Wed, Dec 20, 2006

Glorum: forum 2.0 is an example of invisible architecture

by Austin Govella

Glorum’s adaptive, emergent IA lets users invest and mold the system into what they need.

Comments

Glorum screenshotGlorum is experimental forum software that uses user-generated tags and ratings to take the place of owner-generated categories and moderation. It lets the inherent activities of production and consumption organize what is produced and consumed.


No Categories/Groups
Messages are organized with tags. There isn’t a central topic. Any topic is ok as long as messages are tagged appropriately.

No Moderators
Messages can be filtered by anyone with a click on “+” or ““ near each message. If enough people click on ““ the message is deleted.

Nothing new, per se, but the application creates a forum that feels more open. One of the emerging lessons is the lack of visible structure — removing visible architecture — may make virtual spaces more accessible since users have to understand less about the space before they decide to join.

More important for most designers: replacing visible architectures with invisible (emergent) architectures makes a space adapt in ways that brings users back.

Talk About "Glorum: forum 2.0 is an example of invisible architecture"

I Really _Don't_ Know said:

Glorum, Forum...

I discovered Glorum today. (via the very nice Thinking and Making) So what is Glorum? By its own definition it's Forum 2.0, but let's cut the 2.0 neologisms for a moment. You know the way some feed readers display the......

Fri, Jan 5, 2007

Mario said:

Thanks for the insights and the link. You actually introduced me to the topic of IA, which I was ignoring.

A new interface, which is online since a few hours is maybe exploring the problem more aggressively, possibly making a number of properties more evident.

Tue, Jan 9, 2007

Lorenzo said:

Is it free? Is this written in django? Why does the +/- sign disappear once i click it?

Sun, Jan 21, 2007

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