Trying to encapsulate what the Discworld is, is a task beyond mere mortals. It’s essence is a fantasy world created by author Terry Pratchett and expounded in a series of books – ‘The Discworld Series’, but the (un)reality of Discworld is in it’s many characters brought to life by Pratchett in it’s 39 (currently) book history.

The Discworld itself is a circular world, resting upon the shoulders of 4 elephants, who in turn are standing on a giant flying space turtle – and as you may imagine, things can only get more interesting from there on in.  The Discworld is divided into countries and continents much like our own world, drawing cultural, political and fantastical inspiration from us too.  Pratchett succeeds where many have failed at creating a perfect parody universe, pulling on the great artists, writers and storytellers of the ages to ensure the reader is able to understand what life on the shoulders of elephants is really like.

It’s hard to describe just how successful the Discworld series has been, the 1990′s saw Pratchett as one of the UK’s highest selling Authors, more recently overtaken by J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series.  Whilst the Potter storyline was thrust mainstream and raked in the cash, it appears that the Discworld has kept it’s head cool and retained a “niche” fantasy genre appeal, although more and more bookshelves are starting to display a “Discworld shelf”… or maybe shelves if people buy the full series!

Not limited just to the paper vestry, Discworld has transcended the digital divide and been successfully ported to television on a couple of occasions.  Current adaptations include ‘The Hogfather’, ‘The Colour of Magic’ and ‘Going Postal’, ‘Unseen Academicals’ is currently in production and is set to be a fantastic version of a brilliant book.

‘Soul Music’ and ‘Wyrd Sisters’ both made it to feature length animations, in the style of  graphic novels.  Other mediums have also taken the Discworld and given it the shining light, radio plays, stage shows and computer games are just a few.

Sites to check out:

Official Terry Pratchett website

Worth checking out if only for the funny video of Terry Pratchett being forced to advertise the website, also probably the best source for official news on Discworld matters.

The Discworld Illustrator

If you have a picture in your mind about what a certain Discworld character looks like, this is probably the guy that planted it there. Paul Kidby – ‘official’ Discworld Illustrator (among other great illustratory works)

The Glom of Nit (webcomic)

The Glom of Nit is a young webcomic by professional cartoonist, Ray Friesen. Only seven strips right now, but they are excellently done and have a good sense of the humour of Discworld.

For many reading this it may shock them to know that the “internet” didn’t really start until the 1990′s, and prior to that it was a series of private networks – mainly within the military and major scientific centres.  But thanks to a very clever (very!) English guy called Tim Berners-Lee, the Internet was brought into being and life has never been the same since.

While thinking about what is happening on the internet/blog design landscape today, it is probably worth remembering that just 20 years ago the internet looked like this, and basically served as a rudimentary library system for information that was being shared.

But fast forward 20 or so years and it would seem that we no longer consider the internet purely in terms of information storage, retrieval and sharing – we have a perception of how it should look, what the experience should be and all importantly that there is access wherever you may be.  As with all design considerations, time has given us certain conformities that are expected for a website (page, blog, application etc) to be deemed as fit for purpose.  Hardcore designers would call these ‘design patterns’, but talking to non-professionals is a daily occurrence for me and the best example I can give to explain this is: “You wouldn’t buy a toaster without that plungery thing on the side!”. There has to be an alternate way to make the bread disappear into the toaster, but mankind has settled on the convention of the plungery thing being there, that is what a toaster has.

And so, we arrive at today, a day like many others but unmatched in opportunity of claiming your own little corner on the WWW.  There are conventions that make it easier to get rolling, software that does all the heavy lifting and a vast wealth of knowledge sitting, waiting to be absorbed. The only requirements we need today are 1) an idea & 2) a bit of dedication.

With there being so much information already ‘out there’ it can be a bit daunting to start your very own blog, but rest assured that there is room for everyone! You may not have a 100% unique idea, but you have your own opinion on that idea. People are interested in well communicated opinion just as much as cold, hard fact – and it can be exciting to open a dialogue that people can enter into. Be warned though, if you are going to write about your opinions and open up commenting for the general public, not everyone will agree with you!

So what are you waiting for? Get that idea train rolling and depart on the blog express! Here at Bloglander, we are aiming to provide resources to help you, ideas to inspire you and provide a place that you can return to when you need a little comfort or congratulations.  All that’s left to say is:

Toot Toot, there’s a train a comin’……………