I have chosen Basecamp as my tool to manage the project of “Puttin’ on a Show” and to collaborate with cast members, volunteers and other interested parties. My reasons for choosing Basecamp are as follows:

• Minimal learning curve
• Web-based – all you need is a web browser and an internet connection
• Minimal cost – starting at free and easily upgraded if necessary on a month to month basis at reasonable rates
• Incorporates project tracking capabilities
  • Milestones
  • Tasks
  • To-do lists
  • Calendar
• Encourages and facilitates collaboration
  • Message Board
  • Chat
  • File sharing

A simple blog or wiki would have allowed me to collaborate and share files with my users. But, it would not have given me the project management tools that are necessary and critical to this project’s success. I could have chosen to use a well know project management software package such as Microsoft Project, but it would really be overkill for this project.

I have read and listened to a number of user reviews and the only negative reviews have been that the software doesn’t have functionality that I do not require for this project. I also checked this out for my earlier class Web 2.0 review and found it to be very simple to use and to have all the pieces necessary to support this project.

The company that developed Basecamp is 37Signals. They are a small, privately held company founded in 1999. They claim to have 1,000,000 users on Basecamp.

Since this is a hosted site, software updates are maintained by 37Signals.

The user community (those involved in the show) are responsible for contributing content to the site. I foresee a core group of users creating milestones, tasks, to-do lists and communicating needs for such things as sets, props, costumes, box office needs, etc.

Individuals can be setup to have access to the project and to receive email notifications and/or RSS feeds. However, the number of people that I see subscribing to a project’s RSS feeds would be limited to a few core users. (Not everyone would be interested in being notified of changes to the project as a whole.)

Once individuals are setup as users their access rights can be specified. If it becomes necessary to further restrict access to individuals, multiple projects could be created and users assigned to only the project(s) that would directly relate to their responsibilities. In other words, permissions could be tailored in more detail if necessary.

A statement taken from the 37signals website sums up my reasoning for choosing this application. “We aim for the software sweet spot: Elegant, thoughtful products that do just what you need and nothing you don’t.”