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10 years down - what could the future look like?


Andy Y

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...there is a permanent relevance in a lot of reference material and I think it's the lack of cohesion between conventional social media and solid reference material that worries me about general trends ...

Far more influential than any hardware development, will be whatever softwares emerge that enable superior search, retrieval and sorting capability to what which we now enjoy. Couldn't count how many of the searches ( any subject) I have run that have needed major effort with search parameters to scrub out the irrelevant items from the gazillion entries found, to locate the two entries that are actually useful. At present we are awash in information, but the technique to access it efficiently every time is lacking. How I envy the reputed Roman fellow who knew where every document in the great Alexandrian library was located. All the knowledge then worth knowing in one place...

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Sceptical, TBH. It opens up a whole can or worms regarding privacy and insurance premiums.

...

Btw, owners already post 'virtual tours' of their layout: youtube is full of them :P But they don't facilitate linking the layout on offer to an owner, who's name and address is already readily found on the web :rolleyes: Some ethical and more importantly legal questions to answer!

How would a virtual layout tour be more of a personal liability than a featured layout published in a magazine or, as you point out, YouTube videos?

 

I presume that railway magazines in the UK are not underwriting home-owners' insurance policies or writing indemnification waivers when they publish layouts. 

 

In a featured layout in print in a magazine one's real name is published.  We don't publish real names here, even though Andy has access to them. There is some spill-over where people share their real world activity (like publishing in print or links to Facebook) connected to their nom de plume here. I presume you are suggesting that such sharing makes them a target already?

 

The technical differences between a virtual tour and a video are interactivity and annotation/augmentation of the virtual model. I think that makes them a lot more compelling than being subject to the owners 'editorial' choices when making a video.

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At present we are awash in information, but the technique to access it efficiently every time is lacking.

Very much so. "Image-based search" would be interesting.

 

(It would foil Andy's crosswordnumber puzzle though.)

 

I see this in professional settings. I was working with an executive on a presentation. He made a comment to the effect of "I know I have a graphic somewhere that would work but I can't remember which presentation it is in".

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2025 - My layouts will still be DC, no sound (other than a B&R DVD playing in the background - or perhaps a VHS cassette if the machines still running !!).

 

I will hopefully have done most (but probably not all) of those little jobs we all keep putting off. I will more than likely still have some unmade Airfix wagons still to make, that I bought in1975 !!

 

Wonder if my superb ECM feedback controllers will still be working ? Wonder how many of my recently bought locos will still be working like my 1964 Hornby Dublo "City of London" ?. Time will tell.

 

As to developments in our hobby, expect lots more micro-technological innovations, which will have great effects. Sound fitted locos are fast becoming the norm, and so will new developments similarly. I can only guess, under layout "everyday" background sound, coaches and wagons sound fitted !! (imagine the din)!. Expect synchronised micro movements too, opening doors on coaches, etc

 

"Modern Image" may well still be a 45 year old pacer trundling through jungle like scenery with weed infested track !!!!!!!!!!! (and the politicians still promising to "Scrap 'em soon" ) !!.

 

Brit15

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And Jeremy Clarkson gets suspended from the BBC - again -  after his third "final" warning.

 

Bachmann finally release the retooled 158 and Dapol approve the livery diagrams for the Class 68..........

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

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I will start by saying I welcome all posts whether they be additional information or banter, but occasionally I tidy up my layout and carriage threads and delete my own posts when they add nothing to the subject. At some time in the future I would hope this could be extended to OP's to delete other members entries of a similar nature after a few weeks so that threads could be archived as mainly about the subject at hand together with members assistance. As things stand at the moment, a lot of modelling threads run to hundreds of pages and entail wading through chat in order to find the actual modelling content.

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I will start by saying I welcome all posts whether they be additional information or banter, but occasionally I tidy up my layout and carriage threads and delete my own posts when they add nothing to the subject. At some time in the future I would hope this could be extended to OP's to delete other members entries of a similar nature after a few weeks so that threads could be archived as mainly about the subject at hand together with members assistance. As things stand at the moment, a lot of modelling threads run to hundreds of pages and entail wading through chat in order to find the actual modelling content.

I think that is a great idea and in theory easily implemented - something I always thought the 'blogs' would develop along (where the comments are separate from the main OP controlled content - but blogs have turned out to be unusable for me so I don't ever get to use or see them any more. So don't care what happens there.

 

What might be a similar idea would for people to give their posts a "time limit" lifespan (say from a simple dropdown list). The post remains displayed for the chosen (say 3) days then it drops from the topic (not necessarily deleted, just hidden).

