Designing social software: Gentry Underwood IDEO
Dec 5th 2009NiaLLLarkinSocial networks & Social software & asymmetricrelationships & autistic social software & autisticsocialsoftware & designsocialtool & socially inept & socialsoftware & winograd
Discussions of the unique challenges and opportunities that are part of social software design are making their way into mainstream discussion. This is nice primer for Gentry Underwood.
Here’s some excerpts:
The problem:
“…for all of the press and fanfare, most social software is, well, socially awkward. ”
“…design is profoundly awkward for more nuanced social interaction. ”
“…most social software tools are clumsy and ineffective at smoothly facilitating interpersonal interaction.
The opportunity:
“…From an historical perspective, we are still in the early days of social interaction design.”
“…social software is pretty far from mature”
“…there is ample opportunity to produce something truly new.”
Success requires:
“…different skills than those employed traditionally in software design.”
“…a deep understanding of the unseen elements of relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules in social systems.”
Here’s a link to the original article
And here’s a video of him giving a talk based on that article: