Use the following patterns to bring people together at reallocations, offline.

Use to plan around real locations, utilizing addresses and maps.

Allow users to enter full details of an event, including location, time, date, details, and special considerations (Figure 16-3).

Figure 16-3. Event creation form on Upcoming.

Integrate a calendar (see Calendaring in Calendaring) for scheduling time-based events (Figure 16-4).

Figure 16-4. Calendar picker on Upcoming.

Allow event creators to mark an event as public or private (Figure 16-5 and Figure 16-6).

Figure 16-5. Privacy options on Upcoming.

Figure 16-6. Privacy options on Socializr. Secondary text clearly articulates what each choice means.

Allow users to select locations from a list of places: from city guides, yellow pages, or other directories.

Consider indicating nearby establishments, like restaurants, parking, coffee shops, ATMs, or other relevant businesses, which allows for comprehensive planning (Figure 16-7).

Figure 16-7. Upcoming provides a map indicating the venue of the event and shows nearby parking, restaurants, ATMs, or a user-entered item.

Provide the full address, phone number, and other relevant details, such as costs, hours, restrictions, or ambiance.

Allow users to RSVP to events. Consider showing RSVPs to other users and indicating attendees from a viewer’s network (Figure 16-8, Figure 16-9, and Figure 16-10).

Consider allowing public events where users invite themselves or follow an event.

Consider adding wiki software for collaborative content creation.

Integrate maps for selecting and displaying locations (see Geo-Mapping in Geo-Mapping).

Allow users to indicate a method for receiving alerts or reminders for events (see Reminding in Reminding).

Allow users to easily invite their network or a subset of their network to an event (Figure 16-11). Consider a batch invite process, such as multiselect, for sending invites.

Allow users to attach photos to the event (Figure 16-12).

Figure 16-12. Upcoming creates a “scrapbook” for each event attended or watched. Photos from the event are associated with the event through a mashup with Flickr.

If the user attended (or RSVP’d “yes”), show the event in his calendar of past events.

Consider asking the attendees to rate the event afterward (Figure 16-13).

Figure 16-13. Meetup offers a rating option to attendees of recent events.

Allow events to be searchable by keyword/category, tags, and date.

Allow users to browse through events and filter by keyword/category, tags, and date (Figure 16-14).

Figure 16-14. Upcoming filters events by date first.

Show users a list of events being attended by friends in their network (Figure 16-15).

Indicate whether the user must be part of the network in order to RSVP or attend the event (Figure 16-16).

Use this pattern to allow users to create customized and personal invitations for events such as parties.

Use this pattern to replace regular email for party planning.

Use a calendar picker for easy date selection and minimization of data entry errors (see Calendaring in Calendaring).

Offer to add the event to the user’s calendar (Yahoo!, iCal, Google, etc.).

Allow event planners to poll invitees through the use of simple polls.

Provide templates for invitation display. Allow the event creator to choose a theme that is appropriate to the theme of the party (Figure 16-19 and Figure 16-20).

Figure 16-19. Theme selection on MyPunchbowl.

Figure 16-20. Template section on MyPunchbowl.

Allow the event creator to invite multiple people at a time. Provide a field for adding multiple email addresses.

Allow selection from the user’s desktop address book (Figure 16-21).

Figure 16-21. MyPunchbowl offers the invitation creator a variety of ways to build a guest list.

Consider allowing selection from online address books, such as Plaxo and Yahoo!.

Allow the event planner to save the email addresses for later use.

Offer to add the event to the user’s calendar (Yahoo!, iCal, Google, etc.).

Consider showing RSVPs to others and indicating attendees.

Show the event on a map (Figure 16-22).

Figure 16-22. MyPunchbowl integrates maps into the invitation.

Allow users to get directions to the event.

Consider indicating nearby establishments, such as restaurants, parking, coffee shops, and ATMs, to allow for comprehensive planning.

Show the full address and phone number of the location.

If the event is at a public location, such as a restaurant or park, show details about the location: hours, ambiance, restrictions, etc.

Allow users to upload photos from the event.

Consider allowing users to leave comments about the party.

Use this pattern to create date-driven events.

Use this pattern to find events by date.

Use this pattern with Face-to-Face Meeting in Face-to-Face Meeting and Party in Party.

Allow users to associate an event with a date. This can be done through an event-planning interface or within a calendar interface (Figure 16-24 and Figure 16-25).

Figure 16-24. Adding an event to Google Calendar.

Figure 16-25. Associating an event with a date on Upcoming.

Allow the event creator to indicate whether the event is public or private.

Allow the calendar event to be shared, whether through direct selections from the user’s network, through email, or through RSS, blogs, or other social offerings.

Provide a title and description field (Figure 16-26).

Figure 16-26. Calendar entry on Google Calendar.

Provide a notes field for URLs and other information.

Allow the user to associate a location to the event.

When the details are complete, present the event in all presentations of the calendar (i.e., list view, day view, week view, and month view).

Present the title, location, and as much of a description as appropriate for the display. For example, the list view would display most, if not all, of the description, whereas the month view may show only a truncated title.

