25.7.12
2.5.07
May 7th begins Beta Phase 1!!!
It's been quite awhile since my last blog post. Bill and I have been working extremely hard on ourtbeat and it has taken away from my time to tend to this blog as much as I would have liked to. I'm sure many of you are waiting for some updates on ourtbeat. The most important update would be the new launch date for beta phase one: May 7th. We made this change because we want to ensure to all of our beta testers that they receive a top notch experience from day one! Bill, our web developer, has implemented quite a few innovative tools for everyone to test out and proudly display their art with. He and I are immensely excited to get all sorts of feedback from our beta group on everything that is ourtbeat!
Beta will take place in 3 phases. Phase 1 will be a private beta for a little over 100 beta testers. For phase 2, we will invite our other 500 beta testers in. Finally, for phase 3 (7.7.07) we will launch public beta! One of the things that makes ourtbeat beta different than many other beta groups is that we are bringing everyone in to do more than just search for bugs. Members of the ourtbeat beta group get to check out the site from the ground up as we build it. Each member will have their pick of ways to contact Bill and I with any ourtbeat thoughts, concerns, expectations, etc. Ourtbeat is a community built by artists for artists. Bill and I are only 2 artists. For us to truly accomplish this goal, we need everyone in our beta group to express their needs from our site so that we can work together to build a strong and successful artistic community!
The best comparison I can provide is this: Everyone at one point has had to write a story, essay, or report in their life. Upon finishing the first draft, they usually show it to someone else who finds any spelling or grammar errors. This is how beta groups usually work; testers get to check out the first draft and find any mistakes, developers listen, then they continue to work on the final draft. Well, at ourtbeat, beta phase 1 starts with the first draft only about 30% complete. At phase 2, we'll be 60% complete. When we go public beta, we'll be 90% complete. At each of these stages in our story, rather than just asking people to find spelling or grammatical errors, we'll be asking them to add a sentence (or even a paragraph) here and there. All suggestions will be considered and the necessities of highest demand will definitely be met. Because of this, I am excited to show our beta group what Bill and I have come up with so far, but I am even more excited to see what sentences they will add to feed the pulse of our story.
Coming up with a suggestion is as simple as answering this question: What makes your ourtbeat?
Beta will take place in 3 phases. Phase 1 will be a private beta for a little over 100 beta testers. For phase 2, we will invite our other 500 beta testers in. Finally, for phase 3 (7.7.07) we will launch public beta! One of the things that makes ourtbeat beta different than many other beta groups is that we are bringing everyone in to do more than just search for bugs. Members of the ourtbeat beta group get to check out the site from the ground up as we build it. Each member will have their pick of ways to contact Bill and I with any ourtbeat thoughts, concerns, expectations, etc. Ourtbeat is a community built by artists for artists. Bill and I are only 2 artists. For us to truly accomplish this goal, we need everyone in our beta group to express their needs from our site so that we can work together to build a strong and successful artistic community!
The best comparison I can provide is this: Everyone at one point has had to write a story, essay, or report in their life. Upon finishing the first draft, they usually show it to someone else who finds any spelling or grammar errors. This is how beta groups usually work; testers get to check out the first draft and find any mistakes, developers listen, then they continue to work on the final draft. Well, at ourtbeat, beta phase 1 starts with the first draft only about 30% complete. At phase 2, we'll be 60% complete. When we go public beta, we'll be 90% complete. At each of these stages in our story, rather than just asking people to find spelling or grammatical errors, we'll be asking them to add a sentence (or even a paragraph) here and there. All suggestions will be considered and the necessities of highest demand will definitely be met. Because of this, I am excited to show our beta group what Bill and I have come up with so far, but I am even more excited to see what sentences they will add to feed the pulse of our story.
Coming up with a suggestion is as simple as answering this question: What makes your ourtbeat?
28.3.07
Getting Ready for Beta
As we approach beta, things are starting to really rev up for ourtbeat! Our beta launch is mid-April... we're only taking 500 beta testers to begin with, so if you haven't signed up for beta yet, definitely go to ourtbeat and sign up... spots are filling fast! For those of you who don't have the time to read my way too long explanation of what ourtbeat is... I'm learning how to sum up all my excitement into a few simple sentences: We are a virtual community created by artists for artists! We offer cutting edge platforms for artist promotion and networking that break the mold of today's current online communities. We are taking Web 2.0 to the next level of artistic evolution, so if you want to Get Heard, Get Seen, and Get Discovered all you have to do is Get Involved! Go to www.ourtbeat.com today and sign up to beta test.
