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GROUP DETAILS
Created: Mar 12, 2008
Updated: Nov 27, 2009
Membership: Open
Semi-Private
MyHome and Profile designs - community feedback welcome
WiserEarth wants your feedback
MyHome and Profile pages
For these pages, we've worked on improving the personal dashboard and personal profile pages.
The dashboard has been renamed "MyHome" page, and we've reconfigured it to include some new elements - an update section to let your network know what you're working on, a reworked news feed (formerly named as "Friends feed"), and more recommended content on the side.
For the profile, we've change the layout of information, putting the most important information that users look for higher on the page. We've added a "personal headline" where a user can type in a short description of themselves, be it something related to their work (i.e. Program director at WiserEarth) or something more about their interests (Permaculture activist in Marin). We've moved up the "About me" section to encourage people to share more about themselves, and we've reworked the right sidebar so that information about their groups, events and network is more visible and prominent.
Note, however, that there are 2 profile pages here. One is when you're looking at your own profile - which is why you'll see "Edit" links placed more prominently across the page. The other is when you're looking at the profile of another user, which is why you'll see the ability to post a comment to their Latest Activity section.
Before we progress much further - we want to give the community a chance to weigh in on their thoughts. Let us know what you think of these new designs. Look over the designs and let us know if the various features seem useful. And be sure to let us know if anything seems unclear or confusing - if the terminology used needs to be simpler, if something feels awkwardly placed, etc. Getting your general impressions, as well as any suggestions or questions you might have, will be invaluable as we fine-tune the final designs.
Preview the new designs and let us know what you think!
| MyHome design.pdf | Viewing my own profile design.pdf
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Viewing profile of another user design.pdf
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Comments (1 - 20 of 22)
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Flag comment for removal angusparker about 1 month ago
I think we should add into the profile 'Member since [Creation Date]' and '[Number] of Contributions' to give viewers some sense of the reputation and engagement of the person. Both of these data points are currently available but not called out in an easy to understand way.
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About inactive groups - maybe rather than archive/deactivate - contact the admins and see if groups can be absorbed into another active group, or give advice on how to get the group active.
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@MakaSiTomni: Your suggestion sounds a lot like a needs / wants list that we have heard quite a few times before. Except you are breaking down a project into specific tasks. The new design would allow for status updates which could be a shout-out to your network - and be further extended to the wider WiserEarth community. That could help. But there is more we could do. Interested to push this further.
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Bowo, My first assessment is that the Wiserearth platform is becoming much more user friendly as a social network and cross-appropriating successful platforms like Facebook. My desire in the future is to have Wiserearth be my office for projects and human commitments. In other words one stop global networking of social networking taking effective actions in domains of permanent human concerns locally and globally.
What I see missing is "simplification" of coordinations of human commitments with supports, partners and resources in specific mission critical projects locally, globally and Kosmically. In other words how does Wiserearth create a breakthrough from talking to walking in human commitment as a robust authentic global network of virtuous ethical citizenry become history-makers?
I only have my own experience as a member in which to share. When I entered the Wiserearth platform in Feb 2008 I had a specific project and although I found a few people to connect with, the intention of creating a victory celebration for first nations people in America failed. I couldn't get the human commitment to fund the gas for the moving a few hundred horses, children, elders and dancers 350 miles when fuel was $4 + a gallon. I have no blame whatsoever for Wiserearth network. My assessment it is our human condition that my project needs funded and so does everyone's else need funding. So a history-making event that had the possible possibility of delivering an inspiring message to all indigenous First Nations people right smack in the heart-stone of America's own backyard was never accomplished. Now personally I was so humiliated by the experience I needed to retreat and re-configure my own human courage and what to do. Our "time" has become the most precious priceless asset in this moment. You have my full attention and human commitment to the notion of Wiserearth. What I want is effective action and human commitment to permanent concerns I live in! Not incremental, policy changes, laws or political rallies, I wan to participate in changing the world today.
So bottom line what I see missing is a "state-of-the-art business process interactive management system" in social networking platforms that is focused coordinating person-to-person human commitment, not identifying the breakdowns and talking about solutions rather really putting the meat on the bone and committing to the history-making changes necessary to save the earth and heal its peoples.
What I envision is getting up everyday and when I come to the office of Wiserearth for no more than 2 hours to be connected to mission critical projects I have a commitment to as a participant in real business that is productive and flexible in terms of velocity of change. I think my experience as an entrepreneur for 22 years who attempted to bring forth what was missing in the communities i was a part of, provided learning that is true for the notion of social entrepreneuring and that is "What is missing?" is always the question that needs answered to innovate. And when I approach my daily work of 2 hours in the Wiserearth community what I really want to pop up front and center is the commitments I have made to members and projects, and what I want to know is, what is breaking down that I can help with and what opportunities are arising that may increase the velocity of effective action in the project I am committed to. In other words ~ I want an office on Wiserearth where I am taking effective action in projects and making-history in a global community.
I know there is ready-at-hand platforms available for project management and coordinations and collaborations of teams. Maybe its possible to plug it in as a beta test and see where we go! Cordially Patric I will go on to the next screens and may not have any further assessments to share. This is at the heart of what I am looking for in social revelatory networking in this emerging age of activity. |
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I suggest we develop a metric to indicate 'liveliness' of a group. This would be system-based not user-based. Might include the following items:
Then use this indicator to auto-feature x number of groups on the landing page for groups http://www.wiserearth.org/groups and use as a main sort criteria for the rest of the groups (don't think groups should be 'archived' or 'suspended').
The indicator can be presented as: - number (1 to 5) - along with average and last month's 'liveliness' number.
Just another two cents. |
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@Camilla / GreenEric: Inactive groups - that's definitely something that we are working on. The main tools will be at least to start with highlighting active groups and demphasizing inactive ones. So for example:
With launch of new search engine (end of Sept) order results for groups based on recency of activity
Send new members recommended groups based on activity / ditto in recommended groups on dashboard favor active groups and groups with over X members
Finally, inactive groups could be suspended / archived after a period of inactivity?
Any thoughts / ideas?
Best, Angus
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@Eric - thank you for these spot on suggestions. I particularly agree that too many alerts can create information overload/fatigue from seeing irrelevant information, ditto for the friend feeds. I also find that the network may, while being useful to some, is not useful to all, so it would be good to have the option whether to have this appear or not.
I think it's good to bring up the inactive groups issue as it really does detract from the sites value @Angus is this issue being addressed in the next set of designs?
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I am glad to see the new designs. I think they are more similar to social and professional networking sites that people are familiar with like Facebook and LinkedIn.
I personally don't like the network map graphic because I don't feel it is very useful. I think we should have the option of having it or not having it on the page. I'd like a way to attach a person's real name to their picture. When you pass the cursor over my pic, the popup will say GreenEric, but it would be good to have it display my actual name.
I also think the watchlist alert system should be more programmable. I think if people get too many watchlist alerts and it's for insignificant or irrelevant actions like minor edits or their own actions, then they will get frustrated and feel like the watchlist alerts are annoying. I think this might cause them to just cut themselves off from the site.
Also, with friend feeds, this should be more programmable. The user should be able to turn off friend feeds from anyone. If they are getting friend feeds from people that they're not interested in, then it is meaningless.
Maybe in My Contacts, the first people listed should be the most active, rather than the most recent.
This is probably beyond the scope of this discussion, but I think it is important to weed out the inactive groups, because it makes the whole site look out of date and ineffective.
Thanks for your hard work! |
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@Camilla: The layout of the navigation loosely follows that of Facebook which is Home, Profile, Friends, Inbox. I could see us following that directly with MyHome, Profile, Contacts, Inbox. Inbox is not used much by most users since the email are forwarded and links generally open up the page for you. I don't think people will be confused by MyHome and Profile once they have looked at them once. We will work to make them graphically more distinctive as well.
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Just a quick question...should 'Inbox' be the 2nd link next to MyHome instead of Profile as I think it will be used a lot more often than the 'Editing/viewing profile' link? I also think it could help to reduce confusion by separating MyHome and Profile on the navigation bar. |
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@Boatsie: On your new dashboard (now called MyHome) on the right hand column will be suggested groups and suggested events. These will be suggested to you through a combination of match with your interests and whether your friends and/or friends of friends are joining / attending them. We've narrowed down the recommendations to Events and Groups since these seem to be the most interesting to the community and the most 'people' oriented which increases the chances you will bump into someone online that is interesting. Resources are a little empty when you consider their social dimensions. What do you think?
