Tag Archive for 'Search Engines'

Intruders.tv interview on Kindo (about scale/product/marketing/revenue)

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2008/6/30
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Was at Open Coffee last week (looking for developers), and did this interview with Vincent and Eugene from Intruders.tv on Kindo. Talked about how we’ve tackled some of the usual web app issues like scaling our userbase, internationalisation, product dev, marketing tricks, revenue generation….
_ Intruders.tv interview on Kindo.com

Kindo.com is a “new take on the traditional family tree”. In this interview, we sit down with Gareth Knight to talk about Kindo and their user acquisition strategy. Gareth shares with us his experience of attracting users to the site and the effectiveness of strategies such as blogging, Google AdWords and PR.

If you’re building a webapp, could be useful ;-)

Local Businesses in Wimbledon SW19 London with Reviews, Contact Details & Maps

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2007/8/16
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

From We Love Local:

Select a category in Wimbledon: Local Businesses in Wimbledon SW19 London with Reviews, Contact Details & Maps

What a great way to make the web useful for people in their local areas… I really hope those guys get some critical mass going ;-)

welovelocal.com – The smarter way to find local businesses

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2007/8/15
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

_ welovelocal.com – The smarter way to find local businesses

From Ryan:

Hello!

I recently worked with the guys behind http://www.welovelocal.com who are giving away £10 Amazon gift vouchers to anyone who writes 10 reviews on local businesses in London (businesses include restaurants, bars, hairdressers, plumbers, etc) – easy! It’s like the yellow pages but with a community feel to it. Most businesses will already be listed in their directory but if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can easily add the business to the site.

The site is all about getting local feedback and as it’s new, the more reviews they get the better the site will be - hence the £10 gift voucher incentive. These type sites are pretty big in the valley but yet to take off in Europe. It could end up being a great resource for finding local businesses if people interact with it…

Feel free to let your friends know too.

Ryan

Give it a whirl if there are businesses you think deserve it!

;-)

Job post: Business Analysts needed at openads.org, London

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2007/7/23
in General
. 0 Comments

Hey there

If you know any business analysts looking for an exciting gig/role, then please get in touch with me ;-)

Job description below, can send word doc if you like.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Business Analyst – Job Description

Openads is seeking a highly skilled Business Analyst with a level of technical expertise, to work within the Product Management group.

Candidate will help formulate and define the scope and objectives of systems and technology. Based upon user needs and a thorough understanding of the business and industry requirements, the candidate will assess and present the business case. Must help assess the implications and impact of deliverable on the current and future business environment.

Working closely with the Product Owner, the candidate will be responsible for translating the project vision and consequently lead developers to solve business requirements. The analysis of business and user needs, then translation of those requirements into system specifications will be an important aspect of the job. Will also be required to build relationships with users, functional managers and consultants regarding specific deliverables.

Must be happy to pick up knowledge and expertise quickly in a fast-paced environment. Ideal candidates will have experience in the advertising industry and Agile Project methodologies.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with Product Owner
Will help translate key requirements from the Product Owner and translate them into a form that developers can work with. Will also aid the Product Owner in making key decisions

• Strategic Planning
Sit between the development group and the Product Owner. Must be able to provide input as required, communicate decisions and strategies and then help implement that strategy on specific projects.

• Process Improvement
Work within and help refine the requirement processes.

• Business Consultancy/Liaison
Play a supportive role in advising areas of the business and technical staff on the implication of new initiatives and ideas on existing applications.

• Business System Selection
Play a leading role in the identification and assessment of business systems solutions for specific projects. Ensure that the solutions are in line with Product Owner’s requirements

• Business Systems Development
Provide input into the development of new business systems through detailed analysis. Write specifications for external parties and internal staff to develop projects.

• Business Systems Delivery Mgmt
Play a lead role in the implementation of projects for business systems solutions. Assist in unit and integration testing, and manage sections of acceptance testing. Ensure components are delivered to satisfactory levels.

