Highlights: American Cyborg established; archival practice begins. Four community salons; first loan agreements and sales records; early spreadsheet + image folder workflow; initial art index.

Takeaway: Spreadsheets scale poorly for heterogeneous artwork data-seed of the software idea.

Highlights: Deep literature review (design, cities, visualization, human factors, sprint methods). Interview series with archivists, artists, librarians, collectors, and a developer.

Takeaway: Validated need for a long-lived, privacy-respecting, flexible archive for at-home collectors.

Highlights: Bluebird prototypes Rookery; Finch interviews users and confirms demand; Starling handles legal/financial setup and founding docs; LLC formed; multi-year funding secured.

Problems: Images vs. spreadsheets don't mesh; privacy on image hosts; photographing art is hard.

Strategies: Test existing tools, assemble experts, formalize the company.

Highlights: Condor photographs ~200 works; team refines handling/lighting and rapid cataloging; automation from camera to database tested. Bluebird & Starling compile binders (hi-res print + infosheet + receipts).

Ecosystem: Cardinal builds brand system; Raven establishes internal documentation and QR-code office automations; Owls produce works to index (ground-truthing the workflow).

Takeaway: Repeatable capture + indexing methodology established.

Highlights: Flamingo builds 3D/VR/AR prototypes; "Robin" persona created; demo produced (dir. Flamingo, anim. Toucan, score Raven, narration Pelican). Technical plan by Glowbox; design/build partner engaged; weekly design iterations begin.

Problems: Too many competing approaches; limited industry-standard coding depth; unclear pricing.

Strategies: Structured design sprints; publish demo; interview coders.

Highlights: Partner firm codes the MVP (rooms-based UX; desktop web app with smartphone capture). Cybersecurity team hardens the system. MVP handed off; Raven produces a Developer Roadbook; Bluebird writes a screen-by-screen User Handbook.

Problems: Desire for local/off-cloud storage vs. cloud norms; inconsistent naming; COVID derails in-person demos.

Strategies: Security first; enforce naming conventions; slow down to reassess.

Highlights: Social media experiments; live software recordings; structured user interviews by Finch; video + transcripts captured.

Log-in friction; microservice sprawl into maintenance burden; sparse code documentation.

Strategies: Hands-on user testing; compare stacks/providers; map and document the codebase.

Highlights: Bluebird synthesizes interview findings into fixes/features; new developer (Pitirre) onboarded; local-dev docs co-authored; offline USB version built; new repo with Wiki + Issues; parallel content/gallery/audio work; bug-fixing pass.

Problems: Ethical concerns with cloud services; complex DB architecture; weak financial models to emulate.

Strategies: Talk to early adopters; read every line of code; track labor meticulously.

Highlights: Pattern Language formalized (Semantics/Syntax/Logic: Threshold, Lobby, Rooms, etc.); backend strategy + Firebase exploration; home server trials (Mac Mini, intranet); new screen prototypes.

Takeaway: Foundation for a documented, consistent, local-first architecture.

Highlights: Multi-year scan of AI landscape; experiments with conversational/visual models; critical review of risks and hype.

Problems: Increasingly hostile/opaque tech ecosystem; financing models lacking; "AI" often marketing-driven.

Strategies: Empower user data autonomy; explore alternative funding; consume tech selectively and critically.

Highlights: Rookery relaunches as a self-teaching HTML hub, recommitting to getting users off the cloud. Phoenix builds a color engine. Ongoing front-end and back-end design experiments.

Takeaway: Education + local-first tools as the core path forward.