Comments on: From Leo to “Ambient Intimacy”. Honouring David Caminer http://www.theappgap.com/from-leo-to-ambient-intimacy-honouring-david-caminer.html Apps, Strategies, and Best Practices for Web-based work Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:34:48 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Billl Anderson http://www.theappgap.com/from-leo-to-ambient-intimacy-honouring-david-caminer.html/comment-page-1#comment-3797 Billl Anderson Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:54:14 +0000 http://www.theappgap.com/from-leo-to-ambient-intimacy-honouring-david-caminer.html#comment-3797 Mark, no you are not mad! I say this with a kind of "takes one to know one" authority. ;-) I think your clarification about semi-transparent is an important one (I love those things). And the idea of a stream reminds me of the phrase "the hum of the office" during a workday as opposed to the quiet of a weekend day in the office. Now that I work from home there is no "hum" on any day (or night). So I think that I like the stream of content that flows from Twitter and Facebook. I particularly like how FriendFeed widens the stream to include posts and items from friends of those I subscribe to directly. There is something important about the availability of an online social ambience. That said, trying to keep the ambience of connections intimate, or personal, or ... seems to be a challenge. I'm sure the tools will help - we can't do it without 'em. But how I adjust my work practices and communication habits to allow for a hum to which I can attend whilst I'm working is key. And, for me at least, very much a trial-and-error activity. We should keep reporting on our trials and errors and successes. Mark, no you are not mad! I say this with a kind of “takes one to know one” authority. ;-)

I think your clarification about semi-transparent is an important one (I love those things). And the idea of a stream reminds me of the phrase “the hum of the office” during a workday as opposed to the quiet of a weekend day in the office. Now that I work from home there is no “hum” on any day (or night). So I think that I like the stream of content that flows from Twitter and Facebook. I particularly like how FriendFeed widens the stream to include posts and items from friends of those I subscribe to directly. There is something important about the availability of an online social ambience.

That said, trying to keep the ambience of connections intimate, or personal, or … seems to be a challenge. I’m sure the tools will help – we can’t do it without ‘em. But how I adjust my work practices and communication habits to allow for a hum to which I can attend whilst I’m working is key. And, for me at least, very much a trial-and-error activity. We should keep reporting on our trials and errors and successes.

]]> By: Mark Masterson http://www.theappgap.com/from-leo-to-ambient-intimacy-honouring-david-caminer.html/comment-page-1#comment-3755 Mark Masterson Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:17:42 +0000 http://www.theappgap.com/from-leo-to-ambient-intimacy-honouring-david-caminer.html#comment-3755 In German, one would respond with "Danke für die Blumen" (thanks for the flowers). ;) Having said that, to be fair to Leisa, she's defined the term "ambient intimacy" to mean a fairly broad idea (as the quote you show makes plain). What I was really talking about, almost everywhere I used the term, was one of the <em>requirements</em> for it (for me) -- namely, that the "stream" of information be as unobtrusive as possible. That's a key usability aspect. Not everybody has the same thresholds for that -- many people are happy and content with manually polling a web interface (and the associated task switching), but I find that distracting and annoying. So, my statement should probably have been something like (again, to fair to Leisa, methinks) "In order to achieve the <em>benefits</em> of what's described as ambient intimacy, I'm one of those people that prefers to have the stream popping up in a semi-transparent window, off to one unobtrusive side of my screen". So. Having clarified that... ;) To answer your question, I certainly do think that it will have a dramatic impact on the nature of work. In fact, I think that everybody is really just talking about the same thing, when they talk about the utility of social software in organisations -- if there are differences, they are matters of <em>degree</em>. So when people talk about how (insert social software tool here) is useful because it makes people visible to one another, aware of one another, and increases their awareness of the knowledge of other people, they're (I think) talking about the same thing as Leisa, where the degree of "intimacy" that Leisa spoke about might be at one end of that spectrum. Or am I mad? In German, one would respond with “Danke für die Blumen” (thanks for the flowers). ;) Having said that, to be fair to Leisa, she’s defined the term “ambient intimacy” to mean a fairly broad idea (as the quote you show makes plain). What I was really talking about, almost everywhere I used the term, was one of the requirements for it (for me) — namely, that the “stream” of information be as unobtrusive as possible. That’s a key usability aspect. Not everybody has the same thresholds for that — many people are happy and content with manually polling a web interface (and the associated task switching), but I find that distracting and annoying. So, my statement should probably have been something like (again, to fair to Leisa, methinks) “In order to achieve the benefits of what’s described as ambient intimacy, I’m one of those people that prefers to have the stream popping up in a semi-transparent window, off to one unobtrusive side of my screen”.

So. Having clarified that… ;) To answer your question, I certainly do think that it will have a dramatic impact on the nature of work. In fact, I think that everybody is really just talking about the same thing, when they talk about the utility of social software in organisations — if there are differences, they are matters of degree. So when people talk about how (insert social software tool here) is useful because it makes people visible to one another, aware of one another, and increases their awareness of the knowledge of other people, they’re (I think) talking about the same thing as Leisa, where the degree of “intimacy” that Leisa spoke about might be at one end of that spectrum. Or am I mad?

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