• Testing
Will play an active role in testing and identifying defects in deliverables

Mandatory Skills:
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Extensive experience of leading business analysis
• Good experience of process analysis
• Good experience of data analysis
• Ability to resolve issues without clear or predefined solutions
• Motivated, quick thinking and have an interest in learning various technologies.
• Must be happy to work within a structured Agile project methodology

Desirable Skills:
• Experience of Advertising industry
• Experience of working with Agile project methodology, ideally Scrum
• IT Development background
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks in advance if you do ;-)
Gareth

Senior Web/UI Designer/Front End Developer at Technovated

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2007/5/24
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Location: London, UK
URL: www.technovated.com

Description
Do you believe in user focused, web standard design and development, driven by simplicity?

Technovated is a web software start-up based in South-West London, looking for a motivated, senior-level UI person to help us deliver a compelling product for a venture backed project.

This is an opportunity to own the entire user experience, from turning ideas into compelling HTML/CSS mockups that our engineers can run with, where you will be tasked with putting together the bleeding edge of web technologies and design aesthetics to produce an engaging, immersive product. Your background should include a blend of the creative and technical sides. Your technical proficiency and real-world experience should also show in your portfolio. You should have 3+ years experience developing frontend interfaces, be able to create mockups, and be a great communicator.

In return, you’ll have the opportunity to work on a visible web product with an extremely talented team in London.

Responsibilites:
• Ownership of interface design.
• Designing storyboards, page layouts, site grids and interface demos, and prototyping.
• Ability to apply design thinking skills upstream of the traditional role of the designer.
• Knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of modern front-end technologies & approaches (XHTML/CSS, ActionScript, JavaScript, AJAX, DHTML, etc.) and the curiosity to tinker and play.

Required experience:
• 3+ years experience in front-end web development
• Experience translating comps and wireframes into flexible and usable code templates
• Strong working knowledge developing cross platform/browser compatibility (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.) for dynamic web applications
• Hand coded (X)HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Please provide evidence of progressive techniques, separation of markup, presentation and behaviour layers in your front-end code including use of unobtrusive JavaScript
• Experience with Smarty, Flexy
• Experience in developing web applications with rich client interfaces using AJAX, drag and drop, and other DOM Scripting techniques
• Familiarity with JavaScript frameworks and animation libraries like Prototype, Scriptaculous and JQuery
• Knowledge of SEO best practices
• Experience with SVN
• Excellent verbal, writing, visualization, and presentation skills

Desirable:
• Medium to strong PHP skills
• Experience with Seagull PHP framework a definite plus
• Familiarity with Apache

To apply:
E-mail your cover letter and resume to hello AT technovated DOT com
Subject header must have UI WEB DEVELOPER-LNDN.

No recruiters or offshore development teams.
This is a 3 month contract with the possibility of extension.

Web 2.0 London Geek BBQ - summer kicks off; BBQ Etiquette humour

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2007/3/15
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

It’s been about a week now since the the good weather has hit London, so I think it’s time to start thinking about the next Web 2.0 / Geek BBQ. This year has seen an explosion of the innovator community in London, or at least, folks are starting to come out of the woodwork, so it would be really cool to meet some new people, while enjoying the sunshine at the same time.

To get you into the mood, here’s a little gem from Tim (if you’re a girl, please take this as humour, from whence it comes ;-)

Right, so if you’re keen for some sunshine, stimulating conversations, and of course good meat, then please leave a comment here to show interest, and send this link to the people you think may be interested… (my mailing list has become to big to wield effectively in Outlook, so I don’t want to miss people out)

In the meantime I’ll start looking at dates and locations.

;-)

Junior / middleweight Front-end developer needed for Soho agency, London

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2007/3/9
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

There’s a job going for a junior to middle person looking to hone their front end skills in a Soho agency… Details are as follows:

BIO are a young London based digital advertising looking for a full time Junior / Mid weight front end developer who has a passion for working in big brand clients and creative great creative work.

If you are interested please contact Robin Souter at BIO:
robin [AT] thebioagency [DOT] com
+4420 7494 3494
+447900 182 224

Salary: Negotiable

;-)

Technology for Africa ‘07 credit card test passed, speakers announced

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/12/6
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

The last week or so has seen us sit with bated breath, waiting to see the reaction to the web and emerging technology conference we’re going to put together for Africans (with an African context of course). Well, we’re happy to say that the credit card test has passed, and the response has been really positive - At the moment we’re getting a sign up rate of 25% of visitors that view the site, which is not too bad I think. You can view what people are asking for at the conference, at our feedback results page.

