status

Project Status

May 12, 2008

Alright. I've worked on this for almost seven months without posting updates. I'm going to start posting my status regularly, even though it means letting go of the illusion that I can get this perfect first, then release an update stating, "Hah! it's Done!". As with any large project involving many stakeholders, it's will continue evolving regardless of the work I put in. Today I worked on site content updates. More to come tomorrow.

May 13, 2008

Made a number of changes to site content to bring it up to date with my current theories. Worked on the organization structure diagram, which I'll make available when it's done.

May 20, 2008

I've been in Michigan helping my parents for the last 1.5 months, so things are coming slowly. I've been working on the business plan and project plans as time permits, but I recently had to rework things after coming up with self-sustaining, self-regulating tech support/education models that will better serve nonprofits.

This last week I got accepted to an internship at Save the Children in Westport, CT. I'll be helping their knowledge management department with some web dev/virtual collaboration projects. I'm also taking a class on nonprofit business plans at the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship in the University of Colorado's business school. That ends on July 25, so my current plan is to have the business and project plans done by then. More 80+ hour weeks ahead.

I should set up a real blog for this stuff, but other things have taken priority over figuring out how Drupal handles that. I don't know drupal all that well. Anyone interested enough in receiving updates to lend a hand?

May 21, 2008

Made many more updates to site content. I haven't updated the diagrams below yet.

May 22, 2008

I fly back to Colorado tomorrow to get my stuff together and spend the holiday weekend with friends, then it's off to Connecticut on the 29th. There's a lot to get done unrelated to this project, so I likely won't be posting updates for a week or two.

May 28, 2008

Quick update. This last week I managed to squeeze in an overhaul of the summary to improve its clarity.

Advisors

I am looking for advisors who are interested and willing to answer occasional questions in the following areas:

Corporate collaboration
Collaborative software systems
Marketing
Requirements gathering
Virtual communities
Virtual education
Virtual teams

If you're well-versed in many of these areas, and have solid entrepreneurial experience, I'm looking for a mentor. Finding a mentor familiar in both corporate business and social sector collaboration has been difficult. Please contact me .(use the private email option)

Collaborators

If you're working towards these same goals in any way, I'd love to hear from you.

If you're a reputable corporation interested in providing a few experienced staff to act as mentors for the first group of students, usability testing facilities, or contacts to provide temporary technical expertise, please contact me .

Some of My Current Work

Please note: Recent work has outdated some parts of these diagrams, especially the timeline. I'll update them once the plans are sufficiently refined.

Development process

This diagram outlines a software development process that assumes a successful initial pilot. I've optimized it for youth/student fun, not simplicity. The pilots will be pared down to the minimum steps necessary for high-quality software.

Floss4Good Organizational Structure

Floss4Good is designed to be small and self-sustaining, placing no financial burden on the nonprofits it serves. When this diagram is complete, it will outline Floss4Good's tentative staff structure, responsibilities, funding mechanisms, and more.