While our profession may have begun entrenched in computing, it’s quickly evolved into the world of behavior. We empower social change, strive to support authentic experiences, and borrow heavily from our disciplinary neighbors; our work in the field of interactions has jumped from a technological point of view to land firmly in the world of culture and humanity.

This issue highlights that jump, and celebrates the benefits of this social, cultural and humanitarian focus. Kirsten Boehner offers a poetic set of reflections on representation, and explores the nature of our epistemologies. Similarly, Danah Boyd’s work takes this highly theoretical approach and tactically explore the nuances of teenage behavior in the contexts of facebook and myspace. And Uday Gajendar pursues an emotional path towards soulful experiences, demanding that designers are enabled to “resolve a cohesive blend of the rational and the imaginative into something that people will enjoy using.”

A soulful experience is authentic, and authenticity is fleeting; Marc Rettig and Alex Wright review three books that touch on the difficulties of designing for human experiences in an authentic and meaningful way. Steve Portigal and Stokes Jones look deeper at authenticity, wondering implicitly how we can design to support what is so intimate and personal as to be called “authentic”. As they analyze Black Sabbath and the VW Beetle, it becomes clear that designing an authentic experience may be well beyond our means.

Other disciplines, such as architecture and marketing, may have had a longer tenure of this type of exploration. Valerie Jacobs, Group Director (and trend watcher) at LPK Trends, provides a framework for thinking about the complexities of mass-produced, often in-authentic experiences as they related to brands and marketing. She offers a way out of this lifeless lack of authenticity: “… our work will be about giving people the tools for interactive storytelling and meaning making - a more generative, open-ended approach which runs counter to the prescriptive and controlled practice of today.” We can look to marketing for interactive meaning making, and we can look to the roots of design - gestalt, and the psychological principles of visual perception - describes by William Lidwell in his piece “More With Less”. Lidwell, author of the beautiful text Universal Principles of Design, describes how the fundamentals of graphic and communication design can be applied in our quest towards designing for authenticity and human resonance.

Despite the rich discussion of experience and authenticity, we start the issue with a look at social interaction design - the new and rich subgenre of interaction design that emphasizes social, humanitarian needs first and profit second or not at all. These topics - from health and wellness to sustainability - are the focus of a new generation of socially minded designers and academics.

Our cover story, from Woodrow W. Winchester, highlights the need for Behavioral Interactions - interactions intended to create a helpful interaction. The old criteria of “usable, useful and desirable” may no longer suffice, as we turn our efforts towards the epidemic of HIV and AIDS. Winchester describes work done to enable HIV prevention in developing nations, and illustrates the rich opportunity that exists for our hard work and dedication.

From the search for soul, to the need to make a difference, this issue of interactions highlights the push towards social, authentic, and interdisciplinary design. This represents a significant challenge; we hope you find a way to embrace this challenge in your daily work.