Friday, April 1, 2011

This Week in the Typosphere

  • Our ranks are growing. Just since last week's update we've seen the number of UK-based members double... to two. April Foolishness aside, I know that I've added about six or seven entries to the blogroll and map this past week, many of which I've found by checking through the list of links on your own blogs. Did I miss someone? Go ahead and nominate them in a comment. If they're even tangentially typewriter-related, they're welcome in the fold and I'll add them.
  • Speaking of the UK, there was a little chatter on the PTF about holding a type-in over there: why let us colonists have all the fun? Not a member? You should be. It's a Yahoo-based mailing list, free to join, but you need to request membership and prove that you're not a spambot by including something typewriter-related in your request (like "I am a fine upstanding member of the Typosphere and run a blog and can't stop combing eBay.") Things are still a little heated over there right now thanks to fallout from keychopping discussion that went sour (as they often do. There are no winners in an argument held on the Internet.) For a little perspective on 'choppers and some great mental imagery of the back room of a typewriter repair shop, follow the link on Strikethru to an interview of the repair wizards at Ace Typewriter in Washington.
  • Did I mention that the second UK typecaster is insane? But in that mad-dogs-and-Englishmen sort of way. That's right: typecasting while running. Somehow, doing this in front of the Wii just doesn't seem as challenging. Since we had a spate of propaganda posters in blogs lately, you're all charged with making one out of typewrunner's photo, linked from this victorious post. That photo brings tears to my eyes. The good kind.
  • We'd love those posters in the flickr "Anablogger Archives" group, by the way. Links to the group, the Yahoo lists, and other places of interest to the typosphere community are on the left, under the "Resources" header.
  • The biggest news this week is that we were the news, at least for a day or two in the New York Times "Style" section. Congratulations all around for everyone who was interviewed (and to those who were eventually cut.) Sounds like Jess may be a convert. If we can rope her into the Typewriter Brigade, I think she'll be hooked for sure.
  • Brigadiers! You know that Script Frenzy starts today, right? It's an automatic excuse for not editing your NaNoWriMo novel for another thirty days (like you needed one.)
  • One last item for you statistics wonks: we turned a bit over 2,000 pages in our first month as a real trafficked blog, with a little uptick in daily pages to coincide with all of us mailing the NY Times article to our tolerant friends and family. The most traffic comes from the "typosphere.net" domain, so extra thanks to Ryan for setting that up and pointing it here. My own humble blog is second for driving traffic here (since I'm whoring the link everywhere) followed closely by Strikethru (since she has actual readers and is an interesting person.) "typosphere" is the search term used most to find us. Page views by country are:
  1. United States: 1,811
  2. United Kingdom: 113
  3. Switzerland: 25
  4. Australia: 22
  5. Canada: 21
  6. Sweden: 21
  7. Netherlands: 18
  8. Italy: 13
  9. Germany: 11
  10. Philippines: 8

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing, just amazing.

I really need to whore this site; I am petty and want more visitors!!

Rob Bowker said...

Well I was wondering, after reading the East and West coast press coverage, whether the combined page views of the typosphere at large might be a crowd pulling stat. Could be just a trawl of counters on member blogs/sites - but many don't publish stats. I don't know if there's an easier way to do this than just by asking people? I'm happy to share stats anyway. Comments welcome...

Rob Bowker said...

Excellent round up, by the way. Thanks Mike.

MTCoalhopper said...

Don't be surprised if "Bruce Partington-Plans" joins us. He indicated some interest on his blog, http://eclecticephemera.blogspot.com/
when he linked to the NYT article. It's funny how I find links from the most diverse places... back tot he typosphere. You never get too far from home, I guess.

lucia said...

Is there a place to map interested parties who collect and use typewriters but don't have a blog? If so, add me on! Berkeley, CA.

Rob Bowker said...

@lucia: I can't see why not. If you don't want/have a blog or site, but you wanted to still be able to post or share stuff only, by e-mail, say, I'm sure a kind fellow of the typosphere would gladly upload on your behalf. Or you could be invited as a co-author of someone's blog. I'd be happy to do that if you'd like.

Hamish MacDonald said...

Hi there. I just wanted to say that you've got another follower in the UK. I live in Wick, which is way up at the top of the Scottish Highlands.

In an effort to spend more of my free time writing (I've written four novels and am just starting my fifth), I bought an Empire-Corona (a rebadged Skywriter) on eBay early this year, and I've done a couple of retro-blog entries with it so far, too, on my website (hamishmacdonald.com)

Thanks for putting this resource together! I'd love to see a type-in in my area...

mpclemens said...

@Hamish, you've been added to the mighty roll of bloggingness. Any Swedes or Norsemen willing to pitch Hamish from his title of "Northernmost Typospherian?"

Popular Posts

Blog Archive