contribute, leaving comments and feedback on articles. Layout Content-wise, the site will be broken into papers & articles. Papers will be detailed thesis, or semi-dissertations, aimed at academicians. Articles will be more like magazine pieces, aimed at quick consumership and the general public. Articles will be open for comments, whereas papers will be closed to general reply, users will have to rebut via email. Other than that, the site’s layout
Motive I have mentioned before about the importance of having a credible web presence for information to be accessible to a wider audience of consumers/students/researchers and educational institutions. However, I openly acknowledge that people come up with un-pursued idea’s quite a lot of web forums, so the silence/deaf ears that seem to follow is expected.
However, I’ve decided, in order to move things along, to put my money where my mouth is and take the first step in the development of this project in the hope that others will follow suit. There are several quality contributors to Egyptsearch, who really need to think about formatting their work to publishable standards, and I am hoping I can tempt these members of the board regarding the following collaborative proposition.
Some Background to motivation behind this project There is a proliferation of false material on the Internet regarding African History and antiquity in general, the race of the Egyptians, although an important milestone to cross is only the tip of the iceberg. A quick google search on such terms will show most of you that the African origins of the Egyptians, although becoming increasingly popular is far from being the status quo amongst the general public.
The Problem Many Africana websites are poorly designed blogs thrown together by enthusiastic youths and/or extremely detailed papers posted by genuine scholars (who unfortunately don’t have the skill/time to create an accessible website), and unfortunately lack the funding to get a website built properly. A solution I happen to be a website designer (amongst other things) by trade (as well as a qualified teacher), I also have access to some very good web authors who would charitably, or for a small fee help to develop a proper e-Zine style site that would be a priceless resource to the general public and an important step towards the wider acceptance of African civilisations amongst the general public. I will personally fund and maintain this project for as long as humanly (and financially) viable, until it really takes off. This includes domain name (already purchased), hosting, administration, formatting and the starting point for SEO optimisation.
An illustration of ‘credible web presence’ theory in action Check out the following website: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/matrix.asp 3 questions immediately spring to my mind: 1. who the heck is Barbara ‘case closed’ Mickleson…? 2. why has she become an authority on this subject? 3. why is this the MOST referred to page regarding this subject, when in actuality, her opinion is as valid/invalid as mine on this topic? The answer to all 3 question is that she has the backing of an established website, which acts as publisher/editor to give her opinion credibility, a factor that, in spite of the combined brilliance of some of the Egyptsearch contributors, has failed to give credence to the research that has been done by many members.
The Motive A published article in a website becomes a credible, linkable, reference point at the centre of webbed network. In that it can be quoted from as a PUBLISHED resource, used by students, the general public and even academicians. It serves benefits over blogs, forums and groups in that articles become authored materials, and in that alone carry a form of publishing. It also removes the unprofessional aspect of trolls, career-debaters, dissenters and faux-debunkers posting rebuttals directly on your research. (Although, the option to reply to an article is optional), it will happen in a more controlled, self regulated environment, and postings deemed to be unconstructive (circa. Hammer, Afronut Slayer, holic..etc) can be filtered out/ignored/blocked relatively easily.
Benefits to Egyptsearch members 1. It makes published information accessible to the general public 2. It makes information citable resulting in its proliferation (on the Internet and beyond). 3. published articles accessible to education institutions 4. provides an outlet for improving searches referring to AE via popularity and SEO 5. Finished papers can contribute towards qualifications 6. Benefit to the wider African community 7. Collaborate with existing Africana, world history scholars 8. Ability to expand horizons beyond debating. 9. Provides a reference point to minimise repetitive requests for previously ‘lost’ research. In fact, prevents lost research altogether, as articles/papers will be indexed and searchable.
Medium Term Plan? 1. Collect donations to fund original research 2. improve Search Engine Optimisation for key searches such as ‘the race of the Egyptians’, ‘who were the Egyptians’, ‘Ancient Egypt’..etc.etc (currently dominated by Wikipedia and poorly written websites).
Long Term Plan? Fund training, scholarships, doctorates for key contributors to be able to pursue qualifications and provide more qualitative research for African-centred historical approach. A kids version of the site, tailoring the information for KS2/KS3 (primary and secondary age) consumption, taking an image rich visual approach to introducing Ancient Egypt/Africa/World History to students. Employ full time administrators/contributors who can control, update, collate and write directly for the institution.
Aspiration (Vision) for the future? Fund research and independent excavations (ie. Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan) in the wider African context, such as Nubia, Sudan, Sahara and Central, West and South Africa.
