I realize I have disappeared from the blog for a long time, but I swear I have been hard at work on the web app itself. After getting the basic functionality done (adding links, searching, etc.), I have spent way too much time on the look and feel of the interface.On the one hand, I've learned a lot about ajax and dynamic web design. On the other I might suffer a stroke if I find one more bug in Firefox or IE.
At this point I will switch over to working on the rating system. For R2 to work, users have to be able to weed out bad links, and approve of useful ones. We also need to add a way for users to flag spam.
-Ben
1 comments:
Hi R2s,
My name is Mushon, I am the co-founder of ShiftSpace, which just like you attempt to make the metaweb app that gets it, an open-source one. I am following your work from time to time and am interested in it. I think you guys have some cool ideas concerning contextualization, and it is indeed something we're thinking of.
I know you are thinking about this a lot and developing quite a full featured product for your first release. From my experience I would really recommend you to have the basic app ready for testing asap and start collecting feedback. I know you have tons of ideas, but again - from my experience, they are all going to change once you see how people use your app.
You have an open source project, meaning you have the luxury of receiving just a bit more patience and sympathy from your early adopters. Use it.
You will only start to understand your project when people start using it. The more complex it is at launch time, the less you can spot what went wrong (both tech-wise, but mainly user-experience-wise). Allow your app to grow with its community of users. Its not an easy path, and sometimes will get you to give up ideas you think are REALLY good, but it's really worth it, for the sake of your project.
Release the project in small bites and see what feedback you're getting. then fix/change/add/take-off and release again.
Something important for you to read is Clay Shirky's article: Against Well-designed Reputation Systems. Some webapps you might already know but are relevant to your work are: BlogRovr & me:dium
good luck,
Mushon
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