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h2g2 is an online community run by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) as part of its BBCi network. (See http://www.bbc.co.uk/) h2g2 was the abbreviation of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams chosen by the site's founders, TDV. When TDV ceased trading, a new home had to be found - and since the original Guide had been a BBC radio production, the BBC was approached. What was then BBC Online was interested both in the idea of a community site, the user base, and the sophisticated proprietory technology used by the site. |
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h2g2 is an online community run by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) as part of its BBCi network (http://www.bbc.co.uk/). h2g2 was the abbreviation of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams chosen by the site's founders, TDV. When TDV ceased trading, it needed to find a new home for h2g2, and since the original Guide had been a BBC radio production, TDV approached the BBC. What was then BBC Online was interested both in the idea of a community site, the user base, and the sophisticated proprietary technology used by the site. |
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h2g2 has an excellent community feel, with a largely helpful user base. |
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h2g2 has a community feel, with a largely helpful user base. The community is rich in graphics and is considered quite user-friendly. |
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There are volunteers, in rough multiples of 42, who go around welcoming newbies, helping out bemused people with tech problems, hunting for and editing Guide Entries, written by the site's many thousands of Researchers, and hoping to be included in the Edited Guide, which has over 3000 entries and is expanding at the rate of 25 a week. h2g2 is rich in graphics and is hugely user-friendly. |
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The community is made up of volunteers, in groups of rough multiples of 42, who do various jobs. Some welcome newbies, some help people with tech problems. Others hunt for and edit Guide Entries, written by the site's many thousands of Researchers, and hope to be included in the Edited Guide, which has over 3000 entries and as of November 2001, is expanding at the rate of 25 a week. |
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The volunteers are split into five distinct groups, although multiple badges (these appear on your Personal Space) can be held at once. Any Researcher can apply for a badge, but usually only those with a fair amount of experience will be accepted. |
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The volunteers are split into five distinct groups. A volunteer may be in more than one of these. On a Personal Space page, the groups are represented by badges. Any Researcher can apply for a badge, but usually he/she has some experience before receiving one. |
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The Aces are responsible for welcoming new users, and assisting them in becoming active and experienced members of h2g2. While no statistics are publicly available, it is noted that this approach provides a more-than-respectable proportion of initially active Researchers staying on. For help later on in a Researcher's time, Gurus are there to help out. |
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The first group, the Aces, are responsible for welcoming new users and assisting them in becoming active and experienced members of h2g2. No statistics are publicly available, but this approach ensures that a large proportion of initially active Researchers continue to contribute. Another group, the Gurus, help'(s?)' Researchers later on. |
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The next two groups are linked. Guide Entries wishing to become 'Edited' (part of an official collection, the Edited Guide), must go through a process called 'Peer Review'. An URL and Title are posted to a specific page, and the article is reviewed, and constructively criticised by all and sundry. After a minimum of a week, or more if required, a Scout may pick the Entry for inclusion, and each Scout has a few picks each month. The Italics then read the article, and if they think it's a reasonable pick, then it's sent out to a Sub-Editor for correction, checking and re-formatting. The Sub returns the Entry, and it's checked. After a while it's posted to the Front Page for a day, and one in five is awarded it's own professionally drawn picture. |
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The next two groups are linked. Guide Entries wishing to become 'Edited' (part the Edited Guide) go through 'Peer Review'. A URL and Title are posted to a specific page. Then, the article can be reviewed and criticized by anyone. After a week or more if required, a Scout may choose the Entry for inclusion. Each Scout can pick a few articles each month. The Italics then read the article, and if they feel it is a reasonable pick, it is sent to a Sub-Editor for correction, checking and re-formatting. The Sub-Editor returns the Entry to be checked. After it is checked, it is posted to the Front Page for a day, and one in five articles is awarded its own professionally drawn picture. |
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The fifth group are 'University Field Researchers', who write groups of entries that are completed roughly once a week. These groups of entries are a complete guide to a fairly wide subject, and can be very entertaining. |
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The fifth group is the 'University Field Researchers'. They write groups of entries, completed about once a week. These groups of entries are complete guides to a specific subject. |
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h2g2 is large enough to have many different unofficial usergroups as well. There's the Musicians' Guild, the Zaphodistas, the Society for the Addition of a Towel Smiley, the Thingites (who want 'Thursday' renamed 'Thing'), and the 'Small but Vocal Minority', to name but a few. It also has its own virtual broadsheet newspaper, The h2g2 Post, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ThePost, covering all things h2g2. |
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h2g2 is large enough to have many unofficial usergroups: the Musicians' Guild, the Zaphodistas, the Society for the Addition of a Towel Smiley, the Thingites (who want 'Thursday' renamed 'Thing'), the 'Small but Vocal Minority', and more. It has its own virtual broadsheet newspaper called the h2g2 Post: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ThePost. |
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h2g2 even investigates itself, for example in the h2g2 Reports, written by a large group of Researchers. |
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h2g2 also investigates itself, for example in the h2g2 Reports, written by a large group of Researchers. |
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One interesting point about h2g2 is that there isn't really a user hierarchy on-site. From the day you sign up, you can do anything on-site, post to Peer Review, etc. This is a contrast to sites like everything2.com, where all features are accessible only after a certain number of write-ups. While volunteers are respected by others and by the Italics, they'll take good advice from anyone (well, almost anyone). |
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There is no user hierarchy on h2g2. From the day a volunteer signs up, he/she can do anything on-site, unlike everything2, where all features are accessible only after a certain number of write-ups. Volunteers are respected by others and by the Italics, but they usually take good advice from almost anyone. |
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The community is large enough to have people skilled in most things, and to have thriving user sub-groups after things like new smileys (emoticon images) - the site already has more than 150, from alien to yikes! |
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The community is large enough to have people skilled in most things. There are thriving user sub-groups, named after things such as new smileys (emoticon images) - the site already has more than 150, from "alien" to "yikes!". |
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It's worth noting that the bulk of site activity takes place in UK (GMT/BST) daytime, and that's when the in-house team (London-based) are there. Outside of this time, though, the US and Australian Researchers hold the fort pretty well. |
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The bulk of site activity takes place in UK (GMT/BST) daytime, which is when the in-house team (London-based) is there. But at other times, the US and Australian Researchers are also very active. |
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The h2g2 in-house team (the italics) are reasonable easily accessible to all users on-site, and even more so to volunteers by email groups. One thing that has beenn seen to limit h2g2 is moderation. As part of the BBC, all conversations are moderated by people with otherwise no connection to the site - and sometimes mistakes are inevitably made. This aside, the site functions fairly well. It's now at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2, although the old link still redirects. See HHGG |
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The h2g2 in-house team (the Italics) are easily accessible to all users on-site, and especially to groups of volunteers by email. Moderation has been seen to limit h2g2. As part of the BBC, all conversations are moderated by people with otherwise no connection to the site - and sometimes mistakes are made. h2g2 is now available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2 See HHGG |
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