The document discusses how people form attachments to physical and digital places, and how loss is experienced when those places change or are destroyed. It notes that sense of self is strongly tied to place, and memories are often associated with specific locations. When places are altered through renovation or redevelopment, it can cause feelings of disorientation, confusion, and loss as cognitive maps formed in the brain are disrupted. The document examines examples of how digital spaces like social networks and email services have changed over time, negatively impacting some users who felt lost by the changes. It advocates realizing how design decisions can impact existing experiences and managing expectations to avoid unintended disruptions.

1. The (Digital) Place You Love Is Gone:
Loss in Space
IA Summit 2015
Joe Sokohl
@RegJoeConsults
“Culture is probably one of the biggest obstacles to adoption” @chrisrivard

2. Where to start
Looking at Place and Loss
3@mojoguzzi @RegJoeConsults
Progress has an impact on our selves...not just physical progress, but digital as well. In our jobs, we certainly focuses on progress. I'm interested in “at what cost.”

3. MelissaHolbrookPierson.com
This talk provides some WHAT, not a lot of HOW. It’s meant to be a thought-provoking talk...So, I am starting with this great book by the wonderful Melissa Holbrook Pierson.
She talks about how important place is to us...and what we experience when it changes, and changes drastically.

4. Her books like “The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles” and “The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing” deal with place, self, and change as well. “Deep down, my home, my
cradle, is still where it always was. Your home is still within you, the box it made and then hid inside.”

5. Her books like “The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles” and “The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing” deal with place, self, and change as well. “Deep down, my home, my
cradle, is still where it always was. Your home is still within you, the box it made and then hid inside.”

6. PervasiveIA.com/book
I’m also heavily indebted to the great Pervasive IA that Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati put out...especially Chapter 4, “Place-making”

7. “Space is not geometry”
Place-making is the capability of a PvIA model to help users reduce disorientation, build a sense of place, and increase legibility and way-finding across digital, physical, and
cross-channel environments.

8. “...[H]elp users reduce
disorientation, build a
sense of place, and
increase legibility and way-
finding across digital,
physical, and cross-
channel environments
Place-making is the capability of a PvIA model to help users reduce disorientation, build a sense of place, and increase legibility and way-finding across digital, physical, and
cross-channel environments.

9. In effect, I'm using the working definition of **place** as being the intersection or the amalgamation perhaps of **space** (in a physical or digital sense) and **time**, usually
duration. So a sense of place exists because we spent time in that physical surrounding…or digital one.

10. + = Place
In effect, I'm using the working definition of **place** as being the intersection or the amalgamation perhaps of **space** (in a physical or digital sense) and **time**, usually
duration. So a sense of place exists because we spent time in that physical surrounding…or digital one.

11. Our sense of self is strongly tied to place. Many of us can tie memory to a mall or house or synagogue. Here is where you had your first kiss...there is where you shoplifted a bag
of Swedish Fish...
...and when progress radically alters that landscape, we are lost. Now, the place you loved is so much broken signage....disappeared, non-existent shops......broken pavement, or
at worst, simply nothingness. Atreyu lost. The Nothing won.

12. Our sense of self is strongly tied to place. Many of us can tie memory to a mall or house or synagogue. Here is where you had your first kiss...there is where you shoplifted a bag
of Swedish Fish...
...and when progress radically alters that landscape, we are lost. Now, the place you loved is so much broken signage....disappeared, non-existent shops......broken pavement, or
at worst, simply nothingness. Atreyu lost. The Nothing won.

13. all the people that you can’t recall
do they really exist at all?
http://northforksound.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html
The great Lowell George of little Feat, in “Easy to Slip,” sings about loss.
Our sense of self is tied to our sense of place...

14. Sometimes those memories have to do with family, with friends, with people...but usually people in a place.
Looking at pictures of the northeast corner of the house where my maternal grandparents live, I remember my father sitting there. I remember hanging out with my dad and
uncle and grandfather (and his dog). I remember the day my oldest brother got married and my dad was his best man, my other brother and I were groomsmen. The corner is
still there…but yet not there. Not only is furniture gone, but so is my father, and my grandfather, and my uncle. I am still here…yet when I visit that house, these corners are not
these corners.

15. Sometimes those memories have to do with family, with friends, with people...but usually people in a place.
Looking at pictures of the northeast corner of the house where my maternal grandparents live, I remember my father sitting there. I remember hanging out with my dad and
uncle and grandfather (and his dog). I remember the day my oldest brother got married and my dad was his best man, my other brother and I were groomsmen. The corner is
still there…but yet not there. Not only is furniture gone, but so is my father, and my grandfather, and my uncle. I am still here…yet when I visit that house, these corners are not
these corners.

16. Sometimes those memories have to do with family, with friends, with people...but usually people in a place.
Looking at pictures of the northeast corner of the house where my maternal grandparents live, I remember my father sitting there. I remember hanging out with my dad and
uncle and grandfather (and his dog). I remember the day my oldest brother got married and my dad was his best man, my other brother and I were groomsmen. The corner is
still there…but yet not there. Not only is furniture gone, but so is my father, and my grandfather, and my uncle. I am still here…yet when I visit that house, these corners are not
these corners.