What’s needed to move this forward... Members of Egyptsearch to show their willingness to be a part of this project, I am also trying to source of African centred scholars to act as contributors, and perhaps gain permission to reproduce already published works on the site, to make them more accessible. It will mean: • Finalising ORIGINAL papers with citations and bibliographies • Or writing ORIGINAL articles covering subjects in less detail • Providing images to support your articles (where appropriate) • Providing idea’s for the development of the site (what features etc, do you think would contribute to it’s accessibility and success. • Providing contributions to the development of the VISION of the site. Papers can be formatted professionally to include images, citations, footnotes, quotes, and be accessible for the general public to copy/paste and proliferate at will. I will be doing the formatting/spell checking and general editing for members that don’t have this strength. In fact, I will need to format all articles appropriately for the web anyway, to give them consistency, etc. Articles can be as long or as short as the author deems necessary. As the editor I will be providing changes/advice on how to make the articles accessible to the wider web audience, and also how to keep the articles a suitable length. Obviously, any changes to articles will be agreed between myself and the authors. The anonymity between Egyptsearch and actual author names in the website will be fully respected if that is the wish of the contributor.
On a personal note, I was hoping the likes of Brada, Explorer, DJ, Dana Maniche, Mark, Wally, Zaharan…etc (sorry if I forgot mention you, so many credible researchers, who regularly post original articles would be willing to get on board). I’m going to try and get contributions from established scholars in the field to get the ‘papers’ area off the ground.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This site will in no means be a replacement to ES, in fact, the continuation of ES will be essential for the success of the site, creating new area’s of research. It's not a forum, the discursive nature of this site is shouldn't be compromised. Think of it as a way to archive, put a full stop (so to speak), on matters that have been addressed and make it accessible and published. All I can do is build the site… I need your contribution now, however, to move this project forward… this is a collaborative project...
so... are you involved?
Posts: 365 | Registered: Dec 2008
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Im down, sounds awsome.Maybe after this site gets off the ground I can now clear my Bookmarks folder LOL...
Posts: 8804 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
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Where are you located? In reference to hosting the site I happen to have one very fast server i am willing to contribute. Although i would not want to run a site from my own house.
It is a Dell Poweredge 2950 2x Core 2 Quad Xeon 4 GB or memory 4 (300GB) SAS Drives Redundant power supply etc.
I have been thinking about what I could use it for.
Posts: 2463 | From: New Jersey USA | Registered: Dec 2007
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Is it a php site? Just curios to know what web tech is powering the site.
-------------------- Are we going somewhere or are you going to keep annoying me with your boring lectures professor-warrior?? Posts: 368 | Registered: Sep 2009
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It's obvious that you took your time to think it out. props.
Posts: 8785 | From: Discovery Channel's Mythbusters | Registered: Dec 2009
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I will wait and see before I donate anything. Not that I don't have any faith, but let's just say I'd rather hold my breath than dish out the green.
Posts: 26249 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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we have TNV. USE IT!!!!
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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I suggest you create a Vbulletin web Forum that can serve as an alternative to Egypt Search Forum. Vbulletin forms are more google optimizable than the PHP board used to create TNV and the host used to create this.
Posts: 248 | Registered: Aug 2009
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Jari, props to you for being on board, we'll exchange email's via PM and you can tell me what articles/papers you're thinking of Submitting.
Astenb, if you can provide a free reliable dedicated server, that would be fantastic (as long as its reliable). Like I said, I don't my putting up the funds for hosting, but I'm on a shared server at the moment, so a dedicated one would be fantastic. Thanks for this contribution. Once again, hit me up via PM.
GbohunOla Karelaiye : At the moment website structure is just HTML and CSS, all community technology is third party (as it's easier to manage), when I think of uses for PHP technologies, I'll probably require some help from some of my friends as my PHP is very rusty. Technology like Google Friend Connect, and Disqus comments will serve the community aspect fine, I hope (at least for starters). I percieve if the site really takes of (contributor wise), I'll need to include a way that contributors can post articles autonomously. But I'll jump that hurdle when I get there.
Global and DJ: Not taking donations yet, and when we finally do, I won't expect anything from ES members. This isn't a call for money, like I said, I'm funding this project independently as it stands, the donations aspect will be for future aspirations and percieved growth of the site. It will be optional donations similar to what is run on wiki, nothing more. Whats needed right now is a donation of your TIME to write up research and articles to a publishable standard, and contribute them so the academic and general public can benefit from knowledge that we take for granted here on ES.
