Lisa's Outline

Print outs so can have lds.net up as talk

CREDIBILITY (Do users trust the site-my analysis)

·      Easy to understand and welcoming to conversation (Plato)

·      Ethos, Pathos, Logos (Aristotle)

·      Website authentic and true to morals and helps others do that (Kierkegaard)

PURPOSE (Do users understand/connect to purpose)

·      Read mission statement

·      Includes a range of Mormons (Plato)

·      Potentialities actualized? (Aristotle)

·      Thesis and antithesis to synthesis (Hegel)

·      Users connected to greater vision (Marx)

·      Could be better at helping people with specific problems looking for solutions (Dewey)

·      Purpose of site supported by content and not organization (Heidegger)

BEAUTY (Do users find beautiful) (Plato, Nietzche, Hume and Kant)

Is it unified? (Plato)
Are all the parts of the site harmonious/flow well together and because of that have organic beauty?

Do users that are makers themselves enjoy-nietzsche (experts appreciate) and Hume (people of taste appreciate)

·      Visual Heuristic Design Principles (Secondary to testing)

·      Visual Hierarchy: What is the design telling you is most important?

o   Size of words

o   Size of sections top to bottom and closest to face then closer to screen 

o   Proximity of things. Two things closer will seem related

o   Words below pics or people will skip the words: “Trending”à never saw

o   If redesign he would say ask yourself a question: how prove to people that content is valuable? Faces of people instead of numbers.  People don’t trust numbers. 

Do users in general find beautiful- Kant

·      “Do the ordinary users find it beautiful” Test:

1.     Do trust this site why or why not?

2.     Use a few adjectives to describe the look and feel of this site.

3.     What do you think the purpose of this site is? (Users connected to greater vision-Marx)

Brief Critique of sts.vt.edu

This is not a social website, but some of what we discussed in our class still applies.  Some changes could make it more social and create a more enjoyable experience for visitors.

Highlights:

The website provides lots of useful information for those who want to get a sense of what STS is and to get in touch with faculty.  It provides information about live events (seminar series, course offerings) and links to apply to the program, contact information for professors and forms that students need.  In what it offers it allows all who visit to access the similar possibilities (Heidegger).

Critiques:

The website lacks organic unity. For example, when I click on the two pictures on the homepage they take me to pages with different layouts, even though both pages are information about the professors pictured.  One is very short, the other is lengthy. The layout of the website should be consistent. The layout doesn’t feel consistent as I click through the pages. The office manager’s email is listed at the bottom of the page, but it is not clear who crcrigge@vt.edu is without looking it up.  (Plato - Unity)

The website is very static. There isn't much to do on the website other than gather general information about the program.  Once I've done that, there isn't much to keep me coming back to the site.  It might be useful to publish or link to articles about current projects and papers that faculty or students are working on. This would give visitors are reason to come back to the site. (Plato - Ongoing)

It feels very much like a website is talking to me, and that is not very exciting.  It might be useful to have video messages or articles from faculty or students that talk about the program. Content should indicate that we can improve our lives by participation in the program. (Nietzsche - Ongoing)

None of the content on the website is easily shareable to social media. I know that I can copy and paste the URL but you might include some buttons for that. (Plato - Accessibility) Additionally, the icons to connect to the STS program’s social media pages seem hidden.

It also seems like some pages, particularly the Announcements page have not been updated for a while.  Users will be less likely to find content credible. Many of the professors do not have phone numbers.  Perhaps write “currently unlisted” or “no number.”  Also I assume TVA is a misspelled TBA. There are few images, many professors’ pages lack photos. There are no videos.

qualtrics.com Presentation

Positives

SIMPLE

• Easy to have further social interaction (Plato)
• Plato taught that good things should foster further social interaction - qualtrics.com does this well with sales and support being a click away.
• Everything fosters social interaction [or research] (Aristotle)
• Aristotle taught that good things will be unified in fostering social interaction, or, in this case, research. Every page on qualtrics.com makes mention of this.
• Developmentally accessible (Aristotle)
• Aristotle also taught how information should be shared in stages as learners progress through their interests. qualtrics.com makes this easy. Might be good to link relevant blog articles, case studies, etc. to the bottom of the product pages.
• Unified problem solving, problem solvers not information gatherers (Dewey)
• Dewey placed the burden on humans to not be information gatherers but problem solvers. Qualtrics makes a ton of information on its website that can be easily referred to so users can focus on solving problems, not memorizing information. Users are also able to download wizards on the Innovation Exchange to facilitate their project creation.

