Many members of Facebook take great joy in deflowering new members’ walls. Be it more from joy at the unbridled act of creation, hi-tech territory-marking, a dark glee of defacing, or something else entirely – people love to be the first. I’ve written that kind of blog before, the email-in-a-box. This is different. This post has MEANING of some kind. It is official, significant.
But I stray. We at Mahala have been thinking about a blog for a long time. So why are we finally deflowering ourselves today? “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” someone said, and I thought, “Actually, there have been a few times it’s been the opposite.” Haven’t you ever gone crazy chasing something and then when you gave up, suddenly caught it? Or gotten some totally unexpected blessing that you didn’t even think to try for?
Without getting philosophical about it, the simple reason this blog is finally going up today is the project we have been devoting ourselves to for the last six months, SMME TV, has reached a critical moment.
In short – WE NEED YOUR INPUT.
We finally understand the product enough that we are sure that we want you to know about it. Everyone. As quickly as possible. So we have put the SMME TV business plan online at a node and wiki on iCommons.
This sudden rush to technology reminds me that, over and over again, as a user I am certain that the single most important thing is usability. So why do we often forget that when we’re making things? That the fundamental thing someone wants from an application is to be able to use it without a hassle?
South Africa has a lot of organisations, public, private, and parastatal, designed to empower SMMEs. Most of these organisations don’t seem to manage to prioritize being usable. With SMME TV, we have tried to imagine all blocks to its being useable – and there are a lot. We may have missed some.
So please take a look at the business plan and our website and feel free to write us.
Thank you for letting us expound.
