What we know so far

SpinFlow is workflow enabled by ad hoc secure file transfers, time-stamped and registered documents that ensure trusted access, as well as many new features that will be invented on the SpinXpress platform. SpinFlow will change the way established and newly organized teams collaborate. The ability of producers and managers of creative teams to tap talent in real-time, allowing more dynamic combinations of new and existing ideas, challenges the status quo and opens the path to creative explosions that test the limits of traditional organizations. SpinFlow is work-plus-freedom, something evolving that must be documented as it grows into a well understood way of getting creative projects from inception to completion.

New forms of collaboration are producing incredible new creative content. No longer are teams limited to the narrow confines of geography. Whether producing music, making movies or television programs or just working together on rich media files within the enterprise, creative professionals have never had so many opportunities to connect.

Dave and his team at Outhink have built a powerful and secure peered filesharing system for professional collaboration, a virtual private network technology I think provides the foundation for improving the way people work together. Dave, as he mentioned below, has asked me to help document that new way of working, the opportunities and challenges it presents to creative teams and their managers. He calls me "executive editor," but I would prefer consulting blogger or, better, an eclectician who finds and illustrates the new connections that are changing work. In ancient Greece, a philosopher was "eclectic" if they were not aligned with any particular school of thought—in the new world of work there are already a lot of philosophies and I borrow freely and critically to make clear how and why things are changing.

The whole point of SpinXpress and the notion of Spinflow processes is to put you in charge of your destiny, to bring the organization to the edges and open a new range of collaborative resources to the artists, organizations and managers who must come together to make big things happen.

My background? I've been an writer about and entrepreneur in the field of media for almost 20 years, though much of the first 10 years my work was focused primarily on computing. Then, computing morphed into every cranny of media. As editor and publisher of Digital Media: A Seybold Report and co-host of the Digital World Conference, I was very fortunate to meet, interview, write about and even introduce many of the people who have reshaped media since the appearance of the Web. As chief content officer at ON24, I built the first 24/6.5 (we took part of Sunday off) webcast financial news networks, a completely personalized audio and video feed of news and analysis for investors. I published one of the first electronic books in Voyager format in 1991. My involvement with Audible Inc., which I continue, has put me behind the microphone and in the trenches of time-shifted audio production and distribution since the very beginning. I've designed user interfaces for community sites and have built software and services in a variety of markets.

So, my background is eclectic and that's why Dave asked me to do a little piloting here.

There is also a financial relationship, folks, so I am writing here as a commentator with an agenda: To illuminate where and how Outhink's technology fits and can be customized to serve creative professionals. I'll be critical and your coconspirator in making Outhink products better, not a spokesman for the company. But, I am paid to do this, so always feel free to question the ideas and links made here if you think they are self-serving. I welcome the opportunity to discuss why I made certain decisions. Moreover, if you want to participate in discussions at any point, jump in. This is a research process in the making, which will help Outhink make a better product and help developers integrate its capabilities into a wide range of tools that enhance the creative process.

We're going to be launching this site with regular postings from around the Web and a series of interviews with audio and video producers. Stop by each day to see what's new or add us to your RSS subscriptions. I promise it will always be interesting and worthwhile.