For all SHQ Members

Dear SHQ members, recently I became acquainted with a programmer who is
willing to assist in the installation of a database to the website to
increase its functionality.
The new look of the site, designed by http://www.ai-dax.com will not
change.

This is one of many ongoing projects at the SHQ which include:

1) addressing the backlog of history related updates contributed by
Hirotada Tokugawa
2) updating the site with more info (contributions by secretarytocapt3
and also Michael, again there is a backlog of info I have to update)
3) ofcourse any new contributions from the public and members of this
community
4) continue to install the new ai-dax layout to each and every page on
the site (this is a labor intensive process which I have still not yet
completed)
and now we have this new technical based matter which presented itself

the programmer is not charging a huge amount for labor costs (she is
not charging a per hour rate or anything) and I have explained the
circumstance
of SHQ...we are all just fans, completely not for profit and run by
volunteers and we have NO BUDGET (other than what we force Barb to pay for
us ^_^).

However she is going to use some and software and perhaps acquire new
software to make the process easier (again we aren't paying for that
either
and she uses a university computer lab to do her work).

I myself will be assisting in the construction of a database which
will power the search engine and therefore have to devote my free time
in summarizing, through keywords, each and every single page. That is
why the cost is kept low.

SHQ's mission is fan based but we clearly also have a deep interest in
this history. As we've slowly gained a better understanding of the
Shinsengumi's world we realize how rare this information is in English.

So you may ask 'how can I help?"

You can help by contributing any fanwork (fiction, art, parody,
multimedia) you wish.
Volunteer to help list keywords for some page.

OR

contribute to the flat rate of this project.

The cost of the installation of the database is $40. However, I hope
to continue to have a professional relationship with her so that she
can help solve other technical issues which may arise in the future
and so forth. So I feel that the amount is justifiable.

I will be paying an additional cost on my own to her because I have
sat down
with her gone through the site with her already. Basically she has and
will be putting in alot of time.
I would pay the $40 on my own however I was unemployed at the end of
December (but now I am only underemployed) and I cannot handle the
financial burden on my own. So if people would like to contribute any
amount please paypal [shinsengumihq(a)yahoo.com]. For the sake of
complete transparency, I can also
provide a receipt from this programmer who can verify that she has
received payment from me as well.

shinsengumihq(a)yahoo.com

I'll do both (contribute money and fanwork). As to the fan work,
should the work be (example would be art) of the Shinsengumi member
only in Shinsengumi garb, or can it be different, such as in AU
roleplays, ML challenges, etc.?


Charo Goldstein
Harrisburg, PA

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:
>
> Dear SHQ members, recently I became acquainted with a programmer
who is
> willing to assist in the installation of a database to the website
to
> increase its functionality.
> The new look of the site, designed by http://www.ai-dax.com will not
> change.
>
> This is one of many ongoing projects at the SHQ which include:
>
> 1) addressing the backlog of history related updates contributed by
> Hirotada Tokugawa
> 2) updating the site with more info (contributions by
secretarytocapt3
> and also Michael, again there is a backlog of info I have to update)
> 3) ofcourse any new contributions from the public and members of
this
> community
> 4) continue to install the new ai-dax layout to each and every page
on
> the site (this is a labor intensive process which I have still not
yet
> completed)
> and now we have this new technical based matter which presented
itself
>
> the programmer is not charging a huge amount for labor costs (she is
> not charging a per hour rate or anything) and I have explained the
> circumstance
> of SHQ...we are all just fans, completely not for profit and run by
> volunteers and we have NO BUDGET (other than what we force Barb to
pay for
> us ^_^).
>
> However she is going to use some and software and perhaps acquire
new
> software to make the process easier (again we aren't paying for that
> either
> and she uses a university computer lab to do her work).
>
> I myself will be assisting in the construction of a database which
> will power the search engine and therefore have to devote my free
time
> in summarizing, through keywords, each and every single page. That
is
> why the cost is kept low.
>
> SHQ's mission is fan based but we clearly also have a deep interest
in
> this history. As we've slowly gained a better understanding of the
> Shinsengumi's world we realize how rare this information is in
English.
>
> So you may ask 'how can I help?"
>
> You can help by contributing any fanwork (fiction, art, parody,
> multimedia) you wish.
> Volunteer to help list keywords for some page.
>
> OR
>
> contribute to the flat rate of this project.
>
> The cost of the installation of the database is $40. However, I hope
> to continue to have a professional relationship with her so that she
> can help solve other technical issues which may arise in the future
> and so forth. So I feel that the amount is justifiable.
>
> I will be paying an additional cost on my own to her because I have
> sat down
> with her gone through the site with her already. Basically she has
and
> will be putting in alot of time.
> I would pay the $40 on my own however I was unemployed at the end of
> December (but now I am only underemployed) and I cannot handle the
> financial burden on my own. So if people would like to contribute
any
> amount please paypal [shinsengumihq(a)yahoo.com]. For the sake of
> complete transparency, I can also
> provide a receipt from this programmer who can verify that she has
> received payment from me as well.
>
> shinsengumihq(a)yahoo.com
>

Dear Charo,
Fanwork can be defined any way you want (^_^)
in the past people donated notes, artwork (it doesn't matter if it is
AU, roleplays...anything!), cosplay photos, fanfic, we also have
original audio fics and short films and ofcourse the ever valuable
translations.

