Yes, yes. I know, this does just sound like buzzword bingo for web app developers.
Embedded Experiences are a part of the OpenSocial 2.0 specification.
EE allows application developers to embed content from their applications inside OpenSocial 2.0 containers
Since attending Lotusphere 2012 back in January, I've been mulling over the demos of IBM Connections Next, particularly with regard to the usability and context of embedded experiences.
At Lotusphere 2012, a couple of contexts for embedded experiences were demo'd:
- Within a desktop social intranet/portal type environment e.g. IBM Connections or Jive
- Within an OpenSocial enabled email client e.g. Notes Social or iNotes
The method of displaying embedded experiences is likely to differ depending on the which platform you're using
e.g. the embedded experiences is rendered as
- a slide out interface in the OpenSocial 2.0 Sandbox:
- a popup bubble in IBM Connections Next:
- an email message in an OpenSocial enabled email client such as iNotes:
Depending on which product/platform and screen resolution you use, there will be different screen real estate which you can use. This screams "use responsive web design".
The main use case I've seen for the current embedded experience examples is:
Task based interactions that expose a succinct interface concentrating the user only to the task at hand.
Sound familiar? This sound exactly like the tasks you'd normally perform on a mobile device and so Mobile First should be the design principle at work here.
Additionally, I recall suggestions that embedded experiences widgets could and would be reused in the mobile context, so this confirms the design principle that should be used.
It'll be very interesting to see how the next IBM Connections mobile app exposes embedded experiences.
In the meantime, here's a quick demo of embedded experiences from the OpenSocial 2.0 Sandbox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYKdlPbUB8w