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Gadget
12th-November-2004, 04:10 PM
With the vast experiance and quality of dancers on this forum, I would like to ask some of them to write an artical on some specific aspect of dance/teaching/DJing...

These articals would be kept on a seperate area of the forum to be discussed and as a library of usefull information from some of the best people to dispense it.

What I am proposing is actual articals - not just posts; a premis, some arguments, some examples, some advice and a conclusion. A lecture rather than just chatting and discussing possabilities (like this)

Would people be willing to devote time to create them? Would forumites appreciate it? What subjects would you like to be lectured on, and by whom? Who's views would you like to be inspired by?

(and if it's a good idea, how would it appear on the forum? Could they be a sort of on-line workshop that you had to pay to view? (and the creators get a royalty?) Would they appear in a different area? A different format (like Poll:xxx)? Would there have to be an editor/approval? Would you post replys and questions relating to the artical under it like a regular posting?)

Lynn
12th-November-2004, 04:14 PM
With the vast experiance and quality of dancers on this forum, I would like to ask some of them to write an artical on some specific aspect of dance/teaching/DJing... Great idea - a sort of reference library of useful information. Might be a good idea to think about length or article (no of words) and get people to PM you with suggested topics - (or whoever will be the 'editor' - someone with a spell checker perhaps? :whistle: )

Dreadful Scathe
12th-November-2004, 04:19 PM
whats an artical ? I could talk about artichokes for a few pages if you like ? :)

Forte
12th-November-2004, 04:30 PM
Great idea - a sort of reference library of useful information. Might be a good idea to think about length or article (no of words) and get people to PM you with suggested topics - (or whoever will be the 'editor' - someone with a spell checker perhaps? :whistle: )

I am an English teacher and I say mutual intelligibility is all that matters - what if Gadget is dyslexic? (Are you Gadget?) Then you'd be embarrassed for having criticised him. :blush: Leave Gadget's spelling alone! I am starting a capmaign! :clap:

(and if you don't realise that was a deliberate spelling mistake... :wink: )

Dreadful Scathe
12th-November-2004, 04:36 PM
I am an English teacher and I say mutual intelligibility is all that matters - what if Gadget is dyslexic? (Are you Gadget?) Then you'd be embarrassed for having criticised him. :blush: Leave Gadget's spelling alone! I am starting a capmaign! :clap:

(and if you don't realise that was a deliberate spelling mistake... :wink: )
it would have been funnier if you hadn't pointed it out ;)

Gadget maybe can't spell but theres hundreds of things I cant do :)

bigdjiver
12th-November-2004, 04:38 PM
This is moving the forum more towards the newspaper model - and why not?

There is a tremendous amount of useful knowledge already on this forum's archives, unfortunately buried amongst diversions and chit-chat.

I have sometimes used the thread tools to show the thread in printable format, then clicked on the option to show 100 posts on one page, then cut and pasted that page into a word processing package, and edited out all of the gumph. Most of the work towards producing a comprehensive article has already been done. Proper accreditation for anything used in this process should be given.

We, on this forum, should be capable of producing a monthly on-line newspaper, and this would give Franck a vehicle for collecting advertising revenue. It would also make the forum wisdom more accessible to the powers that be, who are usually far too busy to wade through our chatter.

MartinHarper
12th-November-2004, 04:39 PM
What I am proposing is actual articles - not just posts; a premise, some arguments, some examples, some advice and a conclusion.

Nothing is stopping people from writing posts in that style, if they want to. Click the "new thread" button, and type out a treatise.

There are a few guides to MJ online already - such as the AfterFive Dancer's Guide (http://www.afterfive.co.uk/guide/latest/html/TableOfContents.html). You could submit articles to them for consideration. Or create your own competing guide.

spindr
12th-November-2004, 04:46 PM
Well, I can post chapters from Modern Jive - A Dancer's Guide (http://www.afterfive.co.uk/guide/latest/html/TableOfContents.html) if Franck's happy to have 250+ pages of copyrighted but GFDL licenced content added to the forum. I already have a transformation that auto-generates forum-style markup.

