Collective Detective Blog Archives

Collectivus: Six Months Ago…

Hey gang!

Six months ago we launched the prototype release of Collectivus. In that time, we’ve released hundreds of Thingies into the wild. Some have travelled as far away as Turkey and Australia, many have journeyed all over the country, some have been hijacked by children, two confirmed cases of being eaten by dogs, some appearances at Philadelphia Union soccer matches, and a lot of them wound up playing in the snow. Most of them seem to be photogenic judging by all the pictures that get posted.

We introduced people to Collectivus through care packages sent all over, handed them out to hundreds of people on the streets of Austin at SXSW, and spoke about them in front of the Executive MBA class at Villanova.

It’s been a wild half-year!

As someone who has spent literally years thinking about this project: thank you! Thank you for reading this post. Thank you for posting your Thingie encounters. Thank you for the feedback and most importantly the support.

So if version 1 was a "prototype of a beta," what next? Well, version 2 is in the works and hopes to be a "beta of a beta." We’ve taken your feedback and the data we’ve collected and went back to the drawing board on certain features. We’re also working on features we’ve had planned all along. We’ve more than doubled the team that worked on the fist version and we have a ton of ideas we can’t wait to get to.

Speaking of feedback. We finally figured out how to send a newsletter. Please check your email for a link to a survey. We could really use your two-cents to help us improve the next version.

We think we’ve got a formula to make the next version of Collectivus even more fun, more interesting, and more interactive. Soon, we’ll find out.

We know things have been quiet on the blog, but that’s because we’ve been working on what’s next. Keep an eye out for information on the new Collectivus and meet more of the crew working on the project in “Team Spotlights.” You can also get updates by following Collectivus on Twitter and liking the Collectivus Facebook page. We also now have a Collectivus Photo Pool on Flickr.

Thanks again!

Collectivus: What’s Next Before What’s Next

Welcome to another in a series of Collectivus updates. We’ve just past the 90 day mark since we went live and we’re now looking toward the next set of features and enhancements we’ve got in development.

We’re also working on a survey to find out more about what you like, don’t like, and what features you’d like to see next. Our plan from the beginning was to iterate quickly. On average, we pushed out fixes and features about once a week. As we move to "what’s next" on Collectivus, we want to get your feedback. More on that soon.

It’s a little early to tell you about the exciting new features we’re working on. What I can say is that we’ve grown the team, have some ambitious features we’re working on and think you’ll have a lot of fun with it.

If you’ve signed up for Collectivus and have had an encounter with a Thingie, you’ll be the first to check and test the next version out. If you haven’t found a Thingie yet, sign-up anyway and be an early adopter of what we’re planning for a summer release.

If you’d like to get involved with working on Collectivus, drop us a line. We’re looking for someone to help out with front-end development (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript/jQuery) and graphic design (artwork and icons). We’re a bootstrap team, but if you’re looking to have fun working on an exciting geo-social application: let’s talk.

Don’t forget to follow Collectivus on Twitter and our Collectivus Facebook page. Also, a reminder that we now have a Collectivus Photo Pool on Flickr for sharing pictures of your Thingie Encounters.

More soon; stay tuned.

Ducks in the Heart of Texas (SxSW 2010)

While some early scouting parties made it to Austin, TX as part of our launch, a larger army of Collectivus Rubber Duckie Thingies are on their way to find mayhem and adventure with those also descending into the area to attend SxSW Interactive.

If you’ve been trying to get your hands on our Thingies, downtown Austin will be a great place to look over the next week. After that, the Thingies will hopefully journey across the world with all of the new friends they’ll have made in the Lone Star state. Will you be one of them?

The best way score a Thingie is to keep your eyes open for them, they could be anywhere. They are attracted to photo opportunities, beer, BBQ, and parties. They try to avoid small children and pets.

Another way is to keep an eye out for our Chief Mischief Officer: Traci. Traci will be all around Interactive and related events. She may even be wearing her chicken hat (don’t ask). If you run into her, say "Hi!"

Follow the Collectivus Twitter account for live updates from Austin and info on where to find Thingies and find us. You’re also welcome to follow Traci and myself (Josh) on Twitter for updates. We’re excited to meet new people and catch-up with online and offline friends.

Social Location services, games, entertainment and technology are going to be very popular topics at this year’s conference. While our humble little project won’t be the talk of the town, we’re looking forward to talking to you about it and getting your feedback.

We’re also hard at work on fixing bugs and adding some new features; we’ve only exposed a small part of what Collectivus will eventually be. We’ll have a recap toward the end of March reporting on our first two months live.

Thanks for your continued support and see you in Austin!