Kalonji, appreciate the compliment. I'm for content from you too if possible. Get writing, please.
Xyy, Global and mrth: You're missing the point a little bit. This is not a forum. I could set up a phpBB, or vBulettin forum in a matter of minutes. But that's not the vision. This is an eNcyclopedia. A referable archive of searchable information. Finished published articles, complete with author name, and papers complete with finalised bibliogrpahy. Finished articles become usable materials for academicians, students and the general public alike. I have to stress to you guys that as good as your research is (and most of it is excellent)... nobody in the academic world references from forums. In fact, most forums are blocked from schools. They reference eBook's, encyclopedia's and reliable website that have author names (not usernames like zp46, but REAL names).
I have to make it clear, this is by no means a replacement for ES or TNV. It's a website, not a forum, the community aspect is just so that the general public have a chance to answer back to articles, AND so we can keep track of how much the site is being used. If I do set up a forum, it will be exclusively for the moderation of materials on the site, and not a general access forum. I wan't this site to work in partnership with ES, so I have no problem linking to ES forums, just like I've created the ES exclusive search Engine on the site (which I hope you all use).
Posts: 365 | Registered: Dec 2008
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Contributing posts is not an issue for me, as always. Heck I even continue to do it in the under-used TNV. What I'm about to mention is what decides the fate of many proposed sites -- as per my observation on previous undertakings: The test of success lies on the person(s) responsible for the site -- in their desire to keep it together, interesting and accessible. Occasional conflict of interest that impedes posting of ideas not necessarily "desirable" to the webmaster or responsible party(s) is best kept to a minimum as possible.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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First of all, I am very happy to hear about your willingness to contribute. I'm sure your contribution will be valuable.
quote:The test of success lies on the person(s) responsible for the site -- in their desire to keep it together, interesting and accessible.
Explorer, I think you have raised fair and important points for discussion. I think it's important that this site is a community effort for that precise reason, one of the reasons I am keen on registering the site and using the DONATE function to make the site self sustaining. The site will not be a financial burden by any means, but if it is self-sustaining and a 'community' effort (medium term), it says more for it's longevity than remaining an individual effort. It will also allow for the site to be able to employ/pay maintenance/research staff for it's long term moderation and upkeep.
quote:Occasional conflict of interest that impedes posting of ideas not necessarily "desirable" to the webmaster or responsible party(s) is best kept to a minimum as possible.
This seems inevitable. No doubt. We need, in many ways to agree on a shared vision (an ethos so to speak) for the site on broad aspects, and this might mean many topics (controversial) discussed here on ES do not make publishing. But I also think a good way around this is article OWNERSHIP. Authors own their articles, and where necessary, if it is 'controversial', the magazine can take a third party approach to the publishing of the article. (ie. 'Dr S. Omebody discusses the controversial theory of African origins of Sanskrit'). The 'about us' page will eventually include a profile of ALL contributors, thus stating their core paradigms and area's of expertise. The third party approach then neither endorses nor refutes the acceptability of the claim being made, but still gives the author opportunity of authorship.
If we can agree, on broad terms, the mission statement of the site. ie. providing a reliable and essential counter-balance to Eurocentric history, hopefully we can base papers/articles on the merit of the research that has been undertaken, and not too much on our personal POV's.
That being said, I have an issue with what I see as the OVER emphasis on genetics (at the expense of other disciplines) on this site, but would still be willing to post, what I deemed as a well researched article, as long as it doesn't contradict the core value of the site...
What you said is very important, because, at the end of the day, as the editor/webmaster, a lot does ride on me, but I know I can't write as much (or as well) as some of the contributors on this site, so it's need to be a community effort, and that might mean some compromises have to be made. I hope you can see from the URL, hosting, and individual time spent developing so far that this is more than a flash in the pan idea. I administrate another sites (PM me) with upwards of 5000 members, and I take this project more seriously. At least I hope to...
posted
I say, if you have enough will to see it through [that's the attitude I've taken with my blog], then it is worth a shot. It is about doing the walk, not just the talk. I mean, people who have initiated similar projects in the past, they too put in the initial efforts that they say shows their dedication, but as time went by, they simply didn't have enough will for some reason or another [sudden financial issues, conflicting schedules with extra web-activities, laziness at times, or just plain loss of interest because enough people were not attracted as desired, etc] to see the undertaking through. Potential contributers don't like to put their much valued effort into something, only to see it entirely dismantled later. That is deal-breaker. There you have it -- my 2c.