So, that’s great but who are the speakers?
In alphabetical order, here you go for now (more on the way):

Andy Budd

Andy Budd wearing a suit but no shirt collar, sits with his hands clasped in front of him.Andy Budd is an internationally renowned user experience designer and web standards expert. Andy is a regular speaker at major design conferences and recently spoke at @media 2006 in London, and Webmaster Jam in Dallas, Texas. Andy is also the driving force behind our annual d.Construct web development conference.

Andy wrote the best selling book, CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions. In this book, Andy shares his years of experience in creating attractive, standards compliant websites.

Andy’s design experience and knowledge has been called upon many times as a judge in web design awards, most notably the Bubu Awards, the ReUSEIT Contest and the Web Standards Awards, which he founded in 2004. Andy currently sits on the advisory board for .Net magazine, the UK’s leading web development periodical.

A more personal side of Andy can be found at Blogography, a popular weblog where he writes about web design and web standards issues, as well as his passions for travel, photography and diving.

Andy is the creative director at Clearleft and runs their web standards training program.

Andy Clarke

Andy Clarke

Andy Clarke has been working on the web for almost ten years. He is a visual web designer based in the UK and started his design consultancy Stuff and Nonsense in 1998. As lead designer and creative director, his clients include local and national businesses, charities and government bodies and he has designed for The British Heart Foundation, Disney Store UK, Save The Children and WWF UK.

Andy is a member of the Web
Standards Project where he redesigned the organization’s web site in 2006. He is also an Invited Expert to the W3C’s CSS Working Group. Andy regularly speaks at workshops and conference events worldwide and is the author of Transcending CSS.

Demian Turner

Demian Turner has been involved in web development for the past 9 years. His primary focus is on developing multi-tier web applications. He also has experience building standards compliant XHTML GUIs, acting in a customer-facing role and managing projects.

Demian specialises in PHP/MySQL/Apache development on Linux and also has experience in system administration, requirements gathering, UML and Object Oriented Analysis and Design. He is the maintainer for the Seagull framework project, and contributes to SimpleTest, Max Media Manager and the PEAR open source projects.

Malcolm Hall

President and CEO of Open Box Software, a 50+ team of .Net developers out of Cape Town.

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Malcolm was a founder member of a successful start-up (The World On Line) focused on Microsoft Great Plains—a mid-market ERP package—in the 1990’s.

Upon moving to the UK in 1998, Malcolm has, as a member of the Deloitte & Touché (UK) and then e2i (UK) management teams, managed consultancy teams in the London, Central and Northern regions of the United Kingdom. Malcolm has extensive hands-on technical experience and has also programme managed IT projects across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands and the US.

Since founding Open Box, Malcolm has divided his time between US, UK and South Africa overseeing operations and project delivery. He is also responsible for developing further relationships with prospective and current clients, as well as partners and suppliers.

We’ll be announcing more speakers as we confirm, and if you’re interested you can view what people are asking for at the conference, at our feedback results page.

Tech 4 Africa - Gaining momentum

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/11/28
in Uncategorized
. 9 Comments

Technology for Africa '07

And so it begins…. We’ve started getting some really good feedback for the Tech 4 Africa conference (last check we were up to about 30 replies after a day or so of being up and emailing to an initial beta group for testing) which has totally surpassed our expectations. When the automated notification emails started coming in, you shoulda heard the shouts of joy! ;-)

Almost surprisingly, the feedback has been along the lines we were expecting:
people would be willing to go to JHB,
wanna know about stuff around web2.0 primarily,
want to hear international speakers, and
think the conference would benefit the African web community.

On top of that, we’re getting some good coverage on the blogosphere so far:
Update as of 27/11/2006:
David Duarte
Cowboysengines (business site: http://www.virtualworks.co.za/index.asp)
Hash @ Whiteafrican.com
Update as of 28/11/2006:
Coda.co.za
Scott.za.net
Muti.co.za
http://digitalafrica.blogspot.com/

Anyone else we don’t know about yet? (If you’re going to blog about it, then please use the following Technorati tags: tech4africa07,T4A7 or T4A)

Which is all good. ;-)

Some people have asked why we’re not just launching with dates and relying on “if you build it they will come” to make it a success - in short, 2 reasons:
1. We are speaking to some really, really high profile international speakers, who naturally want to allocate time to a conference on the other side of the world if they feel there are going to be enough people to make it worthwhile. We’ve invested the time up front to collect some real data, that goes beyond a thumbsuck, to show we’re serious.
2. We believe that business rules should apply - we need to at least break even, and we need to justify further time put into the project, so it makes sense that without real data we can’t make any assumptions beyond that we reckon 10 - 20% of people we email should respond to the initial email asking for feedback.

