JotSpot Live
I’ve been working on a project at JotSpot that is so incredibly cool, I get excited every time I think about it. It’s called JotSpot Live.
JotSpot Live is a real-time wiki interface that allows multiple users to edit the same page at the same time. Calling it “SubEthaEdit for the web” is an oversimplification, but that’s probably the quickest way to wrap your head around the concept. Unlike SubEthaEdit, JotSpot Live doesn’t require any special client software: it’s a web application that runs in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari, using nothing but HTML, script, and CSS.
In the past few months JotSpot Live has gone from “could that possibly work?” idea to hackathon project to working prototype. At Gnomedex two weeks ago we did our first public alpha test, and it went very well. For Adam Curry’s keynote, the last talk of Gnomedex, we had around 15 people (some of whom weren’t physically at the conference) taking notes together on a shared Wiki page. It was a thrill to see the JotSpot Live in action, with people showing up in the user list as they came to the page, and the page contents changing in real time as people made edits.
At this point our focus is moving from the design of the system to the design of the interface. We’ve proved that real-time collaborative web editing is possible. Now we want to deliver a great user experience. I’d like to recruit some more alpha testers to try out our (still rough) interface and provide feedback as we refine our UI and get ready for release. If you’re interested, leave a comment or send me an email, and I’ll set you up.
Abe, set me up!!!
Grig (grig at gheorghiu dot net)
Comment by Grig Gheorghiu — July 8, 2005 @ 10:29 am
Hey Abe! I heart JotSpot Live! Can you set me up with accounts to use for the Wireless Grids Summer Institute? I think the kids would LOVE a chance to use some bleeding edge web technology.
Comment by Garrett Wilkin — July 8, 2005 @ 10:45 am
How can I try this out?
Comment by Bob Lee — July 8, 2005 @ 1:25 pm
I’m also interested in testing this amazing soft.
Comment by Céline Lebraud — July 8, 2005 @ 2:14 pm
I’m also interested on it. If possible, could you also set up an account for rodrigo.benenson at inria dot fr ? We’re both working on the Chalks project (http://chalks.berlios.de), which aims to be a cross platform realtime concurrent text editing software. It’d be interesting to see how this problem can be solved with a web-only approach.
Comment by Ricardo Niederberger — July 8, 2005 @ 11:24 pm
I’d also like to try this out for a corporate project - can you help me out?
Comment by Jacob Bøtter — July 9, 2005 @ 5:23 am
Something like this sounds interesting, to say the least. That kind of real-time interaction on a webpage could change a lot of things. I’d absolutely love to take part in testing this, if you could toss me a bone.
Comment by Calvin Spealman — July 9, 2005 @ 9:06 am
[…] ime wiki editing Over at JotSpot they seem to have come up with a nice feature: JotSpot Live. Says Abe Fettig: JotSpot Live is a real-time wiki interface that allows multiple […]
Pingback by Planblog » Blog Archive » Real-time wiki editing — July 9, 2005 @ 8:54 pm
I’d love to try this out to look at its applications in k12education. I’m also interested in its implications for conferences and other gatherings.
Thanks!
Mike Lawrence
Comment by Mike Lawrence — July 10, 2005 @ 12:38 am
Thanks for all the interest, guys! I’ll be in touch by email with links and account info. If you haven’t heard from me yet you will in the next few days.
Comment by Abe — July 10, 2005 @ 12:55 pm
sign me up, too!
Comment by Hashim — July 10, 2005 @ 9:59 pm
Abe,
I wrote back during your first hackathon that I was interested. Let this be the official “yes”. My idea would be to link the pages of a jot page to my main page at etov.com then let the main page direct traffic to a subject and let the people be free. This concept would very interesting.
I have a tremendous idea for “live” that I will not share on an open comment page, but if you let me mess with it, I will be glad to share at a later date.
Thanks
I also own jotbook.jot.com, but I am not having a lot of success with it, nor have I had ample time to work on it. This “live” is exactly what I was looking for.
