Communities
Social Computing is a new field of HCI that focuses on the design, evaluation, maintenance and social interaction via digital technology. Its roots lie in computer science, information systems, technology and psychology just like HCI. In addition social computing draws heavily on sociology, social psychology, anthropology, communication, education, economics, marketing and, of course, HCI.
Online Communities consist of people who come together online and interact socially to achieve some kind of goal. HCIL Professor Jenny Preece emphasizes that a community is not the same as the software platform that supports it - an obvious fact for some, but unfortunately not everyone. Many e-commerce sites fail because developers think that by adding community software they are creating a community. Software alone is not enough, nor is usability; attention must be paid to supporting social interaction (i.e., sociability) through a combination of software design and social support.
Research at the HCIL is creatively exploring several forms of both Social Computing and Online Communities, including visualization of email correspondence, information retrieval from blogs, online voting and online communities.
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