News
Development is nearly complete! | Emma Moody | Indie MobileThere's not much to report this week, other than that development is almost complete…
We have been internally testing the app which has brought up a few minor tweaks which needed to to be made. These have been things like;
1. changing and adding buttons and links to the management interface to make it more user friendly
2. setting up filters which reject blank messages sent in by users so that they do not enter the central database
3. getting the data reporting to reflect the needs and requirements of all involved
4. implementing user blocking
5. making sure that a user will be send the welcome message per campaign. We found that initially if they had interacted with 'The Generator' on another campaign a welcome message was not sent out.We haven't yet secured our first campaign as hoped, but we are working on this now in full force.
See you soon.
Breaking News… | Emma Moody | Indie MobileWe have just had word that we could have a very exciting launch campaign for 'The Generator'…. They are a top stadium band and the campaign is set to bring 'The Generator' to life!!!
We will know on Monday so don't forget to check in…
'The Generator' is ready for testing… | Emma Moody | Indie MobileWork has been underway on 'The Generator' now for the last three weeks… we have the first phase of the development completed ready for focus group and internal testing!!! Development progress over this time has been as follows;
15th May 2009 Install virtual desktops and supporting libraries to allow Skype installation. 14th May 2009 Started investigate the addition of Skype interface. Problematic as the Skype interface does not run in a headless environment. 13th May 2009 AIM, Yahoo, ICQ and MSN configured and tested.
Added support for different presence and presence text. This will allow campaigns to alter their presence text and possibly have time based availability. Possibly extend to subject matter as well?12th May 2009 DNS mapped and new services migrated. Minor issue with dynamic image processing.
IM server configured and connecting to external systems.11th May 2009 Server delivered and managed to complete; - OS build
- Installation and test of Database
- Installation and test of Web Server
- Installation and test of Image libraries
- Installation and test of Message Queue components
- Installation and test of IM components
DNS mapping will take place tomorrow.
Acceptance Test Specification completed.
Version 1 of User Guide finished, ready for delivery.10th May 2009 Validation of Acceptance Test Specifications and User Guides.
General bug fixing and tidy up in preperation for new server delivery. Server build, DNS mapping and DB port expected for tomorrow.9th May 2009 Completed summary reporting functions. System now produces 4 visual items for each campaign showing; - days traffic by type; sms, im, email [bar chart]
- distinct users by type; sms, im, email [pie chart]
- last 7 days traffic by type, sms, im, email [stacked bar chart]
- moderation gauge, which swings between green and red depending on how much moderation work needs doing. [gauge]
8th May 2009 Development of basic Moderate functionality now completed. Messages can be viewed, paged through and marked as accepted or rejected. Also added the ability to view messages that have already beeen moderated but not yet sent.
It appears there is a paging bug as present when moderating the last page of messages!7th May 2009 Development and testing of the Campaign module completed. Seed messages can now be added, modified and deleted.
Issues with YIM seem to be fixed. Problem related to presence response generated for an 'unregister' presence notification. Yahoo! don't expect to receive said and then go on to bar subsequent connect requests for 5-10 minutes.6th May 2009 Development of the Campaign module is almost complete. Currently supports; - add a new campaign
- list exsting campaigns
- edit campaign details including; name, description, T&Cs message and start/end dates.
- Call To Action module includes;
- support for SMS, email and IM CTAs
- add new CTAs
- edit existing CTAs
- toggle on/off moderation for any given campaign
Seed Messages module left for later date.
5th May 2009 Development of the Accounts progressing well. Currently supports; - list exsting accounts
- change password for parent and child accounts
- create sub accounts
- delete sub accounts
No access control exists as yet nor the ability to change the account name/description.
4th May 2009 Started web site (here!) today. Initial graphics are done and the Ajax request agents have been written and tested.
Added little spinny graphic to top right corner of white insert to show the Ajax element is talking to the server.
The spinner was created at AjaxLoad.info3rd May 2009 Integration of Yahoo! Messager connection generating errors at this time. We will continue to tune the connectivity. 2nd May 2009 Installation of chat libraries completed including libxmpp and supporting Python libraries. Completed integration of MSN, ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger. 29th April 2009 SMS Integration completed.
Added +447781484448 and +447781484449 to test campaigns 1 and 2.28th April 2009 e-mail interface completed.
Email email2gentor@the-generator.net for test campaign 1 or testc@the-generator.net for test campaign 2.
Phase 1 of main message processing engine completed.
Processing engine connects to queue and accepts messages. New users are added and message exchange takes place.
No welcome message processing actioned as yet.24th April 2009 Test machine built. System is running on a Centos 5.2 virtual host
Database built and database table constructed.
Message queue installed. Initial messages queues defined and tested.
‘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…
