[Sigia-l] Applying Information Foraging Models

[SCoon at ameritrade.com]

> The idea that we should *ignore* and pay zero attention to user-goals in
> favor of some control-matrix...

3. It's OK to not know (or pretend to know) the entire scope of what your
users may end up doing with your design.

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Tripod is a good case study concerning this argument (not an example of a "control matrix" per IF, but good just the same). For anyone that doesn't remember the lore of that domain, Tripod basically began as a site with a resume builder application for college students and a space for community building online.

So guess what happened.

People started hacking the resume builder app and used it to design and script web pages -- much to the surprise of the company. But instead of tightening the screws of the code and design to fit the users into the original business model, Tripod decided to enable users to continue to "misuse" the app and immediately proceeded to build a suite of applications around it to take advantage of this new goal of a variant persona, changing their entire business model. The result? The site created a new market online for the support of building, promoting, and leveraging independent web publishers. What once began (partially) as a site to assist college students in their quest to prep their resumes for the market, became something completely different, yet even more viable (just ask Bo Peabody ;).

Innovation in online applications is stirred by the behavior of users.

No matter what type of "control-matrix" or first iteration design is delivered to a user base (even through a strict Cooperesque ID process), their behaviors in the use of such systems will undoubtedly dictate a more focused design effort to support their goals. Otherwise, the effort of designing such a system becomes purely academic.

Excuse me, but I now have to go and find me a jackhammer to pick my teeth.

/*spcoon*/