Clearly, bug tracking systems need achievements! (Kellan and me causing trouble with FlickrHQ internal tools. My favorite is the one you get for fixing a bug after 2am.)

Coincidentally, a nice post today from Rands today on game-like incentives for software development, which inspired me to post this screenshot publicly.

(obvious apologies to 4sq for lifting their icons for parody while we make our own)

However, I have been posting various things that interest me fairly regularly on my tumblr page, which you very well may want to read if you are already following this blog.

Now that the cranky rant is over, I’ll try to actually be helpful. Here are some handy-dandy tips on Giving Good IM in a Workplace Environment:

1. Be specific: Context is valuable. Bad: “hey did u see http://ambiguousurl.com/72d7a8f?” Good: “Hey, have you seen Bob Blowhard’s latest blog post on our product? (http://ambiguousurl.com/72d7a8f). If not, you should check it out, it has some good commentary on the XYZ feature!”
2. Get to the point: If you are IM’ing because have something to ask, just ask. Don’t make “small talk” first, I’m going to be spending he entire time wondering what you’re working up to anyhow.
3. Exercise good timing: If my status message says “In a meeting,” then a message like “What time are you getting out?” may be appropriate. “What are your detailed thoughts on the implications of yesterday’s reorg on our marketplace strategy for Q3?” is not.
4. No reply necessary: Very uncommon, but people will love you if you do this. If you’re just passing on a piece of information and don’t need confirmation, let someone know they don’t need to reply, and save them a few seconds.
5. Quick queries only: My general guideline is that anything that will require someone to think for more than two seconds in order to answer is probably not appropriate for IM.

People have strong existing workflows to handling incoming email. Filters, folders, flags, et al. allow the recipient to delegate the incoming flow of information and respond to it in a way that works best for them. Instant messages “jump the queue” people have set up, so while it can be a powerful medium for lightweight communication, be considerate of helping keep people from becoming overloaded.

Do you have any other tips for dealing with IMs? Post them in the comments, perhaps I’ll compile a list of reader contributions.

…And we would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!

(with apologies to the Dove Evolution campaign)

Pinky and blue-y!

Lost Sensations, originally uploaded by | HD |.

Woo:

“Creative Director Jenny Lam expanded the search to Flickr and contacted people who took really interesting pictures, asking them, “So, how would you like one of your photos included among the default wallpapers in Windows Vista?” The Flickr artists were excited to be a part of Windows Vista (one of them by an astonishing coincidence happened to be a beta tester), and after the lawyers had their say—because nothing is complete without lawyers getting involved—Microsoft sent the photographers on a commissioned photo shoot.”

From The Old New Thing.

Too busy to post a proper announcement! Short version that doesn’t reveal anything sensitive: I’m thrilled to be taking my areas of research expertise and applying them towards strategic operations to help shape the rapidly changing media landscape. :-)

The abstract of said thesis:

This project analyzes the social uses of computer-mediated backchannel conversation in a shared physical environment, specifically the SIMS Backchannel—a virtual communication environment actively used by graduate students at the U.C. Berkeley School of Information.

In this study, we follow seventy backchannel participants over eighteen months of persistent usage in an academic environment, during which time over a quarter-million lines of conversation occurred. We employ a mixed methods approach including statistical analysis, an opinion survey, qualitative interviews with a number of participants, and field observation. We demonstrate and describe how the users of this communication backchannel have independently developed a variety of different usages for a novel communication environment, both in-class and outside. We descriptively categorize these usages and attempt to analyze the ways in which they are both highly dependent upon—and augment—the contextual relationship of co-presence.

The project was fascinating and I’m pleased with the results we obtained. Recently though, I’ve been excited about the potential for spontaneously emerging communication backchannels via Nintendo DS. So much so I used it as an excuse to buy a DS Lite as a personal “research expense.” (For those not in the know, the Nintendo DS is the new Gameboy that contains built-in WiFi for ad-hoc gaming sessions, and ships with a built in software program for textual and drawing communication.) Lately, I’ve been pulling the DS out in public places and scanning for active Pictochat sessions—the other night I successfully found one. A friend and I were at the movies and waiting through the boring trivia and candy advertisement pre-trailers, so we decided to mess around in Pictochat instead. Shortly thereafter, a “James” joined the chatroom, and proceeded to trade a few drawings back and forth with us. I stood up and scanned the theatre, and in the back, I could see James signaling back to me by waving his DS excitedly in the air, backlight aglow.

]]> http://mroth.info/blog/2006/07/02/backchannels/feed/ 0 http://mroth.info/blog/2006/06/29/my-reputation-precedes-me/ http://mroth.info/blog/2006/06/29/my-reputation-precedes-me/#comments Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:12:44 +0000 mroth http://mroth.info/blog/2006/06/29/my-reputation-precedes-me/ IM transcript with an old East Coast friend who randomly met a recent West Coast friend of mine:

(23:04:07) Jeffrey Crouse: did your friend tell you how we discovered that we both knew you?
(23:04:41) M. Rothenberg: i dont think so, she just mentioned that she had met you.
(23:06:06) Jeffrey Crouse: well she had mentioned that she was from Berkeley, and i was complaining about how i missed New York and how it was so much better than Atlanta, and she said she knew some people that were always complaining about how much better NY was than anywhere else, and that one guy in particular was especially adamant about it
(23:06:29) Jeffrey Crouse: and i said “is that guy named Matthew Rothenberg?”

Well it’s true, ok?

]]> http://mroth.info/blog/2006/06/29/my-reputation-precedes-me/feed/ 2 http://mroth.info/blog/2006/05/04/ajax-enabled-theses/ http://mroth.info/blog/2006/05/04/ajax-enabled-theses/#comments Thu, 04 May 2006 23:33:15 +0000 mroth http://mroth.info/blog/2006/05/04/ajax-enabled-theses/ Out of context quote of the day:

“One of the great things about my thesis is that it has AJAX.”
- Cameron Marlow

Sorry, Cam. :-)

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