Creating a Wikipedia-style BeachBoys timeline

[endless-summer]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the SmileySmile-board, however I've been a fan of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys for many years.

Taking in all the information that can be found on this board, combined with the willingness of so many members to contribute their BB-knowledge it seems like a logical thing to try and form that information into a time-line of some sort. This way the information can be accessed by everyone and contributed to by anyone. Replacing the need for so many information to be spread on many boards and perhaphs vanish over time...

What do you think about this concept? I've tried to find a wikipedia-like site out there that would enable such thing, but so far have been unable to find any. Perhaphs setting up something ourselves would be an idea?

(Also excited to go see the BB tomorrow in Stuttgart (Germany) and Tuesday in Lokeren (Belgium)!

Rick

[startBBtoday]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the SmileySmile-board, however I've been a fan of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys for many years.

Taking in all the information that can be found on this board, combined with the willingness of so many members to contribute their BB-knowledge it seems like a logical thing to try and form that information into a time-line of some sort. This way the information can be accessed by everyone and contributed to by anyone. Replacing the need for so many information to be spread on many boards and perhaphs vanish over time...

What do you think about this concept? I've tried to find a wikipedia-like site out there that would enable such thing, but so far have been unable to find any. Perhaphs setting up something ourselves would be an idea?

(Also excited to go see the BB tomorrow in Stuttgart (Germany) and Tuesday in Lokeren (Belgium)!

Rick

I don't think anyone's going to do better than this: http://www.esquarterly.com/bellagio/bbtimeline.html

[endless-summer]

I agree that so much information is available there, no question about it. But what about presenting it in a way that is more like this:

http://www.tiki-toki.com/

(see the examples on the bottom of the page)

This would make the information more accessible and would allow BB-fans to contribute to the timeline, making it more of a community-thing.

Love the hear what you think about this sort of approach.

[Malc]

Let me know if you get this started. I began to put together a detailed timeline a few years ago, combing AGD's monumental work along with other aspects of BB/J&D/surf-dom but it kind of ground to a halt once work on my BREAD biography took over. Will happily contribute what I DID pull together if you lick it off ...

[endless-summer]

Great, I'll go on and try to find a free website-timeline-template somewhere and see if I can get it up and running (IT-specialist, so should not be a problem).

I'll keep you informed here, if anybody has suggestions or tips on where to find a good template;

- Good looking and easy to use design
- Possible for community members to add/edit content
- Able to include pictures and Youtube vids

, please let me know! 

Rick

[Catbirdman]

I think it's a fine idea.

I don't think anyone would dispute that, when it comes to content, AGD's site is unmatched.

As for the interface, it works reasonably enough: it's straight-forward, it's not difficult to navigate, and it's well-organized. Much like I imagine Andrew, the man, is in real life. But it ain't flashy, and it ain't overly interactive either. Quoted from the home page: "It wasn't, and still isn't, flash (heh), nothing plays, or spins: just information for those who seek same."

It's not as if the world is crying out for an upgrade to AGD's site, nor am I personally. But why not? I would welcome it. A wiki interface is a joy because it links here, there and everywhere, but it does it in a way that you never really feel lost. Embedded images and media are easily accessible and enhance the overall experience. Users and readers can contribute - with proper controls in place. I would love to see a site co-run by Andrew and someone else. As long as it isn't TOO flashy.

[endless-summer]

Hi Catbirdman,

I agree with the things you mention, it isn't about just being flashy but sort of bringing the content to a 2012-version.

That said I can imagine that perhaps some people would see this as a way to ripoff their website, which without any doubt have taken a lot of time and dedication to build. This definitely isn't my intention as we're all BB-fans who like to tell en document the story of the group and music we so much love. So I want to contribute to the allready present 'scene' of BB-fans and websites in a way that will make more information more easily available for fans who are looking for it.

Hope to hear from more of you!

Rick

[Jim V.]

I honestly think a Wiki is really the way to go. With pages that have long articles on all the albums, songs, abandoned projects, and notable people in the BB universe.