So, if you’re reading this and haven’t filled in the feedback form on the site then please do, just to prove us wrong ;-) The more data and feedback we have, the more likely we are to actually hold the event and make it something truly special!

I’ve also been asked what I’d personally like to see at the conference, so for posterity, here goes:
1. Web app dev in Africa - what it takes, how to do it, what markets are ripe
2. How the web can help Africa lift itself up - technologies that come into play, mindsets that need to change, strategies that work
3. What Africans need to do to compete internationally - once we’ve gotten over the bandwidth issue, what needs to happen for Africans to create more Thawte’s and PayPals.
4. What web 2.0 really means for business - technologies, trends, people -> how can it be leveraged?
All underscored by a good vibe, good music, good networking, and some good ‘ol fashioned fun of course ;-)

If you want to stay tuned to what’s happening, then watch this blog, and/or our business’ blog category wev’e setup for the conference (yes, I know the theme is still default K2 - something about the cobblers shoes I think…;-( - so it will change soon enough, as well as being an addition to our shiny new site which is being designed as we speak).

Also, we’ve been asked what to do if folks are interested in helping out:
1. Email us to say so whether you think you can help with something small or big - the more help we get the better - and we’d really appreciate it. Up front, we don’t have cash to pay people now, but as and when that happens then we’re all about getting the right help, so that may be an option. Right now, telling 10 of your mates would be the best help in the world!.. and…
2. Blog it - please blog it and help to moibilise the troops ;-)
3. If you have a speaker you would really like to hear, then please do email us to say so - being able to tell speakers they’ve been asked for by people is good motivation for them!

Cool - more soon - time to go to bed ;-)

TECH4FRICA 2007 - Technology for Africa: A web and emerging technology conference

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/11/22
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

We’ve been a long time in preparation for this, and it’s taken a huge amount of work to get to this point, but I’m happy to say that we’ve launched the site for the TECH4FRICA 2007 - Technology for Africa: A web and emerging technology conference, and we’re starting to mail the people we know to tell them about it…

Here’s the blurb for ya!:
We’re trying to figure out whether there is demand for a web and technology conference in Southern Africa, and we’d really appreciate your help if you can spare a few minutes.

What’s the big idea?
We’re convinced that there should be web and technology growth in Southern Africa, so we’re really interested in getting together a bunch of leading, internationally respected speakers and thinkers from the industry to discuss what’s happening and what’s possible.

Some of the things we’d like you to get out of the conference:

* Hear international speakers and authors presenting in your own back yard.
* Discuss what the global web and technology opportunities are over the next 5 years
* Understand what technologies are making the biggest impact
* Thrash out how the web can positively play a role in the development of (Southern) Africa
* Create a fun, informative event where you can meet and interact with other people like you

Call for feedback
Of course, there are loads more things that are important and that could be discussed, so this is why we’re asking for your feedback – we’re committed to a bottom up conference where you get value for money, you make new friends, and where you walk away inspired.

Let’s hear from you
Tell us what you think by filling out the questionnaire below. Stay tuned, and tell your friends! We’re looking forward to seeing you in 2007. We won’t sell, trade, or abuse your data. We’ll only email you if you express interest in attending this conference.

And that’s it!

Tell us what you think by filling in the questionnaire at:
http://www.technologyforafrica.org/

Also, please tell as many people as you can, blog it, add the site to http://del.icio.us, http://digg.com (and others like Reddit and Newsvine), and tag it for http://technorati.com/.

Actively looking for South African / African writers and bloggers

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/8/17
in Uncategorized
. 13 Comments

I’m *still* throwing this into the wind to see where the seeds fall, so here goes:

I’m looking to get in touch with anyone who is African or South African (or for that matter interested in matters relating to Africa / South Africa) that is interested in writing and/or blogging on matters relating to Africa/South Africa, especially if they’re not already doing so for technical reasons (as in, they’re not sure how it all works and so they’ve not really got started).

