Folk Directory

Subject: Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 07:38 AM

Hello All! My name is Glen, I'm 16 and I have just started a new project that I'm hoping some of you may be interested in.

I am developing a user-maintained, 'Yellow Pages' sort of guide of folk clubs, sessions and festivals in the UK. The site will allow users to submit their listings for free in order to promote their own sessions, and to find other sessions in their area, or elsewhere.

The site is now up and running in a 'stripped down' form. Users may submit sessions, clubs and festivals now, in advance of the launch later this year. This way the site can launch with some content.

FolkDirectory.co.uk

As I am 16, my promotion resources are limited, so please spread the word and submit your listings! Many Thanks, Glen

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 08:11 AM

Great idea! I know lots of local folk magazines have somthing similar for their local area but a country wide one would be good. Try linking up with other webmasters running local interest sites. www.pvcw.freeserve.co.uk is the Essex Folk News page (only one I can remember the address of!) and I expect they would be keen to link to your page.
Best of Luck.

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: treewind
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:25 PM

Good luck!
It's been tried before, and there's a real need for a system like this that actually works, so I hope thise one gets it right!

If more than one entry gets sent in for the same event, what happens?

Have you seen the Folk and Roots site which does this reasonably successfully, if in a rather idiosyncratic way? (see Venues link)

I'll put in some local ones on your site anyway and see how it goes.

Anahata

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Fay
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:34 PM

Great plan,

Just a little word of warning if you are also researching listings yourself, a friend of mine had a little trouble with a listings compiler when he tried to use information from their site for a radio programme including live gig listings. The person concerned was annoyed that he did all the research then someone else just swanned in and used it for their own project without any recompense. Personally, I think if you've published information it is there for other people to use (creditation included). Just watch out for upsetting people if you don't need to, try and ask for permission first.

Fay xx

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Fay
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:38 PM

Just been to look at it - I was going to post some concerts I'm promoting, but there isn't a one off choice. Would it be hard to include that/against the principles?

Fay xx

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Rasener
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:47 PM

I have posted my club. Market Rasen Folk Club

I don't want to post each event so I am happy if people look at my website where they can get all the information they need.

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 07:06 PM

Thanks for your response so far guys! It has given me a few things to think about. Just a few bullet points below to address your posts. :-)

- To begin with, I am not going to be listing individual concerts, the site will be for regular clubs, sessions and festivals. Of course, if it takes off, there is plenty of room for expansion.

- I have managed to rope in my mum, also a folkie, and a few friends into the project. They will be verifying all entries to ensure there aren't duplicates. In the final, full website, users will be told if their entry is already in the database.

- I am not researching the listings myself. It is tempting to add some here and there, as it is easy to find regional sessions etc. However the site is being designed to be user-maintained. This is due to the fact that I'm still in college and don't have the time to be doing it all. Also, I feel it is a better system for people to be promoting their own events.

- I have looked at sites like folk and roots, which are undoubtedly excellent. However, it is a huge task for one person to research sessions manually. I am hoping that with the right promotion, and with people 'spreading the word', users will be effectively making the website by themselves! This means I have a lot of difficult coding to do, but saves me research and allows people to promote events.

- Last thing... ITS FREE!

Thanks again, Glen

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:16 AM

EFDSS have been publishing a ' Folk Directory 'for as long as I can remember.

eric

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 04:03 AM

EFDSS Folk Directory

And it was very hard work doing it all with stamps and envelopes in 1969! One thing that hasn't changed is that people have to make the effort to get the information out there. I wish Glen every success.

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: The Unicorn Man
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 02:49 PM

Cheers Glen. A great idea. Good luck with it.

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 05:07 PM

yesm they publish a folk directory. I am trying to make an online directory. At the end of the day, the success will be defined by the people in the folk scene. I have had a good response from this forum with comments etc. I now need people to be adding their clubs and sessions. Once again, thanks all!

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 05:23 PM

Richard, did you edit the Directory in '69? I did it for a couple of years in the mid-70s (around 1977 or so, one with a red cover & the following year's with a green cover - John Crane did the artwork). What I would have given for a word-processor - I used to have to use about four different colours of ink to write in all the address changes. Another legacy of those bygone times is that to this day, whenever I am opening an envelope of any size, I have to shake it to make sure no tiny little scraps of paper are still lurking within.

More power to you Glen!

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Chris Green
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 06:32 PM

Hi Glen - sounds like a great idea, if a tad daunting! For what it's worth there's a site covering the Coventry and Warwickshire area here. It's updated regularly, pretty comprehensive and should save you a bit of legwork around the non-Birmingham bit of the West Midlands!

Hope it works out - it'll be a thing of beauty and usefulness if it does!

Chris

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: GUEST,Peter from Essex
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 06:49 PM

Great idea which has been tried before and failed largely due to apathy by organisers.

Have EFDSS consented to your use of the name of their former publication?

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Fliss
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 07:29 PM

Hi GLen
Ive had my own site since about 2000. I put in odds and ends of info about Shropshire and surrounding counties. Links and articles etc.

Dip in and help yourself.

http://www.sabrinaflu.co.uk

cheers
fliss

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Mr Happy
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 07:46 PM

hav a look here http://www25.brinkster.com/folkorbit/

&

http://www.folkinfo.org/events.asp

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Mr Happy
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 07:49 PM

also here

http://www.users.waitrose.com/~cresby/

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 12:25 AM

Most areas have their own existing directories. I run two:

http://www.folk-network.com/directory/
http://www.yorkshire-folk-arts.com/directory/

There are two others that overlap:

http://www.folktalk.co.uk/
http://www.jimlawton.info/filofolk

These are all manually maintained, and information is only is good as given by people who all want their latest venture promoted, but are curiously unwilling to tell you when it folds; or to provide updates for several years, at which point they suddenly show up complaining that their entry is "wrong" (there are honorable exceptions). Pro-active research is limited by time and the need to work for a living; and we are not, most of us, psychic.

Yorkshire Folk Arts also runs a "conflict calendar", intended as a planning tool for regional promoters. Anybody who registers can submit their own details for automatic listing. It's a provisional setup which will be refined in the future as necessary. I've seen other approaches (usually bulletin boards) elsewhere.

We all draw on other people's research in compiling listings. The important thing is to give credit where it is due, and to try to give at least as much as you take.

Subject: RE: Folk Directory
From: Glen W
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 02:33 PM

People are missing the point again :(. The intention is that people will submit their own listings. This is because I am in college and don't have the time to research all listings myself. Also, it allows people to write a description of the club themselves, which I feel is a better way. Furthermore, if people all over the UK hear about the site and submit an entry for their club, or a club they attend, it will be far more comprehensive than a manually researched directory.

Glen