Archive for January, 2008
Post #15 of “The Japan-related Web†guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon
On January 20, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements
| If you are just joining us, this month Bill from Rising Sun Of Nihon has invited me to use his blog as a platform where we can all come together and discuss the Japan-related web! Here is today’s snippet. |
This may be the most important element in helping others:
…finding connections between sites is one of my favorite things.
Each connection (for example, a common interest) is a “point of collaboration.” [RockingInHakata translates jokes into Japanese] and [JapanNewbie translates funny Japanese ads] .
That is a point of collaboration…
Click here to read the full and join the discussion
Post #14 of “The Japan-related Web†guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon
On January 20, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements
| If you are just joining us, this month Bill from Rising Sun Of Nihon has invited me to use his blog as a platform where we can all come together and discuss the Japan-related web! Here is today’s snippet. |
Why I am not writing this series:
I am not asking for me or anyone else to be put on a pedestal because that will not bring about innovation. What I am calling for is a leaderless decentralized community.
The community will be fueled by a simple ideology: help others, and encourage them to do the same.There are no rules of membership for this community, no roster lists, and no superiors to report too. If you help others and encourage them to do the same, you are a member…
Click here to read the full and join the discussion
Playing catch-up
On January 20, 2008 in Announcements
So much to do!
Hopefully before the end of the day I will post:
- snippets from the next two Japan-related Web series posts
- a post about the Japan-related wikpedia-like site
- the next j-blog interview
Ganbaru ze!
“JapanSoc It” Button on the Nipponster Japan Toolbar
On January 19, 2008 in Announcements, Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web
After a little delay here it is!
I have created a little button so users can submit an article to JapanSoc just by clicking “JapanSoc It” on the toolbar. I am going to give more details here, but first let’s take a look at JapanSoc itself:
JapanSoc.com, in case you haven’t heard, is a social bookmarking site (think Digg.com) for Japan-related news. Why is this site so important? To explain with an analogy, it could be the “watercooler” of the Japan-related blogosphere; a hub around which J-bloggers (and others besides) can gather and share news.
After announcing that we would release a “JapanSoc It” button Nick informed me that there is already a bookmarklet available. You can read about it here.
I still wanted to give our current toolbar users a “JapanSoc It” button, so I continued with the project. Hopefully the button will attract those users to the JapanSoc project.
For anyone who is not yet a toolbar user and interested in what it has to offer:
The Nipponster Japan Toolbar is a browser toolbar with various features and resources (including Japanese language tools and internet broadcast Japanese tv). We are continually adding to the toolbar and tweaking the functions already available. You can download the Japan toolbar here.
Post #13 of “The Japan-related Web†guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon
On January 18, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements
| If you are just joining us, this month Bill from Rising Sun Of Nihon has invited me to use his blog as a platform where we can all come together and discuss the Japan-related web! Here is today’s snippet. |
We have just started the “what the J-web could be” part of the series and I am hoping the discussion will take off:
In this part of the series I hope to impart an idea (or ideology rather) that I hope you will consider worthy of spreading: We, the Japan-related web community (all the webmasters, bloggers, and readers) have a responsibility…..
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Projects
On January 17, 2008 in Announcements, Suggestions Please
Just a quick post for now to whet your appetite. That’s right, it’s time for some teasers 
- The next post in the Japan-related web series will kick start our discussion of what the Japan-related web could be. I’m looking forward to it (and even more to hearing your comments) and I hope you are too!
- If you have not yet subscribe to the series so you don’t miss a post
- Nipponster is set to release a new toolbar feature to contribute to the JapanSoc.com social bookmarking project. The new feature will let you submit news to JapanSoc right from your browser. Hopefully I will be posting details about the project tomorrow and you will be able to take it for a spin.
- DailyJ has several excellent interviews lined up. Due to the connection problems I had earlier this week the schedule has been push back a bit. Sorry about that. But look forward to them soon.
- And last but definitely not least: There is a project to create a wikipedia-like site about all of the Japan-related information online. The site would also serve as a base for organising projects. Hosted by Wikia (from the creators of wikipedia) everyone could contribute to and use the site, but no J-site would own it.
Busy, busy.
Let me know what you think!
How you can make GTA happy - an interview with Gaba Teachers Association
On January 16, 2008 in Interviews
If you missed it, here is yesterday’s post. We have a couple more questions today as part of our fun with “Gaba Teachers Association.” But first I want to highlight a very funny GTA post.
