13/08/07: Website Developments
As you will all be aware, the development of the Maclean.org website is an ongoing affair in which Ian (Glasgow) does all the work - and our thanks go to him for this - and the content is more or less masterminded by me, Alasdair (Belgium), as the MacleanNet president. However, neither Ian nor I create the content unless specifically in our areas of interest and we rely on others to submit items to us for inclusion. So, if you have anything you'd like to publish on the website, then send it to me at alasdair@maclean.org.
As to what is coming up: well, Ian and I have had our thinking hats on and a number of new developments are currently in the pipe-line and the first has already become available - there is now to be a Gaelic-language blog running and as soon as Anne Landin gets her mind round it, I expect we'll see Gaelic on the Blog.
The second development is that Ian has or will put on the website the four talks given at the Gathering so that all those who were unable to attend will be able to see what was talked about.
Then there is the History Wiki - this is currently being worked on and will be overseen by Don Kiely in Alaska. The idea here is that we will run a wiki (like Wikipedia) but initially this will be about Clan and Scottish History. Don is getting his mind round this at the moment and I expect we'll have it fully up and running by the end of the month.
We have other plans - social networking, some sort of forum to replace the newsgroups and a general improvement of the introductory pages to each section. And, on top of all that, Ian is making it possible for all the Clan Maclean Associations around the world to edit and upload material to their pages via a browser. All these changes will be taking place over the next few months and will be announced here on the Blog.
As to what is coming up: well, Ian and I have had our thinking hats on and a number of new developments are currently in the pipe-line and the first has already become available - there is now to be a Gaelic-language blog running and as soon as Anne Landin gets her mind round it, I expect we'll see Gaelic on the Blog.
The second development is that Ian has or will put on the website the four talks given at the Gathering so that all those who were unable to attend will be able to see what was talked about.
Then there is the History Wiki - this is currently being worked on and will be overseen by Don Kiely in Alaska. The idea here is that we will run a wiki (like Wikipedia) but initially this will be about Clan and Scottish History. Don is getting his mind round this at the moment and I expect we'll have it fully up and running by the end of the month.
We have other plans - social networking, some sort of forum to replace the newsgroups and a general improvement of the introductory pages to each section. And, on top of all that, Ian is making it possible for all the Clan Maclean Associations around the world to edit and upload material to their pages via a browser. All these changes will be taking place over the next few months and will be announced here on the Blog.
01/06/07: North Assynt - an ancient landscape
This is part of the North Assynt landscape, scene of a rather ruthless clearance but now part of the North Assynt Crofting Association. The estate was in the hands of the Vesty family until the latter part of last century when it came up for sale. Unfortunately,as is sometimes the case with such buy-outs, the current owners really don't know howbest to use the land, housing and assets to the best advantage and the quality of the land is going down. Sad to say, this was the usual reason why many of the clearances took place 150 years ago.
01/06/07: What's on at the Gathering?
Things are moving on quickly and it is great to be able to report that the pre-Gathering programme is looking really good -
The Maclean Genealogy, History and Gaelic Centre at the Aros Hall in Tobermory will be open from 09h30 on the Tuesday to enable visitors to drop in and discuss history or to update the Clan Maclean genealogy database or to ask questions about tracing their ancestors or simply to chat in Gaelic. We will be located close by the registration desk and the Clan Shop.
The Maclean Genealogy, History and Gaelic Centre at the Aros Hall in Tobermory will be open from 09h30 on the Tuesday to enable visitors to drop in and discuss history or to update the Clan Maclean genealogy database or to ask questions about tracing their ancestors or simply to chat in Gaelic. We will be located close by the registration desk and the Clan Shop.