01-16-2008, 07:17 PM
Hi all and happy new year!
With the RAT conference of Nijmegen last November some time behind us, the organization of the next conference, in Mainz (Germany), has already started. If you were ever planning to come to a RAT conference, do it in 2008 for Mainz has several 'must-see' museums for Roman army enthusiasts. Rest assured that a visit will be on the program!
I would really like to encourage our members in North America to see if it's possible to organize a conference somewhere in that huge continent as well. You may not have as many museums near at hand (but they are nice!)- and the disadvantages of long distances - but a conference is a great occassion to meet like minded souls in a relaxed atmosphere. I'm sure there are enough RATers with their own little research projects that could be interesting for a short lecture (ours lasted usually about 30 minutes). Who will come forward and seize the initiative?
In the meantime work on a third iteration of RAT and Romanarmy.com is going forward. It probably won't be a big change from one day to the next - although some of that is unavoidable. Some things can be modified 'on the go', such as the integration of the RAT and Romanarmy.com user databases. ALL RATers will find that their RAT login is now valid on Romanarmy.com as well and should (but may not) be synchronous in fact. That means that when you're logged in to check RAT, you can also go to the main site and submit your contributions if you want to. This opens the option of, for instance, a Roman army wiki...
So the next time you're on RAT, please let us know your opinions through your votes or posts and help shape 'v3' in your image. If you have an idea for a resource or project, we'd be happy to facilitate it (provided it's appropriate, of course). One caveat: if you propose a project, the return question will almost certainly be: will you lead it? If you are willing to help build the main site, we'd be very grateful. Please post here if you'd like to come forward.
If you're curious about what I'm up to in my daily life: I've started a blog at the Ancient Warfare site. Responses are welcome.
And while on that site, have a look at Ancient Warfare I.4. Our issue about the Roman conquest of Spain turned out pretty nice, if I say so myself. The next one, coming up early February, will be about Light infantry in Ancient history and promises to be another goodie.
That's it for now.
Best wishes,
Jasper
With the RAT conference of Nijmegen last November some time behind us, the organization of the next conference, in Mainz (Germany), has already started. If you were ever planning to come to a RAT conference, do it in 2008 for Mainz has several 'must-see' museums for Roman army enthusiasts. Rest assured that a visit will be on the program!
I would really like to encourage our members in North America to see if it's possible to organize a conference somewhere in that huge continent as well. You may not have as many museums near at hand (but they are nice!)- and the disadvantages of long distances - but a conference is a great occassion to meet like minded souls in a relaxed atmosphere. I'm sure there are enough RATers with their own little research projects that could be interesting for a short lecture (ours lasted usually about 30 minutes). Who will come forward and seize the initiative?
In the meantime work on a third iteration of RAT and Romanarmy.com is going forward. It probably won't be a big change from one day to the next - although some of that is unavoidable. Some things can be modified 'on the go', such as the integration of the RAT and Romanarmy.com user databases. ALL RATers will find that their RAT login is now valid on Romanarmy.com as well and should (but may not) be synchronous in fact. That means that when you're logged in to check RAT, you can also go to the main site and submit your contributions if you want to. This opens the option of, for instance, a Roman army wiki...
So the next time you're on RAT, please let us know your opinions through your votes or posts and help shape 'v3' in your image. If you have an idea for a resource or project, we'd be happy to facilitate it (provided it's appropriate, of course). One caveat: if you propose a project, the return question will almost certainly be: will you lead it? If you are willing to help build the main site, we'd be very grateful. Please post here if you'd like to come forward.
If you're curious about what I'm up to in my daily life: I've started a blog at the Ancient Warfare site. Responses are welcome.
And while on that site, have a look at Ancient Warfare I.4. Our issue about the Roman conquest of Spain turned out pretty nice, if I say so myself. The next one, coming up early February, will be about Light infantry in Ancient history and promises to be another goodie.
That's it for now.
Best wishes,
Jasper
