Great examples there, Chauncey. My introduction to social psychology in the context of information technology occurred a couple of decades ago through the watershed article by Lee Sproull and Sara Kiesler, "Reducing social context cues: electronic mail in organizational communicationn." It was the first study, if I recall, that thoroughly investigated why people engage in flaming while online (even if they are perfectly polite face-to-face). Social psych research also helped us in the design of an Electronic Meeting/Brainstorming System called VisionQuest, back in the late 1980's. [During the time when we were transitioning from command line to GUIs in the Microsoft universe, most users found the DOS version far easier to use than the Windows one, for this particular application. And there were sound reasons for preferring DOS over Windows.]
One of the big (at the time) failures in the are of Groupware/CSCW/Call-it-what-you-will was a product called The Coordinator from Action Technologies, an outfit floated by Terry Winograd (of Stanford Comp Sci) and his student Fernando Flores [they describe their research in 'Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation For Design".] A lack of any proper understanding of Social Psych (by the designers) rather than any technical or other usability problem led to the wholesale rejection of this technology in places like Pacific Bell. Coordinator was, on paper, an extremely useful group tool, founded on Speech Act Theory. It simply didn't recognize the social undercurrents that might make people reluctant to use it however useful it might be. "I think that awareness of social psychology principles should be a requirement for designing any social computing system." Amen to that. And practically every application that involves interaction with others, which includes most internet apps satisfy this description. Murli On Jan 30, 2008 10:14 PM, Chauncey Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Social Psychology is a field with many solid theories, principles, and > empirical studies. The application of social psychology principles > can be seen in the work on Persuasive Techology by B. J. Fogg, the > work by Reeves and Nass reported in the Media Equation, and much work > on collaboration techologies (which has gone by many names including > CSCW, groupware social networking). Social psychology (though not > often referred to directly) has been in play since the early days of > the internet. When we discuss Web 2.0 technologies, the conversations > often get around to social issues with that are connected to social > psychology research and theory. > > The field of social psychology contains many measures of experience > ranging from social interaction questionnaires to physiological > measures. When designers are designing products for collaboration, > they often discuss issues related to social psychology principles > (collective behavior, rumor transmission, attribution theory, > reputation management, self-revelation, and persuasion). some of the > fundamental research on attitudes and persuasion from the 1940s, 50s, > and 60s, if now being applied to social computing. > > I think that awareness of social psychology principles should be a > requirement for designing any social computing system. > > Chauncey > > On Jan 29, 2008 9:58 AM, Murli Nagasundaram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm simply astounded that an individual who considers himself to be a > > User Experience professional views social psychology to be a pseudo > > science. If someone has developed a mathematical or engineering > > measure for the construct known as 'Experience', I am eager to be > > educated. > > > > Cheers, > > > > murli > > > > ps: BTW, I agree that the social sciences are a somewhat different > > kind of science(s) than the physical sciences. But the philosophy of > > science as applied in both instances is the same. > > > > > > On Jan 28, 2008 7:54 PM, W Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > It's far beyond the simple, less than > > > dangerous pseudo science of social psychology - where theories, > concepts, > > > tests do not effect real people and do not cost real money. > > > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