“Eight-year old reflects on how his life could have turned out if only he had studied harder” - the sad thing is, this is not at all far from reality…
Ok. Let’s roll interview:
DailyJ: How can interested people get the most from your site?
GTA: Please click on random articles as a favor because my happiness is directly tied to my page view count.
DailyJ: Who do you think would love GTA and why?
GTA: According to Google Analytics, the vast majority of people take one look and exit from the site. Once in a while, there’ll be one guy or girl who looks at 50 pages. I assume they must be teachers who have been in Japan for a while and have had similar experiences.
I thought about changing the title to Worldwide English Teachers, or W.E.T. but I’m not sure if this would be more attractive.
DailyJ: What part of running GTA is the most fun for you?
GTA: That’s easy, Google Analytics. I like knowing that a kid in Jordan googled “Teacher Erection” and found my site. Or a college kid in Texas who wants to know “American teachers, japan danger?”
A big thank you to GTA for giving the interview. Be sure to check out the site and contribute to his happiness. I for one welcome our new GABA overload… :)Â
Post #12 of “The Japan-related Web†guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon
On January 16, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements
| If you are just joining us, this month Bill from Rising Sun Of Nihon has invited me to use his blog as a platform where we can all come together and discuss the Japan-related web! Here is today’s snippet. |
Today we will “lift up the hood” and look at the “engines”driving sites on the Japan-related web:
So far in this series we have discussed what the Japan-related web is by breaking it down into seven categories and examining them. In the next part of the series we will be looking at what the Japan-related web could be. But before we move on to that, let us examine the “tools of production†…
Click here to read the full and join the discussion
What GTA has to say about Gaba and ESL in Japan - an interview with “Gaba Teacher’s Association”
On January 15, 2008 in Interviews
After a bit of a delay, here is the rest of the interview we started a few days ago with the GTA, onion.com of ESL news.
DailyJ: Why did you chose Gaba and what has your experience with them been like?
GTA: I chose Gaba because I don’t like rejection or going to more than 1 or 2 job interviews. Nothing is worse than being rejected by an English school. So I’d rather take the safest bet.
Working there is perfectly pleasant and there are lots of good people there. You won’t make a lot of money , but the job itself can be enjoyable. I’ve never been treated unfairly.
The real problem is that schools such as Gaba are using a non-full time “flexible†schedule system, which allows them to pay part-time salaries and cut out all your benefits, vacation time, sick leave, and so on. If you want to make 280,000, you’ll have to “flex†out your schedule.
DailyJ: What is the purpose of GTA? Purely entertainment?
GTA: Mainly entertainment. But I hope it also neutralizes some of the marketing images, words, and euphemisms, that are used when English Schools market themselves. Particularly, Gaba because they market their product to both students and teachers. It’s inescapable if you ride the train or look at a newspaper.
I’ve never studied marketing, but it’s fun to try to figure out what marketers are thinking or why they include something. There’s a lot of lonely people who looking for fulfilment everywhere, but think its particularly evident in Japan. There’s a lot of English School advertisements that aim for that.
In Gaba’s case, they also market their product to the teachers. They have an employment system where they can actually get more revenue, by increasing their staff as much as possible. Thus, they need to not one, but two ads on the front page of the Daily Yomiuri. Teachers are usually recent University grads, so they need to market a commodity that they are searching for–mainly things like professionalism, career growth, stylish environment, and professionalism. I mention professionalism twice, only because Gaba mentions it twice in their recruiting ads.
So, rather than simply write about how this school sucks or this school is like a sweat-shop (which I think is insulting to real fast-food and sweatshop workers), I wanted to take these images presented and turn them against the schools who created them.
:)Â good stuff. That’s all for today but we will hear a little more from GTA tomorrow. But first I want to ask you:
Did you have fun? What do you think of GTA?
Post #11 of “The Japan-related Web†guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon
On January 15, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements
lalala
| If you are just joining us, this month Bill from Rising Sun Of Nihon has invited me to use his blog as a platform where we can all come together and discuss the Japan-related web! Here is today’s snippet. |
Let’s talk e-commerce:
Of all the categories of the Japan-related web that we have scrutinised, e-commerce is one that I had qualms with including (that is mainly because these sites do not have any content). But they have been included because Japan-related e-commerce is the fuel that feeds the J-web. How so?…
