Many years ago in the days BI (before Internet), I worked at a publisher that was installing a new client/server-based publishing production system. Since the publication was all about information technology, we got the great idea to write about our own experiences moving to the new software. The first couple of published articles went well, but then problems began to occur.

It turned out that the reference customers the software vendor had give us weren't actual customers but rather test sites. We were, in fact, the only live customer. The software was riddled with bugs and the interface to our previous production system was atrocious. For months, reporters and editors worked with both a terminal and a PC on their desks because the new system was so unreliable. The project, which was originally scheduled to last six months, dragged on more than three times that long.

This presented an interesting problem for our little experiment in transparency. The project was a disaster and the vendor, which had initially been enthusiastic about the idea, was now pleading with us not to document the problems we were experiencing. We continued with the diary, but as internal political pressures mounted, we toned down our coverage considerably. The extent of the disaster was never fully revealed.

This time, we don't have that option.

Announcing Project Dogfood, an experiment in community website development. This is an innovative idea from a fast-moving company named CrossTech Media, which produces a new conference called New Marketing Summit. I'll be co-anchoring this event Oct. 14 and 15 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA along with bestselling author David Meerman Scott and social media superstar Chris Brogan.

The event's website is currently standard brochureware, but CrossTech isn't the kind of company to stick with the basic. The company got its start building conference registration systems and the technology-driven team had a brainstorm. Let's transform a series of flat HTML pages into a vibrant social media foundry. And let's ask the community for help.

Project Dogfood's name is a nod to that venerable tech industry phrase, "Eating our own dog food." It means companies should run themselves on the software they build for customers. As the site develops with input from the community, it will become the foundation for future New Marketing Summits. People who register for the events will be able to continue their conversations and relationships long after the curtain has rung down on the last speaker.

So go register! Tell us which topics you'd like to see and features you'd like us to include. And sign up for the New Marketing Summit while you're at it.

Unlike my previous experiment in transparency, this one doesn't have the option of backing out. You'll see a social network take shape before your eyes. And if we fall on our faces a couple of times, you'll see that, too. This is Web 2.0, after all!
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