Archive for February, 2008
“The Japan-related Web” Revisited
On February 28, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Suggestions Please
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” — Samuel Adams
I’ve always loved a good quote. Maybe it is time we set brush fires in some minds! 
If you have been a DailyJ reader for a litttle while now you probably know that last month I guest-blogged a series of posts about “the Japan-related web” on RisingSunOfNihon.com. If you missed that discussion you could read/skim through the series or just stay tuned for the discussions to come.
The series wasn’t perfect but hopefully it laid the foundation for a larger discussion about our community, the community of Japan-related sites, forums and blogs.
My hope is that the idea of a community (and by necessity communication) will be “stolen” and talked about by others on their websites. (”stolen” because I don’t need any credit. It is our idea not mine anyway.)
To review the series, I want to go back through your comments and the best parts of the posts and bring them forward again for real discussion.
So the goal is for us to have a more in depth discussion about them, but first I want to hear from you guys about how we should do this. What can we do to make the conversation livelier than it was the last time?
(It seems like it started off lively and then technical problems killed it)
Also, what kind of topics do you want to discuss (that were not covered) or re-discuss?
One thing I definitely want to do with this review is have Japan-site makeovers. So, if you have a Japan related website and want the community to give you feedback and assistance with improving your site, we have an opportunity for you to do that with Japan site make over. I’ll be giving more details about this later, but if you want in early on the list you can contact me at eaglelandgrace [atto] gmail [dotto] com. 
Have a great day
DailyJ
How to win $50 in BaBiBuBeBo’s Japan Photo Contest
On February 26, 2008 in On the J-web, fun
Hi there all you photography enthusiasts! I have a fun opportunity for you.
Evan Pike from Japan Photo Guide (also known as BaBiBuBeBo.com) emailed me and asked me to post something about his contest. Evan was a schoolmate of mine at Jyochi U. but I would have posted something for him either way. DailyJ is all about Japan-related news. Friendship just lubricates the process
The contest will only run until March 17th so you’ll have to hurry! Anyone can enter and the details are all on his blog in the post Contest: Easy Way to Win $50 from Japan Photo Guide
And hopefully we will be hearing a lot more from Evan soon
(as soon as I stop being lazy and send him those interview questions)
Life Hacks for Japan-bloggers?
On February 26, 2008 in Community building
As some of the regulars (and upcoming interviewees) might have noticed I have not been as quick with responses and as daily with DailyJ lately.
Between the guest blogging last month about the Japan-related web and the increased workload at my day job, I am feeling the burn. I’m sure it is good for me though, so I’m not giving up.
If you haven’t received a reply to your comment or email yet I apologise and I’ll make every effort to reply very soon.
I received some comments that made my day though and I just have to highlight them now. SouthOfReality just got a promotion (dinner is on him 
) and Chris might be franchising his English school! If that is not exciting news I don’t what is!
Now back to the handling comments and emails and posts and the-rest-of-life…
That is a lot to deal with, in other words, a problem. So like any good techno-geek I turned to the internet for help and found a solution on lifehacker.com. I love lifehacker!
They have an excellent article on organising your email. It talks about separating your To-Dos from email by taking emails-you-need-to-take-action-on and putting reminders about them in your to-do list (or calendar).
Probably most of you know (or should know) about NihonHacks but I wonder how many knew about sites like lifehacker.com (or lifehack.org)?
How is everybody? + Up and coming
On February 24, 2008 in Announcements
Work has been busier lately and it is affecting my blogging 
Anyway,
I’d love to hear how all of you are doing.
Up and coming
An interview with podcasters and a couple of surprises
Screen capture tutorials for JapanSoc
On February 22, 2008 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Helping Japan Bloggers
Hi All,
I am creating some tutorials to help Japan-bloggers install some of the tools that make submitting your posts to JapanSoc easy. If you are new and don’t know about JapanSoc (been under a rock? ) here is a link where you can learn all about JapanSoc
For the acquainted, let me begin by warning you that these tutorial videos were made as examples of what could be done (i.e. they are not polished works of art).
Hopefully people with more artistic talent than myself (that’s probably anyone) will make better ones from scratch or add to these.
If you want to give it a go, here is a website that let’s you download youtube videos. So you can download these tutorials and edit them if you like. Unlike with all of that music you’ve been pirating, this time you have permission.