17. Sometimes those memories have to do with family, with friends, with people...but usually people in a place.
Looking at pictures of the northeast corner of the house where my maternal grandparents live, I remember my father sitting there. I remember hanging out with my dad and
uncle and grandfather (and his dog). I remember the day my oldest brother got married and my dad was his best man, my other brother and I were groomsmen. The corner is
still there…but yet not there. Not only is furniture gone, but so is my father, and my grandfather, and my uncle. I am still here…yet when I visit that house, these corners are not
these corners.

18. What happens when we return to those places....and they're changed. Do those people really exist at all anymore? "Cognitive maps, formed by the brain upon first viewing a
place, *really* don't like to be changed"

19. What happens when we return to those places....and they're changed. Do those people really exist at all anymore? "Cognitive maps, formed by the brain upon first viewing a
place, *really* don't like to be changed"

20. "Cognitive maps, formed
by the brain upon first
viewing a place, really
don't like to be changed"
What happens when we return to those places....and they're changed. Do those people really exist at all anymore? "Cognitive maps, formed by the brain upon first viewing a
place, *really* don't like to be changed"

21. “Every place writes its own elegy before it is founded.” MHP
Digital Places
13@mojoguzzi @RegJoeConsults

22. “Discontinuity and nostalgia are most
profound if, in growing up, we leave or
lose the place where we were born
and spent our childhood, if we become
expatriates or exiles, if the place, or
the life, we were brought up in is
changed beyond recognition or
destroyed.”
Oliver Sacks, quoted by Pierson, Melissa Holbrook (2012-05-28). The Place You Love Is Gone: Progress Hits Home

23. http://mashable.com/2013/09/20/evolution-ios-gif/
Looking at the changes in iOS from version 1 through 7 illustrate how, as things change, loss occurs.

24. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzAy71lQrbU
The 2013 video of a kid sobbing because iOS7 has radically changed his sense of digital place accurately showcases how many of us feel in similar situations.

25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzAy71lQrbU
The 2013 video of a kid sobbing because iOS7 has radically changed his sense of digital place accurately showcases how many of us feel in similar situations.

26. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpaultitlow/451069459/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Altered landscapes affect our cognitive processes, whether they're physical or digital. At one time, this is what folks longed for. Even Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan reflected its
meme, now long forgotten.

27. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpaultitlow/451069459/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Altered landscapes affect our cognitive processes, whether they're physical or digital. At one time, this is what folks longed for. Even Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan reflected its
meme, now long forgotten.

28. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpaultitlow/451069459/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Altered landscapes affect our cognitive processes, whether they're physical or digital. At one time, this is what folks longed for. Even Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan reflected its
meme, now long forgotten.

29. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpaultitlow/451069459/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Altered landscapes affect our cognitive processes, whether they're physical or digital. At one time, this is what folks longed for. Even Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan reflected its
meme, now long forgotten.

30. Sometimes we look back with fondness at our first forays into a digital anchor. How many started here with TheFacebook?

31. Then renovation radically refaces our home. When several of these changes happened, lots of folks expressed their anger

32. Then renovation radically refaces our home. When several of these changes happened, lots of folks expressed their anger

33. ...and when it moves the line even further afield, frustration, loss, and anger bubble up to the fore.

34. ...and when it moves the line even further afield, frustration, loss, and anger bubble up to the fore.

35. ...and when it moves the line even further afield, frustration, loss, and anger bubble up to the fore.

36. Reams of comments decried Google’s revamping of Gmail’s compose feature. Adding a layer of documentation is meant to mitigate the seismic shift in cognitive dissonance. We
also know that, whenever documentation appears, a design failure has occurred.

37. and, sometimes, our digital home just gets...bulldozed.

38. and, sometimes, our digital home just gets...bulldozed.

39. and, sometimes, our digital home just gets...bulldozed.

40. and, sometimes, our digital home just gets...bulldozed.

42. “Being hit with eminent
domain is a bit like being
jumped in a dark street late at
night: One minute you’re
waling along and the next
you’ve got someone’s arm
tight against your throat.”

43. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, coming from the Greek for ”home” and ”pain.

44. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, coming from the Greek for ”home” and ”pain.

45. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, coming from the Greek for ”home” and ”pain.

46. http://www.mobilebloom.com/
The impending suburbanification of the digital experience promises to fragment our relationship with our digital homes. As carriers fragment connectivity with paywalls and
tiered services, that sense of place breaks down.

47. suburbanification of experience
http://www.mobilebloom.com/
The impending suburbanification of the digital experience promises to fragment our relationship with our digital homes. As carriers fragment connectivity with paywalls and
tiered services, that sense of place breaks down.

48. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1566998/images/o-NET-NEUTRALITY-GONE-facebook.jpg
The impending suburbanification of the digital experience promises to fragment our relationship with our digital homes. As carriers fragment connectivity with paywalls and
tiered services, that sense of place breaks down.

49. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/LevittownPA.jpg
Maybe this house is someone’s ancestral home…but it’s also a bulldozed tract.

50. Others redesign existing experiences in a new way. Are they confusing existing users, or are they progressing gracefully? When Microsoft says they “will gradually replace its
aging Hotmail,” how did they do that? Gradually as in a few people at a time, or gradually as in altering features incrementally?

51. Others redesign existing experiences in a new way. Are they confusing existing users, or are they progressing gracefully? When Microsoft says they “will gradually replace its
aging Hotmail,” how did they do that? Gradually as in a few people at a time, or gradually as in altering features incrementally?

52. Others redesign existing experiences in a new way. Are they confusing existing users, or are they progressing gracefully? When Microsoft says they “will gradually replace its
aging Hotmail,” how did they do that? Gradually as in a few people at a time, or gradually as in altering features incrementally?

53. Others redesign existing experiences in a new way. Are they confusing existing users, or are they progressing gracefully? When Microsoft says they “will gradually replace its
aging Hotmail,” how did they do that? Gradually as in a few people at a time, or gradually as in altering features incrementally?

54. https://marcabraham.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/talbellcurve_single1.jpg?w=645
We know about Beal & Rogers’ technology adoption lifecycle, primarily through Geoffrey Moore’s concentration on the chasm of adoption of moving product acceptance from
early adopters to early majority. We as UX folks tend to design for the early adopters, and even the innovators. Rarely do we work for the early majority (and almost never for late
majority or laggards). Yet over time, people move from being early adopters of a specific product to majority users of that product as it and they age.
When we then come back and redesign that product, we create a design disjunct, because the now-majority users lose their way with the new product’s landscape.

55. https://marcabraham.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/talbellcurve_single1.jpg?w=645
Time
We know about Beal & Rogers’ technology adoption lifecycle, primarily through Geoffrey Moore’s concentration on the chasm of adoption of moving product acceptance from
early adopters to early majority. We as UX folks tend to design for the early adopters, and even the innovators. Rarely do we work for the early majority (and almost never for late
majority or laggards). Yet over time, people move from being early adopters of a specific product to majority users of that product as it and they age.
When we then come back and redesign that product, we create a design disjunct, because the now-majority users lose their way with the new product’s landscape.

56. Yet at some point, don't we just wanna go back in time? Strains of Huey Lewis waft somewhere behind us.

57. And so at the end of every hard-working day, people find some reason to believe

58. I coulda told you that!
And so at the end of every hard-working day, people find some reason to believe

59. Four principled approaches
Mitigation
32@mojoguzzi @RegJoeConsults

60. Realize what your design decisions will do to any existing experiences or mental models. Know what people expect, and manage those expectations. As Andy Ihnakto tweeted,
“Write software that sticks with people. We react to software same way we react to movies, music. The language of our lives.”think about how the design approach affects folks.
Don’t create a disjunct in your design such that folks get angry, frustrated, sad, confused, or just distraught.
Also, “What we are is where we have been.” MHP

61. Realize the effects that design
changes have on users
Realize what your design decisions will do to any existing experiences or mental models. Know what people expect, and manage those expectations. As Andy Ihnakto tweeted,
“Write software that sticks with people. We react to software same way we react to movies, music. The language of our lives.”think about how the design approach affects folks.
Don’t create a disjunct in your design such that folks get angry, frustrated, sad, confused, or just distraught.
Also, “What we are is where we have been.” MHP

62. Realize the effects that design
changes have on users
Avoid unintended design
disjunct
Realize what your design decisions will do to any existing experiences or mental models. Know what people expect, and manage those expectations. As Andy Ihnakto tweeted,
“Write software that sticks with people. We react to software same way we react to movies, music. The language of our lives.”think about how the design approach affects folks.
Don’t create a disjunct in your design such that folks get angry, frustrated, sad, confused, or just distraught.
Also, “What we are is where we have been.” MHP

63. Realize the effects that design
changes have on users
Avoid unintended design
disjunct
Understand how loss
affects people
Realize what your design decisions will do to any existing experiences or mental models. Know what people expect, and manage those expectations. As Andy Ihnakto tweeted,
“Write software that sticks with people. We react to software same way we react to movies, music. The language of our lives.”think about how the design approach affects folks.
Don’t create a disjunct in your design such that folks get angry, frustrated, sad, confused, or just distraught.
Also, “What we are is where we have been.” MHP

64. Know that we all will wanna go home,
go back in time
Realize the effects that design
changes have on users
Avoid unintended design
disjunct
Understand how loss
affects people
Realize what your design decisions will do to any existing experiences or mental models. Know what people expect, and manage those expectations. As Andy Ihnakto tweeted,
“Write software that sticks with people. We react to software same way we react to movies, music. The language of our lives.”think about how the design approach affects folks.
Don’t create a disjunct in your design such that folks get angry, frustrated, sad, confused, or just distraught.
Also, “What we are is where we have been.” MHP

66. Many thanks!
Joe Sokohl
Joe@RegularJoeConsulting.com
1.804.873.6964
@mojoguzzi
@RegJoeConsults