At first glance they appear to be two very different productions in terms of the nature of the end result and the skills required, but both processes involve the coordination of multiple people and elements, and the need for creativity and quality.

What does software development involve?

I would define it as an iterative process, in which some stages can be revisited several times until the software is fully functional and meets the expectations and requirements of the users. In the case of Colmena, we are in the final stages of design and implementation of the final version after testing it with more than one hundred media and institutions. We defined five areas that play a leading role.

What are these areas and how do they work?

First we have the SysAdmin and DevOps area, whose members are in charge of deploying Colmena’s operating systems and infrastructure. When imagining a concert, they would be in charge of setting up the stage and installing the lighting and speakers, those who would ensure that the space has the right conditions for the staging. Once the stage is ready, they would play a maintenance and updating role to correct problems and expand its capacity if necessary, for example, by increasing the size of the hard disks where the information is stored.

Would they be the basis of the staging?

Yes, without them, there would be no physical space in where we could play. On the other hand, we also have the Backend area, a space not yet visible to the public, but responsible for storage, data manipulation and the correct functioning of the applications. In our analogy, they would be like the lighting and sound technicians, those who allow the music to sound and the staging to be of the best quality.

While their work is not visible, it is essential to its operation.

And it requires constant improvement hand in hand with the next area, which is Frontend. This team interacts with the musicians. Its members would be those who design the visible part; that is, those who create the instrument and verify that it is connected to a console, to an amplifier. Those who ensure that the musicians have everything at their fingertips to be able to play.

They allow the end user to use the software and perform the necessary tasks.

Yes, and their role is fundamental in the creation and maintenance of the user interface (UI). In turn, they work hand in hand with the user experience (UX) area, which tests the functionality of the instruments; and with the software quality assurance area, which verifies that the quality of the product -or staging- is excellent.

Thinking about Colmena, who would be the musicians in this comparison?

The content creators, the media, their journalists and communicators. We are working for them, so that in March they will have a prototype instrument ready to be played on a big stage and they can start creating their music and reach their respective audiences.

Colmena is a co-creation process in which the media constantly test the functionalities of the tool and provide feedback for its improvement. What are the objectives in the development of the software for this year?

Starting in March we would like to invite more media so that they can continue testing and developing their ideas in Colmena. In other words, we want to invite more musicians so that they can try out the instruments we are creating, but in a real scenario. It would be what we would imagine as a closed-door concert; that is, a moment in which the musicians test everything they have developed.

And when could this concert be open to the public?

The development of a software like Colmena is highly comprehensive. With this application, local and community media will be able to chat and hold virtual meetings, record and edit audio, interview people remotely, elaborate their news and publish the final result by linking it to their social networks. Something like this involves a lot of development time, testing and redoing some of the code, especially because of the option we have taken to develop the software in conjunction with the “musicians” who will use it.

Our goal is that by the end of 2023 we will be able to open the staging to the public, understood as the media audiences. However, the tests of the production version are about to begin and we are grateful to all the actors, visible and not visible, behind the development of this great newsroom that is Colmena.