Sunday, April 3, 2011

Session 6: Online Identity and Interaction


I believe that the greatest invention in all of history is broadband technology. Broadband has given us the ability to communicate with each other in ways that less then 100 years ago was considered to be only possible by the divine.

Wellman stated, “Communication will be everywhere, but because it is independent of place, it will be situated nowhere.” Outside of the business world, I believe this statement to be 100% true. When I was a child and wanted to hang out with my friends I would call their house and hope that someone would receive the call so we can make plans and meet up. If I wanted to send my grandmother a birthday card I would send it to her home. Today, instead of communication being connected to a place it is connected to the person. I no longer call someone’s home but instead just call the person using mobile phone or wireless broadband technology.

I know this is not a new understanding of communication but as I was thinking through our current forms of sending and receiving information I began wondering about how little I (we) have embraced these abilities. Every cell phone comes equipped with voice mail but voice mail is a feature that was only needed when communication was restricted to a location and not a person. Voicemail was a need when people were away from their homes. Now that we call the person and not a location voicemail has become obsolete. What do we say in a voicemail that does not already get communicated through caller ID? Today, I am more likely to leave a voicemail with someone if I don’t want to receive a call back. A voicemail that says, “Just seeing what you are up to tonight give me a call back,” conveys no more information then a simple missed call notification.

Probably the most useless aspect of a voicemail is that it is a recorded audio message that allows for very little interaction. Take the above message example: In the amount of time it took me to call someone and leave that message I could have created either a Facebook message or a rarely used Google Wave and informed friends of plans including a list of who has committed to meeting up for the evening, real time location sharing of everyone’s current position, reviews and links to some possible destinations and a live feed of suggestions of activities.

Donath’s article speaks at length about social grooming and how that can be used to communicate with friends within the same network. Liu took this idea further and studied the personal impact and benefit of social grooming on MySpace. A huge dilemma within anthropological studies of online communities and SNSs concerns the true identity of one’s online self. When I was a freshman in college I found myself reflecting on my life and questioning if I influenced my environment or if my environment influenced me. Put another way, why do I find one form of art appealing while others remain uninteresting. The question concerns how much control we have over our subconscious. However, with our digital selves we are in 100% control over how we present this aspect of our lives.

When it comes to digital grooming and the disclosing of personal preferences we can choose to be as honest or as eccentric as we want to reveal. If my musical taste revolves around local independent bands but found myself really enjoying the latest Katy Perry single do I chose to disclose this information online and if I do or do not how does that impact the authenticity of my digital representation.

The authenticity of one’s digital self can impact recommender systems in both positive and negative ways. Liu stated, “The limitations of these large-scale computational and statistical methods include the loss of some transparency —not always being able to understand how a generalization was reached or how it can be mapped back onto specific examples; and the loss of some precision—not being able to model all the technical factors and data interactions that explain a conclusion.” For Liu on MySpace and now more on Facebook we digitally groom our profiles to portray us in a specific way. For these websites we chose to make public the experiences we want to share while hiding others we do not want people to know about. For a SNS like Facebook where most of our friends are people we know from offline experiences this is not that big of a deal. Yet for websites that incorporate a recommender system, such as Netflix, this becomes a much bigger issue. Once a film has been viewed it is connected to your profile and that information will need to be processed in some way for Netflix to make an accurate suggestion. Netflix employs a star ranking system so the user can communicate somewhat with the recommender algorithm.

Still there are some films that have troubled the Netflix recommender. Techdirt refers to this as the Napoleon Dynamite problem. Mike Masnick of techdirt states, “No one seems quite sure what leads to such a strong polar reaction, and no algorithm can yet figure out how people will react to such films, which is where all of the various algorithms seem to run into a dead end.” He goes on to note that placing too strong of an emphasis on algorithms and not enough on social filtering could have cause this issue.    

So when it comes to choosing the next movie to watch we can either trust the recommender systems to properly evaluate our digital profiles (do we have control of our environment?) or we can match our preferences up with our friends with similar taste (does our environment control us?)

Both Foursquare and Whrrl, both geosocial smartphone apps, just announced a recommender system that will help give suggestions based on past experiences and location. For these websites the digital grooming of ones profile is much more important if we care to receive accurate results. But at the same time there seems to be more quality in simply being able to compare Foursquare experiences within tightly knit social circles. Would we be more likely to try a restaurant if a friend tells us to or if our smartphones do? With smartphone apps like Blacktop entire vacations can be presented in a single screenshot including notes on all the various places visited. 



