INTRODUCTION
The capstone project for my Master's Degree at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute was to help Google "reinvent social networking". Sponsored specifically by the orkut team, I worked with four colleagues over eight months to research, define, and develop a possible solution. In the end we aimed to create a system for users to seamlessly share, view, and respond to many types of social content across multiple networks.
APPROACH
Directed to help improve the online community orkut, the project's scope was not to simply redesign the interface. Our team considered how online social networking could bring greater value to users, especially for those above age twenty. After initial brainstorming and research, we chose to focus on the effects of a new model for online social networking: a unified social network that, as a service, provides social data to many other applications. Our user research examined needs related to online as well as offline social networking and considered how they related to a unified social network service model. Through this user research we identified a set of archetypes that represent common behavior patterns that existed across multiple study participants and also formulated a summarized list of their high level needs.
SOLUTION
Socialstream is our response to these needs; it is the result of a rigorous user-centered design process that involved formal research and evaluation with over 30 participants.
FINAL DESIGN
Socialstream Website
METHODS & RESEARCH
Literature Review
Taxonomy
Directed Storytelling
Contextual Inquiry
MakeTools
Heuristic Evaluation
Cognitive Walkthrough
Think Aloud