PERSUASIVE

• Logos (Aristotle)
• good examples of the value that is brought by investing in insights [show pages for case studies]
• Case studies show the drastic changes brought on by Qualtrics. Could show more of the negative side of inaction
• Aristotle taught that a presentation should have pathos, ethos, and logos. qualtrics.com does particularly well with logos. The case studies and crucial and show readers the results of using Qualtrics at companies large and small.
• Articulate review (Kant)
• High quality posts and information on the website [show quality blog posts]

Criticisms

SHARABLE

• Easily share relevant interactions with others (Plato)
• Is there a place for people to easily share their experiences on the site? No.
• Is it easily sharable on social media? No. Only blog posts have share links and they are only at the bottom.
• Engaging through example (Nietzsche)
• Allow for and encourage users to share stories (not just case studies) of how they overcame certain challenges and that motivate readers to do the same.
• Pathos (Aristotle)
• Should be more emotionally engaging, humanize the content. Storytelling is powerful. Allowing for the perspective of the individual user and his or her challenges will help connect with clients and prospects on a more emotional level. It may also be worthwhile to encourage people to share the consequences of inaction. While we are selling to businesses, those looking at the page are actually people!

ETHOS - Website design and messaging

• Ethos (Aristotle)
• Does a great job at building ethos with the client list [show customer page]
• In speaking with John, a focus is to convey more of the value of the solution through the website. He claims the site design and content should make it seem like more of a high-end operation. I do agree with this to the extent that Marx taught...
• Users need to see how task relates to a larger purpose (Marx)
• Have an emphasis on what Qualtrics’ end goal is, change the world of how insights are collected? Get back to making sophisticated research simple? Like Ryan was saying last week, place more emphasis and confidence in the fact that Qualtrics is the best in the world for collecting insights on markets, customers, and employees. 
• In addition to this, there is a push to get away from the idea of being a "survey company." This description limits Qualtrics in interactions with clients as their perception of our capabilities is a small part of what they actually are. 

RELEVANT - Build user profiles

• Hume taught that good things should be engaging because they are personalized and relevant. 
• When users visit the site, they should be logged in and view a personalized version of the site content based on the profile Q has created for them
• Kant taught the idea of ongoing review
• Allow users to continue to review the most relevant content (blog posts, case studies, products) based on their profiles
• Dewey pushed for ongoing revision
• Make available a forum where users are able to critique, test, review, revise ideas and content. They can discuss challenges they are dealing with. Might even be another channel to critique Qualtrics and for the firm to collect feedback.
• Heidegger taught that people do better when they care about what they are doing
• This is another reason why user profiles would be valuable in pulling relevant content to the top
• According to Plato, users should quickly know what theme is and what they should do
• Clear up messaging to place more emphasis on people going out and doing research

ENGAGING - Progression of users

• As you may recall, Kierkegaard taught that the best way to teach is to get down to someone's level and help bring them up. Not in a condescending way but in an empowering and encouraging way. He believed people were on different levels and the goal was to progress to the highest of the three (aesthetic, ethical, religious)
• What does the site do to help lift visitors and encourage them to reach the next level of research capabilities? Three ideas
• Site could monitor profiles and curate content based on what level users are (perhaps some type of gamification)
• The other extreme is to have a group of experts (employees) focused on this that can access users and teach them how to leverage Qualtrics
• Qualtrics can track users by their profile and pair them up with the right people (other users) in a forum
• Finally, Hegel taught that development follows this process: thesis, antithesis, synthesis
• Site could provide more opportunities for debate among researchers

Key themes for the recommendations are

• Facilitate sharing
• Make it so users can more easily share site content
• Place more emphasis on storytelling
• Focus messaging on a larger picture
• Changing the world of research (or, changing the world through research)
• Making sophisticated research simple
• Get out and use Qualtrics
• Build richer user profiles 
• Use this information to display more relevant content to each user
• Use it as a way of measuring their journey and development as a customer
• Provide timely encouragement to help them get to the next level
• Have qualtrics.com become a one-stop-shop
• By being able to access experts and other researchers, they can get more of the information they need for their projects and initiatives on the site

Invitation to Conference Draft

Dear ______,

For the past few months a group of students, under the direction of Professor Dennis Packard at BYU, has been critiquing various websites, including my critique of <your website>, in the light of thought from philosophers, from ancient Greece to the 20th century.  With things changing rapidly, we believe that it is valuable to look at the present age in the light of thought that has endured from past ages.

We will be holding a mini conference to present our critiques and allow for questions and answers.  The Philosophy and New Media Conference will be held April 20, 2015 from 11:00am - 1:00pm at Brigham Young University, Joseph Fielding Smith Building (JFSB) room B152. Material for our critiques will be drawn from our blog site which is still in development: http://webphilblog.blogspot.com 

We would be delighted and honored if you or any of your colleagues could join us.  We are also interested in understanding the priorities and goals that you have for your website so that we can address them.

