A Geographical Organizing Of Steampunks? Is it possible?

[Captain Brandsson]

Is this a call for a member list of some sort?

No.
This is various of us building local support so that something whorthwhile can be brought to the larger stage.

[atriusofdni]

hmmm... i lost my notification of posts on this when i get the chance ill stick something worth while in but i do have some good ideas i was just poping in to let people know that hey im here

Also just had this idea what would every one think of an irc channel where we could rp and talk in more of a real time?

[Yorktron]

Hm... How about http://www.meetup.com/about/features/. This could a resource people could use...

[atriusofdni]

I think another Frapper Map would be useful, but this one would be for Steampunk Groups instead of for individuals. Or a (stickied) list by Country, State, and City/location of Steampunk Groups.

With a dot for where they are (or location for a list), the group's name, and an e-mail so people could contact the group.....

how about something like the amtgard ORK or Amt-Wiki that way we could view more detailed stuff per persona as in we could use it to make bios of your persona and then have them there

The ORK:

www.amtgardrecords.com


and here is a sample persona
http://www.amtgardrecords.com/player.php?playerID=23476

and i forgot amtwiki's page as it has changed recently

Hm... How about http://www.meetup.com/about/features/. This could a resource people could use...

like meetup but it costs money

[Dr. Oliver Cross]

Egads.  I've created a monster!  (And for once I didn't even have to harvest anyone's spleen!)

[Captain_Sadeian]

I think as with all things there has to be a central base of administration for each location. The good Captain Brandsson for example may wish to keep records on the groups of steampunks currently operating in the colonies. I, myself, would be happy to do the same for those still under her majesties rule.

Would this be a good beginning? A database of basic information on such groups. If nothing else it would mean new recruits would only have to contact the overseer for their continent in order to find their nearest group.

I hope my suggestion is not too bold?

[atriusofdni]

i think a data base would be a good idea

[Roderick Hellyer]

Database is a great start...

as is the idea of an irc channel for real time talk... or we could use skype (if we all had skype) or ning for a social network (free)

lots of tools out there now for communication...l

I say through where moving in the right direction...


R. Hellyer

[Captain Brandsson]

Contact and communication is certainly going to be key.

[atriusofdni]

I present to ye the irc channel

#realm_of_old (dont like the name give me a better one)
on the server irc.starchat.net

[Roderick Hellyer]

Okay so recommendations for a good IRC client...

I'm so used to Ims I realize I don't have a client on my puter for IRC anymore...

Chagrined

R. Hellyer

[atriusofdni]

the best one out there is mirc which just nags after the 30 days if you use firefox there is chatzilla which is another real good client

[Captain_Sadeian]

Right if we are happy with the database idea. I have set up a database.

Its fairly basic currently but is integratable (is that even a word? It should be) with all major DB systems.

So my dear fellow steamers I need data. Would clubs, gatherings, crews, etc. contact me in order to be added to the DB?

On a slightly less relevant point, what is the term for a group of steampunks? a goggle of steampunks?


Fields in the database are currently (I've filled in each with example data)

name of group: Lord Bastapoles Flying Aces

type of group: Airship crew

Geographical Location: London, England

Allegiances: Queen Victoria and Dr. Steel

Number of Group members: 12

Group leader(s): Lord and Lady Bastapole

Contact details for group: lord.bastapole@bastapole.com

Any ideas for further fields anyone?

It would of course also be possible to assign every steampunk in the world an individual number in order to allow records of their group affiliations. This may take some doing...

[Roderick Hellyer]

Thank you atriusofdni

I am using ChatZilla...good interface.

So when is agood time for us to all meet on this channel ?

R. Hellyer

[Roderick Hellyer]

Captain_Sadeian ,

excellent work you do Sir! I have been impressed by your posts on this forum as well as your work at organizing the Whitby meet up.

On the subject of fields to add to your database... I suggest the following:

groups Website - if the group has a website it would be good to know.

Preferred or spoken language : important to know if this does take on international scope.

under contact details - perhaps additional fields beyond email - Ims , mailing address (Since Steampunks like to write letters so much).

that's it for now,

R. Hellyer

[Captain_Sadeian]

Thank you for your kind words Mr. Hellyer. No matter how humble a man may be everyone likes a compliment.

Your suggestions are marvellous and have been added forthwith.

[atriusofdni]

Right if we are happy with the database idea. I have set up a database.

Its fairly basic currently but is integratable (is that even a word? It should be) with all major DB systems.

So my dear fellow steamers I need data. Would clubs, gatherings, crews, etc. contact me in order to be added to the DB?

On a slightly less relevant point, what is the term for a group of steampunks? a goggle of steampunks?


Fields in the database are currently (I've filled in each with example data)

name of group: Lord Bastapoles Flying Aces

type of group: Airship crew

Geographical Location: London, England

Allegiances: Queen Victoria and Dr. Steel

Number of Group members: 12

Group leader(s): Lord and Lady Bastapole

Contact details for group: lord.bastapole@bastapole.com

Any ideas for further fields anyone?

It would of course also be possible to assign every steampunk in the world an individual number in order to allow records of their group affiliations. This may take some doing...

Some other feilds i could see is if they have a rank and perhaps a list of aliases?

