Social Information Architecture Workshop

Slide 1: S oc ia l Inform a tion Arc h ite c ture IA S ummit 2007 La s Ve g a s , Ne va da Ma rc h 2 2 , 20 0 7

Slide 2: Toda y’s Ag e nda » 8:30 Introduction to Social IA » 10:15 Tagging and Folksonomies » 1:00 Designing for Social Sharing » 3:30 Presentations, Q & A » 5:00 Wrap-up & Drinks

Slide 3: Ab out th e E xe rc is e s » We’ll break into small groups (5 or 6 people) » Work with the same group all day » Each speaker has different exercises » Speakers might influence each others’ exercises » Present in the afternoon

Slide 4: S pe a ke rs » Rashmi Sinha » Thomas Vander Wal » Gene Smith

Slide 5: Information Architecture is the Structural design of shared information environments

Slide 6: Information Architecture is the Structural design of shared information environments Shared design of semi-structured information environments

Slide 7: S oc ia l inform a tion a rc h ite c ture » User actions create some or all of the structure of an information environment » Using the wisdom of crowds to solve the problems of IA – Find, use and interact in information environments

Slide 15: Eb ay Augmentation Am az on D el . ic io W .u s i ki pe di Co-creation a

Slide 16: Wh y is s oc ia l IA im porta nt? » Growth in online collaboration » Emergence of web as social infrastructure » Increasing interest in using social media for business purposes » Pressure to move beyond hand-crafted IA

Slide 17: R e c e nt Tre nds » Mass amateurization » Mass collaboration » Online sharing » Explosion of web-based social technologies

Slide 18: S oc ia l S oftwa re De finition » Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication. – Wikipedia

Slide 19: More S oc ia l S oftwa re De finitions » Software that treats groups different that individuals » Stuff that gets spammed » “people will bend communications tools to social uses” – Clay Shirky

Slide 20: S oc ia l S oftwa re B uilding B loc ks

Slide 21: Wis dom of C rowds » Under the right conditions, groups are smarter than individuals » Conditions – Diversity – Independence – Decentralization – Aggregation

Slide 22: Arc h ite c ture s of P a rtic ipa tion » Systems designed – For user contribution – Around the culture and economics of openness – For individuals, groups and crowds

Slide 23: C re a tors , S ynth e s iz e rs a nd C ons um e rs

Slide 24: A Dig re s s ion…

Slide 28: Y a h oo’s P opula r P h otos » Different actions lead to different patterns » Patterns are consistent (but subtle) » This is information architecture » Need to understand them if we are to create structure from them

Slide 30: Th re e ing re die nts for s oc ia l IA » Capture User Actions » Aggregate and Display » Feedback

Slide 31: Us e r Ac tions

Slide 32: Us e r Ac tions » Things people do online that we can track » Building blocks – Popularity – Community – Reputation » Ignore higher goals & motivations

Slide 39: De l.ic io.us

Slide 40: Am a z on

Slide 41: Y ouTub e

Slide 42: Th e G e nius of Dig g

Slide 44: Ag g re g a tion & Dis pla y » Bringing together user actions in a relevant way » Displaying them » Rules

Slide 45: Kinds of Ag g re g a tion (not a n e xh a us tive lis t) » Listing » Ranking » Clustering » Collaborative filtering » Other algorithms

Slide 46: Lis ting (a nd protota g g ing )

Slide 47: R a nking » Count an action » Order them

Slide 49: NY Tim e s .c om

Slide 50: C lus te ring

Slide 51: C olla b ora tive F ilte ring

Slide 52: Oth e r Alg orith m s

Slide 53: Inte re s ting ne s s

Slide 54: F e e db a c k

Slide 55: A feedback loop is a system where outputs are fed back into the system as inputs, increasing or decreasing effects. - Wikipedia

Slide 56: P os itive F e e db a c k » First, close your eyes » Listen for clapping » If you hear a clap, you must also clap » Try to clap within 0.5 seconds » Don’t stop until I say stop

Slide 57: Ne g a tive F e e db a c k » First, close your eyes » Listen for clapping » If you hear a clap, you must also clap » Try to clap within 0.5 seconds » Once you’ve clapped, you can’t clap again for two seconds

Slide 58: P os itive fe e db a c k » If someone immediately around you has their hand You up, raise your hand » For now, ignore empty chairs

Slide 59: Ne g a tive fe e db a c k » If the person immediately in front of you or to your left You has their hand, raise your hand » If they put their hand down, put your hand down

Slide 60: F e e db a c k fue ls s ys te m Aggregation User Actions & Display

Slide 61: P os itive fe e db a c k in Dig g + +

Slide 62: P os itive fe e db a c k in Dig g + + + +

Slide 64: De m oc ra dig

Slide 66: Ta g g ing S ug g e s tions

Slide 67: » “There are obvious dangers in establishing a positive feedback loop where potentially unsuitable tags may be reused due to the tag’s initial popularity and subsequent exposure as a tag recommendation. This leads one to wonder whether it is preferable to have popular (but perhaps not intuitively obvious) tags, or to have a larger spread of relatively uncommon tags, possibly representing more accurate reflections or a wider spread of points of view” – Marieke Guy & Emma Tonkin

Slide 68: P la c e s to Inte rve ne (a ls o not a n e xh a us tive lis t) » Introduce delays » Modify the strength of feedback loops » Who has access to what information? » Adjust incentives and punishments » Change the system

Slide 69: C h a lle ng e s » Spam » Gaming » Balance » Relevance » Unintended consequences

Slide 70: De s ig n P rinc iple s » Allow for different levels of engagement » Monitor and tweak feedback loops » Trade-offs: transparency v. gaming – Digg started simple, became more complicated to deal with gaming (but also became less satisfying to use) » Participate in larger ecosystem – YouTube is viral » Design new actions, aggregators, display

Slide 71: E xe rc is e