FZ remixes Web 2.0 ideas into a sports metasite

This afternoon at Morris DigitalWorks, where I do my day job, we're launching a Web 2.0 social filter metasite about pro and collegiate sports. I alluded to this project last week.

FanaticZone.com is a remix of some current cutting-edge ideas combined with a niche topical focus. You'll recognize some of the ideas from Newsvine, Digg, Beta.netscape.com, and from various RSS readers and aggregators.

When you click through, FZ will take you all over the Internet. That's the point of a metasite -- it's not about publishing content, it's about finding content. Wherever it may be, including photos at Flickr and videos at YouTube.

That finding process is powered by human intelligence and automation working together. FZ also supports user conversation and commenting, and some social networking features with more to come. People power matters.

Ah, but hasn't FanaticZone been around for years? Yes, it has. Back in the Internet bubble, Morris built Fanaticzone as a Southeastern Conference site. We pulled the plug on the old site when the Internet bubble collapsed. It's been on automation ever since, displaying statistical data from SportsTicker that's been run through some sophisticated Morris parsing engines.

Times change. Ideas change.

Our real goal with FZ is to learn. It's like a concept car, a tool to help us work through some ideas and understand their implications. It's incomplete and somewhat raw. We probably have a lot of things wrong. That's OK. It will change. Our users will help shape the direction it takes.

The current site is the result of some internal fiddling. The real site will emerge as users begin to poke on it.

This is a six-week project. You heard it right, six weeks. Nik Wilets, who heads the MDX Lab at Morris DigitalWorks, designed it, led the project, and did some of the coding. Stefanie Rodriguez, an intern, did the bulk of coding and integration work. It is built on the Drupal open-source platform using some contributed modules and some custom work. Underneath is the standard LAMP stack.

Six weeks is an important figure. We're learning that fast development of a flawed product is infinitely more valuable in the long run than slow development that aims for perfection.

We're always going to fall short of perfection. It's more important to discover quickly whether we're directionally correct. Discover your mistakes early in the process. Don't fear failure. If you're going to fear something, fear your own hubris.

This is an extraordinarily hard lesson to learn for those of us who come from businesses with defensive cultures. But it's an important one.