Analysis and Design of Social Software Tools Presented by: Rabeea Mannan Sarah Farnaz Baqai

What is social software? Social software is normally defined as a range of Web- dependent tools that allow interaction and information sharing amongst users. It facilitates computer-mediated communication It has become very popular with: – social sites like MySpace and Facebook, – media sites like Flickr and YouTube, – and commercial sites like Amazon and eBay.

What is social software? Social software system also enables collaborative work Such software systems are called collaborative software and groupware Many of these applications share characteristics like: – interoperability, – service oriented design – and the ability to easily upload information and media.

List Of Social Software Blogs Clipping Instant messaging Internet forums Internet Relay Chat (IRC) eLearning Massively multiplayer online games Media sharing Media cataloging Personals Social bookmarking Social cataloging Social citations Social evolutionary computation Social networks Social search Virtual worlds Wikis

Social Network A social network is a network of people But it is not about the people themselves, it’s about relationships. The value is in the relationship or tie “between” people

Social Network Social Network services allow people to come together online around shared interests, hobbies or causes. you can create your own social networking service using: Hosted offering like Ning, grou.ps or rSitez Installable Software like Elgg or BuddyPress

Blogs Blog - a journal-style personal web site you can edit directly in your web browser and which allows visitors to leave comments to posts/pages you publish. Structured chronologically, you can update a blog as frequently or infrequently as you wish.

Blogs Content can include text, images, attached files and also multimedia Most blogs tend to be personal spaces but collaboration is possible. The software which powers blogs can either be installed on a server or can be used via free web- hosted sites, examples of which can include; – Wordpress – Blogger

What can you use blogs for?

Characteristics of a blog Journal format / reverse chronology (most recent post displayed first) Posts or pages Comments can be added by viewers Use of links to help organise the content – categories (tags), date RSS feeds - allows your blog to be delivered via other sites Single author or multiple author - collaborative May be personal, but also possibilities for departmental/institutional, etc

Website that allow users to work collaboratively by editing/updating existing content or creating new content Done via a standard web browser without the need to install any additional software. The ability to edit pages may be possible for all users of the site or it can be restricted to a smaller group of users. Wiki

Update of the edited pages is normally instantaneous, with page revisions made recorded and documented through the 'history' feature Being web browser-based and normally featuring graphical editing interfaces, wikis are easy to use and can be an ideal way to work as a group on shared information. Wiki

The most famous example of a wiki is Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia that you or I can contribute to by editing directly online. As well as the institutional offering, it is also possible to set up free wiki spaces online. Wiki

Allows web-based collaboration - edit existing content, add new content Single centrally-located copy of information rather than multiple individual copies Display of different revisions can demonstrate thought processes evolution Uses of a wiki

Collection and reflection of thoughts and materials May be strongly project or purpose based Input from the wider community though comments possible Uses of a wiki

Online bookmarks/favourites No longer tied to a specific computer - access from anywhere by logging in Sharing - allow others to see your bookmarks/favourites Social - find other people with similar interests easily Student tasks - collaborate to build up useful resource links Social bookmarking

Enterprise bookmarking Method of tagging and linking any information using an expanded set of tags to capture knowledge about data. Social Bookmarking

Allows one to communicate with another person over a network in real time, in relative privacy. Examples: AOL instant messenger, Google Talk, MSN messenger, Skype and Yahoo Messenger One can add friends to contact by adding the person’s address and messenger ID. Instant messaging

If the person is online, their name will typically be listed as available for chat Clicking on their name will activate a chat window Instant messaging

Consumers used to be people who consumed stuff. But consumers are people. People who crave good experiences Technology enables. Humanity Rules Successful digital experiences don’t happen by accident. They are DESIGNED People don’t like unpleasant experiences Design isn’t about making something pretty. Its about creative problem solving. Experiences are designed.

How to Design Social Human-centered Approach – Understanding Human behavior to create designs. A social interaction designer must consider not only people, environment, and existing tools, but also the unseen elements of the system such as behaviors, social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules The design of intuitive, usable, or visually pleasing interfaces is not enough The computer is primarily a medium facilitating human-to-human interaction. The software supports, or enables, interpersonal collaboration and communication at scales or complexities not otherwise possible Understand what it is that makes people form or engage in social groups to pursue companionship to improve the design and development of Social Software

The Social Web is built here, from love and esteem

Gene Smith’s Social Software Building Blocks

Identity Avatar Profile Activity Collections

Presence Status History Statistics

Reputation Amazon does this via top 500 reviewer and real name Ebay collects ratings on behavior which rills into a reputation Many forums have named reputation levels based on a variety of behaviors form seniority, participation and financial contribution

Groups Groups can be implicit, created by a shared tag or life goal They can be explicit such as discussion and sharing groups.

Relationships Relationships are always present in communities Flickr Offers friends, family and Contacts Twitter creates a wall of contacts.

Conversations People build the relationships and they build it out of words first Communities last if people can talk to each other. Conversation can take many forms - Forums and comments Twitter blends presence with conversation with little tweats of “I am here, alive! Aware!”

Sharing Gifting is a primitive human behavior. Sharing first gathers people of like interests and allows for an exchange of ideas

The AOF Method 1.Defining your Activity 2. Identifying your Social Objects 3. Choosing your Features

Defining Your Activity

Identifying your Social Objects Social objects can be ideas, people, or physical objects Social objects influence social interaction By interacting through social objects, people meet others they might not otherwise know Social objects can be the reason why people have an interaction or form a relationship

Choosing Your Features

Core Principles

Talk Like a Person Conversational Voice Ask Questions Don’t use text book languages

Representing the Self Engagement  Signup  Registration  Sign In  Invitations  Authorize -Welcome Area Identity  Profile  Avatar  Personal Dashboard Presence  Personal Feed (Updates) Reputation  Levels  Labels  Awards  Ranking

Activities Collecting  Add/Subscribe  Tagging Broadcasting & Publishing  Blogs  Rich Media Communicating  Sign in to Participate  Forums Feedback  Comments  Reviews  Ratings  Thumbs up Sharing  Share this  Send this  Social bookmarking Collaboration  Manage Projects  Voting  Edit this page  The wiki way

Community Dynamics Relationships  Find People  Add friends  Buddy list Groups  Create group  Join Group  Invite to Group

Conclusion Start small and learn from your community Design around activity and social objects Build to support existing behaviors

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