Filed under: Assessment Center, Deborah Rupp, I-O psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Robert Kittinger, psychology, web 2.0
It’s been a while since my last post…Over the last 6 months I’ve have the opportunity to do several interesting things. I was able to speak at the Fall WIK 2007 conference on the application of Web 2.0 technology for authors and illustrators. I had a great time speaking there and was asked to/ able to do a sort of encore presentation later on. Many authors and illustrators rely heavily on their web presence, networking and branding, so we generated some pretty good discussions and overall enthusiasm. I packed up all of my belongings and moved to Pensacola, FL.
I’m now attending UWF’s graduate Industrial Organizational (I-O) Psychology program. Many people don’t know much about I-O Psych, and immediately think it must have something to do with counseling. It’s really got more to do with HR management, how to hire the right person (selection ), keep them (retention), creating an organizational culture, work-place fairness, work-life balance, flex-time, efficiency, and those sorts of things; just think “the Bobs” in the movie Office Space. So how does all of this fit in with my passion for Web 2.0…
Well, I just finished hearing a wonderful presentation by Deborah Rupp, PhD on Assessment Center Technology. She’s working with fairly advanced internet and server database technology to run remote assessment centers between the United States and Seol, Korea. Most assessment centers use highly trained, highly skilled personnel to rate different behaviors which the employee participates in. These can be in-basket tests, leaderless group tasks, etc… Deborah Rupp and her team are able to record video of the tasks being done and video-cast them in real time to an experienced rater/ assessor in another location; or they can record the video to the server to be assessed as a later time. Deborah mentioned, and it should come as no surprise to most of the readers of this blog, that the greatest limitation at this time is bandwidth.
The most amazing thing to me about their system was the cost, which even got Deborah in a meeting with a few Microsoft people. They were able to create this mobile assessment center, with DVR, Digital Camera, 6 Video Cameras, 7 Microphones and 7 sound-mixers for $9,116 USD. Deborah was absolutely great, she’s sharp, ambitious, and very personable. She exposed us to the future of assessment centers as well as the technological potabilities, while teaching us some of their methodology and research interests.
My interest is right here, where I-O Psychology meets the power of web technology and mass presence. It’s really easy to collect mass amounts of data for validation and reliability studies, when you’re on the web. I wonder what other arenas a statistical analysis of user behavior could pay off in over the web… ask Amazon.com.
PS.- www.Kluster.com has a great idea and wants yours. Check them out…I’m on there much too much.
PPS.- I also grew a beard over the last few months… a picture is included.
Filed under: Uncategorized
In the last month or so many amazing technologies have been announced and or released to the public. Microsoft made an announcement regarding it’s development of the, very sexy, surface computer (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/). MS also presented the wonders of CDragon and Photosynth at TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) (http://labs.live.com/photosynth/blogs/Photosynth+At+TED+Conference.aspx). And lastly, Apple released two versions of it’s iPhone to the public, one 4GB model ($499) and one 8GB model ($599) (http://www.apple.com/iphone/phone/).Each of these technologies are amazing in their own right; but as we move forward from here and a certain critical mass of these networked devices emerges, the “wow” of it all will be stupefying.
The iPhone and the Surface Computer both stun audiences with their glitz and glamor, while the average Joe is left scratching his head upon hearing about CDragon and Photosynth. Photosynth, or perhaps better put the image processing algorithms it implores, scours the internet for images tagged with similar keywords and then aggregates or compiles those images together by creating a three dimensional model. Basically, it can take all your friends photos of your house, resize, reposition and stitch them together to make a 3D model. Or, it can take all the pictures anyone has posted on the web of the Taj Mahal and compile them so that you can explore the structure through your computer’s web browser.
I believe Photosynth to be the most amazing technological advance to have emerged recently for a few reasons. One, it’s a tool which will spread meta data at a prolific rate, enriching everyones photos with more information. Two, and maybe I’m cheating with this one, CDragon will allow extremely large files to be viewed on nearly any device without squishing the processor, crashing the computer, freezing the screen etc… And three, the government can now be super big brother and track every aspect of our lives and behavior. Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll watch the terrorists also. (Think patriot act + your favorite social networking site).
Filed under: Babel, Isaac Sims, Palopia, Robert Kittinger, Trent Bigelow, business 2.0, data mineing, web 2.0
I have a dream for collaborative websites and the so called web 2.0. And having spoken with Trent Bigelow and Isaac Sims of Palopia.com on many occasions, I know we have similar visions. We are the minds, with the passion necessary, to drive this technology out from the fog it’s currently in. Trent calls it “autistic”; I say “fog”. Over the next 7-10 years, we and others like us, will use intelligent and imaginative processes on the server side to free the user. We will free the users, empower them, enhance their communication and creativity. At the heart of it, they will move freely and naturally while representing their true self, purely.
