We have come a long way without making significant UI changes in the Me.dium sidebar. Thus far we have been focused on conveying how much “everything changes with people around” with an initial beta product. Over the past couple of months, we have identified some concepts we need to do a better job of communicating, and our users have identified some core features we need to implement in order to take things up a notch.Over the next couple of months we will be rolling out a complete redesign of our “Live” board in order to address usability issues that have come up. The combination of people, places, and conversations provides some unique, and fun, product development and UI challenges that we believe we have some compelling ways of addressing.We’ll also be addressing a variety of issues that our users raised in our forums: open-resource-in-new-tab, message formatting improvements, and friend’s list organization to name a few.Privacy and security remain our number one focus, so giving the user even more control over their Visibility settings, and Sharing in general, will be a part of nearly every feature we work on for the next release; code-named Mr. Smith.Our backend systems are in the midst of an overhaul to meet our scaling demands, as well as some algorithmic changes to improve the quality of the recommendations you see in the Map.When you’re trying to change existing usage patterns and conceptions around ingrained behaviors, you are faced with not only technical challenges, but usage and acceptance challenges as well. It is our job to break through these patterns, and provide a product that does what people want it to do. Taking an existing idea, say, the cell-phone, and making it better is one category of challenge; breaking new ground is quite another!Hard at work,Jud Valeski, Director, Product Management

One of the big reasons that Me.dium ended up in Boulder, CO was the unbelievable amount of support that we received from the local community while assessing potential locations. From Venture Capitalists, to the local entrepreneurs, to other businesses in the area, everyone saw what we were doing as a great way to help build and highlight the success of the overall community.Brad Feld, one of our early supporters, along with a host of other highly-respected local community businesses, executives and financiers have just provided an unbelievably simple and productive way for us to give something back the community in return. By founding the Entrepreneur’s Foundation of Colorado, they have created a vehicle for establishing potentially vast resources focused squarely at the heart of creating and sustaining a vibrant and energetic local business community:“Since entrepreneurial success is uncertain and the vast majority of entrepreneurial endeavors fail, we decided to approach the problem in a unique fashion. Rather than wait for success to encourage philanthropic activity, at which point the successful entrepreneur is likely to be besieged by requests, we decided to create a new program to help all entrepreneurs contribute early in the creation of their companies to the long term health and sustainability of Colorado.”The EFCO, was designed to provide a platform for entrepreneurs and start-up organizations to assure local philanthropy is not overlooked while dealing with the strenuous demands of an early-stage organization.Most often, local philanthropy takes a back seat to the rigors and demands of a start-up environment. Through EFCO, Me.dium, along with a great list of others, will be able to effectively contribute to the health and sustainability of local community from day one.Me.dium is very proud to be part of EFCO and look forward to the days when our small, up-front contributions pay off for others trying to change the world down the road.Thanks Brad.

Our UI guys have been kicking around some small improvements to the Home tab and I’d like to get your opinions before we pull the trigger on the change. Our goal is make it a little more obvious to new users that each element in the tab is a separate conversation and that they can reply to it (or join as we currently say). Here’s a shot of the current line of thinking:We originally picked the word ‘Live’ to focus on the fact that Me.dium’s cross-site conversations are happening real-time. We’re switching it to ‘Talk’ to simplify the message and hopefully spark some new conversations.We’re looking at using the term ‘Forums’ for the tab holding each conversation taking place instead of ‘Home’. I’m honestly not a fan of it as our conversations aren’t forums, but we couldn’t think of a better word to describe our cross-site, multi-user communications.So, we need two things from you…1. Your thoughts on these fast changes. Any strong feelings on using ‘Talk’ and ‘Forums’? Does the boarder around each element convey that it’s a separate conversation? Is ‘Reply’ the correct call to action?2. Your thoughts on the overall direction of this area. We’re just kicking off our next major release - mysteriously code named “Mr. Smith” - and need as much input on the direction to take as we can get out of you.Expect many more posts and conversations around upcoming features over the next few weeks as our team starts ramping up toward “Mr. Smith.”Thanks

There’s a pretty interesting article in this mornings NY Times on online disinhibition (aka flaming). I’ve seen this kicked around online for a few years now, but I was surprised that this latest article doesn’t mention any of the improvements to our online social interaction brought about by the Web 2.0 communities.The short version is that we’re all much more likely to be rude online than we are in person due to “the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure.” You haven’t been hanging around the right (or wrong) online locations if you haven’t experienced this firsthand. One sarcastic response to a post leads to an all out flame war that ends with users getting banned.I believe that some of the interactions taking place in Web 2.0 have made improvements to our online behavior. Bloggers are rewarded with hits and trackbacks if they post meaningful comments on each others blogs, our online identity has become an asset, and social networking sites show the value of making new friends online. Granted, we still have a long way to go to my Utopian dream of a civilized web.I also see Me.dium as a step along this path. Being able to share our online location and interact with online crowds will remove the feeling of isolation and reinforce our identity. I’m much less likely to be a jerk if I’m aware of my surroundings and value my interactions with others.

Have questions about using Me.dium?Want to meet other cool people?Join us for a tour weekdays at 8 PM eastern (7 central, 6 mountain, 5 pacific, 2 AM central Europe). Just cruise on over to Me.dium.com and join the tour chat room.See you there.