greetings from the audiofic archive!
Mar. 8th, 2013 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
general_jinjur posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
amplificathonah, plans. somehow they never really work out the way i intend. this post was meant to go up wednesday, DAYS before the sixth annual amplificathon was formally announced! but no, it's going up after that announcement. but that's okay! because i have things to share from the audiofic archive! NEWS.
if you've been by recently, you will have noticed a few changes!
1) i'm still doing some tweaking, but we now have a new theme that looks pretty gorgeous on phones and tablets and the like, as well as cleaning up the look of the archive in general.
2) along with the new theme, we've been working on search capabilities. the search was really really broken for a while there, due to some problems buried in the database. i have ferreted them all out, though, and now search is...less broken. or rather, it's fixed, but there are so many podfic entries that the built-in search can no longer handle the index. so while you may get lucky using the search, you're better off browsing for now. a super-fancy powerful search is on the list of priorities, so that's in the works.
3) so a change that's been in the works for a loooooong time has also gone live - archive podfic posts have a new format that eliminates some inconsistencies and clarifies information. we've also combined entries so that all file types are together, rather than spread out over multiple entries. it also means that we have been able to put into play our most requested enhancement!
4) ...which is! a recent podfic entries page that includes not just the title of the podfic, but alsothe fandom, length, relationships, podficcer, etc.
5) we're getting closer to a user-facing file uploader. the idea there is that rather than going through a middleman like mediafire (and risking one of their increasingly common wrongful takedowns), podficcers will be able to fill out a form on the archive and upload their files to a staging area from which archivists will be able to move them to a permanent archive home. this is looking more achievable by the day, and will be top priority as soon as the amplificathon for this year ends.
6) and the reason it isn't top priority until AFTER the amplificathon is basically that i lost the race against time. it's been a year since we brought on new archivists, and in that year we've done a lot of thinking about what the work surrounding the archive consists of, and what the most reasonable, achievable, and sustainable ways are to get that work done. this means several roles need to be filled, and for the duration of the amplificathon i'll be shelving all of the software management and systems work in order to take on the archivist manager role. it's a job that was too broad in the past, but we think we've segmented out the parts that make it too much for one person, and once we're through the amplificathon, i'm hoping i'll be able to start looking actively for someone to take the role. think you might be interested? right now, we're taking on trainee archivists - you can try it out for the duration of the amplificathon, then decide if you want to stick with it, try out one of the non-archivist roles we're adding as well (to be revealed later), or walk away. your help will be invaluable, even if you decide that a six-week stint is more than enough. :D i'm going to be holding a training session in the coming week, and you can do as much or as little archiving as you wish for the duration of the fest - though we'll ask that you archive at least one podfic a day (on average). interested? have questions? email me at jinjurly at gmail or comment to this post!
there are more changes coming, but that's the basic update!
now for some fun facts found from fest fixing!
- there is no dominic monaghan/billy boyd in the archive AT ALL. i'm shocked by this.
- there are 2238 separate relationship tags in the archive.
- this year we made all the relationships with 300 or more podfics 1-point-'ships. that's six pairings.
- all six pairings are white dude/white dude. :/
- okay, this isn't actually a fact, but wouldn't it be awesome if we could get even one lady and/or poc into the top relationships? with actual substantial works? amplificathon is about getting diversity into the audiofic archive, after all. :)
in case you were curious, the numbers on those top relationship tags:
rodney mckay/john sheppard 1087
dean winchester/sam winchester 754
jensen ackles/jared padalecki 658
merlin/arthur pendragon 456
sherlock holmes/john watson 368
castiel/dean winchester 362
derek hale/stiles stilinski 309
- i didn't actually tally how many fandoms there are in the archive, and since it's a multi-level hierarchy i can't figure it out easily. lots?
- when we were working through how to define a giant fandom last week, though, i pulled out every fandom with more than one hundred podfics in the archive. and then i madeaphelant try to guess the list while i laughed at her. not that i would have been able to guess either, since the results were pretty surprising.
- honestly, i'm pretty floored that we wound up with TWO rpf fandoms in the final "giant fandom" list, which we decided to make a top five list (also, for the purposes of not making it a top six list, we called spn and spn rpf one fandom. they are both giant, even uncombined, so.)
