[Design] Perspective Picker for Sharing

[Mimi Yin]

On May 30, 2006, at 9:35 AM, Mimi Yin wrote:

> On May 26, 2006, at 11:35 PM, Philippe Bossut wrote:
>
>> There's a third category missing in your discussion. Seems like  
>> emails can end up being neither in nor out. If it's not the case  
>> (and we have only in and out), then the logic is more simple: the  
>> "out" determination is fairly simple (you are in the From field).  
>> For the rest, if it's not out, then it's in.
>
> This is complicated, I will draft a separate email to address this  
> issue. It has to do with Spheres and from 'what perspective'  
> sharer's are looking at shared communications: From their personal  
> perspective? From the group's perspective? From the sharer's  
> perspective?

Philippe brought up something interesting in response to the Stamping  
Spec that I think deserves some more discussion. In getting more  
specific about the usage scenarios for sharing, it's become clear  
that we need to have a notion of "Perspective" in order to present  
data to users under the 'right lens.'

Perspective is sort of like Timezones in Calendaring.
+ It doesn't change the data you're looking at.
+ It doesn't change what data you see.
+ However, it does change how you see the data, from who's perspective?

When I'm working from New York, with the Timezone Picker, I can see  
my calendar(s) from my own perspective in New York, OR I can see my  
calendar(s) from the perspective of everyone in the office in San  
Francisco, OR I can see my calendar(s) from a neutral perspective  
that is agnostic to timezones.

Similarly, with a Perspective Picker, I should be able to:
+ See an Item/Collection from my own perspective: Communications from  
me are outbound. Communications to me are inbound.
+ See an Item/Collection from the sharer's perspective: Communication  
from them are outbound. Communications to them are inbound.
+ See an Item/Collection from a group perspective: Communications are  
inbound if they are TO: the group. Communications are outbound if  
they are not TO: the group.
+ See an Item/Collection from a neutral perspective: No notion of  
inbound or outbound.

A few things for discussion:

1. Is Perspective something that users will want to change on the  
fly, like timezones? Or is it really something you set once and never  
change again? e.g. If Esther is managing Mitch's calendar, does she  
ever need to see it from her own perspective? or a neutral  
perspective? Doesn't she always want to see it from Mitch's perspective?

2. Is Perspective the same for everyone sharing a Collection? Or does  
it differ depending on the sharee? What are use cases for the latter  
scenario?

3. Is Perspective something you set on a per collection basis? Or do  
you have control over Perspective at an Item-by-Item granularity as  
well? (ie. How users can set Mine versus Not-Mine status on both  
Collections and Items)

4. Depending on the perspective chosen, how do users want to see  
Items that are neither TO nor FROM you, the collection owner, or the  
group?

5. What does neutral perspective mean?
+ No IN/OUT arrows in the Communications Status column.
+ FROMs and TOs are displayed in the WHO column; OR
+ There are 2 WHO columns? 1 for FROMs and 1 for TOs

A. Usage Scenarios where you want to have your own perspective:
+ In my personal Dashboard, I want to see shared items as they relate  
to me. If someone sends me a Task or an Invite, I want to see who  
assigned the Task to me, who invited me to the Event; I don't want to  
see that I was the recipient of the Task or that I was a recipient of  
the Invite. (However, when I'm viewing these same Items in the  
context of Group collections, I want to see them from the perspective  
of the Group).

B. Usage Scenarios where you want to see things from the collection  
owner's perspective (not necessarily the same person as the sharer):
+ Esther managing Mitch's calendar as a proxy
+ Ted shares his personal calendars with Julie and vice versa
+ Freada and Caroline share their calendars with LPFI

C. Usage Scenarios where everyone in the share wants to see things  
from the perspective of the group:
+ Computer Lab Assistants share a Dashboard to process requests for  
IT support
+ A working group shares a group task list/calendar (e.g. PPD)
+ A couple planning their wedding. Communications sent and received  
should be displayed as if they're coming and going to the same  
person, even if different people are sending and receiving.
+ A design list collection.

Final Question: Implementation-wise, is there really a difference  
between B and C? Both are simply  presentations of the data from the  
perspective of the Collection Owner. In B, the Collection owner is an  
individual (e.g. Mitch). In C, the Collection owner is a Group (PPD,  
Design list).

Mimi




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