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What We're Reading: July 11-15

By: Jessica Hartman | 07/15/2011

One thing I love about working at Standing Partnership is that my colleagues are always reading, which means we never have a dull conversation in this office. This week's What We're Reading represents a handful of the articles we found especially interesting.

1. A New York Times article, New for Aspiring Doctors, the People Skills Test, highlights a new approach several medical schools across the nation are implementing. Rather than relying solely on test scores and hourlong interviews, some universities are using a speed-dating approach where candidates respond to a series of ethical conundrums. This new angle hopes to weed out some students who only look good on paper but lack people skills.

2. This article explains that when it comes to gamification, methods and tools are what really matter, not just the concept. A favorite quote from the article, "Adding badges to your website does not make you any more of a gamified business than adding a picture of a giraffe makes you a zoo." Gamification is ultimately about understanding people and should be researched, tested and backed by strategy.

3. An article in Advertising Age announced that the Better Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative will tighten advertising standards for food companies marketing to kids. These new standards would go into effect in December 2013. The catch is that this new proposal will be voluntary. Do you think it will stick? Are these standards necessary?

4. A post on SHOTS, NPR's Health Blog, addresses the rise in health chatter on Twitter. Two computer scientists at John Hopkins University developed a model to analyze the health conversation. They plan to reveal their findings next week.

What did you read this week?

Posted in What We're Reading