1. How Social Media Changes !User-Centred DesignINUSE SeminarMay 16, 2013Mikael JohnsonD.Sc. (Tech)Aalto University, Finlandhttp://people.aalto./mikael_johnson

2. Introduction! Concern for current state of user-centred design methodsResearch that assesses usability evaluation methods has been in a crisisfor over a decade. (Woolrych et al. 2011) Developments UX broadening scope of usability: consumers, fun, leisure Value as co-created with users andbusiness partners, instead of thinking it asproduced and sold Relating users to their social networks andcommunities instead of understandingthem as isolated entities Emerging empirical research ondevelopers practice Challenges factors (contexts and situations) thatshape the use of particular resources andtheir combinations within usability work Social media confusion User involvement after market launch Theories for understanding community Process guidance: project and informalengagement 3. Weak Signals (Holzapfels mini cases 2008)UCD here:user research,personas,scenarios,!prototypes,!testing.! 4. How Social Media ChangesUser-Centred DesignCumulative and Strategic User Involvement withRespect to DeveloperUser Social DistanceD.Sc. Thesis by Johnson, 2013 at http://is.gd/johnson_2013_thesis 5. Study Setup: How Social MediaChanges User-Centred Design Research questions1. How do users actions in and around a social media service shape its design?2. How do social media developers user involvement practices evolve over time?3. How does user categorisation change with social media? Method: explorative case study Real life software design, Case-based qualitative inquiry Both users and developers, Long-term commitment Reective HCI: seeks means from social and behavioral sciences to address so farunaddressed aspects of human-computer interaction Here: Science and Technology Studies, Biography of Artefacts 6. Case Habbo Social game and online community for children and teenagers,launched in 2000 A place to hangout with friends, meet new people, play, and have fun Johnson has followed Habbos development 20032010 in severalresearch projectsQuick Habbo Facts (Feb 2012)-11 language versions-Customers in over 150 countries-Registered users: 250 000 000-Unique visitors: > 10 000 000 / month-Page impressions: 1 730 000 000 / month-Age distribution: 90% between 13-18 years old-Average visit: 41 minutes / sessionwww.sulake.com/habbo 7. Social Interaction in Habbo(Ad by Sulake 2008) 8. Social Interaction in Habbo(Ad by Habbo user on YouTube 2009) 9. What is Social Media? 10. What is Habbo?DevelopersUsersMediaIts a gameIts acommunityIts a graphicalchatIts a socialvirtual worldGames researchersIts NOT agameIts a socialnetworking siteI hang outwith myfriends thereI can meetnew peoplethereIts abusinesssuccessIts a crimesceneIt lures childrento consumeIts a place foryouth workIts a popculture arenaIts a means foronline securityeducationIts MacromediaDirector, Lingo, Javaserver, Shockwave,Flash, FuseIts a newICQI collect andtrade furnithereI can makeup my owngame thereNeither myparents nor myteacher arethereIts where I goafter schoolParentsTeachersI use it inmy classI dont knowIts wherethe kidshang outYouth workersJohnson (2013), Appendix ABoard of educationWe organize alanguage bathAdvertisersGoodchannel toreach 10-15y.-oldsIts where themoney comes fromIts a virtualhotel 11. Social Media is as ComputerizationMovement and Design Context Commonalities among social networking sites, virtual worlds, graphical chats,discussion forum services, blog services, MUDs, CVEs Social media as a computerization movement (Kling & Iacono): technologicalframes public discourse organisational practice. Other CMs: urban information systems, articial intelligence, personal computing, oceautomation, computer-based education Design Context key characteristics Specic software business(Low cost, non-trad. revenue models) Group communication features ()(more than groupware) Active user communities(dialogue, interaction, production)A collectionof groups|||||One group|||||One personLow Real-Time Workspace Awareness HighUsenetNewsgroupsIRC NetworkDiscussionList (E-mail)Chat RoomPersonal software:word processor,spreadsheetMultiplayerGames,MUDsSocial Network Sites:FacebookVirtual Worlds:Second LifeSharedWorkspace 12. Research Strategy Sustained search for appropriate social science researchmethodologies to capture service developments and pick upparticular emerging issues Co-construction of the user: Thesis Article III!Johnson M 2007. Unscrambling the "Average User" of Habbo Hotel, Human Technology, 3 (2), 127153. Theories of consumption: Thesis Article IV!Lehdonvirta, V, Wilska T-A, Johnson M 2009. Virtual Consumerism: Case Habbo Hotel. Information,Communication & Society, 12 (7). Subcultures: Thesis Article V!Johnson M, Sihvonen T 2009. On the Dark Side: Gothic Play and Performance in a Virtual World, Journal ofVirtual Worlds Research, 1 (3). Symbolic interactionism: Thesis Article VII!Johnson M, Hyysalo S, Tamminen S 2010. The Virtuality of Virtual Worlds, or What We Can Learn fromPlayacting Horse Girls and Marginalized Developers, 603-633. Symbolic Interaction 33 (4). 