Microsoft’s Social Computing Symposium, September 17-18, in Redmond

Social Genius game to introduce people – http://txtst.com/sg/ (note to self: must try this in the context of ALA!)
for MSR interns originally
works better for small groups who come together for a short time

“social network fatigue” and moving to meaningful and protected networks
“connections for a purpose”
conveying “emotional fidelity” and “trust”
bridging together populations that never had reason to bridge before
students designing their own curriculum and learning environments
embedding technology in physical objects
designing systems that allow strangers to interact
intentionally finding people to do what you need to do – problem of culture and science and sharing that also includes the scientists and the farm in the field
strange behavior seen on ManyEyes
public and private spaces
differences between how people share information and how genomes share information
collaborative social visualization of data
trouble explaining to the people back home what we’re talking about here and at my job
social deviation – how bring out the social freaks online
how we could make astronomical observations social objects that can be more easily shared on the web
writing a book about ethnography of Linden Labs – how organizations are generating legitimate decision-making when they are denying traditional hierarchy
building horizontally and more shallowly to stay connected with friends
our own lack of ambition constrains what we can be – Anil Dash
how to get your parents and friends to join in these networks easily and understand them
how much you can take algorithms and figure out what’s going on in an explicit way but also through implicit behaviors – video search is very different, can inject human-powered into the automatic
user gaming as a social form of media – how kids are adopting gaming practices into their online world in general
status in social media
do things in real life and tell stories about them – game became a storytelling engine
embedding games and stories in clothing we wear; alternative reality games – stageless entertainment
shufflebrain game design studio – intersection of game and social design; next generation brain games that are much more engaging
human viruses aren’t so different from bacterial viruses
computer-mediated collective action
gps games – invisible creatures on the street; DS games that change based on where you are when playing it
people who share space should share experiences – crappy trivia game on the seatback on a plane that becomes compelling when you’re trapped on a plane – instant neighbors, how you consider the people around you and have a conversation with them without transgressing certain boundaries
one of the places a lot of people share is TV; where do we get people to play these games – it turns out 10 million people are still watching TV
wants to know why the tools still suck – the gyrations I have to go through to be a Gladwellian connector are ridiculous (typing in contact information, using these networks for anything useful, etc.)
should be able to just hit a button “share this screen” with this specific person
human adaptability and our penchant to put up with stuff
imaginary worlds, taking your imagination and putting it somewhere else for someone to play with
how we learn from one another – Dewey and Plato J
“our books rely heavily on games and stories” – O’Reilly (?)
geoweb – there was no data to share except third-party data; now, though, there is an ecosystem to publish your own data via maps, google earth, etc.
I want to work on software I want to actually use
online profiles and how customization fits into that