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How about a link to "Active Now" or 'trending topics'-- you are on your profile page ... and you are immediately informed about what's happening right now ... this would be based upon your chosen interests as user develops profile but intially perhaps just directs to activity to encourage interaction.... Discussions underway. Most active groups. Resources just added. This could be in the form of a link at the top of the page.... for example, so many people are joining WeVersity, but how would someone who was not affiliated with that group know this? I guess this is sort of like making Watch List items directly accessible from profile page ... only we are directing users to or 'hotspots' .... we have some sort of gauge which reflects/directs ...
Events. Maybe Recommended Events? I mean how many eventspeople are actually attending at this point? As opposed to wanting to inform people about.....?
Instead of quizzes something like "Did you know that ...." where perhaps we are pulling data and info from information on WE.....
as kerry says favorite/recommended resources .... YES....
and i also agree that it is too much like facebook (i am new to facebook) ....
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Right now I am .....
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I wonder what is displayed in the "My groups" section of a new community member's profile? If nothing, then perhaps display "recommended groups" when viewed by profile owner? And display "recommend a group to this person" when profile is viewed by others? Just an idea... |
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@Mike: The two profiles are not 'either', but one viewed by profile owner (with edit links), and the second as viewed by others (the one with my photo, with post comment field)
I really like this idea from Kerry (especially the one in bold as it encourages interaction and connection):
Maybe the profiles could reflect that by having a section like, "contact me especially if you:" specialize in foxes, are an artist, know a resource about recycling, etc. Or favorite/recommended resources on and off the site. Or a "favorite stories of helping" section. Something beyond the About Me section that can connect strangers to each other and action.
Maybe we could add a few quizzes, like "What kind of activist are you?" Or "What's your plan for changing the world?" And then include those optionally in people's profiles, and people can be recommended to each other based on similar results.
We could just hide the fields/questions if users choose not to answer them.
I wonder if there's a better / more general question than "What are you working on"? A bit difficult I guess, since "What are you doing?" has been 'taken' (by Twitter) and "What's on your mind?" by Facebook. |
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Overall - I love the color/bold font that makes it easier to read than the current site.
Home Page:
Unclear - Where does the "What are your working on" go? Does it get sent to my contacts, into News feed or just on my home profile? Perhaps a link or small note could explain this. Understainding this would help me adjust my level of input.
Unclear - possible overload issue - "Under What are you working on" there's a "Add your updates on Twitter to WE." Where do the Tweets post? Most are not about what people are working on so I could imagine if this is being sent to contacts or posted in News Feed it could be an overload of info from some users who tweet a lot.
Profiles: Look great.
Thanks! |
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Rather than the homepage being a different color from the profiles, I think more of a layout variation might be in order, otherwise the feel isn't distinct enough. My eye identifies the various toolbars on the right side as all the same. Perhaps make the homepage "wider", remove the colored box, or move some of the options to the left side, or otherwise use symbols, as a previous commenter said.
On profiles, is the latest activity akin to the "wall"? Will there be the option to delete, as well as prevent others from posting entirely? (This is included in Facebook privacy options.)
Also, I think I've mentioned this before, but I would like the ability to close my "feed" on my profile, or otherwise minimize it. There's a reason I don't use Twitter, too noisy. Fine if others want the option, but for me, it's unnecessary stress.
On a related note, I personally would be happy if WiserEarth maintained a somewhat different presence from Facebook in format, even if it borrows some elements. Something that sets it apart as a place for synergistic activists, a place where people are doing a lot as well as talking. Maybe the profiles could reflect that by having a section like, "contact me especially if you:" specialize in foxes, are an artist, know a resource about recycling, etc. Or favorite/recommended resources on and off the site. Or a "favorite stories of helping" section. Something beyond the About Me section that can connect strangers to each other and action.
Maybe we could add a few quizzes, like "What kind of activist are you?" Or "What's your plan for changing the world?" And then include those optionally in people's profiles, and people can be recommended to each other based on similar results.
Just my two cents :) |
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Feels like a good step in the right direction to me - the layouts look like they've got a bit more in common with other social networking sites like facebook, and I think that kind of familiarity will help people feel it's more 'usable'. Instant gut feel reaction to the 2 versions of the homepage was a preference for the one featuring Bowo - not sure why...
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@Frank: Dead on! These 'designs' have not had the benefit of professional input from a designer where the issues of color and symbology will be addressed. At this stage we are looking for feedback more about the content and then we will get input from a designer.
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@Ce: You could syndicate you Twitter stream into WE but if you don't use Twitter you can just type away within WE. So there is no need for an Twitter account.
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