Boston and User Interface 12 Conference

I wish I could get my phone to talk to my computer.  (More on that later in a more boring whiny post.)  I've taken some cool camera shots of my trip, but I can't transmit the pictures from my phone to a computer.

As I write this, I'm in the "Theory and Practice of Social Design" lecture by Joshua Porter of Bokardo Design. It's interesting, though I have ample time for the mind to wander so I thought blogging might keep me from daydreaming.  I'm also browsing the web and working on a new logo for Scott Beatty's redesigned site.  It's an interesting lecture; it's just not relevant to my work for Mayo.  Mayo's not a social networking site.

So far, the most interesting part has been a discussion about how Amazon allows user reviews and why they would do that.  (People trust other people more than the official line from the manufacturer.)  Simply put, Amazon focuses on selling more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff.  If you make bad stuff, too bad, it's not Amazon's problem.

Here's a great quote by Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook: "The best check on bad behavior is identity."  Dennis Prager had a recent column about the same thing.  If you had to identify yourself, would you engage in spamming, junk mail, comment trolling, false product reviews or giving rave reviews of your own work posing as someone else?

OK, back to the lecture.  He's talking about the Zune, and why do people give of themselves in a social way by sharing music or sharing reviews.  Is it altruism, or self-interest as to how many people read their work?  On that note, be sure to write a comment on this post.  :-)