Social translucence

Abstract

We are interested in designing systems that support communication and collaboration among large groups of people over computer networks. We begin by asking what properties of the physical world support graceful human-human communication in face-to-face situations, and argue that it is possible to design digital systems that support coherent behavior by making participants and their activities visible to one another. We call such systems "socially translucent systems" and suggest that they have three characteristics-visibility, awareness, and accountability-which enable people to draw upon their social experience and expertise to structure their interactions with one another. To motivate and focus our ideas we develop a vision of knowledge communities, conversationally based systems that support the creation, management and reuse of knowledge in a social context. We describe our experience in designing and deploying one layer of functionality for knowledge communities, embodied in a working system called "Babble," and discuss research issues raised by a socially translucent approach to design.

Awareness, Transience and Temporality: Design Opportunities from Rah Island

“…It is more a matter of uncovering somewhat hidden or overlooked opportunities within design oriented HCI, which can add value to designing for a wide variety of settings, practices and systems. In making this connection, we have relied upon visibility, awareness and accountability, all key concepts within HCI and CSCW, as formulated by Erickson and Kellog in their social translucence [9] approach. This will be expanded upon in the next section.…”

“…Social translucence [9] is a systems design approach developed over a decade ago, as a method to design collaborative systems for large groups [9]. Three concepts are introduced which we used to take our observations and move into a design reasoning process: visibility, awareness and accountability.…”

“…The awareness that someone is on the other side of the door, helps avoid the inconvenient situation, as the authors put it: "we have been raised in a culture in which slamming doors into other people is not sanctioned" [9]. Thus, by knowing there is a person on the other side, one is made aware of a potential awkward incident, and so could be persuaded to avoid it.…”

“…Using three concepts from Social Translucence: visibility, awareness and accountability [9], as a lens, we argue for three design domains worth exploring in HCI: spatial awareness, temporality and transience. We conclude by introducing the concept of digital patina, as a possible consequence of the exploring the domains introduced, and an exciting one to unpack in HCI.…”

Social Translucence as a Theoretical Framework for Sustainable HCI

“…The Theory of Social Translucence [5] argues that motivating desired behavior requires more than making one's behavior visible to his or her social network. It identifies three properties -visibility, awareness, and accountability -of socially translucent systems, systems that support coherent behavior in groups and communities by making participants and their activities visible to one another.…”