Blog Posts About: Social Design

International Conference on
Virtual Communities 2004- Presentation Slides

I'm sure the slides won't do the presentations justice. I wish I could have been there...

I was recently pointed to the AIGA Design Forum, which I think is an interesting discussion forum design that uses a weblog-like format for what they call "Articles" and "Discussions".

Notice that the basic elements of the articles and discussions are weblog-style tools, yet the site stops short of having an actual weblog or weblogs (no permalinks/trackbacks/blogroll/ etc.). It's like weblog entries and comments have taken the place of threaded discussion/message board tools. I'm still trying to figure out what I think about this.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this kind of design? I'm reminded of Scott Moore's recent comment that it's "all just data".

In the comments of a recent post on online community tool integration, the insightful Scott Moore said this

“I'd also like to see trackbacking on a local level *between* discussions/blog posts connecting separate discussions.�?

This was music to my ears as the most recent upgrade to my workspace accomplished just this- Trackback across discussions and weblogs in a single online community space. This entry describes how this works and why it could be an emerging feature of online communities.

Trackback in the Weblog World

I believe that the linking we’re seeing in the weblog world can be applied to online communities and offer new ways for online communities to communicate.

A specific example of this is Trackback (plain english explanation), which is a system that webloggers use to link weblogs discussing a related subject. Trackback allows readers to navigate across a “discussion�? occurring across a number of blogs. We'll see below how Trackback can be used to link a weblog to an online discussion inside an online community.

Online Communities with Weblogs

Consider an online community, which is usually based on a single tool for discussions, like a message board. While these have been very successful historically, there are new opportunities to add tools and processes that enhance the community.

Consider how a weblog (or weblogs) could be used in a traditional, discussion-based community. A weblog would allow the community leader(s) to chronicle the discussions and related news in real time. The weblogs add a personal point of view that highlights specific discussions, making the community navigable via weblog.

While the weblog itself may be nice, it is how the weblog and weblog tools are integrated into the community that produces the value.

Discussions, Weblogs and Trackback

I envision a community where multiple discussions are occurring at once. As these discussions transpire, the community weblogger may choose to write about the discussion and link to it in the weblog. This way, members reading the weblog can go directly to the discussion via a link.

The link in the weblog is great, but it is one-directional, from the weblog to the discussion. The problem is that readers of the discussion may have no way to know about the weblog entry.

To maximize this system, the weblog must be able to Trackback to the discussion. This means that as the link is created in the weblog, a link must simultaneously appear in the discussion automatically – linking the two resources on both sides, bi-directionally. This way, the discussion reader can easily discover the weblog entry and vice-versa.

Here’s what this looks like in my workspace…

A discussion occurs; in this case it’s a fictional discussion about lawn care. The community weblogger sees the discussion and blogs it in the community weblog and links to the discussion. Notice the readable link to a community discussion:

As the blogger links to the discussion, the system recognizes the link and automatically adds a link to the discussion. Notice the "Also Referenced Here:" link at the bottom of the post:

Thanks to the link appearing in the discussion (a trackback) the system easily integrates the weblog into the discussion system, allowing members to navigate across the two resources easily.

I'm looking for some help here folks. I'm looking for a vendor that integrates weblogs and threaded discussion forums into the same environment. This means that members would be able to log into an online community and start a weblog for their thoughts and/or start a new discussion with a group.

The preference is that this vendor also provides these on a hosted basis- meaning that the vendor owns the hardware and everything is browser-based.

Right now, Web Crossing is one that I know can handle this, but I'm hoping to find others too.

Any thoughts?

Something I learned from the Cluetrain Manifesto was this (paraphrased by me): Companies should understand that customers are going to talk about them on the Internet- and they should pay attention because it is those conversations that matter. I believe that to be true in many cases.

My friends at KDA Research have made significant progress in helping organizations understand what these online conversations mean- and how they can be used.

They call it "Virtual Ethnography" and their paper: An Exploration of Virtual Ethnography (Download .pdf 100kb) is a great introduction to the methodologies, considerations, and findings of Virtual Ethnography.

Virtual ethnography enables companies and researchers to tap this storehouse [of online community discussions], discovering valuable insights through the observation and analyses of online community member conversations. Using a framework similar to traditional ethnography, virtual ethnography uses a holistic approach to understand specific online communities and member interactions in the context of a given research question.

It is nice to see folks looking at online communities with an eye on the business implications.

You may know that Microsoft recently introduced Channel 9- a site that provides a look into the "cockpit" of Microsoft development. I’ve been watching as it lifted off and I’m pretty darn impressed.

I think Channel 9 may be able to help show the world that the Microsoft folks are not a bunch of money hungry demons. I think Channel 9 has a very humanizing effect for the developers- and shows their insights and personalities.

Most importantly for me, I’m seeing a big step in terms of an online community site using a large number of tools at once. The site uses multimedia weblogs, a wiki, RSS and discussion forums in one environment.

For instance...

Robert Scoble just posted about Wiki's let communities build cool directories. In this case, the wiki was used to create a directory of all the Longhorn-related webloggers. This directory was assembled by a group of community members, all making their own updates to the wiki to contribute to the knowledge and benefit of the group. This directory is part of the community environment- not a separate tool or resource.

Channel 9 also provides a great example of using stocks and flows together. Channel 9 uses their community resources to create an environment that:

1. Produces flow through the weblogs and forums- engaging readers in an ongoing discussion.
2. Stocks the significant and flowing information in an easy to organize, update and reference format- a wiki.

I'm glad to see Microsoft seeing the value of these tools and using them in a way that sets a positive example.