Joy! In "Where the Hell is Matt?"

It's Time Magazine's #viral video, and when you watch it, you can't help but feel joy. Sponsored by Stride Gum, its genesis has an interesting story . . .

Matt Harding is a 32-year-old videogame designer who quit his job in 2003 to travel around Asia. Along the way, he recorded and posted a short video of himself doing an elbow-intensive jig in Hanoi. That clip got passed from one person to the next and eventually got the attention of Stride Gum, which decided to sponsor two more of his trips. In his latest video, Harding visits 42 countries over 14 months and invites the locals to join in the fun. That includes everyone from some Huli Wigmen in Papua New Guinea to a group of school kids in the Solomon Islands. The sheer silliness and joy of Harding's adventures will keep you smiling long after you've watched them — and give you a serious case of wanderlust.

It has just about as much to do with jobs and internships as "Hamster on a Piano," but sometimes, you just need to smile. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Stride Gum.

Using MBTI to match college roommates

(Take a look at the comments section of this posting on insidehighered.com--the academic psychology community is *not* a fan of Myers-Briggs.)

If college freshmen knew more about their roommate’s personality type, would they be more likely to get along with one another? Some small liberal arts colleges think so and have invested in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) — a well-known personality assessment — to either match roommates or resolve conflicts between them.

Social Media to Replace Recruiters? Right, Just Like Robots Are Doing All the Work Today....

From the Fistful of Talent blog:
I love it when lame studies project the elimination of an entire industries. Ever see the movie 2001? Weren't we all supposed to be chilling at this point, allowing the computers and robots to do all the work, while we moved toward the plane called self-actualization?

Right.. I know... We're still doing the work. That sucks, but hey, it's job security.

Here's another bold prediction. Some experts see the downfall of recruiting agencies, which you and I know as "headhunters". It seems this set of experts sees the rise of social networks, combines it with how the younger generations like to connect, and concludes that soon we won't need headhunters. The social networks of the younger generations will do the work, and the employee referral will rise as the preferred alternative to headhunters.

SIS students step into virtual classroom

BY ADRIENNE FRANK

“Good morning,” chorused the three AU undergrads, as they settled into their chairs before the webcam in Hurst Hall’s Social Science Research Lab.

“Good evening,” responded their colleagues, situated in a similar classroom, half a world away.

Clearly, this wasn’t going to be your average student presentation.

For six weeks, student volunteers Kaia Range, Christal Louison, and Sara Passaro have worked with two students from the Modern College of Business and Science in Muscat, Oman, on a joint paper about the religious and cultural differences between the United States and the Middle Eastern nation. Once a week, with help from graduate student Katherine Davies and Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) staff, the students chatted via video conferencing about everything from clothing and food to education and entertainment.

The project is part of SIS professor Bram Groen’s cross-cultural communications class and during the Dec. 3 video conference, each group presented their findings.

“Now that technology has become so sophisticated, I want students to seize the opportunity to meet and share life experiences with people from all over the world,” said Groen.

“When they get out into the working world, the first thing they’re going to be asked to do is work on a virtual team,” he continued. “We’re preparing students for that.”