I encourage you to use this blog as a means of expressing your artistic needs in an online site. You may comment on postings even if what you have to say has nothing to do with the posting... this blog is meant for the members of ourtbeat as well as those who want to learn more about what we offer. It, just like ourtbeat, is yours. Ourtbeat is what you make of it, so get involved today to help build the PULSE of ourtbeat.com!
If you get to the site and don't see anything, it's not because we're hiding it from you, it's because we run on a Flash platform. This allows us to provide you with a hard core professional and interactive virtual portfolio. Download the latest version of the Adobe Flash 8 player and you'll be golden!
I encourage you to use this blog as a means of expressing your artistic needs in an online site. You may comment on postings even if what you have to say has nothing to do with the posting... this blog is meant for the members of ourtbeat as well as those who want to learn more about what we offer. It, just like ourtbeat, is yours. Ourtbeat is what you make of it, so get involved today to help build the PULSE of ourtbeat.com!
If you get to the site and don't see anything, it's not because we're hiding it from you, it's because we run on a Flash platform. This allows us to provide you with a hard core professional and interactive virtual portfolio. Download the latest version of the Adobe Flash 8 player and you'll be golden!
21.3.07
Speed Drawing with Opus 3
Check out this video. Music by Samcam and Enkrypted and produced by J.Ohm. The song is called Opus 3. Join the PULSE of the city. Check out www.ourtbeat.com, created by artists for artists, we are an online networking community offering cutting edge platforms of artistic promotion and representation.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Amazing Guitar Skills
We've got new commercials. Check out this video of Daniel Davies. Daniel came to Seattle from Montana to show off what makes his ourtbeat. What makes your ourtbeat??
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
15.3.07
Social Networks moving to Niche Audiences
Check this out: Social Networking Goes Niche
This is a Business Week article discussing the evolution of social networking and the invariable downfall of "come one come all" social networks that supply big advertising to undefined mass markets. More and more, people are moving towards social networks that are geared towards their interests. Though ourtbeat definitely gears toward the niche group artists, some may say that it doesn't settle down on a niche enough. I'm definitely a fan of the sites that gear specifically to musicians, or painters, or filmmakers (are there any sites that gear to filmmakers?), but I'm not quite sure those sites are completely conducive to the networking purpose. In my opinion, artists of all genres have to come together to work with one another on various projects. In other words, where would a musician be with out a venue to host his or her music? And who creates that venue? An industrial artists designs a stage, a graphic designer makes the fliers, a party planner supplies the atmosphere, a sound engineer works the speakers and output, and possibly a filmmaker hears the music and puts it in one of their films. At ourtbeat, we appreciate and artist's need to work with other artists for the greater good of art. Because of this, we are created for a niche audience, but we don't want to narrow our member base too much, for fear of taking away necessary opportunities for everyone.
read more | digg story
This is a Business Week article discussing the evolution of social networking and the invariable downfall of "come one come all" social networks that supply big advertising to undefined mass markets. More and more, people are moving towards social networks that are geared towards their interests. Though ourtbeat definitely gears toward the niche group artists, some may say that it doesn't settle down on a niche enough. I'm definitely a fan of the sites that gear specifically to musicians, or painters, or filmmakers (are there any sites that gear to filmmakers?), but I'm not quite sure those sites are completely conducive to the networking purpose. In my opinion, artists of all genres have to come together to work with one another on various projects. In other words, where would a musician be with out a venue to host his or her music? And who creates that venue? An industrial artists designs a stage, a graphic designer makes the fliers, a party planner supplies the atmosphere, a sound engineer works the speakers and output, and possibly a filmmaker hears the music and puts it in one of their films. At ourtbeat, we appreciate and artist's need to work with other artists for the greater good of art. Because of this, we are created for a niche audience, but we don't want to narrow our member base too much, for fear of taking away necessary opportunities for everyone.
read more | digg story
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