Updates and Outreach, putting the plans together.

[amireal]

Comments

[thefannishwaldo]

I wasn't sure based on your last comment, if you wanted us to do outreach in (I'm guessing) non-SGA fandoms.

I can hit the highpoints in Torchwood fandom if you want? I can at least get this list posted on the Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Chronicles newsletters if we're at that point. Let me know?

[amireal]

It's tough to say, because I sort of want to emphasize that their specific fandoms might not make it into the first round while we're testing everything out, but there are multifandom authors out there and people who might volunteer even if their fandom might not make it through the first 'draft' so to speak. It's not that I dislike any one fandom, it's that I think having too many open and very active fandoms at once might be a tough thing to handle. Also the initial emphasis is on authors who write longer fic.

So. My roundabout answer is-- yes. Because torchwood WILL be welcome if not in the beginning, then sometime soon after.

[amireal]

Just hold off on the actual linking for now, I want a sense of what several people have in mind before we head off.

[chinawolf]

I definitely plan on pimping the comm, but only on my own journal and probably tagged onto a post with many things I think the flist should know about, so overlap should be minimal. I only know one other person who reads on her palm (like I do), and not very often at that, so it's not like I expect anyone to jump up and down in glee as I did when I read Telesilla's post.

[amireal]

*G* You'd be surprised probably, especially since the emphasis is also on limited internet time readers. *G* That said, your personal journal plugging amongst the other sundries should not 'annoy' the general populace. I'm mostly holding off on too many community pimps at once (though if a LOT of people starting posting in their personal LJ I might ask that gets toned down as well.)

[loreleilynn]

Well, I edit the Bones fandom newsletter, bones_news, so I can include a link in today's edition, with a note that it's a multi-fandom thing. I can also ask the folks at the su_herald to include a link. I'll also post in my own journal, though I don't have that big a flist, and maybe one main fandom comm of each fandom I'm in, if that doesn't sound like too much too soon. :) And for pimping ideas, the only thing I can think of is icons, as they wouldn't be that intrusive.

[loreleilynn]

I saw above what you said about waiting to link, so I will too. Just let us know when you want to start advertising!

[amireal]

Man I totally didn't mean to forget about you. *sigh* Tomorrow will be a better day!

[telesilla]

I've got accounts all over the place, so yeah, I have a JF, which is, conveniently enough, "telesilla." *grins*

I've pimped in my LJ and on my IJ.

I was hesitating before announcing the IJ comm in IJ's comm promo because I wasn't sure how far and wide we wanted this pimped; same with fandom_lounge over on JF. I can hit those places today/tomorrow if we're ready to go more multifandom than our flists.

As for the user info, do we want to stick with the interim bit you have up for a little while longer, or should I work on modifying the whole "bringing fanfic into the mobile web" thing from my pimp post?

[amireal]

I'm torn about the wider audiences thing because on one hand-- I really need some people who can definitely do a bit of coding and I know we've got some now, but we haven't even begun to talk about what I know is possible vs. what I'd really really like. On the other hand-- opening to even too many of the more static but VERY LARGE fandoms too early worries me a bit. Yanno

[amireal]

Another thought-- maybe a few more detailed FAQs should be up before inviting a wider audience? Thoughts?

[telesilla]

I'm kind of slow today because I've got a migraine and I'm pretty dopey from drugs.

I was in the middle of a reply to your above comment but basically it pretty much boils down to agreeing with what you say here. For example, pimping big on IJ means pimping to an HP heavy audience and if we're not sure that we're going to do HP right off the bat, we'd need to make that clear.

Right now I think the main answers the people who are going to be our end users will be looking for is a) which fandoms and b) which formats.

And cool on the userinfo, just let me know which points you want and so on.

[busaikko]

** is total newbie **

Okay... I've seen this comm posted on my flist here and there over the past few days, and every time I think: Cool! I'd love to do that, as an author. And I think several people must also be clicking here thinking the same thing?

** cf, is newbie **

I have not the faintest idea how to format a mobilefic (.txt? .html? how ought it to be coded?). For example, would a .txt file on my website that could be right-click downloaded be mobile... or not?

And, God forbid, are there *different* mobile formats? Would a fic readable by an iPod need to be different from one read on my cell phone (AU)?

I realise that you are just starting up, and probably are up to your ears in FAQs and new e-mail accounts... probably you already have all the answers in files open on your desktop! I just wanted to give you an idea of how one 'mind is willing but the skillz is weak' author thinks. Will keep checking back!

[amireal]

The short answer is ipods have a notebook function and most other mobile reading devices can convert certain basic formats (txt, rtf, html, to name a few) in readable formats, or can have programs installed onto them (for devices that are not meant to be solely a mobile reader, such as mobiles phones and PDAs) than can convert a number of basic formats.

Now as for how we want the archive to work, that's still up for debate in various ways, but the quick answer, again, is to have a searchable archive just like any other archive, but instead of clicking on a link and opening up a story like you do everywhere else, you download the file in the format you want for easy loading into your mobile reader of choice. The idea is that instead of 12 steps needed for most fic because it's not optimized for that, you get the fic in the format you need it all ready for loading.

As for formatting itself, there will be howto FAQs and HOPEFULLY web interfaces.

That help?

And yes, the FAQ posts will be going up really, really soon.

[busaikko]

Cool beans! So, like General Jinjur's audiofic site, but with fic downloads instead of MP3s. (I've had a world of failure trying to read LJ stuff on my cell, so this'll rock)