ISHI Connects Us: Social Gaming with the Skype Team

  • Avimaan Syam | Microsoft Research Intern

ISHI is a two-week experiment run in the Skype buildings on the Redmond campus. It is designed to foster health & well-being, collaboration, and communication through gameplay. By relying on its mechanics and design, ISHI motivated employees to get out of their seats, walk around their new buildings, and collaborate with new colleagues, all for the intrinsic motivation derived from playing the game. The lessons learned from this successful experiment have far-reaching implications on how to foster health, wellness, & true workplace culture in the future.

Speaker Details

Avimaan Syam is a M.F.A. candidate at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts for Interactive Media & Games. During his tenure there he has worked in Scott Fisher’s Mobile & Environmental Media Lab designing interactive experiences for buildings & automobiles and led Alex McDowell’s Worldbuilding Media Lab in its exploration of a future media somewhere between film and game. He interned at BMW, designing short- and long-term interactive experiences for their cars. Before coming to USC, Avimaan worked as a journalist, playwright, theatrical director, software developer, teacher, and curriculum specialist.

    • Portrait of Jeff Running

      Jeff Running

Series: Microsoft Research Talks