Greetings and salutations friends,
It has been an interesting first half to 2022 to say the least. I don’t believe anyone here will disagree with that. We’ve had quite the number of real-world events unfold, a good amount of social media discourse, and who even knows how much mud flinging. Thankfully, most of that is not something that rears its ugly head on this site, and I take pride in making sure it stays that way. Social media does a good enough job at mud flinging, that I think it has the market cornered. With that said, it is time for the Q2 update for 2022.
ARCHangel Updates
In recent days, I have placed heavy emphasis on the updating of ARCHangel services. This included largely the full integration of CMH Publication Series 70 thru 73 at the time this message was composed. I want to try and finish that entire publication set by the end of July and start on the AFH set in August. These are all documents that have been in queue since 2018, and that should accurately depict just how far behind I am at getting content on site. It should also help depict how long it might take to get something you’ve sent to me to get pushed to live.
You can view the ARCHangel Digital Repository by clicking here.
Within the ARCHangel system, we are now also archiving and expanding upon two websites. These websites were selected due to the wealth of information on them, and the relative unavailability of content on the internet without them. We retrieved most of the information from these sites as-is from Wayback Machine, but plan to actively add new information to them as we have access to them. The co-Admins that I have here and myself are running this show.
The first website is Dusty Johnson’s 364th Infantry page. The snapshot we pulled was from 26 JAN 2016, and for the most part, there are no images associated with it anymore. That means that data is lost to time. However, we do have plenty of resources to add to it, and I have been told by the co-admin tackling that task that there is a large sum of additional images and information to supply. Construction of that page is entirely dependent on me coaching him on how to add content, sending the snapshot, and then having him have the time to execute the mission. It has taken about two months to determine the best course of action to handle the rosters. The new roster will use a table-class system whereas the current one on the imported page just is a simple HTML list.
The second website is Sam Berliner’s Ordnance Page. Sam and I were in frequent contact regarding both the 175mm and 350mm Atomic Annie. He passed away in December of 2020, and his page subsequently finally shut down earlier this year. There was a massive amount of information on his ordnance page, Atomic Annie notwithstanding. The reconstruction of that data is likely a year-long project, and I am shooting to begin that work sometime in 2023.
Changes to Category Structure
Beginning late Q2 and early Q3, we will be changing and adding new categories to how content is sorted. We will be adding topical and regional identifiers to make sorting easier and to help better narrow down content searches. The current content being narrowed down is outlined as follows:
- U.S. History – Posts pertaining to the larger picture of American history that does not exclusively attribute itself to military endeavors.
- AMH – Posts pertaining exclusively to American Military History and their interaction with grander military strategy, operations, and activities.
- DVIDS – This category will be used to underscore subjects which are posted to the Defense Visual Information & Distribution System.
- PED History – This category will be used for content associated with pre-European Discovery history in the Americas to include Mesoamerica and Mississippian cultures.
- Europe – These are posts which are limited to the breadth of European History, including military operations and activities.
- Asia – These are posts which are limited to the breadth of Asian History, including military operations and activities.
- Art History – This category will be used for subject matter largely pertaining to art history, including general art and music.
- Science *NEW CATEGORY* – This new category will be to place subject matter that is less oriented to history and more oriented to the scientific field (which may include methods).
Legacy categories will continue to be used, and no changes will be made to the existing permalinks. You will be able to continue using the old style of searching for content or use the new. This list of categories may not be complete, and we may add a few additional ones as time goes on.
Alter Updates
While I would love to say that there are numerous updates coming to Alter, there simply aren’t any at this time. Alter is usually the first thing to get shelved when other priorities come about, as it simply is the least impactful thing in the grand scheme of things. However, that’s not say that there aren’t a few upcoming things and things that have already changed.
First and foremost are the rebranding efforts that are currently ongoing. These come after the acquisition of a dedicated digital art creator. Most of those changes are already complete but are limited exclusively to Discord and Twitch.
Second is the temporary suspension of the Presenters Series of history streams. I am currently in the process of toying with new ideas, such as one that will debut on 29 JUL where we conduct historical research live on stream. Outside of this, Unplugged History remains an ongoing item that I plan to keep in the rotation at least for now.
Other Site Updates
Fact sheets are expected to be rewritten and then imported into the ARCHangel system sometime between now and the end of Q3. Most of my efforts are centered on that system at this time, but that doesn’t mean there won’t continue to be a steady stream of posts incoming. Once I get through a large amount of these other tasks, I can start writing routine quarterly, capstone, and user’s choice content. It’s just sadly and overwhelming task when there’s only me writing and doing this stuff for now, but I am optimistic that is going to change relatively soon.
That sums up this quarter well. My two-year streamer-versary is this coming Saturday, which will probably set the tone for the next year on Alter. As you can see in this update, ARCHangel took the brunt of the focus, and will probably continue to do so. Time is short, with work taking up large chunks of it. We will continue to roll with the punches and the changes. Until next time, stay safe and healthy and happy reading.
