Topics Discussed:


We started by taking a look at the technology and discussing where it stands and a means of testing it.  We then broke up into 4 groups to discuss the following subjects:


• Chanakya and Khanjan attempted to get FrontlineSMS working with Clickatell for a faster outbound messaging system.
• Kaylyn updated the website so that it was up-to-date
• Scott laid out what pieces of the technology needs to be tested, and developed a plan for doing so
• The marketing and business team discussed the various stories for each insertion scenario.

The Current Plan for Testing

Things to Test:
1)Sustainability (Does it crash after a certain amount of time?) OS, Frontline, Phone, etc.
2)Keywords (are they consistently stripped by Frontline?)
3)Database Security (if someone attempts to write to a rating as someone else is reading what happens?)
4)Reliability (How often, if ever, does Frontline drop messages?)
5)PHP(What happens if a keyword is correct, but message content incorrect?)
6)Efficiency (Speed...Hopefully find away to test Clickatell)
7)Learning the system (how fast can someone figure out the system. Simplicity?)

How to Test:
i. Set up the WishVast system on a computer to be used only for WishVast
ii. Distribute a list of message formats to our group.
iii. Periodically test these requests to WishVast over a few days
iv. Items 3 and 5 will be tested by Kaylyn and I on our own.


Testing number 7
i. Get friends the message formats
ii.  Ask them to perform certain tasks (join group, send message, rate, get rating)

After working on our own we reconvened and discussed and reviewed all that we had come up with in our groups.  We then discussed what we would have for next week:


• The technology team would have the system in place ready for testing.
• The business and marketing teams will have scripts for their youtube videos started and being reviewed.


We then called the meeting for the night.

Topics addressed:


Idea Pitch update:
Adam provided an update on the results of the IdeaPitch competition and the feedback that was received. Chris and Chanakya also shared their thoughts and feedback from the competition.


Technology Updates:
The current status of the technology was discussed and the plan moving ahead was formulated. Scott mentioned the possibility of combining some of the old Java code with some new code to develop a non internet based solution as a back-up. On the internet-dependant aspect, Chanakya will obtain the exact method of buying credit for Frontline/Clickatell and report to Khanjan to buy the credit to conduct testing.


Scenario Development:
Not much progress was reported on the development of the slides for the 3 final scenarios. It was decided that these slides will be submitted to Khanjan latest by Wednesday morning, after the involved members, primarily being, Adam, Chris, Christian and Mike meet and work on it together.


YouTube Video Teams:
A small amount of time was spent in setting the teams for the ENGR 497 YouTube video presentations.


UGE Poster Challenge:
A very significant amount of time was spent on looking at the version of the poster developed by Christian and Mike. Discussion was held on the same, changes suggested and an improvised plan of action was set in place for a new poster. The poster will be presented on Wednesday April 7 @ 9:30 AM in the HUB. Christian and Mike will be presenting the poster.


Website:
A large amount of time was spent on discussing the several aspects of the website, since not much development was made since the previous meeting, according to Khanjan. A new structure and menu bar was discussed and decided upon by the entire class in agreement. While Kaylyn will champion the development of the website, the write-ups were split between the entire team so as to minimize the load on any one individual. It was decided that a fully functional website will be set up before the next class on April 7. 


Business Team update:
A detailed update was provided by the business team from their latest class presentation slides. A lot of the assumptions made regardingwere discussed and improvised upon, for hte business team to develop further. A specific task assigned to them was the development of a model for Khanjan, within which new numbers could be plugged in.

Going Forward - March 17, 2010

CRD
The Critical Design Review went well overall. We discussed the critiques of our presentation in class and will make the proper adjustments when the time comes for the Final Design Review.

Ideapitch
Adam will lead his team in the Ideapitch competition. The presentation will be completed by next Wednesday and the team will practice it for our class to give them feedback on.

Adam has also finished his paper on Microfinancing and plans to present it to a conference in Sryacuse, NY in the coming weeks.

Undergraduate Exhibition
Mike, Christian and Drew are working on developing the poster and presentation for the Exhibition. They will have a copy of their poster ready for class on Wednesday March 31 for critiquing. They give their presentation on April 7.

Marketing Material
Powerpoint slides are to be developed for each of the new scenarios.
A video will be created for the system as a whole, with the scenarios implemented into it.
For now, we are scraping the idea of handing out flyers or any kind of physical marketing material on the ground in Kenya.

Technology
Code is still being written for our rating system and the tech team is still exploring options to allow WishVast to process a greater volume of messages.

Links and General Info:

Chanakya is going to take the lead and reach out to Mary Marete to set up an appointment for the team. 

As Khanjan mentioned, here's a link to Seth Godin’s blog.  There's plenty of good stuff in here so take some time to poke around.  We discussed this blog when the concept of story telling came up.  Here's the link to Seth's piece on How to Tell a Great Story.   

Another key point that came up was that of "checking in" or "attendance" in exchange for points.  Rather than have the NGO, for example, be required to send out hundreds of individual texts to award points for attendance, we discussed the idea of a code that would be available for users to text (essentially crowdsourcing the point system to the individuals themselves).   I mentioned foursquare in class, so here's a pretty good roundup of the "virtual badges" users can earn by checking themselves in much like we may award "virtual points" for texting in the attendance code.

Also, the WishVast Twitter feed is now up and running.  I will make the password information available to the team shortly.  In less than 10 minutes with a bit of creativity, we were able to gain several followers from Nairobi, Penn State, and elsewhere so I look forward to using this tool more efficiently for marketing purposes in the future.  

Specific Goals and Steps Moving Forward:

Before CDR:

Tech Team:

1 – Frontline SMS

2 – How is SMS via yahoo and other websites sustainable? How does it make money?

3 – Simple test of Frontline.  Will the Java work in Kenya?

Kaylyn to bring the website up to speed before CDR

We’ll also need a block diagram of the technology for the CDR

Marketing Team: scenarios (Ad Hoc, Farmers) need to be visually represented on slides for CDR. 

The revised semester plan will be sent back to Mike so we can add some more details and clean it up. 

After CDR:

Marketing Team to begin video creation to illustrate scenarios.  Videos for:

1) AD Hoc

2) Farmers

During CDR

We decided on the following order of events:

P1
P2
Big Picture
WishVast
S1
S2
Business Plan/$
Technology (to include block diagram)
Demo

Additional Notes: Include section of assessment.  This should coincide with the work Chanakya has done to champion IRB efforts

Fundraising/Competitions

Chanakya & Chris to coordinate on Pepsi Refresh Challenge.  We will also explore Dell Social Innovation and look for others.  Everyone please keep yours eyes open for additional contests/opportunities.

Adam to proceed with the Entrepreneurship in Africa conference at Syracuse University

Others will attend, travel arrangements will be coordinated – 4/1 – 4/3.  Actual Conference is Friday April 2nd. 

Mike/Christian – Poster competition

Khanjan – to forward poster from last year along to team

English 202C

Their next assignment is a formal report on how WishVast can be used

Core team needs to pitch the ENG 202 class to give them more insight into our direction, and also to refine our concept pitch.

U.S. Testing

Goal: 3 minute pitches for each applicable testing scenario

Khanjan to set meeting for the end of CDR week (thurs/fri) with a professor so we will have to move quickly on pitch refinement starting immediately after CDR. 

 

 

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

Start blogging by creating a new post. You can edit or delete me by clicking under the comments. You can also customize your sidebar by dragging in elements from the top bar.