Very Interesting: How The BBC Is Quietly, Confidently Shaping The Future Of TV | excerpt from Fast Company

"This morning the BBC launched a whole new version of its iPlayer app, destined for connected TVs that sport a Net connection. In essence this means the BBC has taken its TV content online, added on-demand features, advanced search powers, playability on multiple platforms both mobile and static, and then fed all of its lessons back into an app...for TVs.
The new BBC iPlayer app for TVs is aimed at those Netizens who've also bought a Net-connected TV because they like the interactivity, social networking, TV on-demand, email, weather reports and everything else that a "normal" TV can't offer. This is actually an enhancement of a system the BBC trialed on Virgin TV set-top-boxes back in 2008, with the new system being aimed at many more consumers and bringing a radically overhauled user experience with it...."

I'm Reading! danah boyd | apophenia » Designing for Social Norms (or How Not to Create Angry Mobs)

Designing for Social Norms (or How Not to Create Angry Mobs)

In his seminal book “Code”, Larry Lessig argued that social systems are regulated by four forces: 1) the market; 2) the law; 3) social norms; and 4) architecture or code. In thinking about social media systems, plenty of folks think about monetization. Likewise, as issues like privacy pop up, we regularly see legal regulation become a factor. And, of course, folks are always thinking about what the code enables or not. But it’s depressing to me how few people think about the power of social norms. In fact, social norms are usually only thought of as a regulatory process when things go terribly wrong. And then they’re out of control and reactionary and confusing to everyone around. We’ve seen this with privacy issues and we’re seeing this with the “real name” policy debates. As I read through the discussion that I provoked on this issue, I couldn’t help but think that we need a more critical conversation about the importance of designing with social norms in mind.

Good UX designers know that they have the power to shape certain kinds of social practices by how they design systems. And engineers often fail to give UX folks credit for the important work that they do. But designing the system itself is only a fraction of the design challenge when thinking about what unfolds. Social norms aren’t designed into the system. They don’t emerge by telling people how they should behave. And they don’t necessarily follow market logic. Social norms emerge as people – dare we say “users” – work out how a technology makes sense and fits into their lives. Social norms take hold as people bring their own personal values and beliefs to a system and help frame how future users can understand the system. And just as “first impressions matter” for social interactions, I cannot underestimate the importance of early adopters. Early adopters configure the technology in critical ways and they play a central role in shaping the social norms that surround a particular system.

How a new social media system rolls out is of critical importance. Your understanding of a particular networked system will be heavily shaped by the people who introduce you to that system. When a system unfolds slowly, there’s room for the social norms to slowly bake, for people to work out what the norms should be. When a system unfolds quickly, there’s a whole lot of chaos in terms of social norms. Whenever a network system unfolds, there are inevitably competing norms that arise from people who are disconnected to one another. (I can’t tell you how much I loved watching Friendster when the gay men, Burners, and bloggers were oblivious to one another.) Yet, the faster things move, the faster those collisions occur, and the more confusing it is for the norms to settle.

read Danah's full post here:

http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/05/design-social-norms.html

Very Cool (hope you don't need subscription!) beta620 | Experimental Projects From The New York Times

What's Going On

Welcome to beta620

At The New York Times, our software engineers, journalists, product managers and designers are constantly striving to create new and innovative ways to present news and information and interact with our readers. Yet it's often difficult to try out new inventions on the world's largest newspaper Web site. That's why we created beta620, a new home for experimental projects from Times developers — and a place for anyone to suggest and collaborate on new ideas and new products.

8/7/2011 5:00 PM

Leveraging Metadata: The Long(itude) and Short of It

7/28/2011 9:01 PM

NYTimes APIs Used in Community Hub

7/28/2011 4:55 PM

Featured Projects

Mashups

TimesInstant

Speed up and simplify the search experience on NYTimes.com.

Apps

NYTimes Crossword Web App

Play the new HTML5 New York Times Crossword Puzzle Web app. No plugins required.

Containers.. hmm...Beyond the Story: Engaging Experiences Rule | excerpt from Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Brian O’Leary’s Context first essay is a must-read for everyone in the publishing business, traditional and new media:

We need to think about containers as an option, not the starting point.  Further, we must start to open up access, making it possible for readers to discover and consume our content within and across digital realms. Without a shift in mindset, we are vulnerable to a range of current and future disruptive entrants.  Containers limit how we think about our audiences.  In stripping context, they also limit how audiences find our content.

Emphasis is mine there, but it’s ultimately O’Leary’s core point and bears repeating: Containers limit how we think about our audiences.

Containers also limit how our audiences discover, consume, engage and share our content, too.

Plain and simple, publishers who see themselves as primarily being in the book business, print or digital, are limiting their viability, profitability and longevity.

Last Fall, I noted that my ideal publisher of the 21st Century would fully embrace transmedia development principles:

…every story would go through an organic transmedia development process BEFORE acquisition to identify other appropriate media, either for production or format licensing, including film/tv, video/computer games, interactive apps, T/CCGs, online education, merchandising, etc. Some acquisitions would be made without the expectation of a physical book being a factor.

In the 21st Century, the container is a secondary concern, dictated by the kind of content being curated, and most importantly, by the needs of the community for which it’s meant to serve. Anything less is a missed opportunity, and a disservice to all involved.

Genius! Transmedia Summer Reading in Sterling's Gold, a Fictional Mad Men Memoir | Brain Pickings

When God closes a door, he opens a dress.” ~ Roger Sterling

Sterling’s Gold is without a doubt the most brilliant piece of cross-platform entertainment we’ve seen this year. What makes it all the more special is the stark contrast to the majority of try-hard transmedia storytelling efforts, which immediately jump to the flashy stuntsmanship of digital platforms. Yet here we have something as analog as it gets that adds a rich and engaging layer to some of our favorite “traditional” entertainment. Well played, AMC, well played.