Cognitive Authority Revisited in Web Social Interaction

Social software is a growing reality worldwide, while the design of systems that promote and keep users’ participation and reflect a respect to users’ culture and values is still a challenging task. In this chapter, the authors revisit the concept of Cognitive Authority as a means for supporting better social interactions on the Web. To revisit this concept, they draw on the Value Pie: an artifact that favors the analysis and informed discussion about values and culture in social software. In order to situate the discussion in a practical setting, the authors present a case study related to the design of a social network system intended to support the constitution of a network of authorities. The case study shows examples of how values and cultural aspects influence the way a computational feature must be designed to make sense to its users.