Social Network for collectors

This is about my thesis project.

Social Networking for collectors
Moving Design from Physical to Virtual

Wei Zhou
Master of Interaction Design
The nature of collecting
Collecting, defined as the process of actively, selectively, and passionately
acquiring and possessing things removed from ordinary use and perceived
as part of a set of non-identical objects or experiences.
- Belk, 1995
The Users 
People who actually collect physical things, obssessed about them and their stories, consume them not just for their functional capacities, but coupled with the multiples motivations, like self expression, socialbility, and search for a sense of self-continuity through collecting. 
Mission

Build a social platform that can transform collectors' experience in physical world to virtual world. Help them achieve personal recognitions, preserve and understand the past of their collection, sharing efforts, experience and stories, express themselves through their collections, and promote the sense of expanded self. 


John Zimmerman
Advisor
Research
Literature Review
Field Studies
- Russell W. Belk
Findings
now

Personalization
Social communication
Like spend time with their collections
Express expertise
Reserve stories and memories

Seek transcendent experiences
Turn mandune objects into sacred objects
Commitment
Ritual
Seeking ecstasy and flow
Mystify
Sacrifice


To be...
Transition from physical to digital,
what to reserve, what to abandon?
How to rationalize? what form?
meta-data
multimedia
knowledge
validation
self presentation
mandune to sacred
transendant
ritual
social
ecstasy
flow
personalization
spend time
media display
free
Design
Design Patterns
A model for collecting behavior in virtual world
Concept 1: Virtual room
Concept 2: Trading center
Concept 3: Life Stream
Personas
User Story
Demo
Object info
My story
Object story
A virtual object that grows
Personalized display
Multiple viewing ways
Manage
Browse
Edit
Media Center
Exhibition
Open, linked data
Ritual & Social
Shelfee