4.6. Design Activity: Data and Social media

4.6.1. Evaluate a social media site

Open a social media interface (not the one you’ve been working with) and choose a view (e.g., a list of posts, an individual post, an author page etc.).

First identify as many pieces of information you can see the screen (without doing anything). For each piece of information:

• What data types might be used to represent that data on a computer?

• How is this data a simplification of reality? That is, what does it not capture? Who does it work best for, and who does it not work well for?

• Did the user(s) directly provide that data, or was it collected automatically by the social media site?

Next, start listing what additional pieces of information are available through one action (e.g., clicking on user profile picture, clicking on comments link, etc.).

4.6.2. Design a social media site

Now it’s your turn to try designing a social media site.

Decide a type of social media site (e.g., a video site like youtube or tiktok, or a dating site, etc.), and a particular view of that site (e.g., profile picutre, post, comment, etc.).

Draw a rough sketch of the view of the site, and then make a list of:

• What pieces of information you think should be immediately visible to users

• What pieces of information should be available to users by taking one action (e.g., clicking on a comment, or profile picture).