CivicActions

I just tried to log-in to Edible Office, my urban farm blog, but ran up against the usual roadblocks caused by a combination of multiple virtual identities, internet mergers, and my reverse-reverse-psychology password protection program.

Staring forlornly at the empty password box on the right of Blogger's screen, I mentally retraced my Google login history for the day (Blogger and Google share my secrets). A moving interface element drew my eye to the left side of the screen to a ticker featuring the names of blogs updated as of one minute ago: "Couch Potato Revolution," "The People's Pundit", "Idle Thoughts", money-making scheme blogs, blogs with Chinese characters, blogs with Russian characters.... The names keep scrolling, even as we speak. While I usually hate moving parts on the screen (try reading under a strobe light), the Blogger ticker worked for me (a la Twitter or YouTube: the seductive promise of instant gratification).

Here's my thought-tracking usability study as I watch the scrolling list of blog names:

• Something is happening here!
• People just like me blog! People nothing like me blog! Everyone is blogging!
• I can blog too!

I want to see the name of my blog on the list, dancing in shimmering neon lights across the blogosphere! (Now if only I could log in...) We all want to feel like we're part of something. Web applications and online campaigns inspire us when they help us feel connected and whole. We want reminders that we exist, that our opinions matter. In other words, we want to see that when we put something into the machine, something comes out. And when it comes out, we want to be able to show it off: "Look ma, I'm a blogger!"