Archive for the ‘Suggestions Please’ 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?
Giving away a few Japan-related domain names
On March 18, 2009 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Announcements, Blog Improvements, Suggestions Please
I have a few domain names that I’d like to give (yes, free) to anyone who will do good with them.
Going forward it will be important for me to focus my time and resources on the areas where I am already providing value (and can provide future value). And I plan to cut everything that doesn’t.
So, here are the domains available (all registered at godaddy):
Japanopedia.org - A Japan encyclopedia project was the original vision. Maybe you can make it work or come up with a better idea for it. Ganbare!
Japanopedia.com - was registered to protect the japanopedia name (which was probably pointless)
gaijinbook.com - I had so many ideas for this site. The first website I ever made was thegaijinbook.com in 2003 with the help of a friend. It was supposed to be a site where foreigners (mostly foreign exchange students) in Japan could post articles talking about their experiences. We even played with the idea of turning some of the experiences into a book (which could be done easily now with lulu) and giving all the published submitters a percentage of sales. But the idea didn’t take off (my vanity would like to think it was ahead of its time) and I moved on to other website projects. We forgot to renew the name and lost it. I always liked the name though and ended up buying gaijinbook.com (which was better anyway). I didn’t have a clear idea for it at first but finally planned to turn into a social networking site for foreigners. Probably not a great idea. I don’t know.
Anyway, maybe you can take it and do something awesome with it.
I’ve never sold or given away a domain before so I am not sure exactly how it works on godaddy although I know you can do it and supposedly it isn’t hard.
SO, if you are interested, just email me about the domain you want and we can figure out how to make the transfer from there.
eaglelandgrace Att gmail
Rikai Widgets on the Nipponster Japan Toolbar
On October 23, 2008 in Announcements, Japanese Toolbar, On the J-web, Resources, Suggestions Please
Working on too many things…
Thankfully I made time for things that matter too.
I have caught up with my email (inbox zero!) and replied to all comments (hopefully).
I also added some goodies to the Nipponster Japan Toolbar for you.
They are from Rikai’s “syndicate me” page.
By putting them on the Japan Toolbar users like you can access them right from your browser! (good for extra laziness)
Here is what it looks like:
Of course you have to download/install the Japan Toolbar if you haven’t already (it’s easy).
Here are the rikai widgets in action (of course with the toolbar you don’t have to come here to use them):
Kanji of the day -
Kanji recall quiz -
Japanese phrase of the day -
Japan photo of the day -
I have the sneaky suspicion that I have set these up on the toolbar wrong (they may not update daily), I will check them later to see if they update. If you notice any problems let me know, yeah?
And if you have any suggestions for the Japan Toolbar just let me know. I’m at your service.
Have a great day
DailyJ
Quick: JapanBlogger; Nipponster; JapanLabs; JapanSoc; & playing catch-up
On October 17, 2008 in Suggestions Please
Not much time to post today, so just a quick one.
1) JapanBlogger.net is back up! Yay!
2) I changed the text on the nipponster homepage to read “Japan-specific search.”
3) JapanLabs. Thanks Nick for mentioning it. I will be talking more about some ideas I have for it soon. But to give a preview, I am hoping that in the tech support section we can maybe discuss code (wordpress code for example)/how to develop our webpages to our liking (maybe we can help each other with this); other types of collaboration, etc.
4) JapanSoc - looks like it’s out of read-only mode. So I guess Nick was able to make the leap to a new virtual private server. Here’s hoping it was a smooth move and Jsoc will be super-fast hereafter.
5) Playing catchup… I haven’t taken my email inbox down to zero in about 1.5 weeks. That means I have many comments that I haven’t replied to, that I need to reply to! 
I hope I can catch up quickly.
How is your week going?
The DailyJ Interview Recipe: 1 part Japan-enthusiasm, 2 parts love
On October 07, 2008 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Suggestions Please
Â
Recently I had a quick exchange with Tony from TheSoulOfJapan:
- Tony Said,Would like to have my site added to your blogroll
thank you- The Chemist Said,Hi Tony,
Thanks for the comment. You have a good looking J-blog. I like sites that have a niche (in your case, onsen and sake).I actually don’t have a blogroll…
I have an interviewee roll. So as you can imagine the only way on there is through an interview. Luck for you, I would be more than happy to interview you
What do you say?- Tony Said,Sounds good. I am ready for your interview anytime.
I love receiving requests for interviews! (Btw, thanks Tony for stopping by and commenting and sharing your site with me). I love going out and contacting J-sites for interviews too. But I hate not having the time to do more interviews and to do them better.
I give every interview my all, but with limited time it is hard to interact with the interviewee (sending emails back in forth) in a timely manner and give them the attention they deserve.
