News
‘The Generator' is under way | Emma | Indie MobileI’m back and very excited to report that development of ‘The Generator is now under way!
The last two weeks of R.F.Q review and finalisation has been quite a lengthy process, however a massive learning curve for us and an important evaluation and re-scoping of the application as a whole. We soon realised from the response proposals and quotes that the application we had originally briefed needed to be tweaked from a workability perspective as well as to fit in with our timelines and budget. In brief we decided we would need phase the project out so that the first phase which we would have for launch on the 29th June would just be workable shell, which we could then add to and prettify as we acquire clientele, bring about phase2 and phase3. The most part of this involved reviewing responses, conducting follow up meetings, understanding what would and wouldn’t work, and seeing what each individual developer would be able to provide us for the project as a whole. We then asked them to come back to us based on the new requirements with what they could provide.
It was very important for us to find a company who we felt we could trust, would be able to work effectively with, and who we could continue the future work on ‘The Generator’ with. At the end of review process we decided to partner with the company that was able to tweak and trim the application to fit the above needs without losing the core of what we were trying to achieve. The successful company who has been awarded the development project is Destar;
Company Profile: Destar Limited was founded in 2000 to help companies wanting to develop their own mobile proposition or expand into the mobile space. The directors of Destar Limited have over 30 years combined experience in the mobile industry covering both the commercial and technical aspects of many leading edge services. This experience has been gained in a number of environments, including a major global network operator, a FTSE 100 media company and several mobile start-ups.Key projects have included the launch & management of GSM voicemail, development of an SMS prepay billing platform, conception and launch of a multi platform portal and the introduction of the first UK SMS banking service. More recently Destar has produced an SMS and IP gateway for heavy plant tracking and fleet vehicle management and provided advice on the launch of a new messaging device into the UK market. Destar is also a boutique provider of Messaging services to small businesses and provides SMS infrastructure to a number of public service help lines. It is the exclusive provider of SMS services to one of the UK’s largest call centre solutions supplier.
Development work got underway this week, and I have to say I’m so excited to start seeing all the hard work and planning come to life!! Over the next two weeks each element of the first phase application will be built, tested and approved by us as it moves along the process. Communication and response times between both parties will be imperative over this time in order for the project to be kept on track. We are working towards a testing date of the 11th May 2009, at which point we will be able to see everything working together.
Destar will be providing us with weekly updates on their progress which I will be able to share with you all here.
As I mentioned in my last post we need a suitable campaign to test launch the application with. Work is ongoing with this, but as promised here is a previous mobile social networking campaign conceptualised, built and delivered by Indie Mobile;
Go Audio – Spread the Beat:
The Brief: To create a fun and interactive campaign which Go:Audio fans can take ownership of, whilst inviting new ones into their world.
The Pitch: Indie Mobile will create what is essentially a viral relay race. Instead of a baton, people pass on ‘the beat’ – one or a number of exclusive audio tracks as supplied by the label. The Spread the Beat campaign allows Go:Audio fans to take part in a UK wide SMS/Web race for the chance to win a prize. The campaign starts with existing fans, but soon reaches out beyond this, helping to build awareness of the band.
The Process:
SMS sent out to existing fans about free audio track
Users that reply receive a link which takes them to a GO:AUDIO branded WAP site on their phone.
This site provides the best browsing experience that the user’s handset can support.
On the site they are invited to fill out a form.
The WAP form asks the user to enter their name, postcode, a friend’s mobile number and confirm they have read the terms and conditions.
Upon completing and submitting their details the user is thanked and receives a link to the exclusive audio track along with a unique username and password for the Spread the Beat website.
The Website:
The website contains a Google Maps implementation that pinpoints all the users in a specific relay and links them in the order they joined.
Clicking on a specific user’s point brings up their name, time joined and optionally an image they have uploaded.
Visitors can choose to view the longest relays or enter a mobile number and see the relay that it is part of.
If they login with their details, a user can customise their point on the map by uploading a custom image and selecting an icon to represent them
The End: At the end of the campaign a user is chosen randomly from the relay with the most people.
