Introducing social"social"

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Now that I am out of graduate school, I am moving towards a new blogging space to expand on the interests that started here.

I can't wait to get started!

2011 MGD Final Project

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Rodriguez_FinalProjectBook

Project Feedback

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I had the opportunity to show my final project to the sophomore design studio. The students range from 19-22 years old, so they are emblematic of the 18-24 year old demographic group I am designing for. I was anxious about how this audience would respond to a potentially annoying tool (that encourages you think about the information you post) being integrated into their social networking site. While I expected friction from students, the results were unbelievable.

I gave the students a survey before I showed my project, to get some baseline feelings/demographic data, and a survey after I presented my interactive prototypes. Below are some screenshots from the second survey.














Every single person in the class would adopt fb-minder now or in the future! Unbelievable. And while they enjoyed the added transparency to their social interactions, the students also saw the value in being conscious about information they output. I also got some new ideas for what fb-minder could do that I hadn't thought of before. While I know that a survey of 14 people does not prove that my system actually works, it was gratifying to get this kind of feedback at the end of my final project. What better way to finish graduate school...

Interactive Visual Study

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I have part of my first visual study simulated for the web, but it's still a work in progress. There is a yellow glow that indicates Charly's user path, so it might be possible for someone to go through the scenario without me (but gets tricky if you don't click in the right spot). Initially, when I was working with pdf slides, I was having trouble getting across the dynamic idea in a static format. Creating the interactive user path allows my cognitive artifact to present more clearly, with the yellow glow directing attention to what the participant is doing in the scenario.

Thesis Paper Writing

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I started my thesis paper with an outline that mirrored my process, but I didn't anticipate how uninformed this approach was. For instance, when I introduced my sub questions was I supposed to discuss how they embodied the properties of networked publics, or save that for later? Feeling stilted by this lack of clarity, I decided that my outline needed to be re-approached.

My problem isn't that I don't understand my thesis topic enough to write about it, because I do. Instead, I have too many ideas in my head that wont come out in a logical order. Frustrated, I went to the computer lab and pulled scrap paper from the trash to slice down. Afterwards, headed to a beautiful sunny spot on a swinging bench to purge. Unconcerned with where it would show up in the paper, I just wrote down keywords and concepts that I wanted to discuss. I would skip around the whole project remembering bits and pieces that were pertinent to my outcome. When I tried to organize these scraps of paper later, I found it difficult and overwhelming to maneuver, so I opted for post-it notes—which I usually avoid because it seems so wasteful.



I started transferring the ideas from scraps of paper to post-its on the wall in my apartment. This was very difficult because I had to make decisions about hierarchy that weren't clear to me yet. Thankfully, I pushed forward and finished, so I will find out today if this clarity improves my writing process. Wish me luck!

Visual studies [moving forward...]

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Having started visual studies 01 and 02, I had the groundwork to start mapping the system I am designing. Being such a visual learner, I noticed that I had to "do" and then "synthesize", instead of the other way around. This map answers the question, "What is the system doing to help the participant through the Adkar model of change?" Moving forward, I have three more studies that I want to complete [see interaction paths below] that will help me build out my map further.

System Map
System Map






visual study 01 - interaction path
The participant customizing the back-end of the artifact.







visual study 02 - interaction path
The participant using the Viewer feature and not complying with the alcohol related alert.







visual study 03 - interaction path
The participant using the Ditto feature and complying with the security risk alert.







visual study 04 - interaction path
Participant minimizes the screen and ignores alerts.







visual study 05 - interaction path
Participant goes to the back-end of the program to look at affected data.

user-path/scenario #1

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I am working towards my first visual study by concreting my user-path/scenario. For this first moment, I am looking at Charly Dawson's introduction to the cognitive artifact (aptly named fb-minder). I am going to speculate on how Dawson learns about the artifact, is engaged to participate, and starts customizing the artifact towards her behavioral goals. I am also hoping to use this opportunity to teach her about persistence—informing her decision to change.

USER-PATH


SCENARIO
Charly Dawson is a 24 year old female college student who graduates with her Bachelor of Education this May. She has been an avid online social networker since 2005, but participates in Facebook the most. Charly finds time to visit Facebook everyday of the week, multiple times a day.

