Memoryfest II: Recap

[bironic]

Stats

So I went through all 28 Memoryfest posts from January, counting memories and outside links and taking note of who was commenting in each. Lots of numbers! There is a spreadsheet, which I will not inflict upon you. Now that the data collection is done, we get to play with the results.

Cripes, I knew the email notifications piled up over the past few weeks, but check out the totals:

• Number of participants: 23 (plus me)
• Comments on memories posted to my LJ: 584ⁱ
• Memories posted in comments at my LJ: 264ⁱⁱ
• Outside links: 22ⁱⁱⁱ
• Additional memories in comments to people's linked posts: 19^iv

ⁱ Including mine; excluding a few completely unrelated comments
ⁱⁱ Including people's recent as well as childhood memories, links to other LJs, and my own "extra" memories in threads
ⁱⁱⁱ Including 7 friends-locked posts not linked from my LJ; excluding thewlisian_afer's 31 reposted memories
^iv Excluding the top-level memories, which were already counted towards the previous memory total


Stats accurate as of 2/2/07. I would like to go back sometime to reply to unanswered comments and continue dropped conversations. I have read everything, but it seems terribly rude to leave someone's memory up there without a response after inviting them to post.

Countries represented:

U.S. Canada Mexico Australia

England Denmark India Israel

Did I miss any?



Charts and Graphs

Spreadsheets are much more palatable when they're converted to graphs, don't you think? Here we go, then. Click on any thumbnail for the full size image. (Heh. Sorry, day job's showing a little here.)

Participant totals Full size 715x547	Memories within comments per day Full size 726x492

These two don't really add anything to the information displayed above, but I made them and they're pretty, so they're going in, dammit.

Daily comment breakdown by participants Full size 792x500	Participants – percentages of total Full size 754x510

Analysis

Memoryfest I vs. Memoryfest II

Well, for starters, this year there were more people, which was great, and therefore there were also more comments, which was just as great, but much harder to keep up with each day than last year. We covered a broader range of topics, too, though somewhat at the expense of exploring each one more deeply; by the time I'd caught up on the day's threads—and often before that—it was straight on to the next post.

Another difference became apparent as the weeks passed in the way I wrote the memories themselves. Many of them read more like stories than simple recollections. With a bigger audience, I often felt that I needed to entertain people.

As for participants, some people leapt aboard whom I didn't expect to, and that was wonderful. There were others I'd hoped would join in who didn't. While that's disappointing, I know people have their own reasons for opting in or out—and anyway, there was quite enough action here to keep me occupied during the month!


Did it work?

What I wanted to accomplish for myself through the Memoryfest was to slow down, quiet my teeming brain and think back on when I was growing up. Without getting into too much detail, this desire to wrap myself up in these memories, whether happy or sad or scary or neutral, has to do with the way I've closed off in the years since my parents began their separation and how I've been trying to lower those shields again.

In one way, the project thwarted itself, because all the comments that needed attention didn't leave much time for reflection—or provided a convenient excuse to avoid reflection. However, getting into the habit of thinking up a memory every night, along with reading what people were posting and discussing, did inspire more sustained musings from time to time and an overall sense of nostalgia. Over the course of the month I also started going on these weekly six-hour astronomy lecture/observation trips with my dad, trying for the bonding thing; I looked through several photo albums last weekend; I've been listening to music my mom used to play; and I've been asking more questions of my parents and sister about what they remember of our childhood. Though not as tremendous a result I'd hoped, I'd call that a success.

Community-wise, Memoryfest was unquestionably successful. Twenty-three people besides me posted in all, with five people posting almost every day and six or seven more commenting to at least half the posts. I've really enjoyed hearing these little snippets of your lives, learning more about RL friends, fleshing out the mental picture I have of online friends (including some adorable baby pictures!), and even having my memory jogged once or twice by my sister. Conversations abounded, both with me and with yourselves, spilling over into some of your own journals. With so many more participants this year, and with thewlisian_afer in particular flitting around like a bee pollinating countless threads, I didn't have to play hostess quite so much, which was not only cool but also a relief amid changes in my life that've limited my online time.

A few of you even seized on the 'fest to write about some very personal issues, and that was incredibly moving to witness.


The Wacky

Wouldn't be a Memoryfest recap without a roundup of the tangents we went off on, would it?

This year in comments, we covered such unexpected topics as undersea and alien life, whether it's pretentious or considerate for an American to use "mum" when speaking to a Brit about the latter's mother, caveman slash, dead cats, where we were when the Berlin wall fell and O.J. Simpson got arrested, various wars and conflicts that worried us when we were growing up, piloting small aircraft under questionable circumstances, wisdom teeth, having liberal parents during the institution of court-ordered busing in Texas, the unfair preference given to rural life in the story about the city mouse and the country mouse; the need to read books immediately, whatever's in front of you, and/or textbooks for fun; and the organization of various American, Canadian and Australian school systems.

Things I learned:

• Parsley is poisonous to hamsters.
• Rapper sword dancing is not a bunch of sword fighters who rap.
• My parents were not the only ones who walked in on movies at the worst possible time.
• Nonpareil candies always have colored sprinkles in Australia
• elynittria's father and mine have a lot in common. (here and here)
• Why the show was called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the U.K.

Oh yeah: and I got Metaquoted!

*hugs* to all. I hope you had as much fun as I did.




Poll

I can make polls now! And so we present, for your clicking and typing pleasure:


[Poll #920634]




~ the end ~

Comments

[nicocoer.livejournal.com]

I was doing it faithfully everyday, then I had life fall on me (financial aid didn't come through, wrecked the NEW car. . .) and Was too depressed to do anything. At some point I'll go back and do the ones I missed. I'm totally GOing to do this if you do it next year.

~N~

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about all that. Hope things take a turn for the better with you soon.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I hope you won't be offended that I pointed and laughed at the statistics, graphs and charts. With extreme love.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

How can I laugh at love? :) It's just, there were all these bits of information -- they pleaded for sense to be made of them.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Interesting recap (albeit somewhat embarrassing; I didn't realize I was so verbose). Loved the charts! (I got to be represented by royal purple. Yay!)

I really hope you have another Memoryfest next year. I was torn in responding to the poll question about possible revisions. Posting less often makes the most sense to me, since it would leave more time for discussion of each post; however, it was always fun to read the "memory of the day." Themes would also be interesting, but I would suggest having only some of the postings be themed, with the others free form: some of the most interesting conversations that occurred were spontaneously generated and way off topic to a particular post.

Does the question about Sheppard/McKay fanfic mean that you might conceivably be writing some in the future? (I hope so!)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Saw your *facepalm*!Wilson icon there and wondered what you might've been embarrassed about. I think it's nice that you were interested enough in the goings-on to comment as much as you did -- and I didn't think it was that much before the numbers totalled up.

You can thank Microsoft Excel for the royal purple; that was the automatically assigned color for whatever position your name was in. :)

Posting less next year would be my first change. I'd like to be able to respond to everyone and to follow conversations wherever they lead, and if this many people (or more!) join up again, that will be almost impossible to do on a daily basis. Themes would definitely only be occasional, if I do them at all, for the reason you've given and also because the memories seem to generate their own themes anyway. I guess I was thinking more that I'd pick a time or a place and go from there, or that I'd match up a memory and a passage to start a discussion about memory while sharing memories, if that makes sense.

I do not have any plans right now to write Shep/McKay; I've only seen the show once, a couple of weeks ago! But the fic is just amazing. At least, what I've read so far has been. This question was sort of a test to see who might be interested in chatting about it sometime. Or to see who... might... have some recs?

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

This question was sort of a test to see who might be interested in chatting about it sometime.

I definitely am. And yes, I have tons of recs (three binders' worth, although not all of them are slash).

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

I just sent you an email with a bunch of recs and links for SGA to get you started. Hope it helps!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ah, never mind, I've got it -- it ended up in my bulk folder for some reason. Thanks very much. I don't know how I'll enjoy gen SGA fic, but I'll give some a try and see how it goes.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

My favorite (dark) slash author in SGA is Auburn. You might want to start there if you're wary of gen. (Most of her "gen" stuff is actually McShep preslash.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Okay, will do. So far I've read stuff by Resonant, Pru, Shalott/astolat and a few others in their circle. I like gen in general (heh) quite a lot; it's only that because I don't have the canon knowledge for this show, what draws me in are the slash/romance formulas, and as I'm enjoying those I'm learning about Sheppard and McKay. So Sheppard/McKay friendship or preslash may be nice, but I'm not sure how much I'd like the full-cast stuff.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Interesting recap (albeit somewhat embarrassing; I didn't realize I was so verbose).

ahahahaha Don't be embarrassed. Look what a freakin' chatterbox I was!

