hrj

Originally published at Alpennia.com. You can comment here or there.

The purpose of tags on Lesbian Historic Motif Project posts is to make information relatively easy to find. The topics covered under “people/event tags” identify specific historic texts and authors, or historic individuals or events that are discussed in LHMP publications. This essay is intended to explain briefly how the “people/event” tags are being used.

The second purpose is to provide a thematic tag list that the visitor can use to explore the site. The number of tags used in the project, and the organization into four different categories, doesn’t lend itself to a traditional tag-cloud. The Place and Time Period tags each have a single essay. The People/Event and Misc. Tags are covered in thematic groups in multiple essays due to the larger number.

The People/Event tag group requires some explanation of my approach in order to make sense. For historical published material, ideally I have a single tag for each relevant text that includes both the title of the work and the author’s name (if known). If the author’s personal life is also relevant to the project, or if they cover relevant themes across a significant body of work, they will generally have a separate personal tag. For historic individuals, if the person was in a specific relationship that makes them relevant to the project, I will generally have a entry for the pair, rather than individual entries, although “relationship” is interpreted broadly and fuzzily here. Because my tagging system has emerged as I work, rather than being carefully planned, there are some inconsistencies. I often go back and adjust tags on existing posts when I notice. In general, I’ll only tag a person or publication if they are mentioned in my write-up, rather than tagging for everything mentioned in the original text. The tags are meant to help the user explore the site, rather than being an exhaustive index.

I’m planning six essays for the People/Event Tags, each covering a general category with several subcategories. In addition to the current essay, People/Event essays will cover:

Historic Crossdressing and Passing/Transgender People
Historic People Relevant for Emotional, Affectionate, or Sexual Relationships
Literary Examples of Crossdressing or Gender Disguise
Literary Examples of Emotional, Affectionate, or Sexual Relationships
Poetry Expressing Romantic or Sexual Relationships

Note: The new automated cross-posting functions of my blog means for readers on LIveJournal or via RSS, LHMP posts will include the introductory text, but the reader will need to click through for the main content. I hope that readers in those venues will consider the Project interesting enough to do so!

ETA: Evidently the system still needs some tweaking, as the version of this post on the Alpennia.com site was supposed to include the actual content! So click through here to see what was supposed to follow this text automatically.