Returning to the Lab
Last week, I paid a visit to the lab where I did my master’s research: Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab. The lab holds a weekly lab meeting, and truth be told, I had not attended one in years. The lab’s director, BJ Fogg, encourages lab alumni to attend, and I was eager to hear what the lab was up to.
The hour-long lab meeting ended up energizing me in a way I hadn’t expected. The projects being discussed were all very interesting, impactful, and wide-ranging. They included Peace Dot, a program to highlight work that increases peace around the world; Mobile Health 2010, a conference bringing together people using mobile technology to change health behavior; and the Behavior Grid and related Behavior Wizard, a systematic framework for describing behavior change.
The lab members spoke passionately and insightfully about their work, and served as a reminder of how much I value those types of discussions. I hope to bring that type of passion and intellectual excitement into my life more regularly. And if I need a boost, there’s always the lab.