Reflection #7 – [09/18] – Viral Pasad

[1] Social Translucence: An Approach to Designing Systems that Support Social Processes – Erickson et. al.

[2] The Chat Circles Series – Explorations in designing abstract graphical communication interfaces – Donath et. al.

Summary:

The first paper deals with a design theory,  “Social Translucence”. Social Translucence can be characterized by Visibility, Awareness, and Accountability. These principles guided the design of a system called Babble, a socially translucent medium for interaction in and conversations.

The second paper underlines various approaches towards building a socially translucent system, such as Chat Circles, Chat Circles II, Talking In Circles and Tele Directions. At the mention of Circles so many times, what comes to mind is the infamous Google + which implemented ‘circles’ as a denotation of friends.

Reflection:

Accountability is one of the key factors in the translucency of a Social Media Platform. And accountability should not only mean that of users but also that of the Platforms’. Eg: Facebook is as responsible at curbing fake news as much as the user’s themselves.

Another consideration that the Social Media Platforms make while making themselves translucent is visibility and ephemerality. Story based platforms such as Snapchat pictures disappear after seconds of a user opening them. Not only that, but the Sender is notified of attempts to take a screenshot by a given user.

Further, when Donath et al discuss Chat Circles and their approach, there are certain issues which with the passage if time needs reconsideration. The system has visibility, awareness, and account yet it may not always be suitable for long discussions with multimedia conversations.

Furthermore, features liked History may or may not be included in the System Design based on how human intuitive or utility intuitive, the System is supposed to be designed.