I am deeply interested in human-machine interaction in intimate life and how this results in a new sort of human-machine intimacy. Today I stumbled upon the new Facebook feature which allows users to add "I'm expecting" under the family members section, announcing a pregnancy to others. This shows up under 'family members' on the profile …
Continue reading Expecting? Intimate life and human-machine interaction
In his seminal book "Code", Larry Lessig argued that social systems are regulated by four forces: 1) the market; 2) the law; 3) social norms; and 4) architecture or code. In thinking about social media systems, plenty of folks think about monetization. Likewise, as issues like privacy pop up, we regularly see legal regulation become …
Continue reading Designing for Social Norms (or How Not to Create Angry Mobs)
Everyone's abuzz with the "nymwars," mostly in response to Google Plus' decision to enforce its "real names" policy. At first, Google Plus went on a deleting spree, killing off accounts that violated its policy. When the community reacted with outrage, Google Plus leaders tried to calm the anger by detailing their "new and improved" mechanism …
Continue reading “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power
We had an informative discussion with Margy from MIT Press today who was kind enough to talk with us about scholarly publishing from the perspective of an academic press. She was generous with her time (and with her back - she lugged some heavy books into the meeting for show and tell) and one list …
Continue reading Dissertation to book proposal: Four rules of thumb
We have a mailing list set up for current and former members of the SMC, where some very productive conversations take place. Recently, danah asked for recommendations for academic work about how social norms are created and maintained (preferably involving technology, but not necessarily). "Norms" are the behaviors and standards considered acceptable by a particular …
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