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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@ Narmer Menes. I am all in favor of getting the information out to newbies. The idea sounds great.
But Explorer makes valid points ie dedication, longetivity, maintanance etc. We don't want to waste our time. I have numerous studies to upload. So do many posters here.
But questions is can it draw more attention than TNV? It will difficult to surpass ES.
Why not revamp(facelift) TNV. I made some suggestion about TNV about 2ya.
BTW - Just checked the link. GREAT DESIGN!!!! Very Attractive and attention getting. This is what TNV needed.
But how easy is it for Google to pull this site up when a newbies searches for say . . . . AE?
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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The problem with TNV is that somebody paid GOOGLE to shun it. Thus it just doesn't show up when folk key in words covered in TNV threads.
YAHOO recognizes TNV but on a limited basis. You usually have to consciously include TNV (spelled out longhand) in the search key.
So no matter what platform is used if the major search engines get the word from Nat'l Geo or whoever to bypass the site no one not already in the know will ever discover it.
posted
Another thing. I remember someone volunteered to make a 2nd TNV, the EbonyIssues version TNV. It lasted about a minute then all of a sudden the webmaster pulled the rug out and all the valuable contributions of posting supporters became the private property of the webmaster inaccessable to the people who selflessly shared their researches.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote: Originally posted by xyyman: But questions is can it draw more attention than TNV? It will difficult to surpass ES.
True, he will have to study why Egyptsearch is succesfull besides obvious habitual reasons. Something is making the other sites less attractive than Egyptsearch, knowing what exactly will empower you to emulate and concentrate it in you own formula so that you not only have the attractive component of Egyptsearch, but you will be able to incorporate it into your own existing mix.
posted
Explorer, I won't be able to allay your fears in a sentence or two, so I won't bother. But if you're interested we'll interact privately and see that I'm no time-waster. Also, I don't see creating papers as a waste of time, even if the site does fall through, collating your research in that manner is priceless as scholar. Once done once, it can be applied to a plethora of uses. I appreciate your contributions though, but I guess there is no way around this other than trust.
I must note, that I have already begun contacting other scholars to borrow publish papers outside this site. It will take work, but I do this for a living, it's not the most time-consuming undertaking that I would have going at the moment...
Can someone post me a link to TNV?
quote:Originally posted by The Explorer: I say, if you have enough will to see it through [that's the attitude I've taken with my blog], then it is worth a shot. It is about doing the walk, not just the talk. I mean, people who have initiated similar projects in the past, they too put in the initial efforts that they say shows their dedication, but as time went by, they simply didn't have enough will for some reason or another [sudden financial issues, conflicting schedules with extra web-activities, laziness at times, or just plain loss of interest because enough people were not attracted as desired, etc] to see the undertaking through. Potential contributers don't like to put their much valued effort into something, only to see it entirely dismantled later. That is deal-breaker. There you have it -- my 2c.
posted
Hold your horses via Search Engine optimisation xyyman, it's only been up for a day! It takes time... crosslinking etc. Hence I'm building into the site FB share options... Digg It technology, etc. so that once articles are posted they are more easily proliferated on the net. I haven't registered the site with google yet, but when I do, I tend to have good success with search engines due to using CSS and HTML correctly... SEO is a very multifaceted game, but I'd imagine I could drive traffic toward this site once completed VERY quickly. I admin social networking groups already, one has 5000 members, so I'll point that interest toward the site once it's up... but it's a long slog getting credibility for popular searches, hence we may need to fund SEO optimisation using site donations....
A search like AE is going to take a lot of SEO optimisation to get the site on the first 10 pages of google alone... but the driving force will really be creating the social buzz and making the site attractive and informative enough to win and sustain public interest...
I'll be posting site updates regularly, you'll see the site gradually unfolding in front of you, and get better feel for the vision... I hope.
quote:Originally posted by xyyman: @ Narmer Menes. I am all in favor of getting the information out to newbies. The idea sounds great.
But Explorer makes valid points ie dedication, longetivity, maintanance etc. We don't want to waste our time. I have numerous studies to upload. So do many posters here.
But questions is can it draw more attention than TNV? It will difficult to surpass ES.
Why not revamp(facelift) TNV. I made some suggestion about TNV about 2ya.
BTW - Just checked the link. GREAT DESIGN!!!! Very Attractive and attention getting. This is what TNV needed.
But how easy is it for Google to pull this site up when a newbies searches for say . . . . AE?
