In 2013-2014 Wesleyan engaged in an exciting collaboration with a social networking company called JouleBug. JouleBug is a IT company aimed at using social networking technology to help make it fun and easy to develop a culture of sustainability in our community.
The first phase of this collaboration was a campus-wide contest led by Prof. Haddad’s Environmental Politics and Democratization seminar (GOVT/EAST/ENVS 304) in conjunction with the Sustainability Office. The contest ran in November 2013 and was a terrific success with over 20 teams representing 80 individuals participating. There were more than 15 individuals who racked up more than 1000 points, gaining them top standing on the national JouleBug leader board.
The spring contest launched April 14th and ran through April 27th. More information can be found at the Sustainability Office website or our Facebook page.
The contest in the fall was a first step in what we hope will become an ongoing and successful collaboration to improve Wesleyan’s sustainability and generate increased money for financial aid.
We also hope that data gathered from the contest will enable research into how social media can be used to promote sustainability.
