a notion of social taste
TRANSCRIPT
Xianhang Zhang
1
The biggest influence on the design process is whether the software you are building is social in nature or not.
And we as a design community have not yet come to realize this.
2
The primary goal with non-social software is to get something done
We are primarily concerned with issues of usability and efficiency
3
I want to make an attractive image
I want to produce a
good report
The primary goal of social software is to convince someone of something
4
I’m a cool guy who does cool things with my cool friends
The primary goal of social software is to convince someone of something
5
I want you to know I just graduated
The primary goal of social software is to convince someone of something
6
? ??
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
? ?
?
?
Traditional HCI is concerned with the relationship between the person and the computer:
7
Interaction
Social software must view the machine as a conduit for communication
8
Communication
Interaction Interaction
If you’re only focusing on the Interaction Design, you’re only solving a minor part of the problem
Social software is a conduit for conducting social relationships
But it is not the only conduit Every conduit has a set of policies For social software, the policies are
enforced by code But other policies exist as well, enforced in
other ways
9
10
Social software must be studied in the context of use
Testing Social Design early is very difficult Bringing users into a lab doesn’t work Healthy policy can only come about through
good design Social software is “alive” The slate can’t be wiped clean and restarted If you make a mistake, you’ll have to live
with it
11
There is a wide disparity in technical skills which makes interface design very tricky
Luckily, there is a much narrower disparity in social intelligence
There is potential for cognitively complex social tools if this intelligence is leveraged correctly
12
Social Design◦ Theory of Mind◦ Implicatures◦ Structure of Spaces◦ Dunbar’s Number◦ Self Presentation◦ Social Capital
13
14
Maxim of Quality◦ Do not say what you believe to be false.◦ Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
Maxim of Quantity◦ Make your contribution as informative as is required for
the current purposes of the exchange.◦ Do not make your contribution more informative than is
required. Maxim of Relation
◦ Be relevant. Maxim of Manner
◦ Avoid obscurity of expression. ◦ Avoid ambiguity. ◦ Be brief. ◦ Be orderly.
15
We generally tend to follow these maxims Resolving conflicts with implicatures “She has a great personality” What we could have said but didn’t is
important to interpreting meaning
16
Receiving a friend request from someone you don’t consider a friend can be highly awkward
Reject? Accept? Ignore? Some solutions I’ve seen:
◦ Ignore the request for over a year◦ Declare you’ve “forgotten your password” and
create a brand new profile (MySpace) Is this a problem that can be fixed with
design?
17
Click Add as Click Add as FriendFriend
RejectRejectIgnorIgnoree
18
Rejecting a friend request is awkward because it requires an action
If I reject, I know that you can see that I rejected you
I know that you’ll try and figure out why I would reject you (implicature)
I know you know that I know a rejection is an implicature
19
Click Add as Click Add as FriendFriend
IgnorIgnoree
RejectRejectClick Add as Click Add as
FriendFriendClick Add as Click Add as
FriendFriendA friend request has been sent to John Fox.
20
I know that you can’t know whether I’ve rejected you
I know that if you try and find out, you risk sending me another friend request
I know getting another friend request would be an implicature
I know you know me getting a friend request would be an implicature
Therefore, I feel safe rejecting the friend request
21
We behave according to our Theory of Mind models
We can use Theory of Mind to predict the social implications of our design
Social Design is not modular and decomposable
Features affect the implications of other features
22
Cognitive limits on size of social groupings Derived from empirical correlations of neo-
cortex size in animals Limit is ~12 people Limit is ~150 people Other limits exist at higher scales
23
We behave differently at different scales Social mechanisms are not scalable Different social mechanisms are most
effective at different scales Multiple scales can reside in the same
software (cliques) Designing for multiple scales is a difficult
problem
24
1920: Modernist Urban Planning◦ “the elimination of disorder, congestion and the small
scale, replacing them instead with preplanned and widely spaced freeways and tower blocks set within gardens.”
◦ Abstract, “ideal” notions of the usage of space 1960: New Urbanism
◦ Reaction against the hubris of modernism◦ Designers were studying how people actually use
space
25
26
27
What insights can we borrow?◦ Spaces need to be watched and maintained◦ Use signals & decorations to convey the purpose
of a space◦ Highlight, not hide pathological behaviors
What techniques can we borrow?◦ Study actual use, not imagined use◦ Decompose complex structures into patterns
28
29
Project on rethinking privacy and access control
Access is granted based on the ability to answer a question
eg: “What is my favorite place to go rock climbing”
Previous privacy settings were always at a per user basis, but this is not how people behave
Currently in development, preliminary beta due Sept
30
We have multiple facets of our personality Which facets are expressed depends on the
audience and the context Mixing facets causes tension and anxiety
31
Origins in 1970’s Sociological theory One of the major non-economic forms of
capital Analogous to “reputation” in online
communities Largely tacit
32
33
Reputation Systems
Google’s social networking site. Incredibly popular in Brazil and India Why?
34
Social Capital can be an enormously powerful social tool
Not just reputation systems Huge implications for Enterprise 2.0
35
Social Design has been sadly ignored by the HCI community
We need to establish it as a separate discipline from Interaction Design
Social Design is hard in many ways We can get a big head start by borrowing
theories from other fields Empirical validation will be tricky Developing a field of Social Design is an
urgent priority, this is too important to wait!
36