What are those bouncing balls on our front page? They were designed to provide a visual rendering of the ways in which all the elements of content in the Dictionary of Sydney are connected and also to suggest to readers that the best way to proceed might be to jump in and bounce around. Because the Dictionary has no overview or introduction, and no claim to neat or even coverage, this is still the best approach. Our front page has a whole lot of routes into content, whether through the browse links on the right hand side, the featured content underneath the bouncing balls, or clicking on the bouncing balls themselves (which take you to the browse pages). Once you are looking at an entry or an entity, there are links galore. On the other hand, search is a far more risky proposition. While we do have over 500 articles, and over 4000 entities, the chances are, and will be for a while, that the thing you are looking for isn't there. And many of our readers are not searching for something specific, not at first anyway. They are just looking, browsing, noodling around Sydney's history. Bouncing into the content and then bouncing around by clicking on the links, connections and images could just be the best way to find what it is they might be looking for.

Welcome. This is the blog of the Dictionary of Sydney team. For over a year now, we've been publishing material on the Dictionary of Sydney's website, and finding out more about Sydney's history than any of us thought possible. At the same time, we've realised that we know all sorts of connections and ways through this large and growing collection of information, and that we ought to share them. This blog is our attempt to do that, and to highlight some of the fascinating stories, characters and connections that have emerged from the work of authors, editors, image researchers, technologists and volunteers on the project. We welcome comments, questions and feedback, either here or at www.dictionaryofsydney.org. Please get in touch!