Primal Interactions

As emerging Web technologies fuel the rise of so-called social media (think YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter), the practice of interaction design is evolving from its roots in human-computer interfaces to address a broader range of human-to-human activities. Designers who once trafficked in task analysis and usability heuristics now frequently grapple with subtler,“squishier” modes of interaction: negotiating social relationships, building communities, working with issues of trust and identity.