When Twitter first came across my radar screen many months ago I admit I just didn't get it. And it took me awhile to get it. But it was not just Twitter I was struggling with it was this whole Web 2.0 thing. But then the light bulb went off and I realized what I wanted to do with SpaceRef and Project Phoenix and how they would fit into what is called Web 2.0. I just didn't know at the time the why, how and when it might all come together.
My exploration into what is being called Web 2.0 started last summer. Since then I've been to
the Web 2.0 Expo, ApacheCon Eruope, and the Participatory Exploration Summit hosted by NASA Ames. While I was going to the conferences I was also doing research on social networking. I joined Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Jaiku, Meebo, StumbleUpon and others. Some I got right away, some I didn't. My favorites now for business are LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and Twitter. I like YouTube as well but have not used it for business purposes yet.
So where does this all lead. Well SpaceRef has been around since 1999 and the basic format hasn't changed in all that time. It's expanded and added another 19 sites to the network but evolved into Web 2.0 it has not. So Keith (my business partner for SpaceRef) and I, decided nearly a year ago it was time to change SpaceRef. How we would change it has taken many months of thinking and it's an evolutionary process. The first step was to create a new site, a whole new service that would be Web 2.0.
The new site as it turned out would be On Orbit. On Orbit is to become a social networking site, wiki, news and much more. But the main point is to make it participatory. Thankfully we have a large audience at SpaceRef/NASA Watch to draw upon. And we've had nearly 2,000 people sign up to be alpha testers for service we practically told them nothing about.
We're now hoping to have an Alpha site ready to go by September 4th. We might have one aspect of the site ready even before then. I came up with the name "Control Panel" which is quite fitting considering it will be each users personal method of controlling the content they contribute to On Orbit. And the content will come in many forms of which some will be revealed soon when the "Control Panel" first launches.
Overall I'm pleased with the direction this is heading. I'm looking forward to expanding the collaborations that will come naturally as we launch each new service of On Orbit. I'm also working on a a unique revenue sharing idea so that contributers can earn some money with certain types of participation. But that idea is still in its infancy and I need to think through it some more.
As for SpaceRef network itself of 20 sites I'll be adding features we develop for On Orbit to the network. Some will launch in conjunction with On Orbit others will evolve with time. As always user feedback will guide us in our efforts.
To create On Orbit I've had to look at many technologies and integrate our in house developed content management system (CMS) Intercat into the mix. I call this mix of technologies a "platform mashup". It's currently comprised of both open source projects such as Drupal, Pligg and others yet to be named and proprietary software being our own Intercat. Getting this technologies to work together is what I'm doing now. I'm using the LAMP stack; Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP so the integration shouldn't be too bad. At some point though I'll also integrated some new Ruby on Rails applications into the mix.
One last thought and this relates to Twitter. One of my favorite magazines is the Economist. And while most people just read the weekly magazine, the Economist provides whole slew orf products including their "Intelligence Unit". I think with the onset of Twitter and other new Internet technologies organizations can create their own automated "Business Intelligence Units" for just about any business area they're involved in.
If you any comments, questions, rants, raves, or want to contribute at this early stage then don't hesitate to contact me.