摘要：‘Desktop’ social networking services are migrating to mobile devices. Research into the design of mobile social software (MoSoSo), especially its communication design, is emerging. The case we present is from a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project into communicative design innovation concerning these technologies. In focus is the design of what we label the communicative prototype for an interaction and media centred view of social software development. This view is applied to an exploratory design research case that extends an established online social service to the iPhone/iPod platform. The conceptual design in the case is intended to enable the discovery of independent, non-commercial music. The projected service was developed in consultation with a national public service broadcaster. We frame the design and analysis within a sociocultural approach to mediated communication and research by design. We employ mixed methods both in design and in research. We argue that a communicative stance in early concept development offers valuable insights on the ongoing design of social software. The communication expertise of interaction designers is central to this.
其他摘要：It is now possible to include complex visual movement in screen interfaces, including those that enable web browsing on different media devices. This article investigates the potential for employing movement in web browsing – or more specifically, how motional form may be connected to interface actions. The investigation is carried out through design experimentation. Techniques of ‘motion sketching’ have been developed and utilized in a practice-based research project. The resulting motion sketches are analysed as realizations of complex mediation – by drawing on social semiotics and the concept of action from Leont’ev. The article argues that motional form is made meaningful through connotations and experiential metaphors, and suggests ten provisional principles for how motional form may be used in web browsing. This challenges notions of form and function in current interface design and how social semiotic theory may be produced.
关键词：mobile social software, communicative prototyping, iPhone / iPod, sociocultural, concept development, communication design, practice-based design, RECORD