Sincerely,
<your name>

LDS Social Media Dewey and Heidegger

Dewey & Heidegger: qualtrics.com

Dewey

Solutions evolve as individuals try it out and modify
As mentioned in previous reviews, qualtrics.com could benefit from an open forum where Qualtrics users discuss how they are using the platform and challenges they are dealing with. This forum could be organized by certain topics and the users would build relationships with each other as they seek to solve problems with each other. This platform would be limited to those that have a Qualtrics account and would probably be mostly successful with academic users. However, as those users enter the workforce, it would probably grow among corporations as well.

These forums will also provide areas for users to critique their Qualtrics experience and the firm can gather these insights and incorporate them into updates and new product launches.

Humans are problem solvers, not information gatherers
Another application of Dewey's ideas would be to provide helpful tips within the product highlighting trends, statistics, or best habits. This would place the burden on the user to apply and think critically but not to memorize certain facts or information.

Heidegger

Concern for certain things leads to authentic action
Heidegger emphasized the importance of caring about things. This ties in to a previous recommendation for qualtrics.com to build rich user profiles. As Qualtrics collects more information on their customers, it is better able to tailor content and the experience to them. After their profiles are complete, the landing page can change from the standard landing page to a specific page to what this user is engaged in. It is important to not add complexity to their experience but for it to be simple and natural.

On their new landing page, they can view recent, relevant articles, dashboards for their surveys, and upcoming events that they may be interested in.

Updated Standards for Critiques

The best social websites are unified, accessible, and ongoing.

Plato (what is inspired by ideals of social interaction)

• Unified -- we can tell quickly what the social interactions are about (theme) and how everything fosters that interaction.
• Accessible -- we participate by entering the conversation and sharing the most relevant interactions with others.
• Ongoing -- we find that the social interaction on the site leads to further social interaction.

Aristotle (what moves toward fully actualized ideals of social interaction)

• Unified action -- we can tell quickly how we can socially interact, and we find that everything fosters that type of interaction.
• Developmentally accessible -- we participate by consuming, sharing, and creating the content of the site with prototypes.
• Persuasively ongoing -- the content relates to us (ethos), it teaches us how to share and create content (logos), and encourages us to do so (pathos).

Hume (what people with taste like)

• Unified by being liked -- we can quickly see that the masses like the content; professionals (those who like what has traditionally been liked over time) like the content; and peers (those who like what we have liked) like the content.
• Accessible by sensibility -- we participate by consuming and liking the content because of how it affects us or how other similar things that have stood the test of time have affected us.
• Ongoing by tradition -- we hope to like what will endure into the future.

Kant (what people like because of their authentic, reflective judgement)

• Unified by being being articulately reviewed -- we can see that articulate, authentic reviewers all like praising it.
• Accessible by sense -- we can all participate by formulating fitting concepts to describe the best content.
• Ongoing reviews -- we can continue to articulately review the best content.

Hegel (what moves toward group embodied ideals)

• Dialectically unified -- we can see how the social interaction repeatedly moves from thesis to antithesis to synthesis.
• Actual accessibility -- we can all participate in arriving together at implementing the latest cultural standards for media and content.
• Ongoing evolution -- we can see how the site has built into it ways of developing itself beyond what it has been.

Marx (what moves toward group production modes that enlarge our individual embodied selves)

• Unified collaboration -- we see how it fosters individual development and flourishing of individuals; simultaneously fosters specialization and collaboration; the end goals are not fixed but moving along.  
• Accessible by apprenticeship -- as users, we have a sense of the whole but work just on a part becoming masters (specialists) over time.
• Productively ongoing -- we can see how the social interaction for creating content develops from a thesis mode, to an antithesis mode, to a synthesis mode that more fully allows individuals to authentically express themselves and flourish on the site; we are rewarded for meaningful work (gamification).

Kierkegaard (what invites individual improvement by mentoring)

• Unified by progression -- as users, we lift each other, ultimately all of us arriving at the religious sphere.
• Accessible by mentoring -- we participate by consuming content at the level we are at or sharing and creating content condescending to where others are at; content is tailored to users at different levels: users seeking pleasure and gratification (aesthetic), guidance from rules (ethical), guidance by spirit (religious).
• Ongoing mentoring -- we are motivated by love to create non-pandering content that helps others advance from aesthetic to ethical and ethical to religious.