Later,
Frank
Comment by Frank Geiger — July 11, 2005 @ 12:18 am
Abe - am very interested in trying this out so please also send us an email.
Cheers and keep up the great work,
Dave
Comment by Dave Killeen — July 11, 2005 @ 4:46 am
Yes, please sign me up!
I’ve been barking up the same tree, and with similar psychological results: I’m unhealthily excited about it.
So I’ve just posted some of our work. On my blog at jonschull.blogspot.com.
I’d love to compare notes on where this could go, and I’d be happy to point individuals to a server that currently runs a version of our system. (We are now working toward a distributed system that will be able to handle hundreds of simultaneous real time users….)
Comment by Jon Schull — July 11, 2005 @ 5:04 am
Hi Abe,
If you need some more testin’ fellas, I volunteer, in fact I’m oh so curious to check this functionnality !
Count me in !
All this new stuff makes me love the web again ;)
Comment by Aurelien — July 11, 2005 @ 5:40 am
Abe, This sounds terrific. Sign me up I am interested from both a possible use in corporate america and also from an academic spin. (Working with Jon, see comment 14 above)
Comment by Mike Axelrod — July 11, 2005 @ 8:51 am
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This entry was posted
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Pingback by tonetheman links » Blog Archive » — July 11, 2005 @ 9:58 am
The FeedLounge team would love to alpha test this for you. We have a distributed development team, and would kill for the realtime wiki editing.
Comment by Scott Sanders — July 11, 2005 @ 3:21 pm
Sounds really cool. Would love to help test. I’ve got access to XP and Tiger, IE, Firefox, and Safari–including recent WebKit builds for Safari.
Comment by Coty — July 12, 2005 @ 1:12 pm
Please sign me up! Wikis have tremendous potential for both K-12 and higher education and I am eager to help others I work with give this technology application a try. We had good success in the spring using jot.com.
Comment by Wesley Fryer — July 13, 2005 @ 3:01 pm
Sign me up, too, if you can. I’ve been learning some rudimentary AJAX skills by hacking up a wiki.
Comment by Chris Purcell — July 13, 2005 @ 3:47 pm
Sign me up, too,if you can.Sounds really interesting.
Comment by Suresh — July 14, 2005 @ 8:17 pm
[…] pedia collaborative realtime editior article, one of them web-based (Oxyd), then yesterday JotSpot Live. Seems to me that almost any content creation application could benefit from opti […]
Pingback by Mike Linksvayer » Blog Archive » Realtime Wiki PileUp — July 15, 2005 @ 8:53 am
Sign me up.
Comment by Paul McCarthy — July 18, 2005 @ 11:12 am
Count me in :)
Comment by zibin — July 21, 2005 @ 3:50 am
Abe, please sign me in. Congrats on this cool Wiki app.
Comment by Jose Arocha — July 22, 2005 @ 12:16 pm
Sound cool indeed!
Would you sign me up too please?
Cheers,
Gustavo Faerman
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Comment by Gustavo Faerman — July 29, 2005 @ 9:21 am
Do you still need alpha testers? As a professional meeting facilitator, I’m always fascinated by opportunities for real time collaboration online, and I’d love to learn more….
Comment by Metta — August 14, 2005 @ 4:30 pm
[…] as had it’s share of highlights so far: a talk at PyCon, a book announcement, and an exciting new project. It’s interesting to look at how many of these opportunities have c […]
Pingback by Abe Fettig’s Weblog » A trip down memory lane — August 17, 2005 @ 4:57 pm
I’d love to try out JotSpotLive. Please let me know how I can. I’ve been looking for a tool like this for a while and it would be great during our Student Senate Meetings.
-Chris
Comment by Christopher Nicholson — August 22, 2005 @ 11:50 pm
me too, me too!
Comment by Stowe Boyd — September 7, 2005 @ 10:11 am
Abe,
Please sign up for the JotSpot Live testing.
Thanks!
Comment by Jack T — September 11, 2005 @ 9:01 am