[Sigia-l] "Social Interface"

[Boniface Lau]

> From: Michal Migurski
>  
> A good read, haven't seen it posted here just yet:
> 	http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/NotJustUsability.html
> 
[...]
> The best UI in the world won't save software with an awkward social
> interface."

It is indeed an interesting read. However, the article's perspective
on what social interface is seems to be very different from others.
Here are the "social interface" examples from the article:

SI> So a good social interface designer might say, let's not display
SI> an error message. Let's just pretend that the post about Viagra
SI> was accepted. Show it to the original poster, so he feels smug and
SI> moves on to the next inappropriate discussion group. But don't
SI> show it to anyone else.
...
SI> we don't show you the post you're replying to while you type your
SI> reply in hopes of cutting down quoting

Those examples use software to tinker with the enclosing process. But
if you are going to modify a process, better do it right via process
re-design or re-engineering, not process hacking in the name of
"social interface".


In contrast, "Social Presence in Web Surveys" provides quite a
different perspective on what social interface is:

http://www.fcsm.gov/01papers/Tourangeau.pdf 

SP> Social interface theory has widespread influence in the field of
SP> human-computer interaction. The basic thesis is that humanizing
SP> cues in a computer interface can engender responses from users
SP> similar to human-human interaction.


Boniface