...

This Saturday morning Charly rolls out of bed and instantly gravitates to her desktop computer to look for any updates in her e-mail and Facebook accounts. When she logs onto Facebook 01 she notices a new feature called fb-minder being announced on the homepage. Curious, Charly clicks on 02 the link to find out more. Seeing no harm, Charly 03 activates fb-minder to run an analysis on her data. Before it starts, 04 Charly is asked to answer a few provoking questions to personalize her analysis, which heightens her anticipation as she waits for the results. Charly stares at the 05dynamic visual indicator of fb-minder's progress, which gives her insight into which information is being accessed; she can see which touch-points the data is coming from, and how much is stored there. Charly is shocked to see six years of social interactions strategically compiled right before her eyes.

When 06 the information has finally loaded, Charly is excited about the screen that drops down to overlay the interface, clearly activating fb-minder. 07 The icons and visuals that compose her new environment are enticing, and she instantly accesses her 08 aggregated information to 09 explore what fb-minder has to offer. She notices 10 the screen and information below adapt and change as she clicks through her data.

Charly can clearly see from the information on the page that 11 fb-minder is ready to help her in a variety of ways. As she comes across an embarrassing old status, 12 Charly asks fb-minder to let her know how many times she has put out a status like this, and to alert her if she ever does so again. 13 Fb-minder begins to clarify what Charly's intentions are for tagging that piece of information.

...

designing for experience

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After my committee meeting yesterday, I feel confident that the foundation of my research is sturdy enough to start exploring visually. This move forward is slightly involuntary at the moment, because I know that there are still blind-spots in my data, but I am excited about working concretely.

This week, it is important that I create a scenario with my persona—to define parameters—and develop visual studies. The earlier I can get feedback, the earlier that I can make improvements, and the earlier I can start writing analytically. Phew.

The big question that my project has turned into is: How could a cognitive artifact engage participants of online social networks to think about behavioral changes they would want to make, assess what those personal goals are, and then encourage them to meet and sustain those goals?, which essentially means: How could my cognitive artifact take the participant through the Adkar model of change?

Accordingly, I chunked my big question into four different visual studies that I could do. For the purposes of this time frame, I am going to be speculating on Visual Study 02 and Visual Study 03, as seen below. There is something interesting about the point when the participant tells the artifact what their goals are, and then when the artifact helps them during a potential step away from that goal.





01. WHY
EMOTIONS AND NEEDS THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED


After pinpointing where my time will be spent until May, I wanted to take steps towards a user-centered design process. I went through the Adkar model of change and listed what the participant should ideally be feeling during each step in the process.



Awareness
+ curiosity
+ reassurance
+ guidance
+ secure

Desire
+ motivated
+ sure of myself
+ committed
+ relieved that there is help
+ necessity

Knowledge
+ safe
+ control
+ clarity
+ competent
+ prepared

Ability
+ don't feel self-conscious
+ I appreciate the coaching
+ I feel safe and guided, like my best interests are at heart
+ don't feel attacked
+ comfort in invisible bumper guard
+ still feel in control
+ truly not surprised because the artifact is doing exactly what I expect
+ encouraged that I will remember next time

Reinforcement
+ appreciate that it noticed
+ personal gratification
+ enjoy visual indicator of progress
+ anticipation and surprise
+ never gets old

Afterwards, I looked for themes in the moments that I will be speculating for: Awareness and Knowledge. The three themes I noticed were safety, control, and appeal. I wanted to understand what it meant, from a system's standpoint, to facilitate the participant's optimal experience.

