Collective Detective Blog Archives

Collectivus: Chapter 2

We have this document that we lovingly refer to as the Collectivus Manifesto. In it, you would find the entire vision of what Collectivus is, will be, and a roadmap of how to get there — but we’re not going to let you read it.

In January of 2010, we turned on our first experiment in social objects. We sent a few hundred physical Rubber Duckie Thingies loose on the world and tracked their Encounters all over the globe. And all over the globe they have traveled. Today, they’re still popping up and people are still looking for them.

On Monday, October 3rd, we began rolling out the next chapter of the manifesto and soft-launched the second prototype version of Collectivus. If you follow us on Twitter and Facebook, you got an early start playing with our new web application and our new Thingies. Today, we want to give you a heads-up and expand the number of testers.

With this new version, we’re also introducing virtual objects to the mix. We call these: "Digital Thingies." Digital Thingies act the same way our Analog Thingies (the Rubber Duckies) do: You can pick them up, drop them, give them to people and carry them from place to place — well sort of. Different Thingies have different attributes. Some can’t be dropped, only given and vice versa. Some have prerequisites that have to be met in order to Encounter a Thingie. We’ll have more on these features in the future, in the meantime, just fire up Collectivus and start looking.

We’ve also made it easy to connect Collectivus to you foursquare, Facebook, Gowalla, or Twitter accounts. It’s still a work-in-progress, but the goal is to alert you to Thingies near your location when you check-in or post geotagged status updates to these services. You can also optionally check-in and share your Thingie encounters to these services right from Collectivus.

As we mentioned before, this is our second prototype. We’re releasing it to get feedback and to get testing help from the community. If you’re the type that likes a finished product and doesn’t like their cheese moved, you may want to wait a bit. Collectivus is apt to break and have odd things happen, it doesn’t work well on all browsers, and we’ll be changing and moving things often based on your feedback.

For those of you who like to bang on betas and such, this is for you!

To all our original users:

• Version 1 of the prototype is retired. We rebuilt everything; no going back.
• Your account and encounter history was migrated.
• If you’re having trouble logging in, please try reseting your password

To newcomers: Thank you for taking an interest and welcome!

To everyone:

• Please report any issues you’re having on our Community Support Page
• Follow Collectivus on Twitter and Like our Collectivus Facebook Page to keep up on additional news, announcements, and information about new Thingies
• For additional tips, info, and chances to encounter Thingies, follow Collectivus on foursquare and Collectivus on Gowalla.

Thank you for your interest in our Thingies. Have fun on your encounters!

SXSW: Something Thingie This Way Comes

It’s that time of year again. The annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas for SXSW Interactive. Last year, we roamed the streets of Austin and handed out Rubber Duckie Thingies to help us test the first version of Collectivus. Many of those Thingies have gone on to have encounters all over the world.

Buttons and stickers and Thingies? Oh my!

If you’re heading to SXSW this year, keep an eye out for the guys in the Collectivus shirts. They’ll have buttons and stickers to give out and perhaps give you a sneak peak at the upcoming Collectivus 2.0.

We’ll even explain the story behind the new Duckie Thingie and show you some of the other Thingies we’ll be introducing. Basically, they’ll be happy to show you their Thingies.

Heading to the Live Music Capital of the World or not, follow Collectivus on Twitter for Collectivus updates from Austin.

A Collectivus Christmas Gift

When we concocted Collectivus, one of the things we’d wonder about is how far away from Pennsylvania they might travel. The example we’d use when we tried to explain our pitch our concept was: "Imagine that the Thingie you just found had been at the Sydney Opera House the week before?" We had always hoped that a Thingie would travel there someday. Traci and I had been there in 2008, saw an opera, and the idea of our creation making a trip there was exciting. Plus, it would be hard for a Thingie to travel any further away.

Fast forward to March 2010. I met David Storey at a party during SxSW. The Collectivus prototype was out for less than two months; I had given David and his friend John Rubber Duckie Thingies to help test out the concept.

David is Australian. During the conversation, I mentioned our Sydney goal and the back story of Collectivus. Like many of the people in Texas we gave a Rubber Duckie Thingie to, we were appreciative of their time and entertaining our ideas, not sure of when or where they might create a Thingie encounter.

On December 23rd, 2010, David checked in Charlie at the Sydney Opera House.

David’s check-in is extra special to us because he took this mission to heart and with one Encounter with a Thingie, helped validate that our social objects really can help connect people, places and ideas. He even took the time to send me a follow-up note and send additional pictures.

Thank you to David and the hundreds of you who have taken a Thingie on a journey in 2010. The Collectivus team appreciates your support and we look forward to bringing you version 2.0 in 2011.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!