I know Bill Patton the creator of the Concept 2 logbook is a reader and a subscriber - Bill, would you care to offer a comment?
Interview Follows:
RS:
Today we have Jeff Wagner of ergscores.com to tell us a bit about his new site. ErgScores.com provides a free service for individuals to track their erg scores. Welcome Jeff - can you tell us a bit about your background - both in rowing and technology?
JW:
I was a four year oarsman at the University of San Diego. While there we won the WIRA (Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association) Novice lightweight 8, the Varsity lightweight 8 (twice) and the Dad Vail lightweight 4.
I graduated in 2001 with a degree in Computer Science. It was at USD that I first started writing code for ergscores.com -- if only I had backed it up! I spent a lot of late nights hacking code in my door room to analyze the day's erg data.
RS:
What motivated you to start ergscores.com?
JW:
When I graduated my programs were lost or abandoned (they were pretty cryptic back in those days), and the team was back to Excel, or forgotten completely. I had registered ergscores.com several years ago but didn't do anything with it. I was shocked to find that rowing technology hadn't advanced much over the years and decided that now was a perfect time to put something together.
RS:
Can you tell us a bit about the site and what it gives rowers?
JW:
I know a lot of rowers who still use pencil and paper to log their workouts. As a computer scientist I find this absurd. How do you sort that data? How do you compare your 2k score from 3 years ago with one from last week? Ergscores.com solves those problems for you -- and it's even easier then pen and paper. When we finish off the team functionality rowers and coaches will see even more of a benefit.
RS:
Do you have a target market? All rowers? The health club set? Master's? Elites? If you do - how have you tailored yur site for them?
JW:
ErgScores.com is open to all rowers. High School rowers may benefit most as they'll have access to potential college scholarships. But rowers of all abilities -- from Olympians (we have a few registered) to indoor rower who will never step foot in a boat.
I think the user will tailor the site. If you a "power user" you are more likely to take advantage of our graphs and advanced filtering capabilities. If your an occasional rower, you'll still benefit from tracking your scores and totaling your "mileage".
RS:
How will it be different from the concept 2 site?
JW:
I believe you are referring to the C2 logbook. We're offering an alternative to the logbook. We provide more advanced features than C2, as well as offering team functionality. We are not currently offering a "social" site with rankings as C2 does, but we may offer that functionality if our users request those features.
RS:
I know that people find comparing their scores on the C2 site very motivating, and would hate to lose that. Some software can synch up with C2's site - any plans for doing the same?
JW:
Our initial position is to protect the rower's data. At this time we are not offering score comparison -- except for team functionality. However, if the community tells us they want this feature we'll add it. ErgScores.com is driven by its users and we'll go wherever they take us.
At this time we are looking into syncing software, but do not have a
timetable for adding this functionality.
RS:
I get the sense that you want this to be simple for users - how will you balance the demand for features with the need to be simple?
JW:
Our vision is similar to Google Maps. Google has made it so easy to drive you don't need to be an expert to figure it out. Just drag the mouse. Yet, the service is advanced enough to let power users extend the service to make all sorts of mashups. We hope to reach that sweet spot with ErgScores.com. We want to make it so easy for rowers and coaches to manage their data, yet provide the tools for detailed
analysis and reports.
I'd encourage your rowers to create an account -- it only takes a few seconds -- and try the service out for yourself. We're just getting started so if there's a feature that's missing, or something you don't like just let us know. We'll see what we can do for you.
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