 

So things like the jokes (which are a bit of real time social interaction) and their reposts would eventually be decluttered. It would be good for these still to remain in the search database just in case important things were accidentally time-limited and perhaps have a system where the membership can vote up posts to indicate how good/useful they are (perhaps with the like button).

 

Assuming that the database is only going to grow do we really need to look back at a true modelling topic and see those ME2 posts like "I'm going to follow this one" or "that's a nice !!" or "did you enjoy the holiday" which add nothing to the topic at a later date yet have some value of encouragement and presence when they are current.

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In 10 years time?

 

All steam locos are banned, due to some holier than thou busybodies who decided they were a source of dangerous air pollution. This subsection was attached to the back of a parliamentary bill outlawing charcoal barbecues, and applied to preserved branch lines as well as main line steam.  Disaster ensued with countless appeals against the act, but so far to no avail.

 

Some prominent politicians suggested solar panels on carriage roofs charging arrays of batteries on the loco, and an electric motor where the boiler used to be, but so far this has not caught on with the exception of the NRM who commenced a £25 million rebuild of 4472 into a battery powered vehicle.

 

Smartphones developed into small headsets which project 3D images onto the retina. Vast 3D libraries of everyday (and historic) items were built up using CAD scans and thus people can build their own railway network, literally in their heads. Most oldies seem to have plumped for an Era3 scenario together with the New Beeching Cuts package where the good doctor is tied to the track and 'cut' by the express service of the purchasers choice.

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In 10 years time I think Threads will be accompanied by swish music and violins will accompany any mention of Hornby, or musical warnings like 'Andy Pandy is coming to play...' on box opener posts and 'Here come Muffin' when RTR moaners abound. Wish List threads will be heralded by Millie's 'Lollypop lollipop' and when someone tells us they have just bought up the last 12 limited-editions, a voice booms out 'Bar steward'. Loco kit building threads will be accompanied by Ian Drury's  'There ain't half been some clever ######'......and so-forth....  :mosking:

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I'd like to see more home made videos on how things are done - such as Coachman's track laying

In the case of Greenfield would this be a 10 part box set DVD.........(after editing down...)

 

 

 

 

 

Ok

 

 

Hat

 

 

 

Coat

 

 

etc....

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For those who go whole hog, a complete automated layout operating to a timetable...

I've fantasized about a plank representing part of a larger terminus - say the suburban platforms - with an animated background showing the rest of the station running to timetable (there was a micro with several scales of a railbus going along a mountain giving the impression of a much larger scene that I loved). Perhaps with decent ambient sound; birdsong and rural sounds would be relatively easy, but what did 1922 sound like? Even decent customizable period backscenes would be great.

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However I'd be willing to bet that if you look at my workbench in ten years time, it will be populated with the same collection of tools, glues and materials.

Mine will probably still have the same part built models it had on it ten years ago too. ;)

 

I reckon that in ten years time the future will be ten years shorter than it is now.

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Assuming that the database is only going to grow do we really need to look back at a true modelling topic and see those ME2 posts like "I'm going to follow this one" or "that's a nice !!" or "did you enjoy the holiday" which add nothing to the topic at a later date yet have some value of encouragement and presence when they are current.

 

I agree..........

 

Cheers,

Mick

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The notion of databases as knowledge repositories is really hard to implement.

There are a couple of great examples out there some of which are created/managed by or at least frequented by members here.

I'm thinking of sites like gwr.org.uk, lner.info, semgonline.com* and a host of others.

* Which never seems to work for me anymore, but I still see people post links to it.

 

I have to admit that I am impressed with the perseverance of the principals behind hornbyguide.com. They have kept at it and will eventually have a comprehensive Hornby model database.

Then there is of course Wikipedia. While there are well understood issues with Wikipedia which can make it unreliable**, it is generally fairly accurate (though often uneven and sketchy) for historical content.

 

** Particularly with topics on religion and companies.

Maintaining link pages to external content is not a good process. I'm not advocating re-inventing what is already out there, and nor do I see an organic path to get there, but I love the idea of seeing RMweb or at least RMweb members have access to some methods of contributing the knowledge found here into more searchable reference forms.

I don't see how we get there with our existing thread-based approach. Some kind of harvester needs to be able to accumulate the good bits (and only the good bits, not the "me too" "well I'm off to the pub" etc content) into a repository. Perhaps some kind of post-based tagging system (rather than a thread-based tagging system) is possible?

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You might be able to have a "show only informative/useful tagged" filter, but I'm not sure if that would work where there was some divurgence of opinion on e.g. remembered workings or livery shades. And having encountered a 19th century diary where all the supposedly Not Good Bits (i.e. the gossipy/personal/secret bits not related to factual reporting) had been carefully razored out by a family member and thereby destroyed a lot of the context, might I stick up for the "banter" not going entirely?

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