Your Portal To Visual Culture
Today I present Operation;RELaunCH, my effort to kick this website into further swing and a chance to inform all who'd like to know a little more about what runaroundnet.com is up to!
You can find some basics over at the About Page which explains that this website is an ongoing online and offline project managed by myself, Hikaru Kazushime, since 2008 and has a mission of developing what Visual Culture is and spreading it for the learning and entertainment of all. I'll take you on a photo-walk as you read with photos from a past FanimeCon and Sac Anime.
Shikaku Bunka or Visual Culture (視覚文化), is identified here as multiple forms of media, publications, fandoms, and lifestyle that forms a greater umbrella as the very thing so many otaku/geeks/nerds/fans alike pull their energy from and invest loads of time into.
Visual Culture is a culture of collecting, cosplaying, making/creating, enjoying, reading, watching, playing, and other activities, of new releases, retro classics, merchandising, performances, creativity, writings, animations, films, published media, fandom lifestyle, and a general amazing energy loved by extraordinary people all over the world.
Visual Culture is gaming, anime, movies, books, merchandise, cosplay, comics- you name it.
Thus, here at RA:N Visual Culture is promoted and readers are informed and entertained alike.
My dream is to develop this website into a fruitful portal for many to enjoy, written by a fan of most things I've mentioned just above and a site that also gives back to the community and involves it's readers when possible in the form of public events and panels, giveaways, building contacts in the pop culture industry, and bringing everyone on a journey together through the amazing world of Visual Culture and the community that revels in it throughout this Visual Culture planet!
What kind of posts are made on runaroundnet.com?
The two most important topics are breaking news and convention coverage.
Since the start of my very first blog, the earliest form of RA:N called 'Run Around Kazu', my goal was to share convention coverage not only in cosplay galleries, but also the sights and sounds of conventions, taking readers through a journey of hectic vendor's halls where the greatest wares are sold, or the great halls where the masses of fans and cosplayers bustle by, or the amazing talent or Guests of Honor that grace the events- and more!
This was inspired back in the mid 2000's when there wasn't much footage or galleries of convention coverage out there- and even today with the press lists and con photography we could always use more and also in a dedicated zone.
Breaking news is something I specialize in being a news-a-holic I have custom feeds where I sometimes find things fast and want to share or translate the details for the english audience as fast as possible. Other news on this site comes in the form of figurines and merchandise reveals, reviews for games, collector's sets, movies, and figurines.
There's also informative feature posts, and quirky topics or things from my life as a self-proclaimed otaku.
Why's the navigation bar topics so empty when I click them?
Good question! This is because of how NEW the relaunch of this site is and how I wanted to list what I'd like to have filled in good one day soon. In the post Seeking RA:N Editors! I announced that I am seeking some writers to join my team and contribute posts to this website. You can still do so if you're interested, just visit the post and give it a read to learn more.
Is this site active?
As much as possible, I am slowly working on my schedule to post much more often which is slowly getting there.
Long-time readers know I've gone on hiatus multiple times in the past due to life occurrences and I promise that will not be happening again unless I'm physically hospitalized or something like that.
The ball is in fact rolling at this point and the goal is to post at least a few times a day or 15-20+ times per week until my editor team assembles.
You might see older posts around but they're either suggested at the end of posts or sections that I'm working to fill in with newer news.
Please bare with me!
What makes RA:N different than games journalism or anime news sites?
The best question of them all! I have witnessed a lot in games journalism and blogging, I wanted to develop a new network that does not lose it's focus of being run for fans, by fans, who want to guide people through content that is presented a bit more personally than biased paid-for reviewers or places that are afraid to give unorthodox opinions on popular topics and be real with you.
The goal for reviews is to present non-paid reviews that are written objectively with minor opinion and full break-down of features and quality to allow our readers the most down-to-earth reads as possible.
For breaking news it'll be presented fast, easy to read, with the main details you need to know.
For galleries of conventions and cosplay, big high quality sets will be presented with accurate information with as much credit and sources as possible.
It means a lot to me personally to have even a single person read this site and I care about things here and in the community.
Lets have as much fun here as we can!
Another unique side to RA:N is the fusion of possible news topics, some brought together from sources that may not post the same topics on one website- also there's my own generated content, convention coverages, and more.
A Community
And foremost, there are plans in the works to build some kind of built-in community forum or site (still deciding) that will allow our users to post about topics they're passionate about and share their own news, some of which can/will be featured on the main page!
That means if you've got a blog or site of your own, our outlook here at RA:N is to help each other out and share what you're writing about too. ^_^ As time goes on and the community grows anything may become possible and I plan on using my skills and contacts to create RA:N events, giveaways, and more like I mentioned near the start.
Operation RE;LaunCH
The full operation will occur in phases that are comprised of refacing some details on the home page for easier viewing.
Some twitter and facebook users have expressed they either like our magazine-style homepage, others say its too cluttered and prefer more centered content for posts. This step will take a moment but will be a noticeable change taking place first.
Once I've tweaked our present layout a bit I'll resume posting!
Between it all, RA:N social media activity will increase output quite a bit, sharing and re-blogging whatever happenings in Visual and Japanese Culture and whatever else I can share with you all.
I'll be working to expand our social reach so the readership increases enough- right now we're seeing a good 1k returning readers and posts that are read about 100 times per week. Maybe small numbers now, but I am extremely thankful for all of you reading our content here and plan to kick things up a notch! Please be vocal if you see or want anything on our site, I'm taking all the feedback and suggestions I can get. Remember that RA:N is not only about my writings, but also for fans and by fans of Visual Culture.
Want to keep running around with us? Stay connected!
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