Safety Safety*
+ secure information
+ unjudgemental
+ credibile
+ dependable
+ reassuring

Control Esteem*
+ easy
+ clarity
+ no surprises
+ ability to opt-out
+ full agency
+ full transparency
+ respectful
+ customizable

Appeal
+ visually attractive
+ functional
+ not obtrusive to SNS
+ tolerable interruptions
+ variety, anticipation
+ cater to curiosity
+ ease of use
+ fun

* Maslow's Hierarchy of Need



02. WHAT
WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH IT


+ have your social networking experience mediated
+ assess your goals
+ be alerted of behaviors that do not align with your goals
+ have your behaviors visualized
+ be helped to change behaviors
+ customize the artifact to fit your needs
+ have the meaning of your language input understood



03. HOW
HOW YOU INTERACT WITH IT


mediating
+ opt-out
+ direct hub
+ transitions to overlay

assessing
+ give concrete examples
+ see how the artifact understands my goals
+ manipulate dichotomized variables
+ refine

alerting
+ agency to listen or not
+ can be audio or visual
+ can either interrupt, be periphery, or temporal
+ I am aware that the artifact is activated
+ can control emphasis

visualizing
+ can control variables
+ can easily be read
+ can access deeper levels of information
+ can "wipe slate clean"

customizing
+ intuitive
+ quick
+ see change immediately
+ clarity
+ quickly enter/exit

understanding
+ guide
+ enter into a dialogue
+ debate meaning

system map/research poster

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This is what I developed to have a visual conversation with my committee members on my up-to-date research.

The poster can be seen in it's entirety on Scribd.

research_poster

the keystone to my thesis: motivation theory

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On the outside looking in many things probably seem obvious, but as you are immersed in a thesis project attachments grow to certain terminology that actually create tunnel vision. Up until now, I have been calling it "synergy". I knew that this was a key aspect to my cognitive artifact that would differentiate it from other attempts to mediate the social networking dilemma. While I was enlightened to the relationship that my cognitive artifact had to have with the participant, I never viewed it as an entry point into the architectural and interactive system map that I needed.

I had just finished taking a 3 day online workshop for CoAT (Certificate of Accomplishment in Teaching), and the topic was Motivational Teaching Strategies. We were instructed to read an article called, "Student Motivation: Putting Theory to Work in the Classroom" by Michael Wuthrich when I noticed parallels between what Wuthrich recommended in the classroom and what I wanted my cognitive artifact to do. His implementation of motivation theory in the classroom indicated the effectiveness of a synergistic relationship between the teacher and student. Therefore, if I approached the design of my cognitive artifact through the lens of the theory of motivation, synergy would be an implicit result.

The three objectives that Wuthrich describes for encouraging motivation are balance, goals, and clarity. I reflected on how those objectives aligned with my participant's actions, motivations, and goals. As I was mapping this out I became enlightened by my sub-questions. I had an instinct at the beginning of this project that the reason that participants had disillusions of a trusting environment while social networking was because they (1) didn't understand the susceptibility of the future self, (2) didn't see the patterns of their online behavior that was placing them at risk, and (3) they did not understand the permanence of their online information. When I discovered danah boyd's properties of networked publics and began aligning them into a matrix of researchable points, I noticed that my sub-questions directly correlated with those properties. I initially rationalized this as an objective that I had to meet (the sub-question) at a particular touchpoint (the property of networked publics), but once I stepped away from that matrix I did not know where to go with it. It made sense, but fell flat. What I came to realize—while mapping out how the theory of motivation could be the platform for my cognitive artifact—is that my sub-questions are not separate from the properties of networked publics, they are just a concrete rephrasing.

What my sub-questions really get at—and what ends up being the overall goal of my cognitive artifact—is the following long winded question that will make sense and find a proper rephrasing in the near-future:

How can I bring clarity to the properties of networked publics that contribute to the bad actions which impede the participant's goals, by incentivizing towards the participant's motivations in an effort to refreeze the participant's behaviors towards their explicit goal?

I promise this will make more sense later, but for now....a major breakthrough.

making connections

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lit. review I

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The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr


"Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live—and, as Nietzsche sensed, through the tools we use."

Nicholas Carr, author and critic, has a unique perspective on the technological revolution. Carr explains how high computer usage neurologically rewires our brains, in effect changing the way we think. Understanding how the brains of digital natives are reconfigured helps me accommodate the habits and expectations of young social networkers in my designs.

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.



Cyberpsychology: an Introduction to Human-computer Interaction, Kent Norman


"Users will expect computers to interpret both their intentions and their actions."

