unread, unread, unread, unread, unread, unread...

Recognise the tune? A great, stupendous feature of Groove is its unreads Unreads, for the ignorant among you, are notifications that indiate new or updated information. They appear as both icons and notifications depending upon circumstances and settings. Groove has a variety of features that help you navigate to such data and react in real-time to events as they happen. And over time Groove has improved the intensity of unreads to the point...

That they could become Groove's downfall. Don't get me wrong unreads are brill. But unreads can also be bad news. Before I explain why, let me say that the unreads feature single-handedly permits the user to effectively navigate 100 times more information than would otherwise be humanly possible. And perhaps after some upgrades that ratio may reach a 1000 or more.. What I mean by this can be thought of in context of information overload of this information age. Unreads allow you to embrace much more relevant and important information than would ever otheriwse be possible. And Groove, at least, if I have my way, have not finished with improving unreads. But that is a digression. Or is it?

The simple truth is, that unreads become a dread for some people. Those people are people who use Groove infrequently (once a month?), people who go on holiday, people who do not understand unreads and how and why to manage them, people who belong to spaces that are extremely active in which perhaps they personnally have a passing interest.

And believe me, when I use the term dread I use that word in its exact sense. The active, experienced and knowledgeable Groove user knows to keep on top of their unreads. They know that if they join a busy and full space that the first thing they do is "clear unreads" and be done with them. They know that if they come back from an extended holiday (assuming they haven't been suspended) then they must similarly clear down all unreads.

Clearing your unreads across all spaces is the only way to maintain your sanity. If you do not then you will end up in confusion and your blood pressure will rise. The next symptom is a lack of confidence in your understanding of Groove. And then finally you are in danger of switching off from Groove alltogether.

I have seen this happen. It is no joke. This is unread trauma in action. Grown men will cry because they do not know how to manage excessive unreads. They think to themselves "I can do this" and a a couple of days go by, and they begin to sink lower and lower. And after a week they begin to huddle in the corner in a permanent cold sweat and stay well away from the computer, frightended of seeing another 1000 unreads.

So what is the answer? Well training is an obvious starting point. Perhaps counselling from the companies pschologist/analyst may be needed for dire cases.

But there are things that Groove Networks can do as well. There are technical improvements that can help avoid the trauma in the face of excessive unreads. These include:

a) the ability for a space designer to set the default unread status for new members as read. A single change that I would switch on for any space with substantial existing content - without a second thought.

b) the ability to quantify other people's unreads. As a manager of my company's Groove environement I need to know who is subject to unread overload. Put it this way, how many unreads can you create in a day? Let's say you are a Sanjana (:-) ) and can create 2-300. Suppose you are part of a team of 5 Sanjanas. Each person would then have to read 1000 or more unreads to stay on top of the information flow. So I need to know how my company is operating and that means knowing if someone is sustaining excessive unreads.

c) the ability to clear down other people's unreads. Training can go only so far. If a user is subject to excessive unreads then if they continue to not clear them down - then it is my job to help them learn how to operate their Groove better - and without pain. Clearing their unreads lets them get back to normality and begin to be inspired by Groove, not demoralised.

d) the ability to set other people's reads to unreads. Such an ability will help me to to bring focus to my company

(both c & d need to be used with great, nay abslute care and discretion)

e) extend the ability to prioritise unreads. Currently I can set notifications for changes in all data in all spaces. But there are some spaces for which I have personal responsibility. For example if one of our communities has a user with a problem and they post into one of our HelpDesk spaces - then I want to react quickly. I cannot do this if that unread is swamped with 100's of other unreads of lesser importance than mine.

Thanks for unreading this tome. There is much more to say on this and I will return to the subject - watch for then next in this series entitled "Unread or Noneread"...

posted by Andy Swarbrick/PopG at 11:52