I’m looking for people from anywhere, so they don’t have to physically be in Africa, and I’m also interested in whether they are passionate and want to talk about stuff that is important to them. All the technical bits I can teach, so don’t let that be a limiting factor.

Also, if you’re already a writer, and/or have your own blog and you’re talking about Africa / South Africa, then please do get in touch.

Similarly, if you read and comment on this blog regular like, then please get in touch as well - I’ll probably mail you in the coming weeks but it would be good to get a heads up of your interest anyways.

If you know anyone that fits the above descriptions, then please forward this post to them!

Cool - here’s to the interweb and all it’s magicality ;-)

Web 2.0 London BBQ - Sat 5th August - the Webers have arrived…

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/8/4
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Just a friendly reminder, the next (Web 2.0 / Geek) BBQ is tomorrow, the 5th August, starting around 1pm.

The Webers have arrived, we’ve got enough cutlery to sink a small battleship, and I’m told to expect venison and some other tasty treats that one wouldn’t normally get from the Co-Op…

All you need to do is bring some snacks, drinks, and a fiver - that will get you all the food you can eat, and hopefully a nice healthy dose of Vitamin D.

OK, so here’s the summary:
Web 2.0 / Geek BBQ, done by real BraaiMasters Sat 5th August 20 Farquhar Road, SW19 8DA Doors open at 1pm, make sure you’re there before feeding time! -> Upcoming.org post.

If you’re a rugby fan, we’ll be watching the SA / Aussie rugby beforehand…

Hope to see you there ;-)

Taking into account the 1% rule with user generated content

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/7/26
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

I’ve been talking to a client recently about user generated content, and I’ve been trying to get them away from seeing UGC as a silver bullet, encouraging them to get the basics right first while building a platform for UGC that will start to benefit them in 9 to 12 months time. Taking the long view is not easy when you need to deliver ROI, but it is pragmatic and less prone to white elephantitis.

With all the buzz around user generated content, MySpace and YouTube (check out PornoTube if that’s your bag as well), it’s probably worth considering that when you’re launching something public, and asking users to contriute so that your site will be successful, you need to factor in that although you may be getting mad traffic to your site, only a very small proportion of them are going to actually do anything other than just look.

In the old days when forums were all the rage, common legend was that you needed around 100k of traffic, to get 1k active participantion. So growing a forum was as much about generating traffic as it was about having content that motivated people to get stuck in.

Today things are no different, except that now there is more competition and users are more fickle… So you need to apply “crossing the chasm” thinking if you’re going to get your webapp / web site growing into more than either a passing fad or a boo.com - targeting vertical niches and providing value to them is a good way (case in point is what Digg has done with their new re-launch) to do that, and so is targeting niches and users that you know well. If you’re a developer or a business, creating a web 2.0 site around tailors is probably not a good idea unless you used to be a tailor - in other words, stick to your knitting!

The flip side of this is that even if you do stick to your knitting, you need to have huge traffic to make user generated content a worthwhile business opportunity - so looking into the future my hunch is that we’re not going to see a huge gamut of new sites and apps - we’re going to see large portals that have brand recognition, and then smaller niched players servicing vertical niches.

Which one are you, or are you trying to be? ‘cos I don’t think you can be both…

Anyways, just some thoughts that I wanted to be cathartic about ;-), inspired in part by Chris Campbell over at ParticleTree - “..If you can somehow tap in to the 1% of your builders effectively to create content 89% of your users want, you might be on to something.”…

Web 2.0 needs to be agile to be successful

Published
by
Gareth Knight
on 2006/7/26
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

And yet another post for e-Consultancy:

Web 2.0 needs to be agile to be successful

I’ve been dealing with a few clients of late, most of which have heard the ruckus around this newfangled Web 2.0 thing, and most of which want to do something Web 2.0 with their projects. Some want to implement blogs, others are interested in Wiki’s and podcasting, and surprisingly most of them want some Ajax features. The list goes on.

That’s really good because I’m always happy to talk to people about getting more out of the web, specifically around creating better and more valuable user experiences, but the problem I have (and which I communicate) is that Web 2.0 doesn’t just stop at implementing a blog engine, podcasts, a Wiki or Ajax.

Read more…