Collective Detective Blog Archives

Let’s Meetup and See Something New

On Monday, April 4^th at 7:00PM, we’ll be giving the first public demo of the new version of Collectivus at the New Tech Meetup of Central PA. The meeting will be held at the Penn State York Campus.

While we’ve still got a lot of work to do, this alpha-release of Collectivus v2 will be open for people to test out and give feedback on. It will also be the first time the public will be able to see and interact with some of the roughly 40 new types of Thingies we’ll be introducing.

Other topics we’ll be covering include recapping the lessons learned from the first year of Collectivus and where we plan to take Thingies in year two. We’re hoping for some good conversation and questions.

If you’re in the Central PA area Monday, please come on out and say "Hi!"

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!

BarCamp DC: CD Heads to Washington

On Saturday November, 14^th, we’ll be traveling south from the Collective Detective Compound to once again participate and attend BarCamp DC. It’ll be our second year back and we’re looking forward to it.

The DC/Virginia/Maryland tech community really knows how to put on a great non-conference, as well as how to order an insane amount of pizza. It’s a great opportunity to learn about exciting things going on in the Capitol area, meet new people doing interesting things, and over-indulge in pepperoni. It’s also a chance to catch-up with friends and peers face-to-face. Neither of these things you can easily do online in under 140 characters or in an email.

If you’re interested in technology and are in the area, come join us in DC. If Philly is a closer drive this weekend, we highly recommend you check out BarCamp Philly and a cheesesteak from Jim’s Steaks on 4^th and South. If you’re elsewhere, find the next BarCamp event near you.

Hope to see you there or at an event sometime soon!