The sky is the limit.

In fact there is no need to adhere to any one "universe" such ar
Kenshin or Peacemaker---if you have your own interpretation we
certainly want to see it.

You can find examples here:

Makoto Multimedia Dojo
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/MFD.htm

Fanart (includes spoofs/parodies)
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/art.htm

Cosplay (includes permanent body art like tattoos)
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/cosplay.htm

Fans are encouraged to define what fanwork means to them so AU is more
than acceptable.

In fact I really want fans to come up fantasy "book covers" or fantasy
manga covers. For example drawing out an entire manga and writing it
is very time consuming...however we'd like to see what people would
design for their story's cover---and they can include a one paragraph
summary of the plot line (Sort of like what would go on the back of
the book cover).

Thanks ahead of time for your contribution and participation.

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Charo Goldstein" wrote:
>
> I'll do both (contribute money and fanwork). As to the fan work,
> should the work be (example would be art) of the Shinsengumi member
> only in Shinsengumi garb, or can it be different, such as in AU
> roleplays, ML challenges, etc.?
>
>
> Charo Goldstein
> Harrisburg, PA

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:

>
> Dear SHQ members, recently I became acquainted with a programmer who is
> willing to assist in the installation of a database to the website to
> increase its functionality.

Speaking from first-hand experience, installing a database in the
website that allows for multiple contributors is a great idea, and
makes everything far easier to manage and update. I'm not sure what
type of database you're planning, but I use Wikimedia (of wikipedai
fame and infamy) on the Samurai Archives (as of August or so of last
year), and the ability to update instantly on the fly, and to have
multiple contributors has absolutely revolutionized the website, and
has given me renewed energy in research, because now I don't have to
create a "full and polished" article, format it with HTML, manually
upload it, manually change all of the related pages, etc. That was
such a chore that even the thought of adding new research to the page
had been daunting. The new software is the reason I've been getting
into the Shinsengumi, it's given me the opportunity to do more
research with "immediate" results. Counting myself, there are about 3
people working on the Bakumatsu, and if anyone is interested in given
me some feedback (or pointing out any glaring errors), I'd really
apprecite it - Barbara said she wouldn't mind if I mentioned it, so
here is the "Shinengumi" category (still at least half the articles
are stubs, but it's a start):

http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Category:Shinsengumi

My goal is to make this the Japanese history version of wikipedia.
I've always been extremely unhappy with wikipedia's "failure" to cite
sources with the Japanese history articles, and the overall poor
quality of many of the articles, so I run a pretty tight ship to keep
out bad info (and the ShinsengumiHQ makes it clear that academic
veracity is top priority as well). Only people I "approve" can
contribute (I decided to disallow 'anyone' from editing because of
some vandals and some poor or outright copied articles that kept
showing up), but if anyone does feel inclined to help out, let me
know. I created the wiki as an alternative to Wikipedia, as a public
database that anyone can use, and although for now most of the
articles have come from the Samurai Archives, I consider this more of
a "public forum" (for lack of a better term) than "my website".

I'm looking forward to seeing the new improvements on ShinsengumiHQ as
well - I'm really looking forward to a streamlined search. The
shinsengumiHQ is great, but admittedly I have trouble pinpointing what
I'm looking for - but this could just be because of my own lack of
knowing exactly what I'm looking for most of the time.

Also, I'm coordinating a "Shinsengumi" research-discussion group
starting February 10th (which will last a month), which I'd like to
try and somehow coordinate with this group, since the discussion and
research will be starting "at the beginning", and most people signed
up really don't know much about the shinsengumi - so if anyone has any
ideas on how or what would be a good idea to do on that front, I'd
appreciate it! A coordinated effort could benefit the shinsengumiHQ as
well - further discussion and research is always good. I don't expect
any groundbreaking discoveries, but based on the last 2 discussion
groups, it should result in some good foundations for articles and
help with the "big picture".

