Have you read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom? It’s a wonderful book full of life’s lessons. I’m going to be writing a piece called Wednesdays with Ari. Ari is,Professor Ari Lightman, Practice Professor, Digital Media and Marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s – Heinz College, and the class he teaches is called Social Media Metrics.
A day otherwise known as “hump day,” is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week because I’m predisposed to being a life-long student, need to be on the cutting edge, and love college campuses because there is so much innovation and positive energy.
Social Media From The Ivory Tower
This class is fascinating and completely grounded in practical application. It has to be right? There are no textbooks on social media. No theorists or historians on the topic. We are living in the now when it comes to this subject matter.
Each week we discuss a Topic of the Week, which is typically a current event in the world of social media and digital. Guest speakers from very cool places often visit. A recent visitor wasJesse Schell, also a CMU professor and, CEO & Creative Director of Pittsburgh’s largest gaming company,Schell Games. Schell was also a Disney Imagineer.
He talked about gaming and enticing people with incentives to take action on the web. For a glimpse into a future reality that involves gaming watchJesse’s Most Disturbing Presentation Ever: Our Tech Nightmare.
In the video Schell shows us what a typical day in the life of a typical person would look like if gaming and technology were added to very simple, daily rituals and tasks, ex: brushing your teeth and earning “points” from the company whose toothpaste you buy. As you earn points using a certain brand you will be able to exchange them for discounts! What would that world look like?
Technology is Evolving Quickly
Our ability to embrace it and utilize it to enrich our lives is the challenge.
Another fascinating point that Schell brought up is the concept of technology adding barriers to human interaction – email, Tweeting, Facebooking, have contributed to our ability to stay in touch with new friends, old friends, colleagues, etc. but it has also eliminated more face to face or live contact. How often do pick up the phone to speak to someone instead of hitting send on your computer?
Schell argues that reality TV is on the rise because we humans crave and miss real-time human contact. Since there is a lack of it with the rise of interactive technology there is an increase to satiate our need for human-to-human contact.
Fascinating stuff…For more from Schell check out his book,“The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses.”