Archive for the ‘Future of the J-web’ Category
On the Importance of a Sustainable J-web Economy - An Open Letter
On May 26, 2010 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers, On the J-web, 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
If you have any part in the J-web I beg you to suffer through this long letter. If I have done my job well it will be worth it for your time.
The Need for a Sustainable J-web Economy
A little while ago Nick was talking about revenue sharing on JapanSoc and basically summed up the conclusion that all of us who have started projects eventually come to:
Do we need ads? Yeah. Some kind of income would keep me sane when checking the daily batch of spammer registrations. I’ve got a dozen sites, but spend way too much time maintaining this one.
Today we need to talk sustainability. But first let’s talk about “why;” why is sustainability important? The answer will be very personal and different for each individual, but here is my “why” :
Questions - to myself and to the community
On July 15, 2009 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers, Suggestions Please
Reformulating.
Rethinking.
Lurking.
It seems to me that a sustained and useful Japan-related web community requires soul searching.
I know that for myself, for me to be a useful and long-term contributor, I have to do soul searching. I have to know what really drives and motivates me; what will really sustain my enthusiasm for this activity.
For me it is about Japan and it is about the web. But it is also bigger/more than just Japan and more than just the web.
It is about people, passion, mission.
So I have been rethinking and reformulating in the shadows. It’s not quite time yet; the ideas aren’t solid yet.
But the questions are firm and universal.
Why Japan?
Why are we interested in Japan? What exactly is the nature of our interest in Japan? (ex: living there, want to live there, etc.) How can we satisfy that interest?
Why the web?
Why do we blog? Why do we build websites? Why do we write, podcast, videocast?
and perhaps even…
Why a community?
Why the need to organise? Why the need/desire to connect with others? How does the community benefit the whole?
One small step for JapanSoc…
On October 08, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Community building, Future of the J-web, On the J-web
One small step for JapanSoc, one giant leap for the J-web!
From its start DailyJ has been a huge fan and support of the site because of its ability to bring the Japan-related web into a tight-knit community. I have said before (guest blogging on RisingSunOfNihon) that I think JapanSoc will be very significant in the future of the Japan-related web, and I think this latest feature was a step in that direction.
And perhaps, although it was just a small step (as far as difficulty) for JapanSoc, it will have a giant effect on the Japan-related web.
It seems that the way we interact, and perhaps help others, on the J-web is changing; becoming more sophisticated. And it seems that the idea of community is spreading.
I hope so! Ganbarou Jsoc!
Supporting JapanSoc
On September 29, 2008 in Announcements, Blog Improvements, Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers
Just a quick but important post today.
I (finally) put up a JapanSoc widget on DailyJ to help spread the idea of JapanSoc and a J-blogger community.
on the bottom of it you can click “get widget” and get one for your site. Go for it!
and check out the Jsoc toolbox
Let’s support our community-driven Japan-related news source.
JapanBlogger.net - an answer to our need
On September 11, 2008 in Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers, On the J-web, Resources
I have been talking some recently with BillyWest about his newest creation, JapanBlogger.net
If you haven’t checked it out yet, now is the time.
For Japan-bloggers and your everyday Japan-enthusiast alike JapanBlogger.net is an indispensable site.
The concept is something that was long talked about, even here on DailyJ (see Chris’s comment in this post)
So let’s look at some of the main features of JapanBlogger
#1 The dynamic blog roll.
This makes a great edition to any Japan blog. Nick from JapanSoc worked together with BillyWest on this. Great work!
#2 Besides rating blogs, JapanBlogger is a good blog directory. Users can comment on blogs and others can read and find out about more blogs in one sitting than they could if they had to go to each blog individually.
#3 It works also as a blog portal. This is a subtle difference but an important one.
When a user clicks on a blog, that blog opens up in a new window and can be closed out taking the user right back to JapanBlogger to browse other blogs. How cool is that?!
I’ve been using it quite a bit lately and have to say it is a fun and easy way to surf J-blogs.
Is your J-blog on the twitter group?
On August 29, 2008 in Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers, On the J-web
Neil Duckett over at NeilDuckett.com is twittering and invites you to join in if you have a Japan-related blog.
He has created a Japan-blogger twitter group and you are welcome.
J-tweets…
What will we think up next?!
Let the Mad Science Experiments Begin, Muhahahaha!
On August 22, 2008 in Community building, Future of the J-web, JapanLabs, On the J-web
Announcing….
“The Mad Science Laboratory of the Japan-related Web!”
I promise you nothing. But I am VERY excited.
JapanLabs is a place where people interested in the “J-web 2.0″ can brainstorm new Japan-related projects and experiment.
It is built on an excellent Social Networking Platform that makes collaboration simple.
Benefits To You:
- Get feedback about your website from people who know J-websites
- Find people to help with that new project
- Interact with like-minded people and stimulate your creative juices!
How those benefits are delivered:
- Groups - start a group for your project or interest. Then you and other interested people can discuss it in the group forum.