Would this be more useful then checking out a tour book from the library?

Or if I have a friend moving to Hawaii they can simply browse my Foursquare page and know all the best places to eat, get their hair cut and the best secret beaches to swim at. Now a general landscape of the city is much more easily accessible thanks to these geosocial tools.

So do people join Foursquare to play the geosocial game and to accrue mayorships (the social capitol of Foursquare) or is it more to leave a digital log of where they have been and to potentially meet up with friends? While the majority fall under the first category the second is actually where the benefit of these tools lie. Yet the problem with Foursqaure, or any geotagging SNS, is that it is only about where you have been and not so much about where you are going.

The future of proximity communication, and the beauty of wireless broadband technology, lies in real-time location sharing. The best smartphone apps I have found to accomplish this is Geoloqi and Google Latitude. While neither of these are SNSs in the traditional sense they can be quickly incorporated into any form of messaging including SMS, e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. With these apps you no longer need to tell people how far away you are but instead just simply send them a link to your map and they can track you the whole way. These tools can also help friends meet up at in large open spaces even if they did not know they were there together. For instance if two people were to check into Ala Moana Beach Park around the same time with Google Latitude the map will show them in close proximity of each other and would allow them to meet up.

RAINY DAY SCENARIO: FOURSQUARE

The other day a friend of mine posted on Foursquare that he was in downtown Seattle for the afternoon and that he wanted to meet up with someone (anyone) for lunch. To help generate more contact with the Foursquare check-in he pushed it onto his Facebook wall.

This seems to be a common practice in Foursquare and might work if someone who was already downtown happened to see the Foursquare check-in. However, the limitation of Foursquare here is that the user can only check into one place at a time or continually check into places as he moved around the downtown area.

How this could have been resolved: Had he used a real-time location app like geoloqi he could have set it to update every 5 minutes allowing him to be seen by anyone who copied the link from his Facebook wall. By using this feature a friend who might be in the same building without otherwise knowing could then message him and possibly meet up for lunch.

SUNNY DAY SCENARIO: GEOLOQI

Anyone who has attempted to ride a bicycle around the busy streets of Honolulu will know how unpredictable and dangerous a bike ride can be. Personally I have found that the best times to ride my bike is at night however finding others to join me at these hours is difficult. So if I am headed to meet up with someone I will send them a link to my current position using Geoloqi. As I am on my way to the destination they can check my current location either on a computer or a phone and know exactly how far away I am. Also if they notice that I have stopped moving they can see where I am at on the map. If I happen to be someplace that serves Manapua, for example, they can send me a geonote to put in an extra order. If I happen to be stopped in an unusual place then they can call to make sure I’m alright. If I happened to not answer the call they would still know my exact location.  



SUNNY DAY SCENARIO: FOURSQUARE

By using the explore feature on Foursquare I can see all the popular places right at this moment. This feature could be useful if I wanted to go to a popular restaurant but didn’t know which one. Most popular places will also have many useful tips letting the user know if it would be worthwhile to eat at this place. I can also limit the app so I only see where my friends have checked in. This can be useful if I am out and am looking for a place to grab a quick meal but do not really know what all my options are.


8 comments:

  1. I've often heard about the site foursquare- but was not sure what it was about. Are you a regular user of four-square?
    From your description, it sounds like the more a user uses their four-square account- they can achieve some sort of status? I suppose that where the identity building comes in..
    Finally, would you recommend four square as a resource for somebody about to travel?

