In his book “Blink,” Malcolm Gladwell points out that when people experience a visceral reaction to something, and then try to find the reason why they felt that way, they almost always come up with explanations that are logical, rational and wrong.

That’s the idea behind the tool that I’ve spent the better part of a year building (in collaboration with my friends at RealPolitech) – get the immediate reaction, free from any context other than knowing what the person was hearing when they felt it. It’s called OpenFocus, and there’s a website for it here.

Traditional dial focus groups were started to address this problem, and they do it fine. But there are a few things they get wrong:

• It’s all expensive, proprietary technology.
• Sampling math means that a mere 30 people hold a great deal of influence over important decisions.
• They require a physical person to be in a specific physical place.
• You have to pay these people to come in; $40 and a sandwich per person adds up quick.

Ultimately, the goal of these groups is very simple; assign a number to a time-stamp and record the result in a way that you can compare to a piece of source material.

That’s the basic functionality behind OpenFocus, and because it’s open-source and web-based it works on any computer or mobile device.

We’re seeking funding for more development, advertising and other things that require money. If you’re interested in helping us out, let me or Christina know.