Wish you luck brotha. When done I have some stuff for you to upload.
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
This is not a forum. . .right. If it is and feedback is allowed. You should allow decent. Censorship will hurt.
eg The moderator of this forum, ES, should NOT ban Afro-nut and his sistas. But merely delete the numerous non-sensical threads he creates. Restrict him to creating maybe a couple of threads. Of course if the name calling gets out of hand then further action will be needed.
quote:Originally posted by Narmer Menes:
quote:Originally posted by Hammer: sign me up, I'll be there.
lol. no you won't. thats the beauty of it!
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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If you build it I will come..(from that base-ball movie...Kevin Costner Field of Dreams).. Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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so Narmer, you are going to have a negroid love fest where everyone agrees? If you plan s to promote this garbage you'll get about as far as other afronuts have...nowhere.
Posts: 2036 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2009
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Some of us are playing to an audience you should realized that brotha. Hammer knows that, I do among others. Hint: "there are no stupid questions".
Why do you think Hammers response to everything is "no one takes you all seriously".
Repeat it enough times and they will believe it!!
Make sure you put a "hit counter". ES doesn't. That will measure the audience.
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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xyy, who takes you seriously? This is the only place I e ver hear these bizarre ideas.
Posts: 2036 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2009
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^yet you keep coming back like a duck that mistakes the first person he sees for his mother
Posts: 8785 | From: Discovery Channel's Mythbusters | Registered: Dec 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Narmer Menes: Explorer, I won't be able to allay your fears in a sentence or two, so I won't bother. But if you're interested we'll interact privately and see that I'm no time-waster. Also, I don't see creating papers as a waste of time, even if the site does fall through, collating your research in that manner is priceless as scholar. Once done once, it can be applied to a plethora of uses. I appreciate your contributions though, but I guess there is no way around this other than trust.
I must note, that I have already begun contacting other scholars to borrow publish papers outside this site. It will take work, but I do this for a living, it's not the most time-consuming undertaking that I would have going at the moment...
Can someone post me a link to TNV?
Narmer, I wasn't expressing my fears, which I never have; if a project works, I am in control of what I do -- I'll pitch in when I feel it is necessary to do so, and if it doesn't, then no sweat -- I move on. Rather, I was pointing out what I perceive to be the *basic* ingredient to a successful project, which to put it in a single liner, requires an unflinging & dedicated website "keeper" or webmaster. I merely quickly recounted examples of what led to doomed projects. Take it as just a quick advice, if you care enough to, as noted.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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A series of linked web blogs or a web ring can also be useful, but the more the merrier in spreading the research. Go for it. Here's a question though, who's going to be running this new site, Narmer Menes or Osirion?
posted
If you go to the last post on page 2, that was my reply. I assume it was on the top of page 3 initially, then someone probably deleted a post? I don't know.
But seriously, just read our posts?? That's some lazy investigative work there. We have polar opposite viewpoints. No need to stir controversy, you'd have been able to find that out from just having a look for yourself.
Still, I look forward to your contribution, you have some good finished papers that would make good features.
Posts: 365 | Registered: Dec 2008
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Explorer, I think you took my reply in the wrong tone. I know what it's like on these boards, so much debating goes on it's often hard to distinguish when someone's being genuine or sarcastic, or confrontational. I definitely appreciate your opinion, when I said I wont bother allaying your 'fears', it was simply my way of saying 'actions speak louder than words', so I'll prove how serious I am when we get in contact. I appreciate the advice... sometimes that's get lost in translation.... looking forward to collaborating...
quote:Originally posted by The Explorer:
quote:Originally posted by Narmer Menes: Explorer, I won't be able to allay your fears in a sentence or two, so I won't bother. But if you're interested we'll interact privately and see that I'm no time-waster. Also, I don't see creating papers as a waste of time, even if the site does fall through, collating your research in that manner is priceless as scholar. Once done once, it can be applied to a plethora of uses. I appreciate your contributions though, but I guess there is no way around this other than trust.
I must note, that I have already begun contacting other scholars to borrow publish papers outside this site. It will take work, but I do this for a living, it's not the most time-consuming undertaking that I would have going at the moment...
Can someone post me a link to TNV?
Narmer, I wasn't expressing my fears, which I never have; if a project works, I am in control of what I do -- I'll pitch in when I feel it is necessary to do so, and if it doesn't, then no sweat -- I move on. Rather, I was pointing out what I perceive to be the *basic* ingredient to a successful project, which to put it in a single liner, requires an unflinging & dedicated website "keeper" or webmaster. I merely quickly recounted examples of what led to doomed projects. Take it as just a quick advice, if you care enough to, as noted.