Alternatively, I can try and get a wiki (http://phpwiki.sourceforge.net) set up over the weekend -- been meaning to do this for a while, but have slight shortage of webspace at the moment.

Cheers,
SpinDr.

Dreadful Scathe
12th-November-2004, 05:09 PM
i have plenty web space if someone wants to do this sort of thing ! :)

Forte
12th-November-2004, 05:58 PM
it would have been funnier if you hadn't pointed it out ;)

Gadget maybe can't spell but theres hundreds of things I cant do :)



I know! I am not as relaxed about spelling as I pretend to be! :rofl: I spend all day correcting it, that's why I lick two relaxe on this form ;)

Jive Brummie
12th-November-2004, 07:00 PM
Well, I can post chapters from Modern Jive - A Dancer's Guide (http://www.afterfive.co.uk/guide/latest/html/TableOfContents.html) if Franck's happy to have 250+ pages of copyrighted but GFDL licenced content added to the forum. I already have a transformation that auto-generates forum-style markup.

Alternatively, I can try and get a wiki (http://phpwiki.sourceforge.net) set up over the weekend -- been meaning to do this for a while, but have slight shortage of webspace at the moment.

Cheers,
SpinDr.

I have absolutely no idea what this means....... :confused:

JB x x

spindr
12th-November-2004, 07:13 PM
I have absolutely no idea what this means.......

That's why there are links to click on :)

Gadget
12th-November-2004, 11:07 PM
Well, I can post chapters from Modern Jive - A Dancer's Guide (http://www.afterfive.co.uk/guide/latest/html/TableOfContents.html) if Franck's happy to have 250+ pages of copyrighted but GFDL licenced content added to the forum. I already have a transformation that auto-generates forum-style markup.
Well, the whole point would be that it's unique to the forum. You can always post links later

Lynn
13th-November-2004, 01:35 AM
Leave Gadget's spelling alone! I am starting a capmaign! :clap:

(and if you don't realise that was a deliberate spelling mistake... :wink: ) Gadget's creative spelling is legendary, I'm not suggesting he changes!

But for an article it can actually be easy to miss all your own typos, (esp those words that the spell chequer doesn't catch :wink: ) . If I am writing anything for publication/presentation I would always get someone else to proof read it as well.

Gadget
14th-November-2004, 10:59 PM
{sorry, my prior post was on someone else's PC while I was waiting for them - would have contained a better insight if I had time...}

Nothing is stopping people from writing posts in that style, if they want to. Click the "new thread" button, and type out a treatise.
True, but they soon fade to obscurity; this is a chat forum - more use for proposing ideas, getting feedback, asking questions, debating,... An article {<-look :D} is a monologue, someting that is self-contained - askes and answers it's own questions. Things in the artical may be discussed, but it should stand alone without needing any seperate precursor or epelogue.


There are a few guides to MJ online already - such as the AfterFive Dancer's Guide (http://www.afterfive.co.uk/guide/latest/html/TableOfContents.html). You could submit articles to them for consideration. Or create your own competing guide.
But it wouldn't be forum created and involved - something always means more when you identify with the author. If anyone wants to grab a popular thread and condense it into an article to submit to the likes of these, then I don't think that Franck would mind (as long as Ceroc Scotland was credited :wink: )

I was not really thinking on 'Guides' as such - more sort on on-line workshops. Admittedly dance is a physical and visual mediuim; translating this to type is more difficult than just demonstrating it.

I like BigDJiver's suggestion of a monthly/weekly newsletter, but it is alot of work.

bigdjiver
15th-November-2004, 12:21 AM
If we do move towards more substantial articles on this forum then a few enhancements to the software might be desirable.

