Tracing the Evolution of Social Software

Posted by michael on Thursday October 14, 2004 @04:55AM from the alacrity-fitzhugh dept.

ChristopherRayAllen writes "I have just posted an article on the history of terminology associated with collaboration software in my Life With Alacrity blog: The term 'social software', which is now used to define software that supports group interaction, has only become relatively popular within the last two or more years. However, the core ideas of social software itself enjoy a much longer history, running back to Vannevar Bush's ideas about 'memex' in 1945, and traveling through terms such as Augmentation, Groupware, and CSCW in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. By examining the many terms used to describe today's 'social software' we can also explore the origins of social software itself, and see how a very real life cycle centers around the use of technical terminology."

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This article is pretty good by hsmith · 2004-10-14 05:04 · Score: 2, Informative

I found this on the java forums, it provides interesting insight into online communities. basically breaks down some interesting psychological points on them

http://shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html/
Re:What about us? by eille-la · 2004-10-14 06:21 · Score: 2, Informative

http://www.shirky.com
Look at this site if you want to read some interesting essays.
"Clay Shirky's Writings About the Internet
Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source"
You'll find essays about blogs.
The link come from the article itself.