Brynn Marie Evans

Really, this post is a reflection on 2009 and a look forward to 2010. 2009 was a strange year for me—it was like the growing pains of your teenage years.

I started the year as Ph.D. student at UC San Diego. That sounds benign, but in fact, I was facing a department that set me up to fail, with what felt like mile-high walls that I had to climb over. I was placed on academic probation by my advisor who, instead of writing an email or telling me to my face that he didn’t like the direction of my research, simply assigned a failing grade to my Fall Quarter research credits. I got the news when I saw my transcript!

And yet, for all of that fall, I was working full-time (12-units) on a big research project that went on to win 2nd place in the CHI’09 research competition and get accepted as a longer journal paper (in press). The project was successful and important for my field, and advanced our understanding of the social implications of merging social networks with online search.

At the time, I was devastated about the “academic probation.” I’d never been failed in anything before. My theme word of the year became “focus,” as I knew I’d have to focus harder than ever to avoid being kicked out of my program in March (which was my trajectory)…if I wanted to get the Master’s in June.

I switched advisors and focused on my immediate goals, and think I gave a pretty good end-of-year talk that framed the motivations for my research into social search (slides; video). However, I took a leave from my program afterwards, and switched my focus to other things. What did I really want to be doing with my life and work?

Luckily, Overlap happened (and I was extremely fortunate to receive an invitation to the event)! Overlappers were my people; and their practice my practice! Beginning then and continuing through the rest of the fall of 2009, I focused instead on this newfound practice of mine, that of social interaction design (SxD). I didn’t even realize that “social interaction design” was my practice until I met Adrian Chan, but I soon realized that SxD was what undercut all of my work, thinking, and research in graduate school. I just didn’t have a name for it!

My training as a psychologist and anthropologist made it possible for me to take the SxD perspective, and my application of it was with social search. And as I looked back over 2009, SxD is what framed all of my projects that year: the NetLogo simulation of question-answering behavior, the social shirt project, my involvement with the betacup initiative, my continued writings and talks about social search, as well as my work with several new clients (as a design research consultant).

‘Focus’ was an appropriate theme word for 2009, but it’s no longer appropriate for 2010! I am on an upswing, having come back from some serious lows (much like our economy). I am lucky to have paying clients, amazing friends and colleagues, an unbelievably supportive partner, and the dearest family. Plus I have good health, high spirits, and ideas that I want to share with the world. Thus, my theme word for 2010 is ’shine’!

Sure, there will be roadblocks, setbacks, and dissenters; and I will continue to work hard and focus. Except now, I want to share my perspective of social interaction design with companies and individuals who don’t yet realize how valuable it is for their practice, their products, and their business.

Of course, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help of my social network (distributed cognition FTW!). As we ring in this new decade, thank YOU for helping me shine! I truly hope that I can someday repay the favor.