Printcasting is in Open Beta!
I'm extremely proud to announce that Printcasting, our Knight News Challenge project, is finally in open beta. You can check it out at http://beta.printcasting.com. Or, click on the thumbnail on the right of my blog to see Danzine, the printable magazine version of Dan's Diner.
We're finishing up a few last features before we launch in Bakersfield (more on that here), but the rollout to early adopters has already begun with a post on Bakersfield.com by Tom Webster, the new "marketing evangelist" the site. Then later this month, we will "launch" -- which simply means the URL changes to remove the "beta", and heavier marketing begins.
As a Knight News Challenge project, Printcasting is focused on local news and information. For that reason, during the next few months most of our marketing efforts will focus on outreach to people who live in Bakersfield, with more to-be-determined cities rolling out in the future.
But as I've written about before, we have a lot of people following us from across the world (since I wrote that post a month ago, more than 100 more people have joined our Printcasting social network to bring its membership up to 325). So we invite anyone who has been following us to go to http://beta.printcasting.com and do any and all of the following: register your blog feeds, create Printcasts using your feeds (and those of others), and place self-serve ads. Then share your feedback by posting it online or sending an e-mail.
This is a really big milestone for a project that started over a year ago by me filling out a few forms on the Knight News Challenge site. Since then, we've gone through many iterations of PRDS, designs, prototypes, and now alpha and beta. Many people have made this possible and it's hard to list them all, but I would like to specifically thank the following:
OK now that that's out of the way, back to the grindstone! The real hard work (and the most fun part) is just beginning.
We're finishing up a few last features before we launch in Bakersfield (more on that here), but the rollout to early adopters has already begun with a post on Bakersfield.com by Tom Webster, the new "marketing evangelist" the site. Then later this month, we will "launch" -- which simply means the URL changes to remove the "beta", and heavier marketing begins.
As a Knight News Challenge project, Printcasting is focused on local news and information. For that reason, during the next few months most of our marketing efforts will focus on outreach to people who live in Bakersfield, with more to-be-determined cities rolling out in the future.
But as I've written about before, we have a lot of people following us from across the world (since I wrote that post a month ago, more than 100 more people have joined our Printcasting social network to bring its membership up to 325). So we invite anyone who has been following us to go to http://beta.printcasting.com and do any and all of the following: register your blog feeds, create Printcasts using your feeds (and those of others), and place self-serve ads. Then share your feedback by posting it online or sending an e-mail.
This is a really big milestone for a project that started over a year ago by me filling out a few forms on the Knight News Challenge site. Since then, we've gone through many iterations of PRDS, designs, prototypes, and now alpha and beta. Many people have made this possible and it's hard to list them all, but I would like to specifically thank the following:
- The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Bakersfield Californian for giving us the funds and other support to make Printcasting happen.
- Mary Lou Fulton, my boss and long-time colleague and friend for encouraging us to submit our concept to the Knight News Challenge -- and all of the great marketing and outreach ideas.
- Justinian Hatfield, for helping us fine-tune the proposal, and lending his image and likeness -- as well as his camera and tripod -- to a video we submitted with the proposal.
- Lead developer Ron Robinson for, well, turning Printcasting from a concept into a working tool ... and then some!
- Designer Don Hajicek for design, Drupal consulting, camaraderie and wicked funny jokes that continue to keep everyone sane.
- The good people at Photon Infotech for ongoing development and testing in conjunction with Ron.
- Tom Webster, our brand spanking new marketing evangelist, for jumping into Printcasting with such fervor.
OK now that that's out of the way, back to the grindstone! The real hard work (and the most fun part) is just beginning.
Labels: beta, knight news challenge, launch, printcasting
posted by Dan at
3/03/2009 04:03:00 PM
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