Games and Gamification of Applications

Recently I have been looking at some games related stuff. This is in the context of new genre games that integrate the physical with the digital worlds like Augmented Reality and Exergaming - video games that are also a form of exercise.

I then came across this article in Fast Company - "MIT Creates The One Video Game You'll Be Thrilled To See Your Kid Get Hooked On" - which I found very interesting and has lots of potential. Whilst not directly related to what I was looking for, it nonetheless is definitely a move in the right direction, at least for some kids.

This phrase from the article sounds the clarion:

"In case you didn't get the memo, games are making all kinds of staid or serious things sexy and downright fun now, from business training to dusty libraries to human rights to health care. Gamification is certainly a trend...."

Some stuff I am reading and have been directed to

Think Quarterly - Google's 'magazine'. Has interesting articles and the formatting/fonts are nice on a browser. http://thinkquarterly.co.uk/ (A companion site)

Scaling DotNet - blog post on some techniques for making DotNet sites faster, better. Fairly technical at developer level. And this link also from that page which initiated the post - MySpace’s death spiral

Stack Overflow Architecture Update - A DotNet article on how Stack Overflow makes their site fast and optimized.

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud - Updates on Amazon's VPC service to include virtualizing your entire network in the Cloud.

Oracle Identity Management Deployment Planning - good resource on Identity Management and not just for Oracle

Some Interesting Insights on the new Digital Publishing Paradigm

A friend just sent me this intriguing article on "Best Selling Author Turns Down Half A Million Dollar Publishing Contract To Self-Publish"

It provides a good insight into the minds of authors (especially good ones) in the new digital paradigm. I also got a good view of the traditional financial publishing model (which i assume is similar for other intellectual property like music) from quotes like:

"In paper, with rare exceptions, there's a big upfront sales push, followed by either total evaporation or by years of low backlist sales. Digital isn't like that."

".. getting half a million bucks and 14.9% royalties, forever, isn't as lucrative as no money up front and 70% royalties, forever."

"a publisher's advance represents: a loan, an insurance policy, a bet"

"If the loan is so big that you don't think you'd ever be able to make that much on your own, plus you won't have to pay it back, then sure, take it"

"...getting half a million bucks and 14.9% royalties, forever, isn't as lucrative as no money up front and 70% royalties, forever."


I guess part of the thinking behind this is that both delivery/distribution AND marketing can be achieved effectively online now. With Social Media, the author, especially a good one, can do his own marketing to reach his audience and get feedback. Before these channels became available very few authors will make such a decision.

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

I just came across this great video of JK Rowling giving the commencement address to the Harvard graduating class in 2008. The impact is of course that it is JK Rowling, but the delivery is quite excellent and the message really gets through.

http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination

This was a link I found from NTU SIFE

Plus check out this analysis of her talk "Speech Analysis: JK Rowling 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech".

Summary of Sharepoint 2010 Social Features

Sharepoint 2010 has upped the ante on business applications that provide social features. A study of what Sharepoint is doing in this area can give us more insights into the kind of features that might be useful in business software expecially in corporate settings. This is also relevant to developers who aspire to build social features into their offerings or solutions

---

Social Media Tools on Sharepoint 2010

1. Managing your content – profile page with personal and work related information, profile management, and managing tags and notes (filtering, sorting, etc.).
   
   
   
   1. Personal Tag Cloud, which surfaces all the tags that user has employed and displays them in a tag cloud.
   
   
   2. Tag Profile feature which aggregates all of the people who have used a given tag within the organization. It's possible to subscribe to a feed of any tag, see who's following a tab, and add a tag to your responsibilities, all of which are options surfaced simply by clicking on a tag.
   
   
   3. "Ask Me About" feature falls under the interests area and allows users to broadcast areas of expertise about which they're open to receiving questions from colleagues.
   
   
   4. Content tab surfaces a user's sites, documents and pictures (shared and personal). Sites include a personal blog by default. Included in the blog is a Ribbon-based contextual editor which "makes it much more natural to do internal blogging." In addition to showing blogs in the browser, authoring on a mobile device is easy.


2. Staying connected (Social Networking)
   
   
   
   1. My Network feature, to track your colleagues and interests, shows a running feed of colleagues' activity (an "analogue to Facebook friends, if you will") and interests
   
   
   2. Overview includes a user's Note Board, "Facebook Wall-style interface”, where you can post a note on a colleague's profile or leave a comment on a team site.


3. Finding expertise (Social Networking) – Finding Expertise – In terms of finding expertise, SharePoint 2010's people search where you can sort by "social distance" and filter results by projects, skills, and responsibilities and an Organization Browser where one can
   
   
   
   1. Organization tab surfaces an org browser in Silverlight, to browse through peers and management chains, which shows an org chart that's far more slick (and interactive) than any org chart you've seen before. An HTML version of the org browser is also available.


4. Finding information (Aggregation, RSS) – For finding information, she showed us an example of a search for content where one can search across sites, filter results by type, author, date, or tag, as well as create an alert or RSS feed on a particular search query.