There is electricity in the air and the possibilities are endless.
“And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them”". Then he messes up their language and scatters them all over the place. We’ve all heard about the Tower of Babel, but the important part is obvious. We are there again; so what are we going to do with this power, this responsibility.
Trent, Isaac, myself and others are casting noble visions for the future of this powerful movement. I pray others will do the same. But none of us are pro PHP programmers, or AJAX and LAMP gurus; we need these talented people to come beside us. And, if each of us offer our own small part of expertise, we can do nothing but change this world.
Filed under: ASA cycle, I-O psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Neo 5, OCEAN, business 2.0, marketing, personality, psychology, volunteer labor, volunteerism, web 2.0
Personality Profiling the Web 2.0 User
In the previous article I talked about the differences that can be experienced by a site depending on whether or not their users “feel” like volunteer labor vs. participants in an online community. This is different. I-O psychologists have a popular tool called the NEO-5 personality inventory. It breaks people down on…guess how many dimensions. You can remember these 5 dimensions with OCEAN; which stands for Openness to new experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Everyone should know that we now call Neuroticism “Emotional Stability”, so that we don’t upset people when they score high on Neuroticism…I mean, score low on “Emotional Stability”.
But, what does this have to do with Web 2.0 users, you might say. Aren’t they like everyone else? Maybe…but we (and companies) don’t care about just every ol’ Web 2.0 user. We want to know about the top 20% that produces 80% of our content. And by analyzing the personality of this super producer group, we can learn how to best interact with and maximize, this CRITICAL human resource.
For far too long internet companies have been looking at site users as just users. There must be a paradigm shift, from this old Web 1.0 mindset to the Web 2.0 mindset of viewing users as an extension of the company; as an extended human resource that needs to be managed as well or better than the in-house workers.
Let’s think about the ASA cycle (attraction, selection, attrition). Websites attract users, something happens, and then the users leave the website for something else. This cycle can be understood in a short session, but I’m looking at the long term user “career” with a site. What impacts their decision to leave? What personality traits impact this decision? And is it worth the money to track? More next time…
Filed under: I-O psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Robert Kittinger, business, business 2.0, marketing, personality, volunteer labor, volunteerism, web 2.0
I gave a presentation on this topic this morning. We all use some sort of Web 2.0 site, be it Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia, WordPress or another, but are we workers? These sites offer us opportunities and services, but they would collapse if we didn’t use their architecture to generate content. In this cycle, our content…draws other people to the site, who then…generate content (upload audio, video, photos, blog, tag, sing, dance, whatever).
But when do we feel like volunteer labor? Does this feeling change if I’m editing a wiki article vs. when I’m uploading photos on Facebook? And, as far as personality is concerned… are only altruistically motivated, pro-social types working for Wikipedia, but run of the mill everyone, working for Facebook and MySpace. What about quality vs quantity? If a user feels more like a source of volunteer labor will the site get a higher quality of work…but less content generated? On the flip side, if a person feels like they are just being entertained, will they create more content…but at a lesser quality?
I’m wrestling with these questions right now. I’m teasing the last nooks and crannies of my brain for all that I know regarding people and work forces. I’m sure a continuum exists and I’m interested in where sites should place themselves, to best maximize quality and quantity, with a dedicated and passionate user base.
Filed under: I-O psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Robert Kittinger, business, business 2.0, data mineing, marketing, psychology, web 2.0
This is the place to hear my ideas on Web 2.0 technologies and the people behind the ideas. You’ll also be able to read a few of the papers I’ve written regarding the business and psychological aspects associated with Web 2.0.
I’m also saying it here, now, for the record; the next net big thrust will be in tying Web 2.0 into the real world. For example GPS locations being associated with the photos being uploaded from a cellphone to a website. Bare in mind that the majority of people’s cellphone data storage will not be inside the phone, but the telecoms will provide private storage to each of their users which interacts at near real-time speeds with the cellphones. It will actually be from this storage where photos are uploaded to websites, though it could be controlled by either the cellphone itself or by logging into a secure telecom server.
GPS cellphones are just the tip of the iceberg. Company’s marketing departments will know much more about you than you know about yourself. They’ll know your favorite route to work and all the locations you pass on the way. And they will analyze your buying habits so that they maximize the point at which they sell you a product. If you will buy an HDTV for 1,200 dollars, but your neighbor won’t, they’ll get the coupon…not you. So be careful what you pay, they’re watching.
