TITLE OF PAPER: Software for Skyscrapers URL OF PRESENTATION: _URL_of_powerpoint_presentation_ PRESENTED BY: William Davies & James Crabtree REPRESENTING: iSociety CONFERENCE: O'Reilly ETech 04 DATE: February 10, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- REAL-TIME NOTES / ANNOTATIONS OF THE PAPER: {If you've contributed, add your name, e-mail & URL at the bottom} Musing about the "Golden age of Social Software" - currently about homogenous crowds - we're not futurists, and we won't be providing flashing predictions Marks Barfield asked them to think about how social software could be used in their new skyscraper "A new building with lots of people provides an interesting test for social software" - people who aren't like each other - who don't know they have shared interests - don't care about social software -cope with specific software contexts - not all action is emergent Introducing Skyhouse: 21st century concept building 800 people, 500 residences - greenwich peninsula site Shows skyhouse concept video Resources: design plans, resident surveys, location, technology, totally wired/wireless/net cafe, pricing, most buildings are governed top down, and skyhouse is no exception skyhouse is diverese: millionaires and schooltechers in the same block Forseen dilemma of the architect: will probably never be a single community but should be a neighborhood transient residents make the standing wave of a neighborhood difficult social software could help, as long as shared interests can be idenitfied in a diverse community J.G. BALLARD: "Hi Rise": dystopian view of high-density living MORI research: interviews with potential residents - from this gathered priorities, with "A home" being the key driver and community spirit high on the list HOTELS AND FRATHOUSES Guess that the same social capital will work for skyscraper the architects want to turn the building into a 'small world' a la network theory When they asked potential residents about whether they would be into the community of the building, responses were mostly negative. (not homely, classes don't mix...) - Too little social capital - The wrong sort of social capital first -ve scenario: - skyhouse turns into a hotel - "Non-local community" Frat houses: - 'homophily', excessive balkanization - like-people seek out each other and band together - "good fences make good neighbors", "love thy neighbor, but do not cut down thy hedge" Software in skyscrapers: - what types of cooperation might be required? - even if you are not friends you have some things in common due to location - what will you want people around you to do for the community Shared interests based on: INFRASTRUCTURE this is the weakest tie between people, but crucial to maintaining function and therefore some form of social order - Publicity knowledge management for spaces - informal early warning systems - Intelligence - Governance TASKS These are situation specific - e.g. playing sport, childcare, trade. Requires 'trust between strangers' - higher level than infrastructure ties. Studies show that activities that require cooperation rather than promoting it do better at building soc cap. benefits: trust in one-off interactions codified reputation speed - soc soft can enable fast group forming around tasks sport is a good example (skyhouse squash ladder page) childcare trade these activites require trusts between strangers studies show activities that require cooperation have more effect than those that promote cooperation on the overall 'social capital' cf. robert puttnum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital ["Social capital "refers to the collective value of all 'social networks' and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other."] the codification of trust and reputation: past history trust in one-opff reputations hi-churn environ: software could help create persistence CULTURE Barriers: - churn - scale - norms and etiquette (mock Skyhouse-ster user friends' page) This needs stronger bonds - it is about being with people based on common interests and friendship The risks in pursuing social capital through social software infrastructure risks: - culture of complaint - mob rule culture risks: - apathy -virtual nosiness / curtain twitchers / invasion of privacy by a community Limits of generic social software - friendster & meetup pursue the capital directly, which works with no official status - it requires people to be interested in social software - and means that they probably don't have general applicability TASKS MATTER MOST In Skyhouse there would be unambiguous benefits of top-down social software that is task oriented. Why? - soc cap best pursued obliquely - this is an area of F2F that resembles CMC - has reputation, codification, ratings requirements etc already - this is an area where top-down provision will increase trust rather than reduce it LOOKING FORWARD - Question: is that *your* responsibility to create it? Some things can't be left to emergence - top-down not a dirty word - what types of soc soft need formalising rather than leaving 'out there'? For Skyhouse, they suggest that *only* mainstream task-based activities should become a concern for management Noted UpMyStreet as an inspiration. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- REFERENCES: {as documents / sites are referenced add them below} iSociety: http://www.theworkfoundation.com/research/isociety/ Marks barfield: http://www.marksbarfield.com/ JG Ballard's "High Rise" iSociety's "You Don't Know Me, But..." social capital: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital http://UpMyStreet.com/ [I'LL BE POSTING THIS ONLINE HERE http://trevor.typepad.com/blog/2004/02/oreilly_emergin.html ] [SO MAKE YOUR EMAIL OF THE FORM user (at) domain dot com or type REMOVE next to it and I'll do so before posting] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTRIBUTORS: {add your name, e-mail address and URL below} Trevor F. Smith, trevorolio at(@) mac .(dot) com, http://trevor.smith.name/ matt (at) blackbeltjones.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES ON / KEY TO THIS TEMPLATE: A headline (like a field in a database) will be CAPITALISED This differentiates from the text that follows A variable that you can change will be surrounded by _underscores_ Spaces in variables are also replaced with under_scores This allows people to select the whole variable with a simple double-click A tool-tip is lower case and surrounded by {curly brackets / parentheses} These supply helpful contextual information. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright shared between all the participants unless otherwise stated...