Category Archives: Monthly Meetings

Sep Kamvar: Social Interfaces, Social Algorithms, and Social Languages

SepKamvarTue, May 14, 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Abstract

Social computing has come to refer to three things: the development of algorithms that use personal and social features, the mining of social data, and the building of systems that interact with networks of people. These three branches tend to have quite different technical challenges. I’ll discuss one problem from each area to highlight both the differences and the overlap between the three branches, and I’ll discuss the challenges that this new field poses to research in numerical linear algebra, machine learning, human-computer interaction, and programming languages.

Bio

Sep Kamvar is the LG Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT and Director of the Social Computing Group at the MIT Media Lab.

Prior to MIT, Sep was the head of personalization at Google and a consulting professor of Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University. Prior to that, he was founder and CEO of Kaltix, a personalized search company that was acquired by Google in 2003.

Sep is the author of two books and over 40 technical publications in the fields of search and social computing. His artwork has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Musem in London, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens.

Sep received his Ph.D. in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics from Stanford University and his A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton University.

Jason Miceli: Gamification

JasonMicelli

Tue, March 12, 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Abstract

“By 2014, more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application, driving 50% of all innovation.” –study from Gartner, Inc.

There are many similar quotes and predictions from sources such as Gartner and Forrester. Gamification represents a software design choice proven to drive user engagement with business systems and applications. While some purport that Gamification may be a temporary fad, integration of gaming elements into business solutions has been a practice for many years. It’s only recent that this practice has become more widely recognized and adopted by mainstream channels.

Gamification can mean several things. The chief concept to understand is that Gamification is not a process or even a methodology – it’s a strategy and design choice intended to increase the user experience, repeated interest, and engagement. There are many ways in which gaming elements can be woven into business and software solutions. Throughout this session we will discuss fundamentals of Gamification, understand how related strategies have helped other organizations to achieve their business goals, and explore ways gaming elements can be integrated with software systems and solutions.

We need our solutions to move from being functional and usable to pleasurable and meaningful – only then will people feel they have personal significance and serve to enrich their lives.

 

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