This blog is all about the trials and errors, mistakes and successes involved in the development of a new web application called List Central.
What is List Central?
Elevator pitch: List Central is to be both an online utility and community centered around the concept of lists. It’s a hybrid of Digg, Delicious, Flickr and Remember the Milk, with a splash of Facebook, where the user can create, manage, share, read, and rate lists.
The core values driving the development of List Central are usefulness, flexibility and fun with the design aiming to keep simplicity and intuitiveness at the forefront. The overall goal is to build a community and business that values its users above all else with respect and integrity.
Who is behind all of this?
Marilyn Burgess 2008
I am! I’m Marilyn Burgess, a Canadian 30-something, who was born in the prairies, but moved to the Pacific coast the day I was free to make my own decisions. At the campus of one circular road and many bunnies, UVic, I followed two distinct paths, sequentially, to find myself, at the end of it all, with two bachelor degrees; one in Philosophy, and the other in Computer Science. To some, the combination is odd. But it is natural and fit for a girl like me.
At the end of my educational life, I found myself wandering the big city streets of Vancouver, BC, looking for work, and searching for purpose. Little did I know it, but what I found (or perhaps what found me) would change my the course of my life. Perl came into my life and there was no turning back.
Through my work as a frantic coder for a lead generation company, I began to conceptualize an application that would allow me the flexibility to store and organize all sorts of random bits of information that I didn’t want to lose. As the pieces for the application came together in my mind, there was no question it would be built, and it would be build with mod_perl on the robust LAMP (Linux, Apache, mySQL, Perl) platform. I have always loved Perl. I was excited to know that I had the skills to build something I envisioned using tools that I loved.
During the winter break of 2007, List Central (though nameless at that point) stopped being a side project and became something I believed could get off the ground and build into a self-sufficient business. From that point on, all of my spare time went into perusing the dream of List Central. Up until now, there has been only me working on List Central, I have been the designer, programmer, graphic designer, system administrator, business plan writer and of course owner/president/ceo. That is a lot of hats to wear. I want to see List Central grow and hire talented people who can help me fill all these hats. I am sure that day will come. Until then, I’m working hard towards a planned private beta release this fall, followed by the launch in the new year. I can’t wait!
What is the point of this blog?
The point of this blog is to report on the progress of List Central, and gather feedback from the greater community of the intertubes. I also, perhaps more importantly, will be sharing the lessons I learn in process of developing a shiny new web community. From technical details that go into deploying a LAMP system, to new technologies I’m able to integrate, to the ins and outs of setting up an Internet based business.
