湘南の歴史を歩く会 The Shonan History Walking Club

This past Friday, I joined a club called the "Shonan no Rekishi wo Aruku Kai" - or in English, something like, "The Shonan History Walking Club." My reason for joining the club was twofold:

1) I just thought it would be fun to go walking while meeting local people. I love to hike and was eager to be introduced to some new trails where I am currently living.
And 2) I wanted to gather information about the region called Shonan, where I am currently living. I hope to contribute much of what I learn from these walks to the project on digital archives and oral history, which I am participating in during my spare time. One of my personal objectives for this project is to create an interactive web site that not only gives visitors a sense of the region where our project is located, but also a "site history" of Sokendai, including Hayama, Yokosuka, and the greater area of Shonan.

The hub of our project is located in Hayama Village, which some consider to be a part of Shonan, the popular coastal area in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. (I've heard that some people of Hayama do not care to be associated with Shonan, however, as they wish to maintain Hayama's distinguished reputation as the resort town where the imperial family owns and regularly visits an imperial villa.)

In any event, our homebase, Sokendai, the Graduate University for Advanced Research happens to be located in a subdivision called Shonan International Village. Despite any potential debates about whether or not Hayama belongs officially to the Shonan region, clearly a number of businesses and developments in this town have chosen to include "Shonan" in their names.

Here is a synopsis of my day:
After arriving at the designated meeting place, outside the east exit of Kamakura Station, I approached three different groups of senior citizens in attempt to find Mr. Moriura, my contact for this walking club. I had applied to join the club through an advert in a local newsletter, the "Kamakura Moe". I was thinking about giving up since I couldn't readily find this group, but after trying one last time, I found the right people. After a few quick introductions, I paid the new member's joining fee (1000 ¥) and the fee for participating that day (300 ¥)

Some questions I have regarding this experience:
I felt it was a bit cumbersome to explain fully my purpose for joining the group. Therefore, I never explained to anyone that I wanted to "publish" (or post on-line, however informally) the information and pictures that I got while walking with them. When, if ever, and how should I go about explaining what I am doing?