13. Conceptual Clarications: User-Centred Design User-centred design is here treated as a specic form of design practice a particular way of designing (with the intention of putting users rst), whichincludes a set of interrelated ideas, guiding principles, methods, andtechniques, as well as what user-centred designers do in practice. Umbrella concept (Keinonen 2010) Socio-cultural-material practice bound by time and space: UCD 1986 dierent from UCD1996, dierent regions and organisations have adopted dierent avours Turns Design Based on Usability Evaluation Turn to the Social and Contextual From Evaluation to Business Process A Focus on User Experience Centering Design on Value(s) and Activity Where to? X-centred design is always protest against mainstream design 14. Conceptual Clarications: User Not so relevant as a question of identity: people rarely think about themselves as users More interesting here: role of users in development The user is a complex idea: on the one hand, it is a category used by engineers and developers to refer to those who mayeventually use their systems, on the other it can refer to a range of other individuals and institutions,imagined and real, some of which begin to develop various kinds of engagement with a technologyover time. (Stewart & Hyysalo 2008) Cf. person interacting with the system (ISO standards) Focus also on user representations, not only on actual people and realised computer-mediated activity E.g., the abstraction processes between user categories used by developers and the everyday lives ofthousands, if not millions, of unique users Relational category, not entity category Object-specic: user of what? Multiple levels of granularity What can one do? Pay attention to dierent stakeholders capacity to act, who did what categories that interviewees employ & abstractions in design talk i.e. social constructionism 3.0 (borrowing from Science and Technology Studies) 15. Habbo in Everyday Life of Teens Utopia or futile consumption? Neither Brief Consumption Analysis Economic aspects 13% of users spend money!ave. 10 / month (TS 3.9.2008) Material aspects Habbo characters, rooms, navigation,communication devices, home pages, listof friends, etc. Computer, network, power, etc. Symbolic aspects Habbo fashion, popularity contests,property, groups Productive aspects Room decoration, prole creation, stories& play & games Can be compared to a school yard(for better or worse): play, games,discussion With Habbo, teens Keep in contact with friends Get current information about whatsgoing on Interact as consumers with commercialstakeholders Habbo is part of popular culture Commenting Irony Socialisation agentJohnson M, Hyysalo S, Tamminen S 2010. The Virtuality of Virtual Worlds, or What We Can Learn fromPlayacting Horse Girls and Marginalized Developers, 603-633. Symbolic Interaction 33 (4). 16. Imitating TV-show formats!Idols(User Interview 19.10.2005)The Bachelor(Fansite Kriisipalvelu.netSirHamsterPepa: Reality) Greed, Do you want tobe a millionaire, BigBrother, Survivor,Americas Next TopModel, Dating...! 17. User-Owned Fansites Habbos amateur media world news, gossip, opinions, hints, events,competitions, fun Development 2000: rst user created sites 2001-2003: Ofcial site bydeveloperswww.kultakalankuvalehti.com 2004: ofcial fansite competition 4-5 ofcial fansites: lifecycle ~3 years in Finland: ~200 fansites, most reallysmall (Dec 2004) 2006-7: Sulake-hosted groups 2009: 130 fansites globally Fansite roles tell the visitors about the socialworlds around Habbo complement the ofcial site: e.g.fashion inuence norms of behaviour inHabboImportant nodes in the Habbo service ecology 18. Important in Habbo Ones own avatar clothing styles, characterdescription Ones own room and furniture collecting, trading, decorating,browsing the furniture catalogue Habbo homepage ones avatars homepage that isvisible to anyone on the web Friends school, hobbies, new friends,dating, distant friends Play beaty contests (popularity), TVshows, games of chance, Habbo-sports, insider clubs, roleplay,playing with the spatiality of thevirtual world Career celebrities, getting rich, popularroom, in a game or gang, being afansite author, being a Habbo guide Testing boundaries and rules expressing self, treating others (e.g.,cheating, bullying), nding andusing glitches in the hotelarchitecture 19. Data: Both Users & Developersresearchtimelinedevelopmenttimelineusetimeline2000 2003 2006 2009pilotvisitorprolesurveyfan!websites!studyuser!interviewsdeveloperinterviewsuser feedback!method setcommunitymanagerinterviewsfollowing fansites!and new featureskeeping uptodate 20. Service EvolutionConcept! Beta! Expansion! Complexity! Competition!1999-2000!Mobiles Disco!Lumisota!HotelliKultakala!2001-2003!Habbo Hotel!prot modeltests!2004-2005!~10 new hotelcountriesduring oneyear!2006-2007socialnetworkingservice!2008-2010vs. Facebook!!resources! minimal! small! medium! medium! medium!tech maturity! proto! basicfunctionalitycompleted!packagedproduct!new features!rebuilding!integrationwith otherservices!marketcompetition!small! small! medium! high! high!users / month! different strategicchoices Consider: Developeruser social distance Cumulation of user knowledge Key rhythms in development Broader applicability to other design contexts 28. Thanks!http://people.aalto./mikael_johnson 29. DevelopersUsersRoom divided into sections with bar desks New oorplan with pre-made sections New oorplan with island sectionDevelopers createfurniture and oorplans.Users make rooms froma oorplan and furniture.Bar desk in room created by developers Bar desk components for users to furnish their rooms.With a bar desk onecan divide a room inparts,which allows for mazes.Lets do more furniturethat can divide rooms.Bar desks and doorsalso afford spaces,with access only forthe few and selected.ForumsUsers spread the word, mazes become a big thing.Popular roomsUsers visit these to learn about!the latest trends.CatalogueUsers choose a!oorplan and furniture!from the catalogue.Interaction arenaLets make oorplanswith pre-made sections.v1v2v3