‘Social’ Systems: Designing Digital Systems that Support Social Intelligence

Thomas EriksonAI and Society

Presented by Rosta FarzanPAWS Group MeetingApril 27, 2007

Goal

Supporting social intelligence in online systems

Examines social intelligence in

face-to-face behavior

Social ProxyA Minimalist visualization of presence and

activities of participants in online systems

Outline

Social intelligence Social intelligence in the face-to-face world

Design of social intelligence in online systems

Social Proxies Examples of social proxies

User experience Design principles Discussion

Social Intelligence

“The ways in which groups of people manage to produce coherent behavior directed towards individual or collective ends”

Why do we care about social intelligence? Groups may produce qualitatively better and

quicker results than individuals Solution produced collectively is more

preferred

Social Intelligence in Face-to-Face World A tale of two doors

A door opening to a busy hallway Solutions

A sign which says “open door slowly” Inserting a window in the door

Visibility and Accountability Street crossing

Social Intelligence in Online SystemsGeographically separated peopleDesign

Invoking social normsMaking physical and behavioral cues visible in

online environments

Possibilities 3D virtual environment with avatars Using videos

Significant amount of bandwidth, screen space

Not scalableAssociated with gamesPrivacy issues

Social Proxy

Minimalist graphical representation of socially salient aspects of an online interaction

Examples of Social Proxies

Social Proxy for chat environmentCircles represent chat roomDots represent usersActive users are close to circle’s hub

Timeline represents user’s activityUsers leave flat traces when logged onTraces are blipped when users talk

Appropriate for synchronous patterns of interaction

Appropriate for patterns of activity over time

More Examples

Lecture proxy

Dots represent peopleDots are positioned according to how much each person has spoken during the last 3 minutes

Lecture NormNo audience interruption

An audience member interrupting

Many interruption

Large Scale Example

Task proxy for organization-wide activities Facilitate performance of tasks that require the

coordination of many individuals

User Experience

Chat proxies Engaging and

informative Users making

inferences not necessarily correct Part of life as social

beings Easy to learn Ice-breakers

Topic for conversation

Design Principles

Everyone sees the same thing; no user customization

Portray actions, not interpretation Should allow deception Support micro/macro readings Ambiguity is useful: suggest rather than

inform Use a third person point of view

Discussion