Workshop Proposal for Hypertext 2006
Workshop Title
Process + Structure: Social Software friend or enemy?
How do we provide frameworks for emergence?
Description
Wiki, blogs, syndication and folksonomy practices have created a new space for social interaction. Quite often these are created as blank spaces and emergent social structures are expected to appear. In some cases though this never happens. Why is this the case? What social structures and processes are required for successful social software?
The power of tools like blogs and wikis is that they are very simple. Because of that they can be used for many purposes and in different situations. In the case of a wiki it is an inherently unstructured hypertext space. What kind of non-software, human based, rules, process and structures are required to help these simple tools become successful? What kinds of uses can they be put to and how do we make them successful? Is there any commonality between emergent and designed social processes? Is there any commonality between processes in different contextual uses?
This workshop focuses on real life experiences and will try to highlight advantages and discuss limitations, trying to identify those due to technology and those tied to practices.
Our planned deliverable is a more complete understanding of the social software powered landscape and hopefully a list of essential best practices.
Type of Workshop
We are planning this workshop halfway between a "Papers plus discussion" and "Working group meeting" model.
We'll have an introduction to the problem and the presentation of a success story from Headshift experience running about 45 minutes. Then we expect 5 other stories from the attendees, outlining different points of view on the use of software tools (blogs, wikis, and syndication) as support for social cooperation. We also expect "anecdotes" to emerge from the audience as the stories unfold. The time slot for each story is about 20 minutes, plus 15 minutes for discussion and anecdotes.
The second part of the workshop will be an open space, aimed at actively working on the most critical issues emerging from the first part of the workshop.
Similar Workshops
Duration
The workshop is planned to last around 6 hours, including breaks.
Intended Audience
This workshop is intended for practicioners and researchers. We want real stories and case studies to be presented but we welcome active contribution from anyone.
Number of Participants
We expect about 15 participants, 5 of them presenting a story.
Planned Activities
The lead up to workshop will be managed via a wiki space. First part of physical workshop is about storytelling and anecdotes. The second part of the workshop is an open space involving all willing participants.
Workshop Organizers
Riccardo Cambiassi and Dan Dixon who both work at Headshift which is a company specialising in the creation of simple, easy to use social software.
Contact: Riccardo Cambiassi riccardo@headshift.com +44 20 7357 7358
