Collective Intelligence, Indeterminacy
and the Illusion of Control
www.trampolinesystems.com

Charles Armstrong Mike Stenhouse
Founder, CEO Head of User Experience,
Trampoline Systems Trampoline Systems

Enterprise software that
harnesses social behaviour

Collective intelligence
systems present unique
difficulties for usability and
adoption. What approaches
will work?

1 / Ethnographic Perspective
Charles Armstrong
CEO, Trampoline Systems

First generation (1960-2000)
§ Foundation technologies: microprocessors,
underlying network protocols, core infrastructure
software, personal productivity software.
§ Productivity gains achieved by training humans to fit
into mechanical processes.
§ Social behaviour marginalised (eg water cooler
networking).

Second generation (2000 onward)
§ Realigning foundation technologies to mesh with
evolved social behaviour.
§ Productivity gains achieved by leveraging collective
intelligence.
§ “Social software”, “Web 2.0” and “Enterprise 2.0” are
pointers to this generational shift.

Tim O’Reilly uses the term
“Bionic Software” to indicate
how these systems augment
human intelligence.

But “Sociomimetic” is more
accurate. We’re augmenting
collective intelligence not
individual.

Sociomimetic systems are complex!
§ Large, widespread network of users.
§ Multiple sources of content and data.
§ Complex algorithms.
§ Systemic feedback - changing factor X affects factor
Y which changes factor X…
§ Non-deterministic - adjusting a parameter might
have a different effect from one day to another.

The challenge How to make
Sociomimetic systems easy
for users to understand,
adopt and manage.

Usability focuses on the
interaction between an
individual and a machine.

But with a Sociomimetic
technology the user is
interacting with a complex
human system.

We need to think of the
software as a window onto
the human collective.

How do we design an
interface for something so
complex?

Let’s go back to the basics
of how we use tools.

Humans are not the only tool users.

…though animal examples can be baffling

But hominids are the
virtuosi.

Hand axe 350,000 BC

Bronze shears 1000 BC

We can intuit what these
tools do. We could pick
them up and use them
without needing any
training.

What makes a tool easy to adopt?
§ We understand how it works and how to operate it.

What makes a tool easy to adopt?
§ Grokability.

What makes a tool easy to adopt?
§ Grokability.
§ We can predict what effect it will have.

What makes a tool easy to adopt?
§ Grokability.
§ Predictability.

What makes a tool easy to adopt?
§ Grokability.
§ Predictability.
§ We can imagine a situation where it would be useful.

What makes a tool easy to adopt?
§ Grokability.
§ Predictability.
§ Relevance.

If we want any tool to be
easy to adopt and use, it
must satisfy these three
requirements.

Let’s rate two complex tools
against these requirements,
from the perspective of the
times they were introduced.

Star Tourer automobile 1910 AD

Star Tourer automobile 1910 AD

Automobile: Grokability
§ Looks like a carriage but no obvious way to attach a
horse.
§ Multiple floor pedals, dials, a strange circular
appendage, several switches.
FAIL
Consequences:
§ Users require intensive training.

Automobile: Predictability
§ Once the controls have been learned, the same
input generally has the same effect.
PASS

Automobile: Relevance
§ It carries people and luggage long distances at high
speed with no effort.
PASS

Automobile: scorecard
Grokability FAIL
Predictability PASS
Relevance PASS

Xerox 8010 “Star” 1981 AD

PC: Grokability
§ A television, half a typewriter, a box with two buttons
and a wheel underneath (plus a fridge-sized cabinet
which is strangely omitted from marketing images).
§ Function and operation are totally incomprehensible.
FAIL
Consequence:
§ Users require long training process.

PC: Predictability
§ A conceptual universe of programs, icons, menus
and keyboard/mouse control must be learned before
the system’s behaviour becomes predictable.
FAIL

PC: Relevance
§ The average person in 1981 didn’t see much need
for a PC.
§ Why are there pictures on the screen instead of
text?
FAIL

PC: scorecard
Grokability FAIL
Predictability FAIL
Relevance FAIL

If Sociomimetic systems are
this hard to adopt, it will take
a long time for them to
become popular.

Can we make it easier?

Let’s look for some clues…

?

London Underground Map (Henry Beck, 1933)

London Underground Map

Solution 1 Present a
simplified reality
§ Present a distilled version of reality that users can
understand rapidly.
§ Emphasise underlying structure.
§ Optimise the reality you present to help users make
informed choices.

Grokability PASS

Typhoon “Eurofighter” 2002 AD

Too complex to control
§ The aircraft is dynamically unstable.
§ Human reflexes are too slow to control it (the plane
would crash).
§ Computers control all flight surfaces.
§ But the pilot is provided with conventional cockpit
controls which feed input to the computers.

Solution 2 Create an
illusion of control
§ Offer the user controls that are simple and relevant
to their experience.
§ These controls may appear to do something direct
and straightforward but this will be an illusion.

Predictability PASS

UK election poster 1979 AD

Too abstract to be relevant
§ Democracy is a tool for governing a society in the
common interest.
§ From the perspective of an individual user it’s
insanely complex, non-deterministic and abstract.
§ Successful politicians articulate issues in terms of
simple choices relevant to the ordinary voter.

Solution 3 In-your-
face usefulness
§ Interface must relate to the user’s experienced
needs.
§ The first time a user engages with a system it should
be filled with information specifically relevant to
them.

Relevance PASS

2 / Software & Web Perspective
Mike Stenhouse
Head of User Experience, Trampoline Systems

1 - 11
1 11

Shh, quiet – Fuckin' loud
Ssssh, Fuckin’
quiet loud

Nick Drake – Jimi Hendrix

Naked and the Boys – Bolt
Action Five

“An interface is about hiding
complexity from the user. It's about
guiding a process, without cognitive
understanding of what goes on
beneath.” Kai Krause
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Krause

I've been fooled!

“It is like you want us to think that
there is a super computer that can
see the pictures and deside.”
PictureThis1
http://www.flickr.com/groups/interestingness500/dis
cuss/72057594074431059

“My guess it’s statistical-magical”
Yolise
http://www.flickr.com/groups/interestingness500/dis
cuss/72057594074431059

Credits
http://www.mindspring.com/~cityzoo/mjohnson/papers/screens/imag
es/KPT.gif
http://www.d-vw.com/dsculptor/with_other/bryce_full_resolution.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/mn_francis/120692699/
http://flickr.com/photos/orphum/45484799/

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www.trampolinesystems.com