RJGV's Report

The Realm of Sociality

What are the issues you found more innovative in reading Bouman et al. (2007)?

I found the conceptual model of social software to be an eye-opener, particularly the design areas found in the diagonal axis of the model, regarding the key elements that dictate the design choices, principles, parameters and dilemmas that go beyond traditional software functionality into the development of a valid context in which the software will enable the socialization of its users.

Nowadays we use many kinds of social software of a multitude of topics in a lot of ways, but we have become so accustomed to them that we rarely notice the different elements and strategies that run behind the scenes, or the reasons behind many additions to these systems.

All these elements are present in the creation of new social networks and are responsible for making or breaking the social systems, weather we are conscious about them or not.

Do you understand Wenger's (1988) claim that "Sociality cannot be designed; it can only be designed for"?

The crux of the development of social software is that it must adapt to the way people socialize in the real world, the social aspect of the software cannot impose ways to socialize unto the users that don’t have a clear equivalent in real life, only means that are already present in the way that people relate with each other in a social context will be successful in this regard.

 
What do you think of having blogs as references in this work?

With the advent of the social media and the democratization of the information (the flattening of the world), it’s becoming more and more common to find the latest articles, news and analysis directly in the very author or company’s blog. This makes a lot easier to get a first hand source without having to deal with external influences on the content. However, one of the main issues with blogs in my experience is the risk that represents the broken links, in a worst case scenario being that a blog or website being deleted or simply a change in the URL scheme of a website rendering the reader’s links obsolete.

Did you visit any of those blogs?

 
Most of them, but sadly there were many broken links. The ones that are still active corroborate many of the theories behind the design elements, triggers and mechanism described in the article that drive the social behavior while participating and using sites like last.fm and twitter.