Presentation for Service Design Network Members Day, Paris, October 28, 2012. SDN was created by people who believe in the value of service design. In a social networked world, is this the best way to support and encourage a new profession? What value do we bring to our networks and what values do our networks bring to us?

1. Network Values and Valuable Networks
DO WE NEED SDN IN A TWITTER-LINKED-IN WORLD?
Prepared by:
Paul Kahn – Experience Design Director
October 28, 2012
Service Design Global Conference

2. Am I like Rip Van Winkle?
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3. Where I Came From
• English literature (1971)
• Version 7 Unix, nroff/troff (1977)
• Word Processing & phototypesetting (1982)
• Newspaper Morgues & Text Databases (1984)
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4. Hypertext Research (1986-1994)
• Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
Conference
• Object-Oriented Programing Languages (OOPL)
Conference
• Hypertext (HT) Conference and European Conference
on Hypertext (ECHT) 1987-present
• Electronic Publishing, Document Manipulation, and
Typography (EP) Conference
• SIGLINK  SIGWEB
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5. The Research Network
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6. Contributing to the Network
• Sharing results in Conference Presentations
• Presenting Conference tutorials
• Submitting papers to scholarly journals
• Serving on Conference organizing committees
• Reviewing papers for publications
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7. Benefits from the Network
• Growing personal relationships with scholars and
pioneers in the field
• People to talk to, friendships
• Common interests with colleagues at universities and
research institutions in North America and Europe
• Visiting research and speaking opportunities
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8. Design for the Computer Screen (1990-present)
• Create a company: Dynamic Diagrams
• Affiliate with a design school: Rhode Island School of
Design
• Develop a practice area: Interaction Design via
graphic design and industrial design programs
• Information Architecture (1996)
• International Conference on Hypermedia and
Interactivity in Museums (ICHIM)  Museums and
the Web (MW)
• Technology Entertainment Design (TED) Conference
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9. Contributing to the Network
• Sharing our work and offering tutorials at Professional
Conference Presentations
• Writing papers for design journals
• Training design interns from US, UK, Germany, Japan,
Korea
• Conference talks  book: Mapping Websites (2000)
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10. Benefits from the Network
• Growing personal relationships with other practitioners
in the field
• Attracting new employees through the teaching
network
• People to talk to, friendships
• Common interests with colleagues at design firms in
North America, Europe and Asia
• Attracting new business clients
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11. The State of the Network when I left the US
(2001)
• The Dot-Com boom spawned enormous web agencies
which soon collapsed
• Professionalization of new disciplines:
• International Institute for Information Design (IIID) Vision
conferences bringing together interaction design,
information design, ergonomics, typography
• Information Architecture Institute (IAI), 2002
• Interaction Design Association (IxDA), 2005
• IDEA conference (IAI), 2006
• EuroIA conference (ASIS&T + IAI)
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12. Some Years in France (2001-2011)
• Teaching at
• Media Lab, Aalto University
• Master 2 Multimédia interactif, Université Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne
• Mastère Spécialisé « Création et Production Multimédia
», Télécom ParisTech
• Designer Interactif (2006)
• UX Paris (2009)
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13. Back in Boston
• What’s New?
• Did I miss the
American Revolution?
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14. Back in Boston
• Everyone is either staring at or talking to their phone
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16. Back in Boston: What’s Going On
• Multi-channel communication strategy: web, mobile,
tablet, SMS, email
• Social media and SEO strategy
• Responsive Web Design (RWD)
• Gamification
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17. Mad*Pow’s Thought Leadership Strategy
Learning from the Community Network Model
• Writing articles for professional journals and
presentations at professional conferences
• Sponsorship for conferences and local organizations
(Design Museum Boston)
• Organizing annual conference: Healthcare Experience
Design (HxD)
• Webinars: free, online
• Educational Workshop Series: not free, in Boston
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18. Do we need SDN in a Twitter-Linked-In world?
Some User Research:
• Michael Hawley and Usability Professionals
Association (UPA, now UXPA)
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19. Mike’s Network Story (1)
• Got involved through interest in user testing and
psychology
• UPA provided a forum, a place to converse with like-
minded people
• Became president of the local UPA chapter
• Participation gave context to involvement and
supported critical thinking
• Found value in a by-invitation email digest: U-Test
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20. Mike’s Network Story (2)
• Finds less to learn today from UPA conferences and
discussions
• Professional interest has shifted to managing design
• Now interested in Design Management Institute
• Looking at workshops, seminars, course offerings
from this organization
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21. Mike’s Network Story (3)
• There are three factors that combine to make
involvement in a network valuable:
Practical/Functional
Entertaining Inspirational
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22. Do we need SDN in a Twitter-Linked-In world?
Some User Research:
• Adam Conner and Twitter
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23. Adam’s Network Story (1)
• Got involved in IxDA to share and post ideas
• Living in a rural area where creating local chapter was
not possible
• Conversations did not progress, same topics came up
over and over again
• Connections made via Twitter to IxDA colleagues
proved to be more personal and useful than
discussion groups
• Tweets are an outlet listen and to vent
• Twitter dialog + profiles are a way to meet people
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24. Adam’s Network Story (2)
• Through Twitter, started to follow known people in
design
• When their tweets show up in your feed, you would
see who they are talking to
• From that, click on that name, look at profile, look at
tweets, choose to follow
• Starting fairly passive and blind, dialog grows into
significant connections
• When you meet your correspondent at conferences
you know each other and it builds
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25. Adam’s Network Story (3)
• There are three factors that combine that make using
Twitter worthwhile:
Mutual Interest
Quality Immediacy
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26. Adam’s Network Story (4)
What makes Twitter such a useful networking tool?
• Twitter is like hanging out with friends
• Discussion groups form around existing shared
interest while Twitter is more organic
• The walls are not there, you are talking to anybody,
about any topic, topics can diverge and converge
• Those conversations may evolve into something
serious and focused (beyond 140 characters):
“love to continue this conversation…”
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27. Do we need SDN in a Twitter-Linked-In world?
Conclusions (1):
Organizations attract with the values they project
• Local-Global organization
• Inclusion and participation opportunities
• Sharing of values, resources, tools
• Education opportunities
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28. Do we need SDN in a Twitter-Linked-In world?
Conclusions (2):
• Online profiles (Linked-In, Twitter, etc.) are a way
people judge each other’s value
• Discussion forums, email digests, posting comments
are not great, but they never seem to go away
• Twitter, email, publications, conferences, workshops,
webinars, web sites are all parts of the same
professional ecosystem
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29. Do we need SDN in a Twitter-Linked-In world?
Professional Conferences: the moment when you may
start a relationship that could last for the rest of your
life.
High school
dance, Amarillo, Te
xas, 1967
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30. Thank
Contact Information
Paul Kahn
Experience Design Director
pkahn@madpow.com
Mad*Pow
Portsmouth | Boston | Louisville
www.madpow.com
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