UNI

Report for Demonstration ProjectShijie XU (David)

Supervisor: Michael LAITequila CHAN

Content

Shijie XU (David)Interaction Designer

@Hong Kong

storyofxu@gmail.com

Background

Research and Analysis Connection in Web 2.0 Intimacy Relationship

Current Scenario Personas

Problem

Insights

Concept Development Experience Strategy Concept Ideas Proposed Scenario

Proposed Scenario

Concept Execution Interaction Model Information Architecture Key Interface Prototyping Video Storyboard

Reflection

Reference

Appendix

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MDes Interaction Design 2011/12

Nowadays, socializing has been a must-add function for any services. No matter your personal life issues, like watching TV, go jogging, having dinner, and working issues, like planning, group editing, reading, noting, social network is embedded every where. The main reason that socializing rising has root in the spirit of Internet, which changes human’s interaction form and daily customs, and also because of the nature of human. Human beings evolves to be creatures that has strong need and desire for socializing. That’s why our ancestors could survive from the �erce competition in old days. So when the word “web 2.0” comes out, people feel that Internet �nally becomes a tool to spread anyone’s sound, without limitation and classes.

One direct impact is Facebook, Path, Twitter, Instagram, and pinterest gradually takes more and more spare time for ordi-nary person. When browser the website, enjoy any service, there might be small button for you to like/share/tweet/pin it into somewhere else. Frog Design’s vice president said “our Internet personalities have evolved into ampli�ed personas that aren’t truly us”. This global party inspired everyone to share and evolve. The world becomes too small for people to reach each other, and too small to hide the true you in front of the screen. Socializing shall focus on the quality rather than quantity. So my topic want to explore a possible way to narrowing social function, and embrace nature way of con-nection.

BACKGROUND

Source : SingTao Daily

UNI

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ConnectionWhat’s connection? The Six Degrees of Separation argues “Everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth”. Internet’s one purpose is to connect people, information and resource.

SolitudeWhat’s solitude? Famous philosopher Bertrand Russell describes solitude in a poetic way. “That terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss”.

The connection and solitude of human being is always contradicted coexisted. For one point, human needs connection to help each other, gather power to survive from competition and worse environment. On the other point, human need to feel lonely times by times, which can act like warning from inner body, alarming for de�ciency for intimate relationship.

RESEARCH UNI

3 4

Nowadays, socializing has been a must-add function for any services. No matter your personal life issues, like watching TV, go jogging, having dinner, and working issues, like planning, group editing, reading, noting, social network is embedded every where. The main reason that socializing rising has root in the spirit of Internet, which changes human’s interaction form and daily customs, and also because of the nature of human. Human beings evolves to be creatures that has strong need and desire for socializing. That’s why our ancestors could survive from the �erce competition in old days. So when the word “web 2.0” comes out, people feel that Internet �nally becomes a tool to spread anyone’s sound, without limitation and classes.

(1) Cannot stay alone

Yvette Vickers, a former Playboy playmate and B-movie star. She was found died for almost one year inside her depart-ment. Until last month, no one noticed her. The computer inside her room is still open and her last days were to exchange messages with her fans from Facebook and email.

We lost the ability to stay alone, and feel apart from the noisy world.The purpose for online social network is to build a self-centered social circle and create value rather than natu-ral connection

(2) No one to talk with

From a survey in US, the average number of con�dants decreased from to .In 1985, only 10& of Americans had no one to discuss important matters, 15% have only 1 such good friend. By 2004, this number increased to 25,20.We become lonelier.

RESEARCH UNI

3) Conversation to Isolation

Sherry Turkle, professor from MIT Media Lab, describe how human being gradually turns from conversation, to connection and �nally isolation. That all the digital devices helps people to make easy contact to be connected, leading to a �at and cheap connection.

2.94 2.08Number of Con�dants

1995

2004

Connection in Web 2.0

Conversation

Connection

Isolation

5 6

4) Self-centered personality

Biologist and psychologist Jean Piaget found that children before 8 cannot think from other’s perspective. But when we grow up, we will learn to understand and think about what other people’s thinking. In current SNS, our mind seems to be more childish. Most serviced are designed self-centered.Has fear that no one is listening to me.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) has been another impact from current SNS. People fear they may lost some key parts from other friends broadcasting, which most means nothing to them. The time and energy spent on this create a loneliness feeling.

5) Purpose of Sharing

The basic purpose for people interacting on SNS changed from information exchange into a self-compelling behavior. Purpose changed from “I feel therefore I share” into “I share therefore I am”.

CURRENT SCENARIO UNI

Jean Piaget

I FEEL therefore I SHARE

I SHARE therefore I AM

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Karen J. Prager writes in The Psychology of Intimacy about two core values of intimacy relationship. First, it need exchange of intimate information. Second, it need produce regular positive feelings in order to be tightly connected.