Nietzsche (what inspires individual improvement by examples)

• Unified by “will to power” -- we come together on the site to improve ourselves in some sense.
• Accessible by example - we participate by observing examples of self-improvement.
• Ongoing by examples -- as users, we share and create authentic content, showing examples of self-improvement.

Dewey (what groups of individuals continue to like after they try it out)

• Unified problem solving -- we can see how groups are working toward solving a problem or answering a question.
• Accessible by application -- we participate by testing out the presented standards.
• Ongoing revision -- we are invited to consider articulated standards for site content, to test those standards by applying them, to review the results of applying them, and to help revise those standards.

Heidegger (what draws individuals concerned about others to authentic action)

• Unified by possibilities -- as users on the site, we increasingly draw from similar worlds of possibilities.
• Accessible by disclosing -- we participate by exploring new possibilities opened up by content.
• Ongoing by authentic choices -- we are encouraged to actualize definite possibilities that may require giving up others; to make hard choices in the moment, because we are caring for many; and to actualize the best possibilities sensed.

Questions to Guide Discussion

What are the latest things that people are talking about with websites?
What are they trying to do with websites?
What problems are they facing?

What struggles are the BYU websites facing?

Dewey & Heidegger: WebPhil

Dewey

The pragmatists emphasized the idea that we, as humans, are problem solvers, not information gatherers. We see this trend with the growth of the internet and technology as there is less emphasis on people to memorize things because of the ease of accessibility to information. People now have more of a burden to actually think critically and apply the information that is out there. This is referred to as the instrumentalism of knowledge. Pragmatism finds itself somewhere between the ideas presented by empiricism and rationalism; empiricism emphasis the way that the world around us makes us think about things and rationalism emphasizes the way that comes from inside of us. 

Dewey's ideas can be implemented into WebPhil by making the information needed to assess easily available, thereby placing more of a burden on the visitor to think critically. Whenever they are assessing a website, there could be a pop-up bar on the side that allows them to choose a philosopher and then choose a principle and get a brief explanation of the idea the philosopher taught. They could quickly access this information while critiquing and then make their own assessment and application based on it.

This pop-up can be organized based on common problems (i.e. user fatigue, not clear what purpose is, doesn't drive action, etc...). There can then be a list of possible solutions or ideas that are supported by philosophical content.


Heidegger

Heidegger taught the importance of caring about things in order to make an appropriate assessment. This is clear in schoolwork: the more we care about it, the better we do; the less we care about it, the harder it is to do. The importance of caring about things relates to his idea of authenticity, which he used interchangeably with appropriateness. 

The viewers of WebPhil should care about what they are doing. There is already some hurdle necessary for them to leap and that is actually visiting the website and looking through it. They must have some desire, at least, to get this far. However, when they get to critiquing or being critiqued, it must be in a way that they care about. For example, those who critique should be able to choose the type of website they would like to critique and through which lens they would like to critique. Those who seek feedback from the critique should be required to do a quick write-up of why they came to WebPhil and what they would like to get out of the critique.

These visitors (critics and those who get critiqued) should have profiles they build that allows them to select certain details and explain why they use WebPhil. This can help WebPhil segment and personalize content to them so that what they see and do is always relevant to their interests.

When users create their profile, they specify their interests (even those that may not be obviously relevant to web design). When other users critique their website, they can easily see the website designer's profile and their interests. The more they tie in these other interests, the better feedback they will get on their review. They can also focus their efforts on applying the philosophical content to the interests of the designer.

Dewey & Heidegger

Dewey

The pragmatists emphasized the idea that we, as humans, are problem solvers, not information gatherers. We see this trend with the growth of the internet and technology as there is less emphasis on people to memorize things because of the ease of accessibility to information. People now have more of a burden to actually think critically and apply the information that is out there. This is referred to as the instrumentalism of knowledge. Pragmatism finds itself somewhere between the ideas presented by empiricism and rationalism; empiricism emphasis the way that the world around us makes us think about things and rationalism emphasizes the way that comes from inside of us.

Heidegger

Heidegger taught the importance of caring about things in order to make an appropriate assessment. This is clear in schoolwork: the more we care about it, the better we do; the less we care about it, the harder it is to do. The importance of caring about things relates to his idea of authenticity, which he used interchangeably with appropriateness.

