Conversations in ContextA Twitter Case for Social Media Systems Design

Aldo de MoorCommunitySense

the Netherlands

WWW.COMMUNITYSENSE.NL

Communication tools: then

Communication tools: now

Collaborative communities

� Communities� Strong, lasting interactions

� Bonds between members

� Common space

� Sense of community

� Collaborative communities

?

� Collaborative communities� Common goals

� Effective/efficient communication

� Perform/coordinate work� Community governance structures/processes� Common space = Internet + face-to-face� Prime examples in/between/around (multinational)

corporations, (government) bureaucracies, research networks

Collaborative fragmentation

� Paradox:� Never before so much need & potential for collaboration

� Never before so much fragmentation of collaboration

� Collaborative fragmentation� Organizations

� Workflows� Workflows

� Technologies

� Pragmatic errors abound� Breakdown of social and contextual components of a

discourse

� Far beyond ICT

PragWeb to the rescue

� Pragmatic Web perspective� How are communicative actions with a pragmatic context

performed via Web media?

� How can mutual understanding and commitments to action evolve in conversations?

� Research questionHow can social media (and other tools/information systems) � How can social media (and other tools/information systems) be put to effective use

� In the goal-driven conversation context typical of collaborative communities?

Outline

� Conceptual model of collaborative communities� Conversations in socio-technical context� Communicative affordances/constraints of Twitter� Social media systems design perspective� Scenario

Collaborative communities –usage context

� Goals� Activities: operationalized goals, with deliverable

� “writing a group report”

� Aspects: abstract goals, across processes and structures

� “legitimacy”, “efficiency”

� Actors� Detailed role ontologies

� “Administrator”, “Facilitator”, “Member”

� “WikiChampion”, “WikiZenMaster”

� “Position Defender”, “Argument Summarizer”, “Report Conclusion Editor”

� Domains� Professional culture, work practices, …

Collaborative communities –tool system

� Tool system� the system of integrated and customized information and

communication tools tailored to the specific information, communication, and coordination requirements of a collaborative community

Tool system levels� Tool system levels� Systems: “group report writing system”� Tools: “blogs”, “courseware”, “authoring support tool” � Modules: “position definition/taking”, “argument creation”� Functions: “add argument pro”, “add argument con”

Collaboration patterns

Community = conversation

� Conversations build the common ground of a community� Principle of least collaborative effort

� depends on purpose and (costs of using) the medium

� Language/Action Perspective� Conversations = set of communicative acts grounded in social

relationships and focused on organizational coordination

� Conversations are back with a vengeance on the Internet� 1960s-1980s: e-mail, mailing lists, Usenet (communication)

� 1990s-2000s: the Syntactic, early semantic Web (information)

� 2010s-…: Web 2.0, social media, Semantic Web++/Pragmatic Web… (content + conversations + context = collaboration)

Socio-technical conversation context

Conversation purposes

� Information exchange� Coordination� Collaborative sensemaking� Relationship building� Relationship building

Twitter functions

• Self-contained tweets

• Replies• Replies• Retweets• Links• Topics (#)• Lists

Twitter personal profiles

http://twitter.com/hrheingold

Twitter lists

http://twitter.com/hrheingold/journalism

Twitter topic conversations

#semanticweb

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23semanticweb

Twitter use characteristics

• Twitter usage– Information sharing, information seeking, maintaining

relationships (Java et al. 2007)

– Keeping in touch, drawing attention to info, gathering useful info, seeking help and opinions, releasing emotional stress (Zhao and Rosson 2009)emotional stress (Zhao and Rosson 2009)

• Twitter users– Broadcasters, acquaintances, miscreants/evangelists

(Krishnamurty et al. 2008)

– Information sources, friends, information seekers (Java et al. 2007)

Tool comparison: conversation functionality

Blogs Twitter

Conversation fragmentation

• Many blogs • One server

Conversationlinks

• Comment on post? +

• Tweet reply to tweet? –links post? +

• Post on post? -tweet? –• Tweeter has replies? +

Conversationtracking

• Scattered:conversation reconstruction -

• Centralized: replies, topics +• Linear presentation -

Tool comparison: conversation practices

Blogs Twitter

“Conversationalglue”

• Linking to posts/comments +

• Replies, # topics +

Conversationspawning

• Tangentialconversations +

• Tangentialconversations ++spawning conversations + conversations ++

Conversation with self/others

• Conversation with self +

• Conversation with others +

Twitter in conversation context

Socio-technical systems design

� Ecosystems of tools� Communityware = dinosaurs R.I.P.

� Functionalities compete, evolve, are used, and replaced

� Apps = essence of Pragmatic Web!

� No generic solutions, always collaborative sensemaking (of collaboration patterns?) needed by community for (of collaboration patterns?) needed by community for selection, linking, configuring of tools

� Socio-technical systems design� Collaborative communities need to evaluate the

functionalities in their unique usage context

� Understand the purpose of the technologies in this context

� Adopt a collaborative sensemaking process view with stakeholders

Scenario: IPCC report review

� International Panel on Climate Change

• Very complex assessment reports• E.g. 5th report had 831 scientific contributors• E.g. 5th report had 831 scientific contributors

• Results often controversial

• InterAcademy Council requested to do independent review

• But: quality/legitimacy requires input from multitude of stakeholders

• How to scale their sufficient/timely input ?

Scenario: IPCC report review (1)

Write review

IPCC Report Review Wiki

IPCC Report ReviewMailing List

Coordinate

Topic #1Topic #1

Topic #11

View: worldEdit: topic stewards

Coordinate review

View: review committeeEdit: review committee

Scenario: IPCC report review (2)

@ipcc_review #ipcc_t11 #ipcc_t11

• Requests• Announcements

View: worldEdit: review committee

Solicit input

@ipcc_reviewaccount

#ipcc_t11: Needed, experton polar ice cap melting

• @John: I know an expert X #ipcc_t11• @Jane: I know an expert Y#ipcc_t11”

View: worldEdit: ---

Review input(public)

#ipcc_t11topic conv’n

View: review committeeEdit: review committee

Use input(private)

#ipcc_t11experts list

• @Jane: I know an expert Y#ipcc_t11”

Conclusions

� More communicative potential, but less of it used than ever

� Collaborative communities analysis� socio-technical conversation contexts

� Social media systems design� Collaborative sensemaking

� Match communicative requirements with enabling (social � Match communicative requirements with enabling (social media) functionalities, e.g. Twitter

� Directions� Ontologies for interaction

� E.g. collaboration patterns

� “Pragmatic bus”

� Community lifecycle alignment

� Socio-technical systems devt methodologies

� Use social media systems lens to (re)gain collaborative focus