Dear Kitsuno,
Thanks for the invite I'm sure people here will certainly jump in on
the opportunity to learn more. I was wondering if you could post
questions here simultaneously with what is going on in your group.
HOwever answers may not be so quick because yes, we will if possible
likely find a answer in a text. In doing so we hope to have people
walk away with some evidence (ofcourse we do know texts can be faulty
but atleast we know where details come from).

Also it has been my past experience that it is good to state up front
in a discussion that an answer posted by a person (let's take for
instance a quote from a book) may not always reflect the personal
opinion of the poster.

If the bigger picture of the Bakumatsu will be discussed, then that
would be awesome. I know that some people on this list may have
information which has never been mentioned in western texts before.
The posting of those details may be a bit jarring to many people who
have been exposed to just the Imperial narrative etc so I don't want
people to take things personally or take offense.

Will you also summarize the discussion after it is over as well? That
would be a good reference for people.

We can link to the discussion thread and announce it on our blog and
on our updates page if you'd like.

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Kitsuno" wrote:
>
> --- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:
> >
> > Dear SHQ members, recently I became acquainted with a programmer
who is
> > willing to assist in the installation of a database to the website to
> > increase its functionality.
>
> Speaking from first-hand experience, installing a database in the
> website that allows for multiple contributors is a great idea, and
> makes everything far easier to manage and update. I'm not sure what
> type of database you're planning, but I use Wikimedia (of wikipedai
> fame and infamy) on the Samurai Archives (as of August or so of last
> year), and the ability to update instantly on the fly, and to have
> multiple contributors has absolutely revolutionized the website, and
> has given me renewed energy in research, because now I don't have to
> create a "full and polished" article, format it with HTML, manually
> upload it, manually change all of the related pages, etc. That was
> such a chore that even the thought of adding new research to the page
> had been daunting. The new software is the reason I've been getting
> into the Shinsengumi, it's given me the opportunity to do more
> research with "immediate" results. Counting myself, there are about 3
> people working on the Bakumatsu, and if anyone is interested in given
> me some feedback (or pointing out any glaring errors), I'd really
> apprecite it - Barbara said she wouldn't mind if I mentioned it, so
> here is the "Shinengumi" category (still at least half the articles
> are stubs, but it's a start):
>
> http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Category:Shinsengumi
>
> My goal is to make this the Japanese history version of wikipedia.
> I've always been extremely unhappy with wikipedia's "failure" to cite
> sources with the Japanese history articles, and the overall poor
> quality of many of the articles, so I run a pretty tight ship to keep
> out bad info (and the ShinsengumiHQ makes it clear that academic
> veracity is top priority as well). Only people I "approve" can
> contribute (I decided to disallow 'anyone' from editing because of
> some vandals and some poor or outright copied articles that kept
> showing up), but if anyone does feel inclined to help out, let me
> know. I created the wiki as an alternative to Wikipedia, as a public
> database that anyone can use, and although for now most of the
> articles have come from the Samurai Archives, I consider this more of
> a "public forum" (for lack of a better term) than "my website".
>
> I'm looking forward to seeing the new improvements on ShinsengumiHQ as
> well - I'm really looking forward to a streamlined search. The
> shinsengumiHQ is great, but admittedly I have trouble pinpointing what
> I'm looking for - but this could just be because of my own lack of
> knowing exactly what I'm looking for most of the time.
>
> Also, I'm coordinating a "Shinsengumi" research-discussion group
> starting February 10th (which will last a month), which I'd like to
> try and somehow coordinate with this group, since the discussion and
> research will be starting "at the beginning", and most people signed
> up really don't know much about the shinsengumi - so if anyone has any
> ideas on how or what would be a good idea to do on that front, I'd
> appreciate it! A coordinated effort could benefit the shinsengumiHQ as
> well - further discussion and research is always good. I don't expect
> any groundbreaking discoveries, but based on the last 2 discussion
> groups, it should result in some good foundations for articles and
> help with the "big picture".
>

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:

>
> Dear Kitsuno,
> Thanks for the invite I'm sure people here will certainly jump in on
> the opportunity to learn more. I was wondering if you could post
> questions here simultaneously with what is going on in your group.
> HOwever answers may not be so quick because yes, we will if possible
> likely find a answer in a text. In doing so we hope to have people
> walk away with some evidence (ofcourse we do know texts can be faulty
> but atleast we know where details come from).
>
> Also it has been my past experience that it is good to state up front
> in a discussion that an answer posted by a person (let's take for
> instance a quote from a book) may not always reflect the personal
> opinion of the poster.
>
> If the bigger picture of the Bakumatsu will be discussed, then that
> would be awesome. I know that some people on this list may have
> information which has never been mentioned in western texts before.
> The posting of those details may be a bit jarring to many people who
> have been exposed to just the Imperial narrative etc so I don't want
> people to take things personally or take offense.
>
> Will you also summarize the discussion after it is over as well? That
> would be a good reference for people.
>
> We can link to the discussion thread and announce it on our blog and
> on our updates page if you'd like.

