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Code for sale

created: Tue Aug 29 13:19:04 2006
last mod: Tue Aug 29 13:19:04 2006

Garbagescout code is now available. Check the garbage blog for details. This code isn't going to let the novice set up a garbagescout clone, but if someone's planning something similar, it could save that person several hours of programming time to have this code.

It's licensed to the buyer under the GPL.

Code for sale is filed under software (6) garbagescout (5) programming (8) .

ads on garbagescout

created: Wed Jul 19 08:41:39 2006
last mod: Wed Jul 19 08:58:07 2006
crass commercialism

I've put up Adbrite ads on garbagescout. Nobody's said anything about it so far.

I'm still trying to tune the content of the ads though, which are all for ringtones and schemes to cheat at online poker. THis despite the fact that Adbrite associates keywords of the publisher's choosing with the ads. Maybe ringtones and poker are all the ads they have right now.

ads on garbagescout is filed under garbagescout (5) .

on developing garbagescout

created: Wed Apr 26 14:09:36 2006
last mod: Sun May 7 14:27:06 2006

I've learned a lot from developing garbagescout.

Since I first let my friends start using it 3 months ago, the main comment I've received is "nice idea, but why is it only in New York?"

Because my goal was to overcome the burnout that I usually get on complex projects, and just get this one done, I coded the app in a very sloppy way. Basically, New York City was hard-coded in to the three major components of the application: the email parser, the address-to-latitude-and-longitude converter (geocoder), and the web front-end. I spent a lot of time generalizing the code so that it could be used anywhere.

I'm glad I did that, because the new code is much better, but the results weren't a complete success. The lesson here is to create a site that works well with a very small contributor to user ratio. This is valid advice for all sorts of sites that rely on user-generated content.

I should've known, because WebJay, a site I was active in the creation of, has a ratio of about 100 consumers to one producer. Garbagescout has a serious technological barrier to use: you need a camera phone, and you need to know how to use it.

Webjay works well for consumers who are not producers. Even if there are only a few playlists there, that's several hours of listening.

Another lesson, related to the first, is that you'll have to rely on your friends or a few enthusiasts to get the site going. In this vein, I wonder about the beginnings of Wikipedia. It started in January of 2001. By September 2002, it had 48152 articles. What happened inbetween? Wikipedia satisfied an urge in the producer. The producers of content became a sub-community of the larger Wikipedia user community.

Obvious, maybe, but important for me to remember as I think about my next project.

Update: More notes on garbagescout.

on developing garbagescout is filed under programming (8) users (3) garbagescout (5) garbage (7) .

developing for user behavior

created: Sun May 7 14:09:47 2006
last mod: Sun May 7 14:24:14 2006

Continuing on from my earlier post on developing garbagescout, there's an idea bouncing around in my head I'd call "developing for user behavior".

A web application asks its users to change behavior. The popularity of that application depends on how willing and able the potential users are to learn. Users are not in to learning new shit.

When Google cam along, all you had to do was visit a new URL for your searches. There was almost nothing else, but what they got back was different enough to make them change their search URL.

This is parallel to the idea of giving people a lot of stuff to do without asking them for that much: Let users explore your site without signing up. Make them interested first, and give them a reason to get more involved. Some of them will never get more involved, and that's cool too. They still might come back just to read, to browse.

So, in the same way, it's important to give users some time to warm up to the idea of learning a new thing. In the case of garbagescout, a big part of that new thing is learning to take pictures with a phone, and to mail them with a specially formatted text message attached. That's a lot. Is what they get in return enough to make them do it?

To anyone thinking of developing a similar serivce, I'd say first look at your users. What do they currently do, and what's the least amount of learning they'd have to do, to do what you want them to do on your site?

developing for user behavior is filed under programming (8) users (3) garbagescout (5) .

announce: garbagescout

created: Mon Jan 23 15:39:21 2006
last mod: Wed Apr 26 14:46:23 2006
Burning Trash Can

GarbageScout is a project that aims to catalog the stuff people throw away, and to find new homes for old stuff.

With GarbageScout, you take pictures of stuff on the street, with your phone, then:

That's it! You can visit http://garbagescout.com and see what you just posted along with what else is out there.

~ More interesting facts: ~

announce: garbagescout is filed under garbagescout (5) idealism (8) garbage (7) maps (2) .