Job Titles of the Future #11 - Minecraft Coach

Directing you to this super piece on the Library of Economics and Liberty site, (Boy, that is a NAME for a site. I have no idea what this site is really about, someone just forwarded me the link), titled 'Will Minecraft Coaching be a 21st Century Job?'

In the piece, author Art Carden runs down some of his and his kids' recent experiences playing and building in the interactive game Minecraft, which has been in the news this week more for the impeding acquisition of Mojang, the company that created and owns Minecraft by enterprise behemoth Microsoft.

For the uninitiated, (or, people that are not regularly around kids from ages 6 to about 11 or 12), "Minecraft allows players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include exploration, gathering resources, crafting, and combat. Multiple gameplay modes are available, including survival modes where the player must acquire resources to build and maintain his or her health and hunger, a creative mode where players have unlimited resources to build and the ability to fly, and an adventure mode where players can create custom maps for other players to play", (source Wikipedia).

In Mr. Carden's piece, he speculates that soon 'Minecraft Coaches' will be a thing, or said differently, a service that parents will seek out for their kids, much like parents today spend (sometimes) significant amounts of money on sports, performing arts, or academic coaches and tutors for their kids. Those kinds of advanced levels of instruction and expertise that parents obtain for their kids are only partly about helping the kids to achieve their potential in these endeavours, they are also often investments in what parents hope might be a future career for their kids, or at least a shot at academic or athletic college scholarships.

I think Mr. Carden is probably more right than wrong about this. The debate about whether or not video games, particularly ones that require advanced problem solving, team building, strategy development, patience, and leadership skills, can be beneficial for kids (and adults), and serve as a kind of both a development tool and predictor of career success, is largely being won by the gamers and their supporters.

Harvard Business Review recently asked "Should You Put World of Warcraft on Your Resume?", (they answered 'Yes' by the way). Certainly, you could have substituted 'Minecraft' for 'World of Warcraft' in the HBR piece and come to the same conclusion.

And if Minecraft or World of Warcraft or any other advanced video game does indeed become an item of value on a candidate's profile, then certainly, an industry of 'coaches' is likely to emerge.

If Minecraft can help get little Joey into Yale, then there will be parents willing to pay to help make that happen.

And that is why 'Minecraft Coach' qualifies for the latest installment of SFB's 'Job Titles of the Future'.

VIDEO: A glimpse of wearable tech for HR?

I have given a few presentations this year on how advanced technologies like wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and robotics might change work and workplaces, but often in these talks it has seemed like the concepts have felt a little remote or not totally relevant to folks in the audiences (usually HR/Talent pros).

It is one thing to envision how connected machines, robots, or drones are going to change work on the front lines, but how much, really, will they impact the day-to-day work in HR, Talent, or Recruiting? I suppose HR pros have a right to be a little skeptical about the nature or level of likely disruption.

Well before you get too comfortable in concluding that HR will be kind of immune to these kinds of technological advances, take a look at a quick (2 minutes or so) video, (embedded below, Email and RSS subscribers will have to click through), of what potential wearables might have in HR, recruiting, etc. The video is a demo of a Google Glass application prototype from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute, and I think you might be able to see some obvious, (if creepy) use cases for your work in HR or recruiting.

The technology, dubbed SHORE (Sophisticated High-speed Object Recognition), gauges emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness and surprise and projects this information directly onto the screen of Google Glass, sort of annotating the face of the person you're speaking with. 

Pretty cool right? 

An application that gives you a better read on the emotions of the person with which you are speaking?

Isn't a lot of HR/Recruiting centered on actually speaking with people, getting a read on them, trying to possibly get behind what they are actually saying?

Wouldn't this kind of a technology, (when further developed and refined), have some role in HR/Recruiting?

VIDEO: Wearable tech in the oil field

Quick shot for a busy Friday - if you are at all interested in how, where, and for which type of workplace use cases are likely to be impacted by the introduction of wearable technologies like Google Glass, then check out this short video from Wearable Intelligence, a developer of custom applications for industry that can be deployed on the Glass platform (Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through).

In the video embedded below, we see how custom apps overlaid on the Glass device, allow field workers to access training information, log status reports, verify safety procedures have been followed and more - all while keeping their hands free to actually get their work done.  

Really interesting and definitely cool, right?

Glass and probably eventually other wearable devices are going to become one of the essential tools for the types of field workers that need to simultaneously access and interact with lots of data and content, but also can't have their hands tied up with smartphones or tablets, since they actually have to work with their hands.

It is early days, but as you can see in the video the possibilities are almost endless.

And one more thing, I doubt any Glass-hating types would dare to hassle any of these oil field workers that you see in the video for wearing Glass. The irony in all this? Glass and other wearables might end up developing into a real working person's tool as much as a prop for the snobby elites.

Have a great weekend!

VIDEO: The robot coffee table (or chair, or foot stool...)

Fading out at the end of the busy week and just about ready to shift into long, holiday weekend mode here in the USA and I wanted to wrap the week by sharing the coolest thing I saw online in a while. 

And no, it has nothing to do with SHRM or HRCI or HR certifications of any kind. Did that story jump the shark in about seventeen minutes or what?

This is about robots of course, and for a change it isn't about how robots are coming to take all of our jobs, and make us their servants, or how we puny humans are destined to be rendered obsolete my more efficient technologies. Check the video embedded below, (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through), to see an incredibly neat and clever potential application of robot technology called Roombots, a set of connected and complimentary components that can work together to help adapt your environment, surroundings, and everyday objects like chairs and tables to you and your needs.

Developed by scientists from the Biorobotics Laboratory at the École Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, these Roombots could be the precursors to a more fully automated, adaptive, and flexible set of solutions that have the potential to transform basic household elements like tables or flower pots.

Imagine having your table top to always be exactly at the right height for what you are doing, or having your plants and flowers re-position themselves to take advantage of sunlight or to get out of the rain.

It would be really cool to have a little personal Roombot squadron at your disposal don't you think?

What might you do with all that power?

I am thinking of something already: "Roomobots, fetch me a cold one - the weekend is underway!"

Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday, Sad Robot

I'm on vacation today, (don't hate), so submitted for your brief amusement and reflection is the coolest thing I saw all week - an animated short call Bibo, about a lonely robot that sells ice cream.

Take seven minutes this weekend and give it a watch. (Email and RSS subscribers will have to click through).

Have a great and long weekend all.

I hope you find all the eggs, or whatever it is you are looking for.