Progress of forming intimacyTo form intimacy needs to pass three stages. Self-disclosure, keep intimacy, social-identity support

Bene�ts from intimacy.From General Social Survey in 2004, con�dents’ number of Americans decreased from 2.94 in 1995 to 2.08 in 2004. People’s trusted friends has been decreased in current situation.Another research from Martin Seligman �nds that 10% of the happiest and unworried students has a similar situation in social relationship, that they all own intimate friends and family who they can frequently get social support. Martin proposes that if we want to be happy, we had better to build social skills and intimate relationship with friends.

Martin Seligman’s Research on Source of Happiness

Biological Resource for Intimacy

UNICURRENT SCENARIO

Intimacy Relationship

Happiest Students

Stable Intimated Friends & Family

Happiness

Enjoyment Engagement(Long Term)

Meaning

10%

Brain + Hormone Trust and Love

produce regular positive feelings

exchange of intimate information

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Case Study 1: How Daniel form an activity with Angela and Eva?

CURRENT SCENARIO UNI

Personas

Angela EvaIntimate:

Daniel, 23, Student

Upload photos of current activities on Facebook

Have less than 5 tight friends who he can talk personal issues with

Plenty of time on SNS everyday

Strong desire for outdoor activities

emotionphotovideo

Take&Share

Broadcaste tohis audience

Daniel

HIS

Case Study 2: How Daniel manage experience with Angela?

Rose

MailingAddress

CurrentStatus

PhoneNumber

Chat history

iPhone Memo

FacebookTwitterQQ...

TitanicPhoto

Facebook,Instagram...

Her Computer

QQ, MaiboxHistory

Message &Mails

Info. Mutual Experience

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CURRENT SCENARIO UNICURRENT SCENARIO UNI

Case Study 3: How Daniel record and manage a mutual trip experience with Angela and Eva?

Unorganized

Self-centered

Normal Friends

Daniel

Angela

Eva

Facebook

Path

Instagram

Timeline

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PROBLEMS UNI

People are easily distracted by current experience recording and sharing ways

Intimacy Relationship

1

Intimate friends’ information is outdating, incomplete and unorganized2

Current SNS is human-centered, and divided into isolated friend pro�le3

People has less time to schedule and start new experience with intimate friends4

John Dewey wrote in Having an Experience about what de�nes an experience.

That means the experience must be recalled easily, and have a summarized name to call it when people mention it. So it contains in involved people’s memory, and can be recognized by other people if you review it together.

The key point of being a story or not lies in whether it has vivid plots and information. We may recall on memory from one image or word, but we will recall more interesting things related, because of these highlights together makes the story di�erent. Therefore, experience shall have memorable moments at beginning, in the middle and afterwards.

Keywords to describe a good experience. It should mean a mutual experience to people, and can be review after a long time, and bring these people back into times they get together. And these experience and produce positive or moving moods to people involved.

John Dewey, “Having an Experience”, Art as Experience

An experience should have a name

Experience are stories

Meaningful, Emotional, Memorable, Durable

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From above research and analysis. I gained following insights for my projects.

1. Create and sustain intimate relationship can produce regular positive feelings for intimate connection

2. Mutual experience is important points to maintain intimacy and shall be together shared and enjoyed

3. A shared experience shall recall people’s emotions and memory even after a long time

4. Current social network services ignores people’s strong connection for experience sharing and creating

5. The quality and connection intensity is more important than quantity and time.

UNIINSIGHTS

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Help Young People

Create and Sustain

intimate relationship through

creating activities,

story telling

and reflect mutual experience

together with your intimate friends.

Exprience Strategy

UNICONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Purpose

Action

Agency

Scene

Agent

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UNICONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

UNI

Through Create ActivityStory Telling and

Reflect Mutual Experience

Create + SustainIntimacy Relationship

Together with your intimate friends

Story Telling

Experience Centered

Multi-platformFriend ProfileGroup ProfileWish List

UNI – a multi-platform application, helps people to create and sustain intimate relationship.

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UNIPROPOSED SCENARIO

Story

Planning

DocumentMoments

CreateReflection

Review

Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4Chapter 1

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UNIINTERACTION MODEL

Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4Chapter 1

UNI

Joint Selection

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UNIINFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Add

Sign In

FB, TwitterAccount

Story

Wish

Friend

Brief

Show

Edit

Edit

Chapter

Timeline

Content

Photo

Video

Map

Weather

Drawing

Notes

Name

Cover

Type

Brief

RelatedStories

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UNIKEY INTERFACE

1. Sign In 2. Story List 3. Friend List

4. Edit Story 5. Chapter 1 6. Chapter 2

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UNIPROTOTYPING

Prototyping Slider for timeline function in Story Editing page and Story View page31 32

UNIVIDEO STORYBOARD

How much better it would be if you exchange your happiness with your close friends?