5. Capturing unstructured content (Social News and Bookmarking) – bookmarking (of both internal and external sites), tagging (sites, profile pages, lists, libraries, or items) and the suggested tag feature. She also briefly touched on blogs, video, an enterprise wiki, and an "office backstage" feature.


6. Working together anywhere (Collaboration) –
   
   
   
   1. co-authoring experience in Microsoft Office through SharePoint 2010 (with featured participants) and mobile collaboration where you can access team sites, office applications, create blog posts and comments and have 1-click access to documents, sites and colleagues
   
   
   2. two varieties of wikis in 2010, team sites and enterprise wikis, with the latter being more of a traditional wiki usage. Both feature Web Edit functionality and built-in workflows (which are also built into blogs in 2010). In 2010 you can insert Web Parts directly into a wiki.
   
   

---

Levels of Authority in Social Media

In pondering the issue of having a methodology for Social Media and Business , I came across Timothy Carter's post "The 5 Levels of Authority Found in Social Media" from way back in 2009. This is an early attempt at trying to formalize some structure for this type of thing.

These are his definitions:

Level 1) (Lowest) Perceived Authority.

This Authority comes from the image that you market to lists — and is a pure result of marketing which can create a large numbers of followers quickly. Results and Proof are lacking as well as personal connection.

Level 2) Promotional Authority.

This authority comes from what you promote out into the marketplace about you and your message- and brand into the social media zone. This can come from many arenas, including ads, videos, and personal connections. Some results may be starting to show along the way.

Level 3) Knowledge Authority.

This Authority comes from having the Knowledge and education about social media and folks realize it and acknowledge it with comments on blogs, videos, and other talking about you and your message. Your teachings are well read and videos are well watched for content. Results are maturing as your Knowledge grows and matures of social media.

Level 4) True Authority. (Highest)

This can only come from Consistent, Experienced, Knowledge Driven RESULTS and SOCIAL PROOF. In Social Media Leadership, there are no short cuts, and no hidden trails. True Authority can only come from what you have made happen in the marketplace for you and others over time and consistently. And folks will realize it, and want to be a part of your Impact, and follow you and befriend you by the tens of thousands with little marketing needed. The word organically gets out.

I guess this applies to the real world as well, with the difference being the speed at which messages and reputations spread.

However, in the real (and internet) world, Level 1 Authority is normally sufficient for 'most' people. Unfortunately 'most' represents over 95% (just gut-feel, no statistics to back this up) which in any system represents a supermajority.

Presumably in the business world, people are (or should be) more keenly aware of such things.

Lessons from Catalyst Connector's - The Business of Social 3.0 Workshop

This event was held on 16 Sep 2010 in Singapore. It was a half day workshop/networking session on Making Social Media Work for Your Business - focusing on networking and business matching within the context of entrepreneurship, incubators, startups and small businesses.

This is the first of a series of workshop/networking events to be organized by Catalyst Connector, a new and innovative business catalyst that actively builds the connections between people, companies, projects and opportunities

While there are many events that advertise to address social media uses and ways to improve your business, this one takes a very different tack. Instead of merely giving general high-level tips, tricks and best practices, this is a serious attempt to formulate a structured methodology on using new media to generate and connect with compatible partners and projects.

Here are the takeways:

1 New Media = Social Media (SM) + Traditional Media (TM)

To create Authority, Authenticity and Sustainability we have to deploy social media and traditional media. While 'old' media like newspapers, tv etc are on the decline, their demise shouldn't be exagerrated. The majority of people still formulate opinions and views based on what gets published/broadcast there. Further, many just focus on headlines and buzz words.

Whilst TM provides the punch, the impact is fleeting i.e. mentions in newspapers, tv, radio are ephemeral and are quickly replaced by the next news articles. With SM, memes, ideas and events can live on for a long time. The buzz can continue much longer and with lasting impact online and be transformed into a warm glow.

TM = authority, ephemeral

SM = authenticity, longevity, virality, referencability

However, the interplay between the online and offline requires intricate management and many would benefit from more structured handholding and guidance.

2 Workshop Series - Journey Of Multiple Steps

This event introduced the idea that networking and matching in the era of Social Media is a journey. Instead of providing lists of to-dos and general concepts, the organizers take the view that a structured process is needed to fully realize the value to be obtained from the current new media environment vis-a-vis business networking and matching for startups.

They provided a high-level map of what this journey entails. This process essentially takes the form:

1. Transform
• Persona Management - managing multiple personas
• Knowledge Management


2. Take-Off
• Networking tools/techniques
• How to work a (virtual) room
• Integrate online and offline


3. Target
• Matching and Closing the deal
• Executing Transactions/Projects
• Getting results

This novel idea is still at its inception stages and we'll be very keen to see how this works out in reality. However, I think it is headed in the right direction and I am really looking forward to the next events in this series.

It was a real pleasure to have participated in the Business of Social 3.0 workshop/networking event and connect with many friends and colleagues working towards promoting social media for business and making the entrepreneurial environment more vibrant and rewarding.

---

Here are some links to useful resources related to this subject.

Catalyst Connector on Facebook - where you'll find updates and event information posted regularly

Catalyst Connector's Resource Page - where there are many links to media, presentations, articles etc.