Archive for the ‘DailyJ Mission’ Category

Tired

On September 04, 2008 in DailyJ Mission, Suggestions Please

I am worn out today.

So this post might be less than inspired.

I have been thinking a lot about DailyJ and Nipponster and the other sites on the J-web.

I feel like I am losing focus. Or maybe the need that DailyJ was originally created to fill, is no longer important.

I don’t know.

When I created my first Japan-related website (now defunct) back in 2003 I wanted to create a website that would help people interested in studying at universities in Japan (foreign students).

It was supposed to be a site where current students could submit stories about their experiences. Then interested students could learn about student life in Japan from them.

It failed, the site I built after it failed, and the social networking site I built after that failed (but gave birth to Nipponster).

I learnt a lot from each of those failures, so maybe I am becoming more savvy.

On the other hand many I am not really adequately solving problems/ meeting needs.

hmmm…

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Imitating Google

On August 20, 2008 in DailyJ Mission

One of the things that I admire the most about Google is their drive to give new tools to webmasters and bloggers. (Of course I admire even more their “Don’t Be Evil” policy)

As I build on Nipponster and DailyJ (and help out with other Japan-related projects) I want to do the same. I want to give tools and help to j-sites and blogs.

So, I have a little secret for you. But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow

!

hehehe

Have an anxious day,

DailyJ

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Wish your blog was a forum? I do

On August 14, 2008 in Blog Improvements, DailyJ Mission

If I could do it all over again with DailyJ I don’t think I would change a thing (except for my 4 month disappearing act).

Interviewing all kinds of interesting J-bloggers, having fun conversations, having the chance to share ideas, and spreading awareness that we are part of a Japan-related web - it has been great.

But I guess I would change one thing…

The blog.

The bad part about blogging is that at the end of the day it is you, alone.

Sure there are commenters and others around. But they can only interact with the site so much. They don’t have much control and input.

*Sigh*

I want a forum…

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Focus and the backrub

On August 09, 2008 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Helping Japan Bloggers

 

Interesting bit of trivia for you…

What was the original name of Google before it was Google?

I’ll give you a hint, it was one of the words in this post’s title.

If you said “focus” guess what, you’re wrong. Yay!

Google started as Backrub.

What does that have to do with Japan/DailyJ/anything you ask?

They called it Backrub because it was the first search engine to measure links between websites. Links (relationships) = I rub your back.

Anyway,

Let’s talk about FOCUS.

Around the j-web different sites have different focuses. Different sites have different styles and functions. There is probably niche room for all 

And I also have a place. I need to focus more on creating the best search engine of Japan-related results. Nipponster.

Your J-site might have a different focus entirely.

But we can rub each others back by helping each other improve. I hope to use DailyJ (going forward) as a conduit for that; a conduit for helping others with their sites. And for receiving help with Nipponster.

So let’s share feedback going forward. Are you with me? 

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Back on radar

On August 05, 2008 in Announcements, Community building, DailyJ Mission

 

…I’m back. But no promises. And no grandiose speech about the future. Just quiet determination.

I want to make Nipponster and DailyJ into great websites. I want to improve Japan-related web resources and help build up the community.

But this time I have to pace myself and not burn out. And most importantly, I need to focus.

I have been thinking a lot about DailyJ, Nipponster, and the bloggers/webmasters who I’ve had contact with through this blog.

I want to thank all of you again for your support in the past (and especially all those who have kept nudging me to continue).

I hope that I will still have your support in the future.

Have a great day!

DailyJ

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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 ):

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Connections On The J-web

On January 21, 2008 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, On the J-web

The last time I did a “connections” post was December 5th, so this is much over due.

It’s time to talk a look at what some of the past DailyJ interviewees have been up to and see if we can find connections. I just mentioned on The Japan-related Web series how connections may become opportunities for webmasters to collaborate. I don’t know if these connections will lead to that, but at least I hope they are fun.

Here we go:

#1

Jamaipanese has vowed that he will “tame the beast that is the Japanese language”

RisingSunOfNihon might be of some help with his new Japanese language posts

Thomas from NihonHacks.com recommends AllJapaneseAllTheTime, and I agree.

#2

Meme-tagging between JapanNewbie and RockingInHakata

#3

KeepingPaceInJpan and Waikiki2Yanai talk dentists

KeepingPaceInJapan’s post mentions a service called Access Dental Counseling which would be a perfect tip for NihonHacks to cover!By the way, Turner from KeepingPaceInJapan is going in for surgery so why not take a moment to give him an encouraging comment?

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“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.

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Post #3 of “The Japan-related Web” guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon

On January 08, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements, Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web

Post #3 is up. I wanted to divide (dissect) the Japan-related content available into parts so that we can study it closely. I ended up with seven categories. And that is what is post is all about.

First of all, we need to know, what kinds of sites are there? I propose that, whether big or small, most sites offer one or a combination of the following:

(Click here to read the post on RisingSunOfNihon)

Be sure to give your comments on the article!

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Post #2 of “The Japan-related Web” guest-blogging-series on Rising Sun of Nihon

On January 07, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements, Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web

Here is a snippet from the next post in the guest blogging series. We will be chatting about this all month long and want to hear your opinions, so be sure to visit RisingSunOfNihon and join in the discussion!

The purpose of this series is to inspire everyone (from reader to webmaster) to greater collaboration, communication and mutual encouragement.

But, I am not foolish enough to think that I have all the answers.

In this series the real inspiration is you…

Click here to read the full post (all posts are under 200 words, just the right size!)

Join the fun

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