When pressing the quote button the software checks for a selected area of text, and if there is one just quotes that in the reply pane. The quote button no longer quotes the entire, long, article. This saves having to edit down the whole post, or, alternatively, going through quick reply --> advanced --> paste in the selected text --> put quotes around it.

Another nice enhancement would be to find selected text in the replies section, so that responses to that phrase are found. e.g. the reader selects "nice enhancement", presses the button, and the search tool finds just the replies to the article that contain that phrase in their quote section.

Lynn
15th-November-2004, 01:43 PM
I really like this idea, whether it be wisdom distilled from already existing threads, or something written specifically for the 'online workshop' area. I like that fact that it would be from someone on the forum, for other forumites.

And since this is a discussion forum we could have a topic of the month, with teaching article - then maybe a seperate thread where forumites could post their own experiences of whatever that topic was. I think it would be good for the article to be stand alone, maybe as a 'sticky' in the 'online workshop/forum articles' area (whatever Franck wants to call it) and the discussion following it to be on a seperate thread?

I know dancing needs to be experienced to really learn, but I have learnt a lot from reading other people's experiences on this forum, (particularly important for me as I have no other way of learning about MJ as no actual teacher!) And there are some fantastic 'help one another' attitudes on this forum too. :hug: This 'articles' idea would be another way of us helping each other. Go for it Gadget!

MartinHarper
15th-November-2004, 02:09 PM
But it wouldn't be forum created and involved

Many of the guides I've seen have been written by people who post to this forum.

jivecat
15th-November-2004, 06:37 PM
Gadget's creative spelling is legendary, I'm not suggesting he changes!



A unique part of his forum personality, I say. Don't ever use spellcheck, Gadget!

Magic Hans
16th-November-2004, 01:27 AM
....
Well, I can post chapters from Modern Jive - A Dancer's Guide (http://www.afterfive.co.uk/guide/latest/html/TableOfContents.html) if Franck's happy to have 250+ pages of copyrighted but GFDL licenced content added to the forum. I already have a transformation that auto-generates forum-style markup.
....


Nooooooo!!! :sick: :sick: :sick:

Great idea Gadget, as Martin says, there are plenty of articles out on the WWW already. However, why copy them?? Why not simply point to them, maybe with a little review of what it's like?

This achieves the following:
Provides a central point of info for MJ information
No copyright infringement

At the expense of:
Not being in total control of the external articles at all
Minor inconvenience of navigating to another web site.


Hope this make sense!!

Ian

bigdjiver
16th-November-2004, 11:53 AM
... there are plenty of articles out on the WWW already. However, why copy them?? Why not simply point to them, maybe with a little review of what it's like?

This achieves the following:
Provides a central point of info for MJ information
No copyright infringement

At the expense of:
Not being in total control of the external articles at all
Minor inconvenience of navigating to another web site...Not being in control includes not being able to guarantee their continuing existence. We could easily be left with pages of commentary, but not be able to read the source.

The newspapers are full of articles that have a "been done, and been done better" look about them, but each comes from a slightly different viewpoint, and still gets readers. There are always topics that have not been done before, or have a new twist to them because of recent developments.

The "Strictly come dancing" programme, for instance, can spawn many new articles, and new slants on old topics. It could easily fill a daily newspaper on its own, if the peripheral topics are covered. The same could be said about a dance weekend.

spindr
16th-November-2004, 01:32 PM
Nooooooo!!! :sick: :sick: :sick:

Everyone's a critic :)


Great idea Gadget, as Martin says, there are plenty of articles out on the WWW already. However, why copy them?? Why not simply point to them, maybe with a little review of what it's like?

Well, I somewhat misunderstood Gadget's idea -- I interpreted it as an article being published, and then being polished and possibly rewritten slightly by forum members to improve it.

SpinDr.

Lory
16th-November-2004, 01:37 PM
that's why I lick two relaxe ;)
:whistle: :wink: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: