Design considerations for social media platforms

(1) Research Paper: Supporting More Inclusive Learning with Social Networking: A Case Study of Blended Socialized Design Education

This paper made a qualitative research to develop the concept of perceived affordances and examined to measure the effectiveness and inclusiveness of online socialized learning in education. 
The research was conducted by integrating the traditional face-to-face studio environment with an online studio environment using an online social network platform called ‘Ning’. The aim of this study was the potential to add affordances such as connectedness between students and with the design process whereas the face-to-face environment was not able to support such features. 

 Figure (1). Components of the front page, Design Studio 1 Ning

Figure (1) shows the features, marked as A-E, included to facilitate social presence. These are: (A). Latest Activity feature block constantly updates with the activity of student blogs and comments (B). Personal settings for every member, including email and list of friends (C). Events feature block is used for announcements (D). List of course members (students and tutors) displayed as customized avatars (E). Features such as groups and blogs can be dragged onto the front page as condensed blocks

 Figure (2). Students' preferred online learning mode

I selected this paper because it provides the details examining and assessments on how perceived affordances effects the interaction design by using a social media platform as a learning tool. It can theoretically approve the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into conventional teaching approaches does have a clear advantages and support the future models of hybrid teaching environment.

(2) Technical Report:Technical Report: A Usable Security Heuristic Evaluation for the Online Health Social Networking Paradigm

This research describes the development of usable security heuristic evaluation in online health social networking websites. The result is 13 high-level heuristics with checklist items that help examine usable security. The results can identify which security and privacy features are lacking from a usability perspective and would, therefore, require design improvement. 

 Figure (1). The three-phase process to develop heuristics for specific application domains. Note. USec = usable security; HE = heuristic evaluation (color figure available online).

I selected this article because it highlights the need to design applications with security and privacy that is usable for their respective users in health Social Network (SN) environments with thorough analysis, step-by-step guidelines and a complete demonstration.

References:

Rodrigo, R., & Nguyen, T. (2013). Supporting more inclusive learning with social networking: A case study of blended socialised design education. Journal Of Learning Design, 6(3), 29-44. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/jld.v6i3.127
Yeratziotis, A., Pottas, D., & Van Greunen, D. (2012). A Usable Security Heuristic Evaluation for the Online Health Social Networking Paradigm. International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 28(10), 678-694.