SharedBook: On Demand

SharedBook and ODMP Introduce The Officer Down Memorial Book Today

In the space of a few weeks, SharedBook will launch more partner engagements than it has in the last two years. I’d like to think it’s recognition that there’s a lot on the Web that is worth preserving.

We started the series with Create-A-Cookbook for Allrecipes.com last week and today we're introducing The Officer Down Memorial Book with The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc., every word of which should be preserved as ODMP is a non-profit organization "dedicated to honoring America's fallen law enforcement heroes." According to ODMP, "More than 18,000 officers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the United States and it is with great honor that the ODMP pays a lasting tribute to each of these officers by preserving their memories within its pages."

Hats off to founder Chris Cosgriff for building this site and for reaching back with the help of the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Fund, Inc. to find information about officers who have died in the line of duty as far back as 300 years ago.

If you’d like to make a contribution to the upkeep of the site and for research about other law enforcement officers who may have fallen, please click here. And know that $10 of every book that you buy will also go to these efforts.

ODMP used SharedBook's open API to build integration into our Reverse Publishing Platform.

Introducing the CarePages Keepsake Book

I would like to take a moment to mention our new partner offering today!

We launched the CarePages Keepsake Book this morning. CarePages.com offers free, personal, private Web pages that help family and friends communicate when someone is hospitalized or receiving care. Together with our friends at CarePages, Inc. we’ve created a way for CarePages members to publish the health updates, photographs and encouraging and supportive messages posted in their online communities.

We hope this new venture will further support the wonderful work of our partner in providing an environment of caring and hope for its members.  We’re proud to be a part of it.

If you would like to learn more, you can read the full announcement here, or go to http://carepages.sharedbook.com.

Testing Open API -- Boldly Going Where No One Has Gone Before

I mentioned last week that we face two major challenges in SharedBook QA. The second is testing an "open" application.  Some parts of our application are based on data integration from third party sites in addition to our new open API.

When testing those parts, we are required to test unfamiliar and sometimes non-existent material. In our data integration projects, a variety of content will enter the SharedBook application that could cause miscellaneous conflicts and failures.

SharedBook's open API enables programmers from all over the Web to interface with our software, using almost any kind of programming language or environment. The development task here is to make sure SharedBook remains as tolerable, adjusted and "open" as possible. The QA task is to locate in advance all those places where the system fails to meet these requirements.

Simulating the real world in the lab is always hard, and when the real world is diversified and unpredictable it is twice as difficult. Our way of dealing with this, in the data integration projects, is to try and conduct as many integration tests as possible prior to launch. We try to test the application with many different potential content types, before we open the application to the public.

Nevertheless, as always, the best tests are done when a mass of users begin to use the system.  As soon as “real” users start to encounter “real” problems, our main goal is to locate those problems and fix them as soon as we can, sometimes even before the users notice them.

I'll discuss the ways we do that in my next entry when I talk about our Tech Support.

SharedBook CEO on ScobleShow

We participated in our first live Internet interview during last month's Web 2.0 Expo. Talk about pressure! Caroline sat down with Robert Scoble to discuss our Reverse Publishing Platform for the ScobleShow. The footage was streamed live over Ustream.tv and is now posted on PodTech.

Take a look if you're interested -- Robert asked a lot of great questions and it will give you an overview of how we work with companies like CarePages.com (testing now, launching soon), Legacy.com and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, to leverage their online assets in viral flipbook or professionally-printed book formats. We appreciate Robert's help in spreading the word, and for easing the pressure of speaking live to an unknown audience!