Launching ReportingOn 1.0

This is an experiment.

I launched what I’ll call ReportingOn 1.0 this afternoon, as an unfinished application to help journalists of all stripes make connections based on their beat.

It’s the word “unfinished” that’s the most experimental part of this right now.

I guess it’s my translation of “iterative.”

The premise is this:  Launch what you have ready, knowing that the rest of it will really be far easier to figure out once some users are banging away at the application.

Seems simple enough, but I’m scrambling to squash a few bugs and bring a few other pieces up to speed.

If you’re unfamiliar with the premise of ReportingOn, read the FAQ or check out what I’ve written about it over the last year or so that I’ve been thinking this over.

Most of the Django-powered site that’s live tonight was built (assembled is really a better word for it) this summer with an incredible about of help from my own personal open-source community, made up of developers like Nick, Pete, and Jon at the office, advisers from San Jose State, the Knight Foundation, and the core group I’ve been bouncing ideas off of (whether they knew it or not), like Howard Owens, David Cohn, Hassan Hodges, Scott Karp, and many more.

Thanks.  Now back to those bugs…