[Sigia-l] [EVENT] IxDA NYC - Thu. Nov. 20 - Will Evans - "Built For Conversation: The Interaction Design of Social Media Networks"

[MJ Broadbent]

IxDA NYC requests the pleasure of your company at our November event,  
"Built For Conversation: The Interaction Design of Social Media  
Networks" by visiting speaker Will Evans. Our hosts for the evening  
will be the generous people of HUGE.

RSVP: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1283042/?ps=5
Attendance is limited to 125 people.
Only those on the RSVP list will be admitted (please bring photo ID).

TALK DETAILS
"Built For Conversation: The Interaction Design of Social Media  
Networks"

Social Media Networks, because they are built on the collective  
participation of individuals, can only be effectively guided by means  
of a researched and learned examination of social psychology. It is  
the interaction designer's job to understand how social media  
ecosystems are likely to evolve, given the interaction of the  
application constraints with users -- each of which with their own  
goals, prejudices, social ties, needs for sociality and irrational  
decision-making.

Design choices affecting application design, functions, and features  
can only steer individual and aggregate participation within the  
social network. This talk will begin with the basics of social  
psychology as it pertains to social media and networking sites and  
give a brief overview of identity creation in the context of social  
networking theory.

We will discuss design patterns in social media site architecture and  
their impact on human behavior, and why interaction designers engaged  
in building social networking ecosystems must leverage sociology,  
social network analysis, and behavioral economics to ensure their  
social media site is Built for Conversation. Time permitting I will  
discuss two case studies - why social media/networking functionality  
failed on Kayak.com, and why it succeeded on Gather.com -- lessons  
learned the hard way.

DATE and TIME
Thursday, November 20th
6:30 - 7:00 networking and refreshments
7:00 - 8:00 presentation
8:00 - 8:30 Q&A and discussion
Important: Please plan to arrive no later than 6:50 p.m. to clear  
security and be seated.

LOCATION
HUGE
45 Main Street, 2nd floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
http://www.hugeinc.com
Google map: http://tinyurl.com/5rwy57
Subway directions: F to York Street or A/C to High Street
http://hugeinc.com/contactus/contact_subway.html

RSVP: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1283042/?ps=5
Attendance is limited to 125 people.
Only those on the RSVP list will be admitted (please bring photo ID).

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Will Evans is founder and Principal User Experience Architect for  
Semantic Foundry with 14 years industry experience in information  
architecture user experience design. His experience includes directing  
interaction design and information architecture for AIR Worldwide, UX  
architect for web 2.0 social networking site Gather.com, and UX  
architect responsible for information architecture and interaction  
design for Kayak.com. He has worked at enterprise technology companies  
Lotus/IBM (where he was the senior information architect), and  Curl,  
a DARPA-funded MIT project at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science.  
Most recently, Will has lead redesign projects incorporating social  
media, crowdsourcing and social networking for startups and Fortune  
100 companies.

Will holds masters degrees in business administration, human-computer  
interaction and cognitive psychology. His interests and studies have  
focused on design, information architecture, human factors and  
information visualization. He earned his undergraduate degree in  
mathematics and philosophy.

ABOUT OUR HOST
HUGE is a leading independent interactive agency that specializes in  
building sustainable businesses online for some of the largest and  
most demanding companies in the world. Founded in 1999, HUGE has  
evolved a unique methodology and culture that combine the best aspects  
of research, user-centered design, product planning, and technology  
expertise. The customer experiences designed by HUGE generate over  
$3.6 billion in annual revenue and are visited by over 120 million  
unique users each month. With offices in New York, Los Angeles,  
Atlanta and London, clients include IKEA, JetBlue Airways, Scholastic,  
TheStreet.com, Time Inc. and Readers Digest.

ABOUT IxDA
The Interaction Design Association (IxDA.org) is a member-supported  
organization committed to serving the needs of the international  
interaction design community. With the help of more than 10,000  
members worldwide, we provide a network for advancing the discipline  
of interaction design.

IxDA was founded in 2003 as an online discussion list and in just five  
years the organization has grown to include over 60 local groups  
worldwide and the first global conference on interaction design for  
interaction designers. Our next conference, Interaction 09 | Vancouver  
(interaction09.ixda.org), resumes where our first conference,  
Interaction 09 | Savannah, left off -- as a space to bring together  
the best and broadest interaction design talent from around the world.

Best regards,
MJ Broadbent & Peter March
IxDA NYC Local Leaders