Since my only available "location" to hold the research/discussion in
a private "room" in my forum, it's pretty tough to coordinate with
this group in real time (and inaccessible to people who aren't signed
up as a member of the discussion), but I will definately post the
questions here - I'll figure out a way to work it out. When it's done,
I'll summarize the whole thing, but based on prior discussion groups,
we could be looking at a dozen pages of text, so I'll probably put it
together into a PDF or something.

This time around, the focus is just the Shinsengumi, as few people
seem to know much about them, and I try to keep the groups focused on
something specific (prior discussions have been on Kofun (burial
tombs) and the 47 Ronin). The bakumatsu in general would be too big,
but since it is the backdrop, the events are important.

And as for stating that posted information from sources doesn't
necessarily reflect the position of the person posting it, I agree -
sometimes, for whatever reason, these things can get personal (much to
my chagrin) but most people tend to accept that a lot of history is
perception.

Funny side note: Every time I get a message from SHQ in my gmail account,
Gmail displays the following link at the top of the screen --

Fundoshi Shop<http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/iclk?sa=l&ai=Bh3C_4TG6Rcq3CJGKiQTZqqDNA8WoihC16L-VAsCNtwHAqKUEEAEYASCGj4ACKAgwADgAUKmPv6r9_____wFgya72jOSkmBaYAcvwqBCqAd0BQWNjb3VudEFnZTEyMHRvSW5maW5pdHkrRW50aXJlQWRDbGlja2FibGVIb3ZlcitGaXJzdE1lc3NhZ2VUeXBlSHRtbCtGdW5ib3hDb3ZlcmFnZUNWNTArTG9jYWxlX2VuK051bU1lc3NhZ2VzNXRvNytSYWRsaW5rc1Joc1BhZ2VCZWxvdytTZW5kZXJEb21haW5faG90bWFpbC5jb20rU3dpdGNoQm90dG9tQWRzQ29udHJvbCtUaWVyMCtVc2VOZWdhdGl2ZVJlcm91dGluZ0ZhbHNlK1ZpZXdfQ1ayAQlnbWFpbC5jb23IAQHaATBodHRwOi8vZ21haWwuY29tLzhlMWJqc3oxMDUxczdzMnQ1bThlZ2h2cHh5ZWR4YTKAAgGpAmKhiVq2x0E-qAMB&num=1&adurl=http://fundoshi.bluelink.jp/>-
Fundoshi.bluelink.jp/ - Do you wanna buy Japanese Fundoshi? You can find
dandy loincloth here!

Just thought I'd share in case anyone was interesting in perusing the wide
selection of available fundoshi... or purchasing one for roleplaying
purposes. ;)

Kalli


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- Bonnie Johnston <bonnielala@...> wrote:

>
> Just thought I'd share in case anyone was interesting in perusing the wide
> selection of available fundoshi... or purchasing one for roleplaying
> purposes. ;)
>
> Kalli
>

LOL. I don't know which online shop it is but my daughetr saw Girl's fundoshi.
It was pink and ruffles on the butt portion.

~ Barbara Sheridan
*Our bad boys have come out to play--Join them*
Soul of the Night ~ Winter Song
http://www.dragonsdisciple.com



____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
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Fundoshi
the weakness of all fangirls

now my friends wouldn't MIBUGISHIDEN
"when the last sword is drawn" have
been WAAAAAAY better if there was a Saitou Hajime fundoshi scene?

a friend gave me a copy of CREST OF BETRAYAL
which is basically 47 ronin (chushingura) plus the story of the
betrayed wife ghost story

and now if you imagine REALLY REALLY HARD...you can see
Saitou in a fundoshi

CHECK
IT
OUT

(*^_^*)

http://pictures.greatestjournal.com/userimg/6884179/857711

AND HE HAS LONG HAIR TOO.....*has fangirl spasms*

=P~

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:
>
> Fundoshi
> the weakness of all fangirls
>
> now my friends wouldn't MIBUGISHIDEN
> "when the last sword is drawn" have
> been WAAAAAAY better if there was a Saitou Hajime fundoshi scene?
>
> a friend gave me a copy of CREST OF BETRAYAL
> which is basically 47 ronin (chushingura) plus the story of the
> betrayed wife ghost story
>
> and now if you imagine REALLY REALLY HARD...you can see
> Saitou in a fundoshi
>
> CHECK
> IT
> OUT
>
> (*^_^*)
>
> http://pictures.greatestjournal.com/userimg/6884179/857711
>