With Marcos Weskamp and Pei Yu
An online community based on books and the sharing of knowledge. The website, currently in use at IDII, allows users to keep track of their own books, browse through others' libraries, and comment on books.
Why It's Interesting
This system provides a number of social uses. First, it encourages sharing by providing methods for finding books of interest and keeping track of their status. Second, it allows people to express their identity through books and to get a glimpse of what might otherwise be a hidden part of their friend's personalities. Third, it gives people a way to give and get advice about which books to read and to share their opinions about them.
What I Did
The shared library project started with a few rounds of user research, including interviews of library users, book club participants, and members of other communities. This gave us insights into the ways people use and share books. We created scenarios to explore and explain possible functionality. Then we prototyped the service in different ways. Finally, using ColdFusion and Flash, we built a working prototype for the IDII community.
