1. SPACE & NARRATIVE:
DESIGNING FOR SOCIAL
INTERACTION
Xianhang Zhang - Bumblebee Labs

2. UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOR
THE TRANSFORMATIVE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY

3. ABOUT ME

4. ABOUT ME
Grew up in Australia

5. ABOUT ME
Grew up in Australia
Bachelors of Computer Science, University of New South
Wales

6. ABOUT ME
Grew up in Australia
Bachelors of Computer Science, University of New South
Wales
Worked on Tabletop Computing, University of Sydney

7. ABOUT ME
Grew up in Australia
Bachelors of Computer Science, University of New South
Wales
Worked on Tabletop Computing, University of Sydney
PhD Candidate, University of Washington

8. ABOUT ME
Grew up in Australia
Bachelors of Computer Science, University of New South
Wales
Worked on Tabletop Computing, University of Sydney
PhD Candidate, University of Washington
Founder, Bumblebee Labs

9. ABOUT ME
Grew up in Australia
Bachelors of Computer Science, University of New South
Wales
Worked on Tabletop Computing, University of Sydney
PhD Candidate, University of Washington
Founder, Bumblebee Labs
Bay Area?

11. Flame wars are not surprising; they are one of the most
reliable features of mailing list practice. If you assume a
piece of software is for what it does, rather than what its
designer's goals were, then mailing list software is a tool
for creating and sustaining heated argument.

12. You couldn't go through the code of Mailman and find the
comment that reads "The next subroutine ensures that
misunderstandings between users will be amplified,
leading to name-calling and vitriol." Yet the software will
frequently produce just that outcome.

13. In thirty years, the principal engineering work on mailing
lists has been on the administrative experience. Mailman
now offers administrator nearly a hundred configurable
options, many with multiple choices. However, the social
experience of a mailing list over those three decades has
hardly changed at all.

14. Social Software
Understanding Transformative
Human Behavior Effects of Technology

15. Social Software
Psychologists
Anthropologists
Teachers
Journalists
Understanding Transformative
Human Behavior Effects of Technology

16. Social Software
Psychologists Startups
Anthropologists Activists
Politicians
Teachers
Social Media
Journalists “Experts”
Understanding Transformative
Human Behavior Effects of Technology

17. Social Software
Psychologists Startups
Anthropologists Activists
Design? Politicians
Teachers
Social Media
Journalists “Experts”
Understanding Transformative
Human Behavior Effects of Technology

19. Is it considered rude to "ignore" a friend request?

20. Is it considered rude to "ignore" a friend request?
Is it considered rude to un-friend a facebook friend?
What if its someone you never actually speak to? And
wish you had never friended? But you don't want to
seem like an asshole? Will everyone assume that there
was some "issue" or fight between us?

21. Is it considered rude to "ignore" a friend request?
Is it considered rude to un-friend a facebook friend?
What if its someone you never actually speak to? And
wish you had never friended? But you don't want to
seem like an asshole? Will everyone assume that there
was some "issue" or fight between us?
What about work related "friends," like a boss or
someone you want to maintain good relations with but
don't want seeing your party pictures?

22. Is it considered rude to "ignore" a friend request?
Is it considered rude to un-friend a facebook friend?
What if its someone you never actually speak to? And
wish you had never friended? But you don't want to
seem like an asshole? Will everyone assume that there
was some "issue" or fight between us?
What about work related "friends," like a boss or
someone you want to maintain good relations with but
don't want seeing your party pictures?
Is the point of facebook to acquire the most friends? Is
there a secret prize for accomplishing this?

23. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN DESIGN &
BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL
SOFTWARE?

26. Medium Scale Physical Large Scale Physical
Artifact Design Artifact Design

27. Industrial Design Architecture

28. Tool Building

29. Tool Building

30. Tool Building

31. Tool Building

32. Stuff

33. Space

34. S
Stuff p
Stuff
a
c
e

35. S
Stuff p
Stuff
a
c
e
Physical Artifact Design

36. SOFTWARE AS A TOOL

37. SOFTWARE AS A SPACE

38. SOFTWARE AS A SPACE

39. SOFTWARE AS A SPACE

40. SOFTWARE AS A SPACE

41. Physical Virtual
Stuff
Tool
Industrial Design Software as a Tool
Space
Space
Architecture Software as a Space

42. FEATURES

43. ?

44. We must first recognize that what a town or building is, is
governed, above all, by what is happening there. [...]
Those of us who are concerned with buildings tend to
forget too easily that all the life and soul of a place, all of
our experiences there, depend not simply on the physical
environment, but on the patterns of events which we
experience there.
- Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building

45. NARRATIVE

46. FOR SALE: BABY SHOES, NEVER WORN.
ERNEST HEMMINGWAY

47. THE NARRATIVE IS THE
ATOMIC UNIT OF SOCIAL
INTERACTION

48. OTHER EXAMPLES OF
NARRATIVES

49. OTHER EXAMPLES OF
NARRATIVES
I’m your friend

50. OTHER EXAMPLES OF
NARRATIVES
I’m your friend
If you help me, I’ll owe you a favor

51. OTHER EXAMPLES OF
NARRATIVES
I’m your friend
If you help me, I’ll owe you a favor
I’d really rather not cook tonight but I don’t want you to think
I’m lazy

52. OTHER EXAMPLES OF
NARRATIVES
I’m your friend
If you help me, I’ll owe you a favor
I’d really rather not cook tonight but I don’t want you to think
I’m lazy
Note: A Narrative does not have to be true

53. Physical Virtual
Stuff Feature
Tool
Industrial Design Software as a Tool
Space Narrative
Space
Architecture Software as a Space

54. N
a
Features
Features
r
r
a
t
i
v
e

55. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN DESIGN &
BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL
SOFTWARE?