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

With graphs! You are awesome, my dear.

Are you feeling the McKay/Sheppard love now? OHNOOOOOESSSS... :-P

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes, just from reading the fanfic. But I am a modern girl -- I'm all about open relationships. If I can read Remus/Sirius and BtVS and DS9 fic and enjoy many House pairings/groupings while loving House/Wilson, surely I can read Sheppard/McKay too. There is room in my heart for them all.

With graphs!

I... I couldn't help it. :) Had a feeling you and daasgrrl would like 'em too, at least.

And while you're here, thank you for participating. Your memories were such a pleasure to read.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Graphs are the most awesome thing after all. Good for those of us whose eyes glaze over at long columns of figures. :-)

And thank you for hosting!

[roga.livejournal.com]

Your icon is so appropriate. And yay! I'm purple!

*hugs* to all. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

*hugs* back, and I hope you had as much fun as I did :-)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I had a feeling this icon would come in handy. Glad you like "your" color, although it's what Microsoft Excel assigned you rather than any association of my own.

Glad you had fun! I saw that you were following other people over to their posts, which was lovely. Especially poor neglected pynelyf. I did enjoy myself, despite feeling overwhelmed sometimes.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Heh, believe me, sometimes I held myself back from commenting, thinking about poor you who probably wanted to reply to every comment, and it's not like there's a signal that means No Reply Necessary.

This, for instance, is one such NRN comment :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And yet here I am, replying. Heh. If we do every day posting next year, which is highly unlikely, maybe I should hand out NRN icons to participants.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Those would be handy... even though just knowing that you don't *have* to reply can sometimes provoke a reply :-)

[crazypalefreak.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Like me, you must get a kick out of making things mathematical :)

I wish I had contributed more this year. I answered that I contributed last year. I think that's true. I had just friended you, if I remember rightly, so I must have made the occasionally comment. I don't remember.

I didn't contribute this year other than the few comments, but if there is a MemoryFest III (and I really hope there is) I fully intend to do it myself. I'm always indulging in nostalgia, so it shouldn't be difficult for me. It's just that January is always a horrible month for me academically. But next year, I shouldn't be so stressed :)

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*is a sickly sort of beige color and is quite disappointed*

;-D

Haven't taken the poll yet, but I thought MemoryFest was very cool and would definitely participate again. And more often.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Excel! Excel made you beige!

If it makes you feel any better... *contemplates* Beige for southwest? The Alamo?

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed yourself and that you're planning to join in again. Heh; I can see the tag now. Memoryfest III: Now with more Nightdog!

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed memoryfest. It was neat that so many of the memories were "impressions" and not necessarily dramatic or lifechanging moments. I remember in particular you curled up by the speaker.

It's hard to tell if more structure would be good or not; in some ways, the freeflowing nature was very liberating. If one wanted structure, perhaps something like those "100 prompt" (or whatever) tables could be set up? You know: a memory related to 1. red, 2. late, 3. broken etc. (Brainstorming only, no need to take me seriously).

[silsbee329.livejournal.com]

Nice charts! Memoryfest is one of the reasons why I enjoy stopping by your page - always something interesting going on. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Cool. It was nice to have you when you dropped by. Your story about the celebrity pay phone call still makes me chuckle. I hope this place will continue to hold your interest now that Memoryfest has ended. :)

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Bzz bzz bzz! XD I had a lot of fun reading other people's memories and getting into discussions with them. Right from the beginning I planned on posting a memory of my own every day, but I didn't expect to get as into it as I did. If you do this again next year, I am definitely in. Also, since I am obviously such a chatterbox, if you want to keep doing a memory every day but are worried about people's memories being ignored, I could co-host. That way at least one person inviting people to share their memories would respond to them, even if you start getting behind.

Also, fantastic charts. I love stuff like that. :: GEEK :: XD