[Sigia-l] "Social Interface"

[Boniface Lau]

> From: Eric Scheid
>  
> On 11/9/04 11:04 AM, "Boniface Lau" 
> <boniface_lau at compuserve.com> wrote:
> 
> > By managing such file system, Unix mediates between people.
> > 
> ah, but the person-to-person interaction which occurs is not 
> social. 

What do you mean by that? Where in Joel's article did it make such
distinction?


[...]
> 
> > Yes, he was talking about the interface for software that mediates
> > between people. But he was NOT talking about the "interface for a
> > software mediated social environment".
> 
> Wasn't he? 

Where in Joel's article did you see him talking about "interface for a
software mediated social environment"?


> He wasn't talking about DBMS or Core OS software, he was discussing
> person to person contexts. 

Mind you, DBMS and OS also mediate in "person to person contexts".

For example, when a file is locked, it is locked by a person; when a
file is requested, it is requested by a person. Thus, when an OS
denies a file access, it is in a "person to person context".

Similarly, when a database record is being locked, it is locked by a
person; when a record is being accessed, it is accessed by a person.
When a DBMS denies a record access, it is in a "person to person
context".


[...]
> 
> > Database management system is another prominent type of software
> > that sophisticatedly mediates between people and existed since the
> > 1960s
> > 
> DBMS mediates social interaction? 

I did not say that and I don't know what you meant by "DBMS mediates
social interaction".

I stated that DBMS mediates between people and Joel's article is about
software that mediates between people.


[...]
> 
> > - long before the Internet.
> > 
> Ignore the "before the Internet" part of Joel's discussion please.
> It's a red herring, a strawman, a bit of indulgent hyperbole.

I don't see the article's Internet reference as a red herring:

SI> Software in the 1980s, when usability was "invented," was all
SI> about computer-human interaction. A lot of software still is. But
SI> the Internet brings us a new kind of software: software that's
SI> about human-human interaction. 

Without the Internet claim, readers might wonder whether they were
seeing a reinvention of the wheel.


[...]
> the following *is* true:
> 
> "Software mediated social environment" is a "software that mediates
> between people"

Be it software mediated or not, a "social" environment has to have
people. For example, when you have people working together in an
office, the office becomes a social environment. After all the people
are gone, the same office stops being a social environment. 

Thus, you implied that "people is a part of the software" when you
made the following statement:

> "Software mediated social environment" is a "software that mediates
> between people"

Don't you now see the absurdity in your statement?


Boniface