NetWORK patterns: Designing effective user interfaces for connections management at work

New collaborative technologies are making modern work a highly social process in the era of Web 2.0, yet as a result, it is increasingly challenging for workers to maintain knowledge of and manage their connections. Former netWORKing studies have suggested integrating communication and information with models of social networks. To elucidate these netWORK processes and explore the viability of organizing connections at work in terms of a social network of contacts, we conducted field studies investigating patterns of people's subjective ego-centered netWORKs. Different netWORK categorizing and structuring strategies are identified and user interface design implications are proposed for connections management systems. Copyright 2008 ACM.