Mental Models - Groups

This brainstorm list is in not in any particular order of importance.  The exercise was meant to get ideas our of heads and onto paper about user expectations, good interactions we've encountered around groups and any other relevant models.

Conceptually - what is a group?

• Collection of people around a thing (google doc)
  • don't have to name it as group
  • sometimes automatically creates a reusable (re-accessible) group (create a course site and if group doesn't already exist do members become a group?)
  • sometimes doesn't auto-create group -- just a one time deal 
• Can have an explicit group and an implicit group (project team vs. everyone that lives in residence hall)
  • How do you distinguish between them for users?
• Role (everyone in) = group
• Relationships = group (i.e. friends family)
• Groups of people by virtue of shared attributes (i.e. students in class, all blondes)
• Groups by [SAKDEV:hash]tags = community?
  •  group around something
• Groups / relationships change & transition over time
• Groups versus community
  • Community = Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a groupof interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household. The word can also refer to the national community or global community. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community)
  • Group = Groups of people, a description of various different human group. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group)
    • A peer group is a group of friends that a certain person will try to impress to get their bond, social status, and interests1. Generally, people are relatively equal in terms of power when they interact with peers.
    • A workgroup is a group of people working together toward a common goal, also known as a working group
  • Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships.1Because they interact and influence each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that separate them from a random collection of individuals. These processes include norms, roles, relations, development, need to belong, social influence, and effects on behavior. The field of group dynamics is primarily concerned with small group behavior. Groups may be classified as aggregate, primary, secondary and category groups. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_dynamics)
  • Social Group -  A group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller.A true group exhibits some degree of social cohesionand is more than a simple collection or aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop. Characteristics shared by members of a group may include interests, values, ethnic or social background, and kinship ties. According to Paul Hare, the defining characteristic of a group is social interaction^.^

 Interactions

• Manage groups by dragging & dropping - "grab a face and drag it to a new group"
• See groups visually - use profile pics to visualize the group rather than a long list of names
• Mind map of connections (Follow chain of relationships)
• Tag clouds to filter down
• hashmark - tag

Functions supported

• Create / add to group on the fly
• Save group for using later
• Adding person to a workspace, adds them as a member to the group?  What if more than one group have access?  Is there always an uber group of everyone with access to space?
• Adding member to group give them access to all workspaces, group has access to
• Design course online (my Spanish 101 course template / shell?)
  • instantiate with an enrollment / roster
  • next semester I want to give an new roster of people access to relevant information
  • want previous enrollment to have a snapshot at semester end that they can continue to interact with
  • certain pieces would not persist across enrollments
• Cohorts - take classes as group (i.e. Med school)
• Roles can always be expressed as subgroup (i.e. all students in this context)
  • roles interchangeable with group;  everyone in a role = group
  • Students are a subgroup of class
• Need to be able to find / refer to people by nickname
  • Requires a nickname can be created
  • Delicious / email as examples

• Refer to notes I've made about someone

• Mulitple identities (instructor, student,  TA, PI for grant project, etc.)
• Follow chain of relationships
• Make social connections
• See groups an individual belongs to (some public, some private, need to respect privacy settings)
• Use others connections to find new connections
• Context switching natural in face-to-face interaction.  How do we model in Sakai?
• Permissions set to a group
• Permissions set to an individual
• Expect some permissions to be set automatically (need to make this clear)
• Groups get "carried around" with you
• Expect to have to accept to part of group
  • get invited & accept
• Ask for permission to get into group (google groups)
• "Replay" - catch up on conversation / interaction
• When I create a group I own the group (don't necessarily want to keep this)
• Share ownership of a group

Applications

• Facebook
• Linked In
• Email
• Google Groups
• Delicious