GPSO E-Newsletter: February 27, 2014

In this Issue:

From the President's Desk

Upcoming GPSO Events: Assembly, First Friday Social Hour

News: IU Campus Strategic Plan

Service Opportunity: Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Information Sessions: Graduate Appointee Healthcare Program

Guest Article: Pokemon and the Challenges of Collaboration

GPSO plans your weekend!

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From the President's Desk

• The draft of the IU Campus Strategic Plan has been released.  I highly encourage you to provide feedback on the plan or attend the Town Hall, taking place on March 4th, 12:00-2:00pm.  This plan will determine campus priorities for the next 6 years and set the stage for our third century of existence; it is very important that the graduate student voice is heard during this phase.
• GPSO Elections take place next Friday, March 7th.  All graduate/professional students may be nominated.  Please see our website for more information on the positions open.

For more information on any of these points, please feel free to contact Brady Harman, GPSO President.

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Upcoming GPSO Events

Grad House Café - Thursday, March 6

Stop by the Grad House (803 E. 8th Street) before 10:30am next Thursday for FREE coffee and Bloomington Bagels.

Save a tree, and bring a mug, if possible!

Assembly and First Friday Social Hour - Friday, March 7

The March GPSO Assembly will take place at 3:30 Friday, March 7 in the Kelley School of Business, room 223. This meeting will include elections for 2014-15 officers.

Follow up with our First Friday Social Hour at The Tap. Please share and RSVP via Facebook!

More than a Bystander: Step UP!- Tuesday, March 11

The IU Division of Student Affairs Step UP program is offering a special presentation for graduate students, where we will discuss overcoming the bystander effect to help your friends when you notice that they are stressed, overworked, or depressed.

This event will take place at 6pm in Ballantine Hall, room 319. Find us on Facebook.

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News: IU Campus Strategic Plan

Provost Lauren Robel has recently published a live draft of the IU Campus Strategic Plan at http://www.plan.indiana.edu.  It describes new visions and objectives for many aspects of the student experience at IU, including graduate life, campus diversity, integrated curriculum design, and research initiatives.

We encourage you to interact with this in several ways:

• Provide feedback through the mechanisms on the Provost’s website
• Attend the town hall on March 4 from 12-2pm in the IU Auditorium
• Talk to your GPSO representative
• Check our e-newsletter for information on graduate student focus groups

This plan will shape our continued experiences at IU - please stay informed and make your voice heard!

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Service Opportunity: Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Applications for the student member of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education are now open.

This position is a governor-appointed two-year commitment with great opportunities to learn more about and to influence the higher education system as applied to all of the State of Indiana's public colleges and universities. The current student member is an IU student, and we would love to be represented for the next two years!

Complete information about the ICHE, the role of the student member, and the application can be found here.

Deadline: Friday, March 21

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Information Sessions: Graduate Appointee Healthcare Program

Graduate Appointees appointed at 37.5% FTE or more for the spring semester were automatically enrolled in the Graduate Appointee Healthcare Program. Indiana University pays the full premium for Graduate Appointee coverage.Specific benefit details are available at http://hr.iu.edu/benefits/grad_appointees.html.

Information Sessions
Graduate Appointees can attend an Information Session or one of the following Webinars to learn more about the Graduate Appointee Healthcare Program for 2014.

Upcoming IU GA PPO Healthcare Program Information Session:
Tuesday, March 11, 2014            
IMU Frangipani Room                
1:00 – 2:30 pm

Upcoming IU GA PPO Healthcare Program Online Webinars:
Thursday, March 6, 2014                 
2:00 –  3:00 pm
         
Friday, March 14, 2014                             
10:00 – 11:00 am

To attend a session:
1.     Go to: https://connect.iu.edu/grad-appointee/
2.     Connect to the meeting as a “guest’.
3.     Use the chat feature to ask questions during the presentation

Additional Assistance
Additional information including benefit summaries, temporary ID cards, information on specific benefit plans, and premium information for dependent coverage is available at http://hr.iu.edu/benefits/grad_appointees.html. Graduate Appointees can also contact enews@iu.edu for assistance.

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Guest Article: Pokemon and the Challenges of Collaboration

By Anastasia Salter via The Chronicle for Higher Education

For the past few days I’ve run the live video feed of “Twitch Plays Pokemon” in the background while I work. It’s  an incredible opportunity to watch attempted mass collaboration in action. The project is described as a “social experiment,” as it offers a live version of the classic game Pokemon Red. Pokemon Red is a Nintendo Game Boy title that first introduced American gamers to a world where capturing cute creatures and forcing them to battle one another is a popular sport. The franchise is still incredibly popular (I’m currently playing Pokemon X, the latest version for the Nintendo 3DS) and the fundamental mechanics haven’t changed much over the years.

The twist on this version of Pokemon Red is in the controls: everyone in the chatroom can type commands to control the character on his quest to capture Pokemon. And I do mean *everyone* in the chatroom–as I’m writing this, over 80,000 people are also watching, and constantly typing commands that mostly have the character running in circles, with the start menu constantly popping up as various trolls interfere with any hope of progress.

My interest in the stream was renewed when Andrew Cunningham over at Ars Technicaposted about a new update to the Twitch mechanics: it’s now possible for players to vote to put the game in either “anarchy” or “democracy” mode. Democracy mode is intended to make it possible for the players to make progress, as it makes decisions about which commands to follow based on which are most popular at the moment. However, since I’ve been watching this new mechanic, it seems like nearly half of the commands are either people trying to switch the stream to anarchy or democracy or people trying to make fun of the new system–I saw a few postings of “communism,” “theocracy,” “monarchy,” and “stop voting now” fly by amid the chaos.

As I’ve watched the game repeatedly get caught in standstills, saved only by sustained moments of collaborative effort that eventually dwindles, I realized that my fascination with this experiment is driven by its correlation with the very nature of online collaboration. Some of it is very familiar from conference planning, unconferences, and committee meetings: there’s even a page where dedicated players are tracking milestones and goals. The attempts to add more structure to the efforts of the players have instead thwarted the emergent behavior, a challenge familiar to anyone who has ever tried to bring a MOOC conversation back on track or get something accomplished in a particularly contentious committee meeting. The dynamics also remind me of the most painful stage of group projects, with too many leaders and no consensus. Yet despite these obstacles I suspect that player determination will win out and the game will eventually end in victory, and I enjoy watching to see those moments when collaboration wins out.

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GPSO plans your weekend!

February 28 - March 2:

• February 28, 8pm: IU Opera presents "HMS Pinafore" (Musical Arts Center, $12)
• March 1, 10pm: Bleeding Heartland Roller Girl Fundraiser Party (The Back Door, donations encouraged)
• March 2, 2-3:30pm: Mathers Museum Family Craft Day (Mathers Museum, free)

Nothing look good to you?

Check out the ongoing exhibits featured in the sidebar or visit www.bloomingtonscene.com and www.visitbloomington.com for the full on- and off-campus scoop.

Have an event to promote?

Email me at gpso@indiana.edu, and I can help you spread the e-word to our fellow grad students.

Go have some fun!

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