Use rollover panels to display the full calendar event without forcing the user to click.

Use this pattern to alert others where an event is happening.

Use this pattern to encourage sending reminders to a mobile device or email account.

When creating an event, allow the user to set reminders or alerts about those events (Figure 16-28).

Figure 16-28. Setting up a reminder on 30 Boxes.

If the event creator is inviting attendees, set the reminder to automatically send alerts to the attendees.

Give the user the ability to select from a preset list of reminder times. For instance, Yahoo! Calendar offers to send reminders from 14 days before the event all the way to 5 minutes before the event, and Google Calendar allows you to specify an exact number and then qualifies it with minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc. (Figure 16-29 and Figure 16-30).

Figure 16-29. Google Calendar reminder setup widget.

Figure 16-30. Yahoo! Calendar reminder setup widget.

Reminders should be able to be sent to an email address and to mobile devices or added to a social networking profile.

Consider allowing two reminders to be set, for example, 14 days and 5 days before the event.

For public events, allow people to set their own reminders.

If the item is a photo and there is exif data that includes lat/long information, associate that location string with the object (Figure 16-32).

Figure 16-32. Adding a photo to a map on Flickr through selection on a map. Lat/long coordinates are presented in the lower right of the interface, but an easy-to-understand real place translation of the location is presented in the top right of the interface.

Automatically place the item on a map.

If the item has an address associated with it, such as a business, automatically place the item on a map.

Allow the user to associate an address with an object.

Consider allowing users to drag and drop items (photos, listings, friends) onto a map and associating a location with the item.

Allow the user to refine the location by offering an address form. Allow the full ad-dress, a city/state combo, or even a zip/postal code. Fields should be optional.

Allow users to enter specific latitude and longitude numbers indicating a point on a map as an alternative to picking a spot on a map.

Use the emerging format for geo data, e.g., geotagged geo:lat=57.64911 geo:lon=10.40744. The first item is the tag “geotagged”, allowing all items to be searched from a common tag. The other tags are “geo:lat” and “geo:long”, which was established by geobloggers and has been popularized by sites such as Flickr, Panoramio, and Delicious.

Convert geotags into user-friendly addresses when presenting locations in the interface.

Clearly indicate how the information will be used.

Present the item location with a graphic pointer on the map (Figure 16-34).

Figure 16-34. Flickr displays tags as well as images in its map display.

Allow the user to see other people or items on the map in relation to himself (if the user is on a mobile device or has indicated his location).

Allow the user to search for items based on location.

Allow users to select a neighborhood for filtering information. The neighborhood boundaries should include relevant location definitions, including zip code and school districts, and explicit metadata and location keywords (Figure 16-38).

Figure 16-38. Users can select a neighborhood to filter content.

Allow people to explicitly identify with a neighborhood, through selection of a specific neighborhood or entry of a zip code.

Present the option to connect to people from the same neighborhood or in nearby areas.

Allow people to search by neighborhood, zip code, or other relevant location data (Figure 16-39).

Figure 16-39. Nearby neighborhoods and other area definitions available for filtering content.

Provide an easy mechanism for users to switch neighborhoods.

Consider mashing up a variety of interesting and relevant content related to the selected neighborhood. The types of content that can be pulled together include photos, news items, business listings, real estate listings, police blotter announcements, ratings and reviews of businesses, parks and public places, events, and people.

Display the user’s location on a map.

Display relevant content on a map to indicate proximity to the user.

Share photos and/or videos from their mobile devices.

Plot themselves on a map or announce their locations.

Meet up with other people nearby.

Provide one-click upload of photos and videos.

Allow the user to do his setup on the Web as an option. More complex setup that requires typing and data entry is easier with a keyboard than a phone interface.

But, with that said, the setup and upload of content should be easy on the phone for those not equipped with a computer. (See Figure 16-41.)

Figure 16-41. Recent activity posted by users of Brightkite also shows up on the website.

Provide one-click ability to share items of interest to others.

Utilize the built-in features of geo-mapping to allow users to share their locations with a trusted network.

Allow users to turn off presence or location indicators.

Use a user’s location to show nearby businesses or events of interest.

Allow users to easily see where their network is located (with permission, of course; see The Ex-Boyfriend Anti-Pattern in The Ex-Boyfriend Anti-Pattern) and send out a message or invitation to meet up to those people.

Allow users to send out one message to a predefined group of people.

Consider the option of allowing users to send out one message to a group pulled together on the fly that is based on proximity.

When considering a status tool for mobile, allow users to plug into their existing social networks, such as Twitter or Facebook (Figure 16-43).

Figure 16-43. Twittelator is a client that taps into the user’s existing Twitter account.

Consider pulling in the activity stream from the user’s existing network onto his mo-bile device.

Allow the user to indicate how often to pull data. User should be able to easily turn off the stream to save on data charges and battery life.

Allow users to indicate whether their outgoing message is sent via an application, into an existing network, or as an SMS or text message to their network.