- no really, this list FASCINATED us. not least because the order of the big fandoms wasn't really a great direct prediction of the big relationships. some fandoms focus hard on a very small number of 'ships! some fandoms have characters who really get around, if you know what i mean.
if you're interested in the breakdown, here it is - the 21 (or 22, depending on how you count it) best-represented fandoms in the archive:
21 - firefly 107
20 - house 125
19 - x-men first class 126
18 - stargate sg1 131
17 - fall out boy 142
16 - the sentinel 142
15 - buffy the vampire slayer 149
14 - glee 152
13 - smallville 161
12 - torchwood 178
11 - star trek reboot 197
10 - panic at the disco 264
9 - doctor who 309
8 - teen wolf 367
7 - sherlock 442
6 - due south 474
5 - my chemical romance 566
4 - merlin 646
3 - harry potter 656
2 - stargate atlantis 1533
1 - supernatural & spn rpf 2829
so. all the news that i could get typed before my brain turned to mush. :D
if you've been by recently, you will have noticed a few changes!
1) i'm still doing some tweaking, but we now have a new theme that looks pretty gorgeous on phones and tablets and the like, as well as cleaning up the look of the archive in general.
2) along with the new theme, we've been working on search capabilities. the search was really really broken for a while there, due to some problems buried in the database. i have ferreted them all out, though, and now search is...less broken. or rather, it's fixed, but there are so many podfic entries that the built-in search can no longer handle the index. so while you may get lucky using the search, you're better off browsing for now. a super-fancy powerful search is on the list of priorities, so that's in the works.
3) so a change that's been in the works for a loooooong time has also gone live - archive podfic posts have a new format that eliminates some inconsistencies and clarifies information. we've also combined entries so that all file types are together, rather than spread out over multiple entries. it also means that we have been able to put into play our most requested enhancement!
4) ...which is! a recent podfic entries page that includes not just the title of the podfic, but alsothe fandom, length, relationships, podficcer, etc.
5) we're getting closer to a user-facing file uploader. the idea there is that rather than going through a middleman like mediafire (and risking one of their increasingly common wrongful takedowns), podficcers will be able to fill out a form on the archive and upload their files to a staging area from which archivists will be able to move them to a permanent archive home. this is looking more achievable by the day, and will be top priority as soon as the amplificathon for this year ends.
6) and the reason it isn't top priority until AFTER the amplificathon is basically that i lost the race against time. it's been a year since we brought on new archivists, and in that year we've done a lot of thinking about what the work surrounding the archive consists of, and what the most reasonable, achievable, and sustainable ways are to get that work done. this means several roles need to be filled, and for the duration of the amplificathon i'll be shelving all of the software management and systems work in order to take on the archivist manager role. it's a job that was too broad in the past, but we think we've segmented out the parts that make it too much for one person, and once we're through the amplificathon, i'm hoping i'll be able to start looking actively for someone to take the role. think you might be interested? right now, we're taking on trainee archivists - you can try it out for the duration of the amplificathon, then decide if you want to stick with it, try out one of the non-archivist roles we're adding as well (to be revealed later), or walk away. your help will be invaluable, even if you decide that a six-week stint is more than enough. :D i'm going to be holding a training session in the coming week, and you can do as much or as little archiving as you wish for the duration of the fest - though we'll ask that you archive at least one podfic a day (on average). interested? have questions? email me at jinjurly at gmail or comment to this post!
there are more changes coming, but that's the basic update!
now for some fun facts found from fest fixing!
- there is no dominic monaghan/billy boyd in the archive AT ALL. i'm shocked by this.
- there are 2238 separate relationship tags in the archive.
- this year we made all the relationships with 300 or more podfics 1-point-'ships. that's six pairings.
- all six pairings are white dude/white dude. :/
- okay, this isn't actually a fact, but wouldn't it be awesome if we could get even one lady and/or poc into the top relationships? with actual substantial works? amplificathon is about getting diversity into the audiofic archive, after all. :)
in case you were curious, the numbers on those top relationship tags:
rodney mckay/john sheppard 1087
dean winchester/sam winchester 754
jensen ackles/jared padalecki 658
merlin/arthur pendragon 456
sherlock holmes/john watson 368
castiel/dean winchester 362
derek hale/stiles stilinski 309
- i didn't actually tally how many fandoms there are in the archive, and since it's a multi-level hierarchy i can't figure it out easily. lots?