[Captain_Sadeian]

I've decided to go the whole hog and build a database of individual steampunks too.

fields thus far are (with examples as always)

name: Lord Bastapole
occupation: Fluxational Engineer
location: London
domicile: Airship HMS Farthendale
email: Lord@Bastapole.com
mailing address: 46 Broadway, Chepstow, London
Telephone number: 0870 870 4868.
group memberships: Lady Johnson's flying aces, The Horton Square Mob.

(the leadership of groups is stored in the group table, for normalization pruposes)

Any further suggestions?

Extra Coalition points to anyone who knows to whom the telephone number really belongs.

p.s. also aka as suggested by atrius decided not to include rank as its open to silliness and one upmanship. captains and lords are all good fun until you have admirals, kings and gods coming out of your ears.

[Ely Von Rigby]

Ello' -

For the US, what do you think of??

Steampunk Salutation:  Ms.
Steampunk first name:    Eleanor
Steampunk last (sir) name: Von Rigby
Steampunk Rank:  Ely
Nick Name or Real Name:   n/a
character occupation: Ring Mistress - Airship Circus
Airship or Group Affiliation:  none
email: tavia_42@hotmail.com
mailing address1: 1313 Penny Lane
mailing address2: #42
City:  Long Beach
State: CA
Zip: 90806
Country: USA
Telephone number: 562-999-1212
group memberships: (I think if pull down menu's are created for airships or group affiliations, the database should query itself)

(Note - I have falsified my personal information to protect myself)

Tee Hee

EVR

[lilibat]

Some chat aggregators like Trillian do IRC as well.

[Dr. Oliver Cross]

I suddenly find myself wishing I knew far more about how to operate and program these silly Analytical Engines than I do.  I would love to be involved in this, especially considering that this whole bloody mess (pardon my language) was my idea!

[crazycallisto]

Well that was quite a long read sifting through all of the posts, but an entertaining and enlightening one at that. What I see as a large roadblock here is that there are so many different sects of steampunk. It is not nailed down to a specific one typed style, time period, or even interests. What might be a good idea is to start with smaller groups and then form them based on like interests or organization. For instance what I was thinking of a starting point would be, for example, there quite a lot of crews, such as sky crews. Skyship crews already have their own structure so, say, the captains would clearly be the head of those groups, then each crew could be in contact with other local crews. Then those local crews would choose some sort of delegate, representative, ambassador, to make contact with the neighboring group.

May I also suggest that the structure goes as thus:

-> local individuals NOT belonging to a crew, but merely celebrate all that is steampunk and wish to participate would be under the representation of, not control of the local crew captain

-> each crew is, clearly, a crew

-> the collection of crews should be called a guild, having similar locations ( we can decide on how many crews per guild later) and perhaps interests/style

-> the regional guilds then come together to form a society

-> the societies then form the overall group, which may i humbly suggest be a League. League just sounds so much more posh but in a fun way. It reminds me of "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (and in our case, ladies, scalawags, and naredowell s alike. Which is what we are really.. a collection of awesome people with similar interests who are creative and embrace the steampunk spirit. Imperial sounds to militarized and a lot of steampunks are more on the rogue side of the line So I would suggest League.. it just fits steampunk better and well, in my opinion sounds more awesome  

let's face it one of the hardest parts of making a group has and always will be agreeing upon a name

This would make for allotment of the "member" cards you wanted (hee hee that sounds like fun) we could even come up with our own emblems, like the captains would have something and the engineers would have something, so that those of us "on the in" of what we are doing here would a fun time spotting it on a fellow steamer. Such as a pin that to anyone else would just be a fun steampunk pin but if you know what you're looking at it would tell you hey this person is a captain of an airship, or this is the engineer, or first mate, or inventor, etc. That would be kind of cool and funny I think

For EXAMPLE on DeviantArt many of you may be familiar with the work of "Porkshanks" she has a lot of wonderful designs, here are some pins she made that made me think of this:

http://fc75.deviantart.com/fs27/i/2008/118/9/5/Chrono_Corps_Batch_4_by_porkshanks.jpg


These are just my ideas. Please Let me know what you all think about it!! I'm excited now!!!

Whee!!! *skips off through the daisies*

*hugs to all as always*
-Allie

[Dr. Oliver Cross]

Indeed, nailing down a name will be a true and complete bloody mess.  I know from firsthand reports that developing the name of the Society for Creative Anachronism was one of the earliest stumbling blocks that venerable organization faced.  A pity they took the name that would be best for our own organization!

[Zwack]

Some potential issues that I see with the database...

1) Not all groups have any kind of official leadership.  The Rose City Steampunks (Local 23) are a loose conglomeration of people with different interests.  Events are organised on an ad-hoc basis by whoever.

2) Not all Steampunks are Role Playing so they don't have a Persona.  There are different aspects and different preferences.

My suggestion for the database would be to have it as flexible as possible but have most of the information not required.  Preferred contact method might be worth adding too.  This would allow for people to offer multiple contact methods but say that they would rather you contact them via email for example.

Realistically the database could be extended to cover a multitude of things and be very useful...

Resources (online and offline), Groups, Individuals...

Z.

[atriusofdni]

for those interested i will be on the irc for most of the evening