Cyberpsychology is a book that introduces an emerging field of psychology that deals with the study of the human mind and behavior in the context of human-technology interaction. Norman helped me understand the importance of mental models—the stored mental representations of objects and processes—which is pivotal when rethinking the design of a social networking space. The emphasis that my thesis has on a synergistic relationship came from Norman's work—where the human learns and remembers from the computer and the computer learns and remembers from the human (and environment). He also explains a lot of the theoretical approaches and research methods in human-computer interaction, with lots of interjections on the role of the designer.

Norman, Kent L. Cyberpsychology: an Introduction to Human-computer Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print



Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, Sherry Turkle


"Now, technology makes it easy to express emotions while they are being formed. It supports an emotional style in which feelings are not fully experienced until they are communicated."

Sherry Turkle is a sociologist who focuses her research on people's relationship with technology. My thesis is grounded in her theories—on young adults' relationship with social networking sites. Analyzing the effects of current human-computer interaction, Turkle worries about the negative implications of being constantly tethered to a virtual network. She puts forth the idea that we are determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things and describes young adults' perceptions of privacy in online social spaces, like Facebook.


Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. Basic, 2011. Print.



Psychological Predictors of Young Adult's Use of Social Networking Sites, Kathryn Wilson, et al.


"Extroversion was found to be associated with addictive tendencies, suggesting that extroverts may become overly reliant on SNSs because the interactive experience meets their need for stimulation and social interaction. Low scores on conscientiousness significantly predicted addictive tendencies. It is plausible that unconscientious young adults demonstrate addictive tendencies toward the use of SNS because unconscientious people tend to lack self-control."

This study focused on young adults' use of social networking sites (and addictive tendencies) from personalty characteristics and levels of self esteem. The results from this study are the foundation for the personas that I will develop for my thesis. The researchers theorize that (1) social networking sites appeal to extroverts because they like to connect and reach out to others, as well as present information about themselves online, and (2) that unconscientious people have an addictive tendency towards social networking because it occupies their time while procrastinating. These findings are a breakthrough in the field because it is inconsistent with previous researchers who have typically concluded that extroverts prefer face-to-face interactions, and the internet mainly appeals to introverts with low self esteem.


Wilson, Kathryn, Stephanie Fornasier, and Katherine M. White. "Psychological Predictors of Young Adult's Use of Social Networking Sites." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13.2 (2010). Journal.

metaphors on the mind

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What if people reading your profile page was like flies on a carcass?

audible buzzing, constant unpredictable movement, negative connotation, lingering, movement could signify on-screen mouse behavior.


What if your permanent online information behaved like a shadow?

always behind you, shape shifting, notice others more than yours, in and out of visibility.


What if your permanent online information hovered above you like a cloud?

different conditional states, sometimes audible, shape shifting, cyclical (evaporation), brings down elements of the past (rain), can be heard and not seen, varying distances from you.


What if your risky patterns of online behavior were revealed through throat clearing?

disruptive, visceral, anthropomorphic, can be exaggerated for humorous affect, alarming, hint, audible.


What if the susceptibility of your future self behaved like a talking conscience?

preoccupation, dialogue, surprising, dichotomy, private, expert data, decision making, custom.

understanding sns

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Last semester, I investigated the trajectory of the "social networking problem" and looked at the different platforms addressing those problems. Now, I want to research the affordances of Social Networking Sites (SNS). Since there are so many SNSs out there, what are they doing? What are the commonalities and distinctions? How do their affordances align with the properties of networked publics (persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability)? What kind of social networking statistics—specific to my demographic— could shape the way I approach my thesis' cognitive artifact?

So far, I narrowed it down to the most popular:
01. Facebook
02. MySpace
03. Twitter
04. LinkedIn
05. Ning
06. Tagged
07. Classmates.com
08. Hi5
09. MyYearbook
10. Meetup
11. Bebo
12. MyLife
13. Friendster
14. MyHeritage
15. Multiply
16. Orkut

According to BizMba's Rank of Alexa Global Traffic, Jan 2011



Notable spectrum
friendship-driven vs interests-driven communities
connecting people vs content creation



Then, I skimmed through the popular websites and listed the affordances of each site—designating each affordance a combination of properties:

(p)ersistence: "the continued, prolonged existence of something,"
(s)earchability: "ability to explore, examine,"
(r)eplicability: "ability to repeat, duplicate, reproduce," and
(sc)alablity: "ability to adapt to increased demands."