- MyPages - see what your lab-mates are up to, their latest comments/contributions.
- Events - share and stay aware of important dates on the J-web (like the JapanBlogMatsuri deadline)
- MainPage - keep up with the latest activity of the JapanLab community.
- Forums - forums focused just on J-web development and brainstorming! A first as far as I know.
Well I’ve hyped it up too much already,
J-web 2.0 - Elevator Up?
On August 21, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Community building, Future of the J-web, On the J-web
When I look at the flurry (is that a word?) of activity on the Japan-related web I can’t help but wonder…
From the time I first started scouring the web for Japan-related gems (back in 2006 for Nipponster) up to now, it seems like there has been a transition.
It seems like there has been a change in the way we build Japan-related websites and the kinds of sites we build.
Also, to me at least, it seems like there is a greater sense that there is in fact a “Japan-related web,” a community, and we are a part of it.
If those observations are in anyway accurate, I propose that we have now reached 2.0. The next level; a new playing field.
I can’t put it any better than BillyWest of JapanBlogger.net -
“it’s like an elevator that has left the ground floor, but too many people are still doing ground-floor stuff. There’s a whole world of opportunity to do original Japan-related sites and it’s nice to see some are taking it to the next level.”
Are you going up?
Update (Aug. 22) :
Here is an interesting chart from Google Trends related to the J-web -
Search trends for “Japan Blog” (an upward trend)
Also, there are 156 million website online. I wonder how we could come up with a figure (even a decent guess) of the number of Japan-related ones. Any ideas?
The Japan-related Web: The Future
On February 06, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers
| If you are just joining us, 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! |
For the last few posts of the Japan-related web series I mention three web projects that I think are leveraging innovative web technology to build community and help webmasters/bloggers.
#1 Japanopedia
#2 Japan-Hopper
#3 JapanSoc
Number 1 and number 3 have been mentioned before on DailyJ (and I will be talking about them more later). Right now I want to talk a little bit about number 2 and then an idea about how all three can work together.
Japan-Hopper.com:
I contacted Kiyotaka, the owner of Japan-Hopper, and asked him a little bit about the project (there will also be a full interview with him later here on DailyJ). You can read what he said in the original article. Basically Japan-Hopper is a site where anyone can add a “placemark” (some info about a location) on a map of Japan.
The great thing about it is that it is perfect for you if you are a Japan-blogger and you have posts about specific places in Japan. You can take a snippet or a summary of your post, add it to Japan-Hopper as a placemark, and add a link back to the full post on your site! Extra traffic.
Now my idea, and it is just an idea (i.e. don’t kill me if you don’t like it)
JapanSoc, Japan-Hopper and Japanopedia if used together could amplify the community building work and send even more traffic to blogs. Here is my thinking:
Japanopedia is like a blank open slate. Anyone can start a project there. Currently there is a project on it to help JapanSoc. A similar project could be made for Japan-Hopper. Maybe a project for bloggers to talk about their favourite places in Japan. Or maybe a project to add screenshots of Japanese monuments on SecondLife to the right places for them on JapanHopper. What do you think about that?
Whatever the case, once it is on Japan-Hopper maybe then it could be highlighted on JapanSoc! You could take your Japan-Hopper placemark’s address and submit it to JapanSoc. If it is interesting and gets “soc’ed” you get exposure for your post on two sites! And you support both projects at the same time.
Of course I am not advocating spamming either site with worthless junk, so I hope you make your contributions meaningful. And have fun too!
Last words?
Tomorrow the last post of the Japan-related web series on RisingSunOfNihon will be posted. But it’s my hope that this series is just the beginning.
As always, I am eager to hear what you think. So let me know!
And have a great day
Japanopedia explained - post #1: background on the project
On January 20, 2008 in Announcements, Community building, Future of the J-web, Japanopedia, Suggestions Please
I have been wanting for some time to talk about this project here with you on DailyJ.
This is a project that is very dear to my heart. I consider it a gift to the Japan-related web.
It is a wikipedia-like site that is not owned by any one person or site, but owned by everyone.
When the idea of a wikipedia-like site was first suggested to me I went out and started a wiki on wikia.com called The Nipponster Japan Project and I wrote this post about it: Stone soup and the Nipponster Japan Project.
I think that post is still a great analogy for the project, but since I cannot and do not want to take credit for this project I asked the wikia staff to change the name to Japanopedia.
For ease of use, you can access it at Japanopedia.org, which redirects to the wikia.com URL jproject.wikia.com.
So,
Now it is your wiki. You can use this site for any Japan-related project. You want to work together with others to compile a list of XYZ? Go right ahead.
I will be involved in Japanopedia (and if you want my help with any project I am happy to help). But I don’t control Japanopedia, the community does.
I’ll post more explaining this project, how it works, how it is community owned, what types of projects would work well on it, etc.
As always I would love to hear your feedback, so let me know what you think!