    Thanks for an interesting blog and opening the doors to another great SNS site :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. With the help of technology, a person can be traced by his/her friends at anytime and anyplace. Sharing personal life with others and get feedback is a way of social grooming. Your second scenario is a good example showing how technology changes the way we communicate and find support. I read a Japanese girl’s story about traveling alone in Japan. She left messages on her Facebook every time when she arrived at a new place. She wanted to travel around Japan by foot. Many people left messages on her Facebook to cheer her up, while some people worried that it was dangerous for a young girl to travel alone. However, she said that she was not afraid because a lot of people, communicating with her via Facebook, were guarding her. If she was missing, people would know where she was.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Geoloqi sounds cool. My mom would have LOVED to have that when my brothers and I were younger! (Who am I kidding, my mom would still love to have it and be able to track us now.)
    I agree about voicemail becoming outdated. I know people who even get annoyed when you leave them a message - especially if it is just for a call back. Voicemail has to go through the process of calling it, getting to the menu, and pressing the right buttons before you hear the message. That really isn't so bad, but when you compare it to the other forms of communication we have now it might as well be dial-up. Some services will attempt to translate the voicemail into a text message or send it by email, which is probably going to become standard in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Caloha - I've only been using foursquare for a couple months. I think it would be great for someone traveling if you are wanting to create a log of all the places you visit. This could also be useful when trying to organize pictures after the trip. If you are friends on Fousquare with someone who lives in the place you are traveling to you could look on their profile and see what places they frequently check into. This would be helpful for seeing places that might be left out of a travel book.

    @Bug - Your example shows how many layers a simple message now can have. It's interesting to think about how we now have a new definition of what it means to be "alone". However, when I run Geoloqi on my now outdated iPhone 3G it tends to lag in updating. The other day my phone stopped recording my location and it appeared as if I stopped to those following me. I guess this is the down side to using new apps on an outdated iPhone.

    @Andrea - Geoloqi is nice because it allows the user to control how long the real time update will run. If it were to run 24-hours a day my iPhone would need to be recharged 6 or 7 times a day. I've wondered if parents would be willing to trust an iPhone app when it comes to the safty/location of their children. I have not experimented with apps that turn voicemail into e-mails (Google voice?). Honestly, I think in the long run it is always best to just write the message. Then again typing on a touch screen smartphone is obnoxious.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow it's amazing what apps can do these days. These kinds of tools have really changed how we communicate, and your description of voicemail is a great example of that. Makes me wonder how long stone-age people like myself can make it through life without a smartphone ;)

    You made a really good point about our ability to completely control our digital self having both positive and negative consequences, and Netflix is a great example. Maybe that's a reason their recommendation work so well for some people and not at all for others... I remember Netflix having a feature that would share your movie ratings with your friends, which can be helpful, but on the other hand might influence users to not be completely truthful about the preferences (just like not wanting to admit to liking that new Katy Perry song). Finding a balance between controlling our environment and allowing is some control over us might work for a site like Netflix.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The discussion here give sense about what are functionalities of Foursquare. Thanks folks for giving me inspiration about it and how to improve it utilization. I get this apps on my iPod touch three months ago. I usually use it for checking out the place around me and look at what people doing there. I try to ask to be a friend with somebody that also check in at that place, but I thought that it just for friending new people and let your friend know where you are. I have not explore more about it function. Your discussion posting in this blog give me a clear insight about main functionality of this apps. Once again cheer for sharing this useful tips.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, well, some of us are old enough to remember looking jealously at a friend's clunky cassette-driven answering machine and thinking, someday... ;) And I am being digitally groomed by other people, called out for precisely what you describe, leaving voice mails that say little more than "call me back when you can"--they take time to listen to, and in some cases cost money/minutes each time you access them.

    Outstanding overview and scenarios for Foursquare and Geoloqi, though I wonder if oversubscription to either service might become a rainy day scenario itself. I agree that if a friend notices you in an unfamiliar place for a long time it might serve as a silent call for help, but imagine if everyone used the app and you had to try to keep track of them all?

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Julia - I believe Netflix all but scraped their social element. I remember when I first joined not watching a movie because I did not want my friends to know I liked it.

    @HA - The beauty of this course is that we can evaluate SNSs and find the features that work well for us and ignore the rest. Foursquare is like that for me. The "game" aspect is fun but not as useful and the fact that it keeps a log of all the places I have been.

    @Dr. Gazan - I'm probably being too hard on Voice Mail. It still has it's place. Especially for those of us who hate using touch screen keyboards. As I mentioned in a comment above, Geoloqi running on an iPhone 3G is an inadvertent cry for help waiting to happen. More then once have I had the app cut out on my commute home making the feature a bit useless. Perhaps on the iPhone 4 this gets worked out? The nice thing about Geoloqi that no other similar app offers is that the tracking is non-continuous. I can put a link on Facebook that leads to a map that will be turned off after a certain amount of time. But you make a great point when you suggest that somewhere in here is a line between efficiency and inefficiency.

    ReplyDelete