Late Post-modern Period

The influence of the early and middle post-moderns can easily be seen in Dewey and Heidegger's philosophies. The early post-moderns, namely, Hegel and Marx, were concerned with a unified system, with all of society as a context for the individual to pattern his life by. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, the middle post-moderns, turned to the individual, with Kierkegaard discussing what it means for the individual to be authentic, to not just blindly submit to the will of the many, and Nietzsche advancing the idea of certain individuals, known as overmen, who could be inspired and in turn inspire those who would follow them. Although Dewey and Heidegger came from different perspectives and different schools of thought, these basic influences can still be seen in their philosophies, which were concerned with the individual in the context of society. This marriage of early and middle postmodernism is concerned with applying practical empiricism to problems such as the meaning of Being and the different worlds that influence us at any given time. To say that this limited space doesn't do these philosophers justice is a massive understatement, but hopefully it will inspire you, dear reader, to find out more about them, because it truly is pretty fascinating stuff.

John Dewey

1859-1952
Education: University of Vermont, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago
Influential in social and educational reform
Pragmatist and champion of democracy


Dewey was an American philosopher, who developed, along with Charles Peirce and William James, what is known as pragmatism. Pragmatism is what you might call classical American philosophy, not just because its founders were American, but because it has something of the pathos of America built into it. The name, pragmatism, loosely relates to practical results: experimentation and observation. Dewey sought to reform the educational system between the extremes of rationalism and empiricism. Empiricists thought that experience starts with what is given to our senses. Rationalism, on the other hand, is based on thought and gives little to no credit to experience. Traditionally, then, experience and thought are antithetical to each other. But real experience, according to Dewey, is an interaction between a thinking being and the world.

Teachings 

• Change is valued. Movement is prioritized over the fixed, and transitions are given emphasis over origins. 
• Intelligence should be practical. Knowledge is an interaction between the knower and the known. 
• Intelligence is not simply the gleaning of information, but the process of solving a problem. A satisfactory state is reached after interplay between discovered facts and suggested solutions. 
• The measure of a thing is whether one likes the results it brings after continued experimentation, rather than emphasizing the values of something abstract, such as God, or reason. 
• Unified problem solving -- it should seek to solve a problem that its visitors may have. 
• Accessible by application -- we participate by testing out the presented standards. 
• Ongoing revision -- we are invited to consider articulated standards for site content, to test and review those standards by applying them, and to help revise those standards as necessary. 

Dewey can best be applied to social websites by considering what groups of individuals continue to like over a period of time; i.e., positive change.

Martin Heidegger

1889-1976
Education: University of Freiburg
Incredibly influential in topics such as ontology, phenomenology, and existentialism
Notoriously difficult to understand


The easiest way to think of Heidegger is as a modern reincarnation of Aristotle. Heidegger was particularly influenced by book six of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, in which he saw Aristotle at his most nuanced as he discussed the limits of reason in attaining the moral life. In this book, Aristotle distinguishes between practical understanding and theoretical understanding. In theoretical understanding, we understand what is fully actualized and therefore won't change. But in practical understanding, we actualize potentialities of things that do change.

For Aristotle, potentialities are in substances and things develop accordingly unless the surrounding situation deters it. For Heidegger, on the other hand, potentialities emerge in the occasion or experience of development, drawing on past worlds; not substances with potentialities but events forming and actualizing potentialities. Heidegger takes the practical understanding as fundamental. We develop our theoretical understanding in a practical world, learning to abstract away from a natural object, like a chair to sit on, and instead see it as an object in space so we can predict its movements. From this idea, it should be easy to see how Dewey and Heidegger are somewhat related.

Teachings

• Asked, "what does it mean to be?" Answer: (in very small part): humans are the being for whom things matter; therefore, to be is to care. 
• Care is brought out in art. And art is truth's "setting-itself-to-work." Art sets up a world which allows for the truth of something to be disclosed. 
• We are responsible for the state of things in our world. We are always here in the world, and nothing can be said about any other world, such as Kant’s noumena, for instance. For a question to make sense it has to fit into our world and our concerns. So it doesn't make sense to ask what the world is like separate from us and our concerns. 
• When we act, we change things around us, and thus we also change the potentialities of those things. For example, once we use a hammer a new way, say, to pry something open, the potentialities of the hammer change. So we are continually, over time, having to actualize new potentialities, and by doing so we close off some possibilities and open up others. 
• Discusses "conscience;" an echo of Kierkegaard's authenticity, as well as being conscious of the multiple "worlds" that affect us at any given time, drawing from those worlds authentically in the moment of performance. 
• Unified by possibilities -- as users on the site, we increasingly draw from similar worlds of possibilities. 
• Accessible by disclosing -- we participate by exploring new possibilities opened up by content. 
• Ongoing by authentic choices -- we are encouraged to actualize definite possibilities that may require giving up others; to make hard choices in the moment, because we are caring for many; and to actualize the best possibilities sensed. 

Heidegger can best be applied to social websites by considering what draws individuals concerned about others to take authentic action.