56. THE DESIGN OF THE
SOFTWARE AFFECTS WHAT
NARRATIVES CAN BE
SUPPORTED

57. DEFRIENDING: REAL LIFE

58. DEFRIENDING: FACEBOOK

60. DESIGNING FOR NARRATIVES

61. I am a reputable merchant

63. Nap in my
office

64. Busy

65. Meet with
Alan Smithee

67. FRIENNUENDO
social awkwardness

71. FACETED BLOGGING
Identity

77. OTHER APPLICATIONS

78. OTHER APPLICATIONS
Faceted Facebook

79. OTHER APPLICATIONS
Faceted Facebook
Faceted Twitter

80. OTHER APPLICATIONS
Faceted Facebook
Faceted Twitter
Faceted Youtube

81. DESIGN ISSUES

82. DESIGN ISSUES
What is the ideal granularity of a facet?

83. DESIGN ISSUES
What is the ideal granularity of a facet?
How lightweight should facet creation be?

84. DESIGN ISSUES
What is the ideal granularity of a facet?
How lightweight should facet creation be?
How can you communicate faceting to the reader?

85. DESIGN ISSUES
What is the ideal granularity of a facet?
How lightweight should facet creation be?
How can you communicate faceting to the reader?
How does faceting integrate with the rest of the web
ecosystem?

86. Privacy

90. GROUPS SUCK

91. GROUPS SUCK
• Rude:
Blacklists are Cruel. Whitelists are Snobbish.

92. GROUPS SUCK
• Rude:
Blacklists are Cruel. Whitelists are Snobbish.
• Tedious:
Need to explicitly list & maintain everyone who should see a
photo?

93. GROUPS SUCK
• Rude:
Blacklists are Cruel. Whitelists are Snobbish.
• Tedious:
Need to explicitly list & maintain everyone who should see a
photo?
• Complicated:
Either inexpressive (flickr) or complicated (unix)

94. What is a Cherith?

95. What is cousin Rodney’s
catchphrase?

96. On whose rooftop did we
celebrate beating stanford?

97. USER STUDY 1

98. USER STUDY 1
• 31 subjects

99. USER STUDY 1
• 31 subjects
•5 semi-private photos per subject

100. USER STUDY 1
• 31 subjects
•5 semi-private photos per subject
• Users
listed: friends, family, authority figures, strangers, ex-
romances, potential future romances etc.

101. USER STUDY 1

102. USER STUDY 1
• 179 white/black lists created

103. USER STUDY 1
• 179 white/black lists created
• Friends: 90% whitelisted, 40% blacklisted

104. USER STUDY 1
• 179 white/black lists created
• Friends: 90% whitelisted, 40% blacklisted
• Family: 76% whitelisted, 79% blacklisted

105. USER STUDY 1

106. USER STUDY 1
• Users could create questions for 176/179 lists (98%)

107. USER STUDY 1
• Users could create questions for 176/179 lists (98%)
• Median: 8 seconds, Mean: 15 seconds

108. USER STUDY II

109. USER STUDY II
• Can strangers crack guard questions?

110. USER STUDY II
• Can strangers crack guard questions?
• 1680 Mechanical Turkers made 16,800 guesses at 168
questions

111. USER STUDY II
• Can strangers crack guard questions?
• 1680 Mechanical Turkers made 16,800 guesses at 168
questions
• 6% cracked in 3 guessed, 11% in 10

112. USER STUDY II
• Can strangers crack guard questions?
• 1680 Mechanical Turkers made 16,800 guesses at 168
questions
• 6% cracked in 3 guessed, 11% in 10
• Better than what users expected (14%)

113. USER STUDY III

114. USER STUDY III
• Mechanical Turkers
designed questions for friends that were
easy (<75%) or hard (>25%) to guess

115. USER STUDY III
• Mechanical Turkers
designed questions for friends that were
easy (<75%) or hard (>25%) to guess
• 83% of friends guessed the easy questions

116. USER STUDY III
• Mechanical Turkers
designed questions for friends that were
easy (<75%) or hard (>25%) to guess
• 83% of friends guessed the easy questions
• 27% of friends guessed the hard questions

117. ONGOING WORK
toomim@cs.washington.edu

118. CIRCUMSPECTION

119. “If Privacy is the desire not to be embarrassed,
Circumspection is the desire not to be bothered”
CIRCUMSPECTION

120. WHAT’S NEXT?

121. WHAT’S NEXT?
• Advance the state of the art in Social Interaction Design

122. WHAT’S NEXT?
• Advance the state of the art in Social Interaction Design
• Create a shareable methodology around Social Interaction
Design

123. WHAT’S NEXT?
• Advance the state of the art in Social Interaction Design
• Create a shareable methodology around Social Interaction
Design
• Developnew interface elements that can be used towards
more socially humane design

124. N
a
Features
Features
r
r
a
t
i
v
e
CONCLUSIONS
hang@bumblebeelabs.com
http://www.bumblebeelabs.com