I want to interview everyone, the problem is time. (If anyone has a possible solution, or even a silly one for laughs 
, I’m all ears)
The idea for this post (a post explaining what goes into a DailyJ interview) came to me a little over a week ago. I must have been think about DailyJ and my other projects that day because I woke up in the middle of the night with a dozen ideas in my head. So I grabbed my trusty notebook and wrote down this post.Â
My reasons for writing it are twofold: 1) to try to justify my often horrible reply speed with the excuse that I put in a lot of work :) and 2) to show how I feel about everyone I interview and doing interviews in general (i.e. my slowness is not out of disinterest or disrespect).
 Â
The Secret Sauce: the DailyJ interview process
- Make The Shopping List
- Go out and find interesting Japan-related sites; Sites are recommended by readers
- Research the sites; see what they are doing and why it is cool, unique, etc.
- Formulate specific questions related to their site (to send along with general questions)
- Contact with questions, excitement, and interest!
- Wait/hope for a reply
- Yay! They replied!
- (maybe)Â Ask some additional questions/questions about their answers, if they have time for it.
- Digest the answers; Try to get a feel for who they are and (if applicable) what their message is.
- Return to the site and find any extra content that compliments the answers; Go deep; Love the site; what makes it unique from all others? Why cool/interesting?
- Group the answers to create the best possible flow.
- Try to make the mission or uniqueness of the site clear through attention grabbing titles and short but informative introductions.
- Never edit out what interviewees say (except maybe to “bleep” over a few “sentence enhancers” :), hey DailyJ is PG 13 at most)
- Always ask (sometimes force <– in jest) readers to take specific actions related to the interviewee site. For example: “go read this; check this out; subscribe to this or I’ll break your arm; etc.”
- Review/ proofread/ make it pretty : add more pics, edit things here and there.
- Post! (maybe in parts, to the chagrin of some
) - Promote (maybe the most important part). Promoting the interviewee, not necessarily the interview
- Find ways to help them get the word out. Nowdays this is easier because of JapanSoc, our nifty community watercooler.
- Also if I see a connection between two interviewees (or just an interviewee and a site I know of) I might mention it to them. Connections are key (<–see posts that start with “Connections”).
- Maintaining the relationship (I have much room for improvement
):Â Keeping up with past interviewees blog posts; commenting;Â seeing if there are any new developments. This is the hardest part because of the time invovled, but it is one of the most important.
Shop
Examine Ingredients
Chop, Mix, Bake
 
voilà . bon appétit!
残り物
So that’s the DailyJ interview process!
It is actually a lot of work. I suppose I must be crazy to put in the effort. But I love doing it. It is one of those things that I would glad do forever for free (since none of you cheapskates will pay me  j/k).
I really enjoy learning about other people’s sites and projects. And communicating with other Japan-bloggers keeps me from being a lonely J-blogger. Plus I desperately want people to be interested in Nipponster and my pet projects so I want to show that kind of interest first.
Well, I hope that I’ve interested you in a DailyJ interview (if you haven’t had one already). Or maybe I’ve just made you hungry. I know I am (stupid pictures!). On that note, I’m off to find some sushi.
Have a great day!
DailyJ
A new face on Nipponster
On September 14, 2008 in Announcements, Suggestions Please
Well, I did it. Finally.
Nipponster looks prettier now.
Take a look –> http://nipponster.com
I don’t like working with graphics, but somehow I managed.
I bet you’ll agree it looks better than this:
Let me know what you think.
Also I am trying to figure out what I should put in place of the text “search…different” under the logo on the new nipponster.
I was thinking “Japan Search”
‘Japan-specific Search” and “Japan-enthusiast’s Search Engine” are a bit too long.
I’m all ears for feedback.
Well, now that it is pretty, I’m off to make it a better search engine…
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 maybe I am not really adequately solving problems/ meeting needs.
hmmm…
Working on a new face for Nipponster. Any ideas?
On August 30, 2008 in Suggestions Please
I am working on a new design for the Nipponster homepage and the old promotional page badges (they really need work!)
Here is the link to the current Nipponster promo badges (they are uggggggly).
Any ideas/advice on a new design?
I might post some samples of possible new badges in the future.
I am using inkscape and gimp (both free), on a pc running puppy linux, to do the new designs. Go Linux!
Building lists with the help of the community
On August 11, 2008 in Suggestions Please
I want to build two lists, but I need your help.
One of Japan-related forums
and the other for Japan-related job sites.
They will be for an upcoming Nipponster forum search and job search engine. (you can beta test them here: job search , forum search - at your own risk )
I have small lists that I’ve created on my own but I want to make lists that the Japan-related web community can add to, comment on, and rate.
So I created searches for them on Nipponster.
Here they are! You can add to the list, comment, and rate. I will use them to make the new search engines
What are the best Japan-related forums on the web?
What are the best Japan-related job sites on the web?
Let me know what you think.
And have a good day,
DailyJ
