Participant statement for AC2004

As I mentioned before, I’m signed up to go to the Accelerating Change conference. One of the things they suggest doing is to put together a participant statement. Here’s mine.

1. Passions and Futures

I am fascinated by the topic of how people communicate, whether it’s in the form of how a company makes its management decisions, or how people coordinate on a project, or how we decide who to vote for. I think that one of the most valuable aspects of the internet and its offshoots is the ability to support such communication. While I don’t believe in the technology-led paradigm shifts that we once dreamed of, I think it’s interesting how we have found ways to embed technology into our lives. It’s only when technology is no longer technology that it has crossed over into the mainstream. So my interest is more in understanding the social aspects of interaction that can then be buttressed by an appropriate use of technology, or as Joel on Software dubbed it, social interface design.

2. Projects and Problems

I don’t have any specific projects or problems I’m working on. I’m interested in hearing about research into tools for supporting new group interactions. Technology in and of itself isn’t of much interest to me. Technology in support of a real, identified problem is.

3. Resources to Recommend

My personal web page is at https://www.nehrlich.com/blog/, which is where I post my thoughts on a variety of subjects. It also includes links to blogs I follow. Relevant to the issues I mentioned above is the Many-to-Many group blog, discussing how technology can be used to support group communications, from blogs to wikis to social tagging like del.icio.us, etc.