FAQ
Main »» About the Site| Table of Contents | |
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| 1-1 What is this site? (Brief description) |
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The new website in Japanese was launched in March 2004 by the Mellow Club, an internet group of seniors in Japan, in order to hand down to posterity important knowledge and wisdom succeeded from the previous generation as well as the real-life experiences of the present members. The web site was named "the Mellow Denshoukan", the digital archives of the personal historical experiences of those who lived through the 20th century, particularly of the Second World War, together with objects relating to that period. In other words, the objective of this project is to hand down old and valuable records of lives of people in Japan to the future generations using state-of-the-art information technology. The project has a long-term vision of developing and enriching the contents that will be passed down from generation to generation. The role of the current members is to consolidate the foundation of this project, which is to be extended to the people of the same generation in foreign countries. The contents of the website consist only of contributions submitted by old people mainly in Japan (some by Koreans) , and many of the contributors are those over 80 inside and outside the Club. It has been hoped that the English version of the site will be created , thereby enabling senior people in many different countries to participate in the activities. In July, 2005, the English version which is a selectively-translated site of the Japanese original one is open with a chance of joining the WSA world contest . |
| 1-2 What are the details of the site? |
1 Features of the site The website consists of posted contributions with a thread (comment tree type) structure. One thread makes an ensemble of information and knowledge combined together with all the comments added by other people. The contributions have been posted by senior people mainly in Japan (some by Koreans) and many of the contributors are those over 80. The site has a powerful database server working at the backend of the site, therefore anybody can search and find the list and contents of the contributions he wants to know by putting the relevant keywords into the search window. The site keeps good cooperation with Korean seniors with regard to their contributions to the forums, as senior members of the Mellow Club have had active exchanges with the members of the Korean counterpart "Genrobo", a senior internet member club in Korea. 2 Contents For convenience of accepting contributions, the contents are stored in two databases. One is for experiences and documents, and the other is for things. “The database for experiences and documents” mainly contains texts and photos that are needed to visually supplement the texts. The period is divided into Showa history (after 1927) and Taisho era (before 1926). The site is now forcusing on collecting records of experiences before and after the end of World War II August 15, 1945 ) because the people of Japan as well as other oversea countries are greatly interested in what really happened at that period, still now after more than 60 yeras have passed after WW II. The site is asking not only the Korean seniors of Genrobo but also the ones of other foreign countries to cooperate together with regard to the above matter. “Database for things” includes Living ware, High-tech products, Records & documents, Seasonal & local food etc., Manners & customs & songs etc. and Miscellaneous. These are mainly shown in the form of photos and voice. Texts explain the photos and depict memories. Photos are separated from other contributions and stored in the database titled “photo-albums”. 3 The number of current data A year has passed since this project was established. The members have been busy creating the website so far, and they have just started putting their effort into collecting data. As of August 14, 2007, for the original Japanese site Number of contributed documents 1482 Number of contributed photos 389 For the English site, Number of contributed documents 156 Number of contributed photos 62 Anybody can browse the site, but the contributors are required to register. 4 Policies Regarding contributions are required the following; to contribute real experiences or true stories told by those who had real experiences, to write stories as faithful to facts as possible and to try to make the story easy to read and understand for children in the future. Regarding search function, this site was created based on web technique with database, XOOPS, which enables anyone to read all the contributed documents and photos included in this website easily using the keyword research. 5 Managing and Developing the site This site is created, managed and developed only by the members of the Mellow Club. On the internet the members who live all over Japan are sharing and executing many jobs such as the system management and support, support to contributors, English translation of Japanese original contributions and other things neccessary to manage the site. |
| 1-3 What can you learn and do at this site? |
Senior members have lived through the stormy age of the 20th century, and believe that their untold experiences can be valuable resources that vividly describe what the world was like in those days. Their belief motivated them to launch the site. This work can be done only by seniors who survived the turbulent times, and it is urgent to address this task, as senior people are already old enough. What sets the website apart from other sites is as follows. Senior networkers can directly post their contributions by themselves. They can contribute very precise memoirs because they actually came through ordeals in the very tumultuous times. Besides, they themselves engage in network activities. Our site is based on a so-called ”comment tree system or thread system”. If someone comments on a document, a lot of people will be able to add comments on it in succession. Also, many staff can check the contents of the document every day. Therefore, a person’s recollection can remind many other people of their own experiences, which motivate them to send their memoirs to the site. As the result, the site can get increasing number of related contributions. If contributors' memories are not correct or if some parts of their stories are missing, members can revise or add the missing parts to supplement contributors' writings in real time. The site is open to the public. Since the website is opened to the public, the site can collect information and knowledge from many people in different parts of Japan, and also from oversea people. The site has a powerful database system. The site has a powerful database server at the backend of the site. Any knowledge and information that readers want to know can be easily obtained by putting the relevant keywords into the search window. The site is supported by the stable group. This site is succeeded and managed continuously by next generation and has a big advantage to other web sites which are managed by individual seniors and therefore might disappear by their closing. |
| 1-4 Who produced this site? |
This site was opened by the Mellow Club, an internet of Japanese senior netizens in March, 2004. The English description of the Mellow Club is described here. However, it can be said that actual producers are those who submitted to forums of the site and contributed the site. |
| 1-5 What software systems does this site use? |
The system uses Linux as an operating system (OS) and apache as a web server. MySQL is used as a database server and PHP is used as a script language. Under these conditions, a content management system (CMS), XOOPS is installed and used for the control of this site. |
| 1-6 Did this site get the support from somewhere? |
This site was awarded as one of good projects of the year 2003 and financially supported in October, 2003 by the Community Care Center for Activities Support. |
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