December 2008 Archives

December is the perfect month to reflect on the value of playing.  We have a month's worth of work to do and year-end goals (or semester-end) to complete, wrapped up half a month's worth of workdays.  So what do we do?  We play.

This month I have crafted a gingerbread man zombie, planned an Oracle Calendar Tea Party, got my Twitter friends to talk about Zombo as a social network, and participated in karaoke with fellow Penn Staters who are part of a back-channel social group.  Somehow in a month when our workload is larger than usual and our time shorter, we attend holiday parties, special events, and perform team-building activities--and still manage to meet our deadlines. 

Why do we do this to ourselves?  What's the value in these events?  Why is play so important?  If you're looking for an answer, look to the experts at play: children.

For children, play is not just a diversion.  It's how they socialize with their peers. It's how they exercise their imaginations.  It's how they learn.  Are we adults (or those of us merely masquerading as adults at our day jobs) any different?

1. Making gingerbread men with my department as a team-building activity allowed some very busy people to socialize with one another without having to clash over the projects that we make personal.
2. The tea party is a themed training event for University Libraries In-Service Day as a follow-up to last year's migration to Oracle Calendar.  When I need to reach people who need more training on a topic, I try not to repeat the training that was already offered to them.  I also find that making voluntary training fun motivates people to attend and learn.
3. The Zombo tweets, while cheering up a group of moping friends on the last Friday before a holiday, revealed a lot about what people wanted out of social networking applications and what they thought others would want to buy-in.
   
4. My back-channel group is one of the most valuable networks to me.  The playful environment and diversity of the group is important.  By knowing these people first in a social context, I am more likely to take risks and pitch ideas to them.