Finally; we have the Media Sandbox dinner this week which is always interesting and lots of fun. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone and finding out how their projects are coming along.
See you soon…
The quirky Generator campaign | Emma | Indie MobileOur RFQ process has been going well we have short listed five potential partners. I have been having meetings with each developer individually in order to run through the application and to make sure we are all on the same page with regards to what we hope to achieve. They are now equipped with a massive requirements document and an outline of our aims, objectives, timeframes and deadlines. The next step is to wait for them to come back to me with a scope document and a price. Let’s hope we can get everything that we want from the first phase within budget!
In the meantime we are turning our attention to the rules and regulations around user generated content (U.G.C), our liabilities and the requirements of the users. We have been in discussion with James Touzel one of the advisors on the Media Sandbox scheme. He has given us some invaluable guidance into the in’s and out’s of U.G.C and ways in which we can protect the users, ourselves and the artists and labels we work with. We have decided in the first phase to go down the route of being a ‘mere conduit’ of the content; meaning that we will be providing a platform for the users to share and communicate via the generator message system rather than the platform being heavily moderated and controlled by us. Our user experience and protection from unlawful or obscene content is of upmost importance to us so we will be making sure that the user has all information needed to report offensive users and messages, so that they can be dealt with accordingly.
We have also be in communication with our artists and labels tying up exciting campaigns which will be used to test the application in May, and then used the launch the app into the market at the end of June. This involves aligning the test and launch dates with current hot music artists who have album/single releases coming out at the same time. We can then conceptualise and build an innovative, quirky Generator campaign around this artist release to enable us full testing of the capabilities and functions of the application. While I am not able to release information at this stage about who they are, very shortly I should be able to give you some more information and some examples of other exciting projects we have/are working on!
See you back in here in the next week or so…
Progress so far | Emma | Indie MobileNow you all know what we are about to embark on I shall fill you in on the progress so far…
These first three weeks have been dedicated to scoping the full requirements of the project. This includes the creative brief, the technical requirements, the must haves and the wish list. We have just finished this process and are about to start the search for a suitable technical partner to develop the application, which will form part of the dedicated team building.
Everything is looking great so far! Come back next week for the latest update of our news…
Midway Event - Review and sound files | Emma | NewsOn March 31st, the six Media Sandbox projects came together at the Midway Showcase to present their progress to an audience. Within a ten minute timeframe, each group gave a whistle-stop tour of their project's concept, research approach and learnings so far.
What came across clearly was the distinct character of each project, so that even within similar subject matter, the content and approach could differ substantially. Take Harmonize and Swarm, for example, both multiplayer, event-based street games. Harmonise is driven by Licorice Film's trademark fantastical, narrative-driven plots, as developed from previous ARGs Meigeist and The Sky Remains. Swarm is born from a theory based approach, putting into practice existing academic theory on the nature of human collaborations and interaction.
Each project was candid about how their research has informed their end product, explaining the often unexpected findings had offered potential for new directions. Happy Towns found that canvassing Bristolians' opinion to attitudes to digital media has lead to them to take a gentle approach to delivery of pervasive media, with content acting as prompts, rather than bombarding users. Power to the People was initially conceived of as public control of the city centre fountains, but within the practicalities of budget and timescale, the final demonstration is likely to be a proof of concept piece - potentially a bespoke LED cube.
The first inklings as to what the final projects might look like were unveiled with demonstration pieces. HMC & Aardman revealed a two-way mirror which uses iris tracking to superimpose an Aardman character onto the reflection of the observer. Thought Pie took the opportunity to test their Happy Packages SMS moodmatcher service on the audience, delivering event suggestions from Venue Magazine directly to your phone.
Listen in on the evening with this podcast, or check out the individual presentations at the links below:
Happy Packages | Thought Pie
Happy Towns | Plot London & BDH
Power to the People | Tarim
Harmonize| Licorice Film
Swarm | Simon Evans and Simon Johnson
Physical Cartooning | Aardman & HMC