1) I think I've finalised the community/sharing aspects of the site. I've incorporated Digg and FB share technologies which will enhance the easy circulation of articles that are written.
2) I have 2 comment technologies and I'm trying to decide which one to finalise on... need some feedback. The 2 candidates are google (the top one) and disqus (the bottom one). Google has the benefit of being directly linked to friend connect, whereas, I think disqus looks better and also has FB and twitter share features. Please comment using each one, and tell me which one was more intuitve for you.
3) There is also a share feature at the bottom of the page that allows the page to be posted on numerous social networking sites.
4) I've added a banner feature (which will eventually be linked to news features), just giving a nice visual bite of information before people click into links.
5) Not so much an update, but a request. If you could let me know what subject you have enough information about to write a article/paper about... it will help me to structure the site... even if the articles aren't finished, I'm willing to do a moderate amount of editing and structuring... hit me up.
Posts: 365 | Registered: Dec 2008
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1. Many of us want to remain anonymous. Yahoo, google etc? That is when we join. 2. Didn't see a counter 3. Search features and archiving? 4. Pic section?
Great otherwise. A step up from ES's design.
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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Article writers can remain anonymous, but papers written by anonymous persons are useless to academicians (refer to my opening post) and the purpose of this site.
I don't know if I'm going to include a counter. Not sure how useful it is. Website traffic can be easily traced via the host, and I'll gladly share this information with contributors.
'3. Search features and archiving? 4. Pic section?'
posted
As a viewer when I go to a site that I frequent I look at counters to get an idea what the traffic is like. It is good for the host but I think it is better for viewers. We want to know how many are visiting the site. In a few words. How popular is it? I assume you have some business acumen and the appreciation of letting your competitors know what type of traffic you are getting and the need for them to keep up.
Wasn't clear on what your storage, and archiving and retrieval capabilites are? Shouldn't really matter because we should all have backup copies when we upload. One thing ES lacks is a good search feature. Will you have one setup?
Doug has a good therad going on portraits of AE. King also. Not sure they started it. . . . but a section with only pics "with annotations" will be great.
Mike111 has a great collection on Estrucans which I saved. A section dedicated to ancient cilizations will be useful.
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Fantastic, thanks for the articles, they all sound spot on for the kind of information the site needs.
Regarding search, the search bar on the site already works. I have restricted it to ES and OWH at the moment, but as the archive of papers/articles grows, the long term plan is to restrict it exclusively to OWH. So in short, yes, the search option is already live, just that the site has no content to search. So once an article is up, it'll be there for good. Not to mention, I have already begun developing an indexing method for articles/papers so that users can search by subject, region or period. That's not up and running yet, but hopefully not too long.
Any ideas for the best indexing method will be appreciated, that way I can see which one works most logically for the information that we have...
Also, can you show me some good examples of sites using the counter feature so that I can see whether or not it will 'fit' the look of the site... also, do you have a site in my that utilises the pic/annotation only feature that you've mentioned. Do you just mean an annotated photo gallery?
Posts: 365 | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
eg. of counters. Youtube. I always look at the counter to see how many viewers looked at the video.
One thing Mike does and I think is useful is, he puts the name of the piece and timeframe. eg "Estrucan man 1300bc". Gives the reader a good understanding of what they are looking at.
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
To make a valid argument for any position you need at least a half dozen sources from specialists IN THAT SPECIFIC FIELD. You also need to examine the views of any specialist who might hold a different view. In addition material over ten years old has little value. Art work is ONLY USEFUL if you attach to it the views of leading art historians. Modern pictures have no value when looking at ancient questions.
-------------------- The tree of liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants. Posts: 2036 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2009
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posted
American Patriot: Get Lost! You have NOTHING to contribute. You are a troll who NEVER even provides a single piece of confirming/validating documentation.
LOL, all you have are weak and illogical OPINIONS, based on crap and a seriously flawed and damaged Psyche.
posted
@ Hammer. Put up or . . . We are still waiting on your response to Altk on" Europeans Farmers".
But this is one of the few valid point you make.
Annotation/Topics should include opposing views and let the viewer/reader decide.
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Are their any copyright issues with Having research papers [that were once behind a pay wall] freely available? Or can you distribute them as you see fit?
Posts: 2463 | From: New Jersey USA | Registered: Dec 2007
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