I made them using this screen capture tool I found on tucows.com (a great site by the way)
I am planning to make a tutorial for each of the items on Nick’s JapanSoc Toolbox page. So far I have done one for the “voting button” and tried to do one for the “bookmarklet.” They are not as easy to make as I had hoped. It took me three attempts and about four hours to get a half decent one but I like JapanSoc and I want to learn how to make these so I don’t mind spending the time.
Sometimes it is hard to follow only written instructions and if you don’t know how long it is going to take (or how hard it is) it can be frustrating to do something. And then you get lazy. That’s why I am making these. Hopefully they will help combat that. Let me know if think this will be useful.
Here is the one I struggled to make today (couldn’t get the audio to work ):
Japanopedia - Questions from Readers
On February 21, 2008 in Japanopedia
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Some background in case you are new:Japanopedia is a project on wikia.com (from the creators of wikipedia). Here are some previous posts about it, more explanation to come. |
Deas Said, Is this similar to Japan Reference? Note: I have never used the site. Just ran across it when searching. But it seems kind of similar. Just curious.
The Chemist Said, Hi Deas! I love Jref. I’ve been roaming around on its pages for a long time. I don’t want this project to replace or compete with it. Instead I hope this project will support and enhance other projects like jref.The project is supposed to be more of a tool for collaboration than a resource in itself. The JapanSoc project page we started on it is a perfect example. Multiple people can work on the same list and check off the blogs they have soc’ed. Few platforms besides wiki allow this type of collaboration. Other projects, like Jref, could use this wiki to organise group work for their own sites.
I need to explain this better in future posts. I think I have just confused people so far.
If you have any other questions about the project (or this reply) please let me know because it could help me better explain it in the future to others.
Also, to relate it to your RockingInHakata:
Let’s say you wanted to make a bunch of LOL cats in Japanese ( or translate a list of jokes into Japanese) and you wanted help from others. You could use this wiki to start a project page for it and invite others to help you out. So multiple people could edit and translate on the same page (and wikis archive all changes so you cannot lose info to vandalism).
I would love to help you with this kind of page if you are interested. Just let me know!
What do you think? Do you understand the project a little better from this q and a? Feel free to tell me if I sound like a rambling idiot
I hope Deas saw my reply.
Japanopedia better explained (hopefully)
On February 20, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Japanopedia, Suggestions Please
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Some background in case you are new:Japanopedia is a project on wikia.com (from the creators of wikipedia). Here are some previous posts about it, more explanation to come. |
I think I have confused some people with the Japanopedia project. Thankfully Shane has pointed that out:
I applaud you for starting this project and maybe I missed something - what is the goal? Who is it geared toward? Is it meant to be a ‘click-through’ resource pointing to more detailed information or the source of the information itself?
I am having a hard time figuring out how little ‘ol me can support the project?
First, Shane is complete right about me not explaining the project very well. Thanks Shane! I forget that you cannot read my mind to find out.
Here is what I’d like Japanopedia to be, in a nutshell:
A tool for people to use to collaborate on projects to enhance Japan-related information online.
Ok. That is a pretty short, general explanation and I am bound to be pounced on in the comments for it. If you like short explanations you can skip down to the bullet points below and get a good overview of what Japanopedia is/isn’t. For those who like detail, to redeem myself, I am going to answer each of Shane’s questions now:
#1 What is the goal?
The goal is to give the Japan-related web community a central place where they can collaborate on whatever projects they’d like.
For example: Let’s say you want to start a page to compile a list of all the best beginner Japanese lessons from Youtube. You could start the page and then tell other interested people about it. With several hands doing the compiling it should make for a bigger list.
#2 Who is it geared toward?
The site is a little more geared towards webmasters and bloggers (especially at this point) than to general readers. It is not really meant to be [only] an encyclopedia, so maybe the name should be changed. At some point it would be nice if it had articles on everything under the sun but that’s not the only goal.
#3 Is it meant to be a ‘click-through’ resource pointing to more detailed information or the source of the information itself?
I’m glad you asked this question, and I was planning on mentioning it. Mainly it will be click-thru. That’s because Japanopedia is supposed to be a support to all of the projects and sites out there and not a copy or competition.
That said, it has the potential to offer some of the most complete guides available on a topic. Wikipedia only includes encyclopedia-worthy information. So although we would not copy the wikipedia article (just link to it) , we could add information that wikipedia does not (extra related links and video, for example) .
#4 I am having a hard time figuring out how little ‘ol me can support the project?
There are two things that I recommend we all do: stay curious, and let your imagination run wild.
Stay curious because more and more will be going on with Japanopedia as it progresses. New projects are going to come up and you might find some that interest you.