This helped me understand the nature of the property terms—persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability—in regards to the social networking sphere. The affordances were usually a combination of multiple properties: Although the affordances exhibited various properties, there was usually one property that applied most—reinforcing the categorization in my matrix of researchable points. With SNSs being a virtual environment, the affordances are automatically persistant and usually searchable and replicable: Scalability seemed to be the only property that did not explicitly apply to the majority of affordances, but even that is an easily argued judgement.


core characteristics of social networking sites:

01. user-based
02. interactive
03. community-driven
04. relationships
05. emotion over content

"The evolution of the Internet is now forming itself around the characteristics of social networks."

According to a 2007 research study conducted by researchers from Rice University, the University of Maryland, and Max Planck Institute for Software System




Now, I need to read, read, read...

Currently reading:
+ "Alone Together" Sherry Turkle
+ "Living and Learning with New Media" Mizuko Ito, et al.
+ "A Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Networking Sites" Zizi Papacharissi
+ "Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods" Dr. John W. Creswell
+ "Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media" Carrie James
+ "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out" danah boyd
+ "Cyberpsychology" Kent Norman
+ "World Without Secrets" Richard Hunter

Projected reading list:
+ "Does It Really Matter That People Zip" Yoonjae Mam, et al.
+ "The Influence of Social Networking Web" Daniel Bohnert
+ "Does Imposing a Goal Always Improve Exercise Intentions in Avatar-Based Exergames?" Seung-A Annie Jin
+ "Understanding Diversity in Millennial Students" Ellen M. Broido
+ "More Information than You Ever Wanted, Does Facebook Bring Out the Green-Eyed Monster of Jealously?" Amy Muise
+ "The Virtual Geographies of social networks" Ziz Papacharissi
+ "Psychological Predictors of Young Adults' Use of Social Networking Sites" Kathryn Wilson
+ "Social Networks as Health Feedback Displays" Margaret E. Morris
+ "Structure and Evolution of Online Social Networks" Ravi Kumar, et al.

matrix of researchable points

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Moving forward with my thesis will include a series of small studies informing a larger outcome. Keeping the studies structured required the development of a matrix of researchable points. I had no idea what I would assign to the axis of the matrix until I started reading "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out" by danah boyd, et al. As a Social Media Researcher, boyd was able to give insight into the behaviors of young social networking participants and deconstruct the paradigm shift that is social media. In her chapter on friendships, boyd states,

"Learning how to manage the unique affordances of networked sociality can help teens navigate future collegiate and professional spheres where mediated interactions are assumed."

She then describes the properties of networked publics as persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability. I found this highly relevant to my small studies because it gave me a concrete way to think about my matrix. Pinning the unique affordances of networked sociality (x-axis) against possible management variables (y-axis) and directing it towards my thesis sub questions results in a structured path to thread ideas together. Therefore, the unique affordances that boyd discusses are the properties of networked publics—since those properties have to be managed with virtual friendships in a way that does not translate to physical friendships. The possible management variables are an aggregation of areas of interests from various reading sources.

After designing the matrix, I noticed that my sub questions aligned well with three of the properties: While all four properties overlap, scalability afforded the least amount of investigative depth since my thesis is already framed around a broader cohort of peers.

Click here for my (in progress) matrix of researchable points.

So far, I have grayed out an example of the property (specific to Facebook) and possible areas of inquiry directed towards a sub question. I feel good about them today, we'll see about tomorrow. Therefore, I will probably have three small studies:

01. persistence touchpoint: participant is entering their status
outcome: revealing patterns of online behavior
areas of inquiry: self control, aggregated information, agency, mobility, low-risk tinkering

02. searchability touchpoint: participant on their personal profile page
outcome: revealing permanence of online information
areas of inquiry: hints and reassurance, expert data, mobility, concreting the abstract, anthropomorphism

03. replicability touchpoint: participant's information in the newsfeed
outcome: revealing susceptibility of the future self
areas of inquiry: forecasting, customizing, play, dialogue, consequence, mobility, superficial empowerment