Introduce UNI,a multi-platorm application retell and exchange a shared story with your intimate friends

Daniel, 23-years-old, studies in college UNI helps him to create and sustain intimate relationship

He can add wish in his iPad application and sync up with his friends

Daniel plan a Taiwan trip with Angela and Eva It is fantastic, they take many photos, videos, and stories

Whey come back, they come together to retell their memory33 34

UNIPROPOSED SCENARIO

UNI helps them to recompose the journey into chapters

Daniel add a video for seaside chapter, while angela and eva have photos and jokes about it

They together add some drawings, notes and relevant information

all of them make contributions to a shared re�ection for this Taiwan Trip

UNI make it so easy and attractive for young people like Daniel to exchange stories with their friends

UNI, exchange your stories together with your friends

It will help maintain your intimate relationship and create more

Meaningful, memorable, durable,35 36

UNIREFLECTION

Jonathan Eve said in video for Retina MacBook Pro, "To create something really new, you have to start again". For me, the capstone process is just an opportunity to start what I have learned in this program into a new project.

At the beginning, I am really lost in �nding opportunity to start. There are so many things interesting, but not attracting my mind to follow, until I read a passage talking about loneliness in Facebook from the Atlantic. This is really attracting me to study interaction design before I come to Hong Kong. I want to learn and make research not only on one �eld, like computer science, biology, or physics, but absorb information from a broad way. Social science, arts, psychology, history, such kind of �elds all make me excited, although I am a engineering student before. So interaction design is a perfect combination to approach, it focus on human behavior, focus what they do with each other, and what e�ect and reply these actions would cause. So when I see loneliness in Facebook, I sense it talks about how socialized technology in�uence human's emotion and behavior, it's really a worthy researching topic for me.

I borrowed bunches of books from PolyU library, random but recommended by public course professor. Some books mention how children build their recognition for others, why human connect in terms of sociology, how to talk with strangers, and what is intimacy. I enjoy these kinds of background study to explore things looks theoretic but interesting, helping me to understand deeper for my topic and �nding problems.

When I �nished all my presentation, I feel my project may not be a really new one. It has shadows of close interaction prod-ucts, journal photos and Google Event. Some scenarios are a little idealized because of the weak interface and guide. But I still think it make sense in creating a new way to interact with your close friends. It's not new for activities intimates do together. Actually they should interact like this or even more tightly in physical world. Just due to their addiction to cur-rent socialized services, every one they are not connected so tight than before. Although they are friends and could check everyone's status in Facebook, Twitter, Path, Instagram, RenRen, Google Circles... UNI reminds people, especially close friends to rethink their relationship with each other. Think about what makes them feel truly comfortable with their intimacy, activity sharing, interacting scenario and communicating tools. It also reminds people that no matter how e�ective, realistic and convenient technology brings to communication, it still cannot cover values from face to face talking. It's a human nature that people talk in front of each other, with possibility to touch, to laugh, to lose temper, to pay attention, to feel temperature, and to make mistakes. Tech can never be a good friend to provide assists to human nature, but can never be an alternative.

Thanks a lot for Michael Lai, Tequila Chan and classmates' hearing, advice and time together in capstone. We can course UNI in future.

Your David, 18/07/2012

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UNIREFERENCE

[1] Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, Basic Books, 2011

[2] John T. Cacioppo, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, W. W. Norton&Company, 2008

[3] Stephen Marche, Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?, the Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/8930/

[4] Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone? [video], TED, http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html

[5] John M. Grohol, FOMO Addiction: The Fear of Missing Out, PsychCentral, http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/04/14/fomo-addiction-the-fear-of-missing-out/

[6] Je�rey Zeldman, Web 3.0, http://www.alistapart.com/articles/web3point0

[7] Paul Bloom, Introduction to Psychology, Open Yale Courses

[8] John F. Kihlstrom, Psychology: Social Cognition, Open Berkeley Courses

[9] Irving Singer, Feeling and Imagination in Art, Science, and Technology, Open MIT Courses

[9] Irving Singer, Feeling and Imagination in Art, Science, and Technology, Open MIT Courses

[10] Bernard Reginster, Nietzsche on Mind and Nature, Open OXFORD Courses

[11] Susan T Fiske, Shelley E Taylor, Social Cognition, McGraw-Hill, 1991

[12] Eviatar Zerubavel, Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology

[13] Stephen Marche, Is Facebook Making Us Lonely, Altantic Magazine, May 2012

[14] Karen Karbo, Friendship: The Laws of Attractions, Psychology Today, May 2012

[15] Terri Thornton, How Social Media ‘Friends’ Translate into Real-Life Friendship, Mediashift, July 2011

[16] Karen J. Prager, The Psychology of Intimacy, Guilford Press, 1997

[17] John Dewey, Having an Experience, Art as Experience, 1934

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UNIAPPENDIX

Analysis on Online and O�ine communication

Poster

Focus

General

Single-tasking

Multi-tasking

Intimate

Normal

Comfortable

Careful

Real-time

Late-time

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