The social machine
Subtitle: designs for living online
By: Judith Donath
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 418
ISBN-13: 9780262027014
Subjects: Social media; Onlinecommunity; Online social networks; Mensch-Maschine-Kommunikation; Soziale Software; Internet; Soziales Netzwerk
Description: Computers were first conceived as "thinking machines," but in the twenty-first century they have become social machines, online places where people meet friends, play games, and collaborate on projects. In this book, Judith Donath argues persuasively that for social media to become truly sociable media, we must design interfaces that reflect how we understand and respond to the social world. People and their actions are still harder to perceive online than face to face: interfaces are clunky, and we have less sense of other people's character and intentions, where they congregate, and what they do. wDonath presents new approaches to creating interfaces for social interaction. She addresses such topics as visualizing social landscapes, conversations, and networks; depicting identity with knowledge markers and interaction history; delineating public and private space; and bringing the online world's open sociability into the physical world. Donath asks fundamental questions about how we want to live online and offers thought-provoking designs that explore radically new ways of interacting and communicating.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-400) and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: Acknowledgments; title: Introduction : Design shapes society; title: Visualizing social landscapes; title: Interfaces make meaning; title: Mapping social networks; title: Our evolving super-networks; title: Visible conversations : seeing meaning beyond words; title: Contested boundaries; title: Data portraits; title: Constructing identity; title: Embodied interaction; title: Privacy and public space; title: Social catalysts; title: Coda : Living in balance; title: Notes.