But don’t just wait hoping for interesting projects to come up, suggest them. Let your imagination run wild! I know Shane likes kotowaza and mentioned maybe having a page to compile them on Japanopedia. I can start a project for that (and I am working on a page to make it easier for people to start projects on their own). If you want to start something and you want my help just ask!
Some extra tips on Japanopedia
- don’t think of it as a launched site (a finished project). More as a work in progress
- don’t consider it an information destination in itself, just a guide
- consider it a behind the scenes project that fuels collaboration
- consider it a project to highlight and help other Japan-related projects
Let’s hear from you (a.k.a I’m talking too much)
The comment section below is just screaming for you to write your thoughts!
Do you have any questions?
If you have any questions about the project please ask them and I will post them along with an answer in subsequent “Q and A” posts (if you don’t want me to post them write “don’t post”).
Do you have a project you would like me to help you start?
Fire up the imagination factory, come up with an idea, and then let me know about it in the comments. I will post it and everyone can contribute feedback to get the project started.
That’s all the typing I can take for now.
As always let me know what you think
And have a great day!
DailyJ
J-web research
On February 19, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate
(Ok. If you are a newbie this post might lose you. Sorry about that. But I hope you stick around anyway, we’re nice people)
Sidenote: I have a big post I promised coming up, this is not it.
Before starting the Japan-related web series last month I did a lot of searching online for interesting Japan-related sites, groups, forums, etc.
I am planning to review the series soon here on DailyJ. And I hope you will join in!
As a prelude to that I just wanted to post about some Japan blogger sites/resources already available and get feedback about them.
One that I have know about for awhile now (before I even started blogging) but have not been active with is JapanBloggers.com. This site has been around for a long time (in internet years) and sadly it looks like it is not receiving the support it probably deserves (maybe it’s the platform they are using?).
What do you think of it?I want to look into possible ways to help the site and see if I can talk to the owner(s). I thought that I had contacted them before but did not receive a reply (or maybe I am losing my memory). No worries, I’ll just email them again.
They also have a Japan Blogger Yahoo Group.
Japan-related Google gadgets and upcoming posts!
On February 18, 2008 in Announcements, Resources
I’m working on a few big upcoming posts. One of them will hopefully better explain the Japanopedia project. The others should spark a lot discussion and, even better, collaboration.
In the meantime I thought I’d post a little blurb about Japan-related Google Gadgets.
There are some really nice gadgets available that you can add to your site or your iGoogle page (and other places too, I think). You can search or browse through them from the main Google Gadget page. I like to search through these for ideas and possible add-ons for the Nipponster Japan toolbar and I thought you might like them too.
Here are the gadgets for the search term “Japan.”
There are a couple of interesting ones: kanji of the day gadget, flickr pictures of Japan, and Duck Hunt (ok. maybe that last one is a bad example )
Also there are the gadgets I’ve included below (and look! I stumbled on a Japan-Hopper one):
When in Japan… an interview with JapanItUp
On February 17, 2008 in Interviews, bloggers
Hi All. We’re back for our last romp with Steve from JapanItUp.com. If you are just joining us here is yesterday’s post. Today Steve is going to point us to a few of his favourite posts. And he has some Japan advice for us too.
DailyJ: Which are your favorite posts so far and why?
Steve: My favorite post is “Going to the Doctor” because it was a very affordable and different experience than seeing a doctor in the U.S. My other favorite post has to be the video of Yoshio Kojima. No matter how many times I see the video I can’t stop laughing. Japanese TV is awesome! I have no idea what they’re talking about but I’ve been more entertained by TV then I have been in years!
DailyJ: I really like your post and videos about Japanese capsule hotels. Are you planning to do any more videos like
these in the future?
Steve: I found the capsule website while looking up info about Japan and I’ve heard about them so I did some research and created a post. Those are videos from youtube users (not created by me). However I do hope to upload my own videos soon.
DailyJ: I noticed from your categories that you focus a lot of everyday living in Japan. If you had to give one piece of
advice to someone looking to live in Japan, what would it be?
Steve: While in Japan, think like a Japanese person. I haven’t spoken about this yet, but this is by far the best advice. When you’re in a new part of the world you should learn to adapt to your surroundings. Life will become easier for you. And remember, you can still be wild and crazy without disrespecting anybody or acting like a fool.
Sounds like good advice to me, but I thought it only applied to Rome
Thanks, Steve, for the interview! And thank you all for reading. Now go forth and JapanItUp!
And… Have a great day!
DailyJ