[stack-o-tracks]

I honestly think a Wiki is really the way to go. With pages that have long articles on all the albums, songs, abandoned projects, and notable people in the BB universe.

Agreed. We need a Beach Boys Wiki-style page.

Maybe somebody could talk the webmaster here into turning the main Smileysmile.net page (since all it is is a link to the forum) into one. Of course there would probably need to be some donations as well to help with the cost of the increased bandwidth.

[runnersdialzero]

Thirded - I've been saying this for months. I never have any money to speak of, otherwise I'd get on getting one started and hosted. In the meantime, I'd really enjoy contributing. There's so much interesting info out there on these people and these albums and these songs, be it "Good Vibrations" or "Little Red Book", and it's not always easy to find or keep sorted.

[endless-summer]

Thanks, I'm sure I'll have a great time tonight!

What I was thinking in terms of a timeline design is to be able to put these (long) wiki-articles in a chronological order, making them easier to find and put them into the context of the entire BB-history. So any timeline event (for instance the release of an album or a live-show) would be clickable and then present the corresponding article. In the article there can be many links to other articles, offering endless possibilities to explaining details of the BB.

However I'm not saying that a timeline is the only way to go. I just checked out some basic wiki-style templates and have to say I haven't yet found any that I really like (and is free / open source).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_software

Anybody have any experience setting up an independent wiki-website?

Rick

[GuyO]

Hey Rick, so you found your way down here? Welcome and good luck with the timeline and see you Tuesday!

Guy

[Andrew G. Doe]

I don't think anyone would dispute that, when it comes to content, AGD's site is unmatched.

The best parts are the stuff I made up.  

[Andrew G. Doe]

That said I can imagine that perhaps some people would see this as a way to ripoff their website, which without any doubt have taken a lot of time and dedication to build. This definitely isn't my intention as we're all BB-fans who like to tell en document the story of the group and music we so much love.

I have no problem with anyone utilising my research, as long as they have the decency to credit me for it: the info's out there - all I did was do a deep trawl for it.

I agree, 10452 isn't hi-tech but then neither am I. Links to videos and youtube would be dandy.

[Don Malcolm]

Rick, that sounds like a terrific implementation concept and would make for a intriguing way to access information about the band. Best of luck with this idea!

[Rocker]

Well, I'd like to add the list we made (and which is still evolving) of pro-shot concerts :

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,6290.0.html

[remy13127]

Hi everybody, I'm new on this forum ! I'm a young French Beach Boy fan. I'd like to introduce you Wikia, a tool I use for my french wiki about Scrooge McDuck's universe. I've found an english wiki where you could do anythig you want to do, here the link : http://beachboys.wikia.com/wiki/The_Beach_Boys_Wiki

You can help people who take care of this wiki and if you work hard you could do something like this : fr.picsou.wikia.com

I wish I'll learn a lot of things about the BB on these forums; I read your discussions every day and you seem to be very nice :-)

PS : Why don't you create a new wiki afterall ? Wikia is the best way to create a Wiki, it's good enough listed on Google and Wikia community is very big.

[endless-summer]

@Guy; See you tomorrow!

Thanks for all the comments, I'll check out the suggestions and try to come up with the best possible solution.

Might take some days, as life is (as usual) pretty busy right now...

You'll hear from me soon!

Rick

[endless-summer]

At this time I am experimenting with a time-line;

http://www.rickhanssen.nl/

(watch a preview here)

The fun thing is that the timeline is fed information by a Google-documents file. This could be edited freely by anyone. Í am however still assessing the possibilities and non-posibilities of the timeline template.

Security would be an issue, considering anyone could access and edit the information. Also I'm wondering if it is really necessary to write article, instead of linking to existing ones... Trouble would be that if the website we are referring to goes offline the information would be unavailable as well.

It's getting late, will work on it some more over the weekend, perhaps you guys (and girls) have some more ideas on how to manage these issues?

Thanks!

Rick