- when we were working through how to define a giant fandom last week, though, i pulled out every fandom with more than one hundred podfics in the archive. and then i made
aphelant try to guess the list while i laughed at her. not that i would have been able to guess either, since the results were pretty surprising.- honestly, i'm pretty floored that we wound up with TWO rpf fandoms in the final "giant fandom" list, which we decided to make a top five list (also, for the purposes of not making it a top six list, we called spn and spn rpf one fandom. they are both giant, even uncombined, so.)
- no really, this list FASCINATED us. not least because the order of the big fandoms wasn't really a great direct prediction of the big relationships. some fandoms focus hard on a very small number of 'ships! some fandoms have characters who really get around, if you know what i mean.
if you're interested in the breakdown, here it is - the 21 (or 22, depending on how you count it) best-represented fandoms in the archive:
21 - firefly 107
20 - house 125
19 - x-men first class 126
18 - stargate sg1 131
17 - fall out boy 142
16 - the sentinel 142
15 - buffy the vampire slayer 149
14 - glee 152
13 - smallville 161
12 - torchwood 178
11 - star trek reboot 197
10 - panic at the disco 264
9 - doctor who 309
8 - teen wolf 367
7 - sherlock 442
6 - due south 474
5 - my chemical romance 566
4 - merlin 646
3 - harry potter 656
2 - stargate atlantis 1533
1 - supernatural & spn rpf 2829
so. all the news that i could get typed before my brain turned to mush. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 01:43 am (UTC)I'd also be delighted to help out with archiving!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 02:11 am (UTC)awesome! i'm planning to sort out training details tomorrow, when i can brain again. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 02:48 am (UTC)also i think i might be ready to be a trainee archivist?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 02:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 03:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 03:39 am (UTC)(Looks like you guys are using Drupal, so my experience in user-submitted posts and media in WordPress will not help you at all, unfortunately.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:27 pm (UTC)there are actually some native solutions in drupal, but i'm keeping the archived files separated from the drupal install entirely in order to keep both more stable and secure. once upon a time the archive was in wordpress, but...wordpress tags top out and break at around 900. :p
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 04:03 am (UTC)Data is so exciting :D
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 04:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 04:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 08:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:23 pm (UTC)<3
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 09:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 09:20 am (UTC)The developments sound brilliant. I'd love to help out as an an archivist, for the duration of Amplificathon at least. I don't have time to record much for the fest itself this year, but it'd be nice to help another way :)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:20 pm (UTC)i'm working on scheduling some new archivist trainings right now - do you have a preferred email i can send to? or email me at jinjurly/gmail, and i'll send you the training time poll. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 09:26 am (UTC)Also I'd be interested in trying out being an archivist for the duration of amplification, what kind of technical skills/technological capabilities would I need?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 12:06 pm (UTC)Out of curiosity, I know nothing about how technically feasible it is and I think the archive is awesome as is (<3<3), but has embedding streams on site ever been a consideration?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:15 pm (UTC)embedding is something that we consider pretty regularly - i'd like to do it, but there are a lot of things in the way, and there are also a lot of things above it on the enhancement priority list. right now, one of the benefits of download-only is that it also offers some protection from false dmca claims/takedowns. i have some plans for the future that would allow streaming, but i'd want to put a baffle in between the archived zips and the streamable files - so that one never endangers the other. i'll also want to make sure our backup system is super-robust before adding that. so! the answer is yes, but not soon.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 04:10 pm (UTC)Thank you, and the other archivists, for your valuable work!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 07:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-11 12:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-09 08:51 pm (UTC)And I'd love to volunteer, but sadly I think my quota of fandom administration is filled already--I only have the energy for so much.
Mmmm, statistics! I suppose the Harry Potter and bandom characters get around. *g* And hmm, due South is still in sixth place, but Fraser/Kowalski does not turn up among the top seven pairings. Yay for more diversity in due South!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-11 12:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-10 03:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-11 12:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-10 10:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-11 12:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-11 05:07 am (UTC)Because OMG, YES, if this is what I think it is, YES.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-11 12:51 pm (UTC)Femslash tag?
Date: 2013-04-01 11:56 am (UTC)