Jewelsx has started a thread which reminded me of something that was suggested a year or so ago but never got off the ground.

We have so many members now, all with numerous skills. These skills are not necessarily related to writing, but we could swap them to help each other with research.

Has the site developed now to the point where we could set up a database of this knowledge? Could we for instance, post a request for details of something which would trigger off a list of members with the relevant expertise to respond?

I guess it would take a while to build up a library of info, but wouldn’t it be worth it?

Dee

Excellent idea. Count me in!

Thanks Darren, there hasn’t been an overwhelming response to the idea, so maybe it’s not a goer. One of the problems is that forum threads disappear too quickly so we’d have to set up some sort of directory for it. That depends on the site admin to set something up… and so far, there probably isn’t enough interest.

Dee

Dee,

I just came across this thread. I was actually thinking along those lines myself. There is so much help on writing in thi site, but there is a wealth of info so many of us probably have which could be useful to others.

I am sure there would be more people interested in this!

Count me in for sure! Anyone ever want to talk psychology, neuroanatomy, social cognition, forensic/criminal psychology - I'd be more than happy to attempt to help!

Great idea Dee

Jules

It's a great idea and would be a valuable resource. But I agree that more is needed than a forum thread, for the reasons mentioned above. Perhaps David could create a directory of members willing to help in different areas of knowledge/expertise? Afterwards info could be exchanged by WW mail. I'd be willing to help with art practice/exhibiting questions.

Nell.

This is a marvellous idea, and I'm for it too! I can offer knowledge of educational admin at uni/college level and Keith (husband!) and I can do most of anything Anglican/religious/theological you might need. I'm ok at golf too but no expert!

A
xxx

I think this is a terrific idea. I don't know if I've any expertise that others haven't, but in the last two hours on my new novel I've come up with at least four different subjects that I needed to ask about - everything from the Latin names of the Stations of the Cross to the voice of a man born in Bermondsey in the 1920s.

I suppose that if there was a place in the newly re-organised profiles pages for people to list their expertise, it might be possible to set up a search that would throw up everyone with that expertise?

Emma

Re Stations of the Cross, I don't know about this (you might need to ask a Catholic!), but K thinks they may not have official names in Latin, as there's no "official" liturgical service for them, and people would have therefore tended to deal with them in the vernacular, depending on where they were at the time. Don't assume this is right though, Emma, as we're guessing!

)

A
xxx

Yep, great idea, Dee. As the world's laziest researcher, I'd definitely make use of the service! I was once immensely amused by my favourite author, Iain Banks, admitting in an interview that the sum total of his research for one of his novels was the occasional flick through The Guiness Book of British Hit Singles. Same here, Iain...

Anyway, if anyone has a burning need to find out anything about the history of horse racing/racehorse-breeding - if I don't know the answer, I'll probably have a book about it! Not betting, though, about which I know 100% of zilch. I can do cats, too, and my most boring Mastermind subject would be, sad to say, 'Savings and Mortgages, c. 1976 - 1998'. Now just how useful is that???

Julie

PS Emma - if it was still the early 60s and I was still at primary school, I'd have known at least a phonetic answer to your Latin question. Back then the whole Catholic Mass, the Catechism, the Benedictus (whatever that was - can't even remember) and all the other mumbo-jumbo was drummed into us poor innocent kids in Latin. Only when the British Catholic church decided, when I was in Junior school, to 'modernise', did we discover what any of it meant, as we had the new versions, in English, rammed down our extremely reluctant throats. Gawd knows how we had time to learn anything else...

I tend to think it would work better the other way. Yes, we could all list our skills and knowledge, but we all know things that we wouldn’t think to list. For instance, a year or so ago, Jumbo was writing a scene set in Leeds. He jokingly asked if anyone knew what the particular area looked like in the seventies and, while I didn’t know myself, I have a friend who’s lived there all her life.

So what I’d prefer to see is a two-way data base. As well as listing our specialities, we put out requests for information.

For instance, I need some info on the procedure when an insurance company Loss Adjuster believes a fire in a hotel has been started deliberately.

Dee

Julie and HollyB, thanks for the help with the Catholic prayers. My Catholics are just pre-Reformation, and it's incredibly hard to find out what their Mass and prayers were like. Anyone out there know if it different from the Tridentine Mass which is all I've been able to find a copy of?

Emma

Emma - K says where are your pre-Reformation Catholics? - as it apparently may make a difference ...

A
xxx

Perhaps if members were able to fill in an area in their member profile, which would outline their areas of knowledge. This could then be cross-referenced through a database. Probably.

You can tell I've been watching '24'.

Am I missing something?

Has the site developed now to the point where we could set up a database of this knowledge

is that what the internet is? Can't we just cut and past all 300,000 Googolbytes?



Colin M - probably missing the point completely, but still not getting it!

You’re right, up to a point, Colin, but there are always times when speaking to someone with personal experience can make a difference.

For instance, in one of the novels I have on the back burner, a character who is a trauma surgeon is knocked down by a van, breaking his leg. The internet and medical books can tell me everything I need to know except what he would think at that precise moment.

As he’s a doctor, would he think, ‘Oh dear, I seem to have fractured my tibia.’ Or, being a bloke, would he think, ‘F*****g hell, I've f*****g broken my f*****g leg!’

And I can’t find that anywhere on Google…

Dee