As part of its continuing recruitment efforts, the Air Force is reaching out to youths for help solving real-world, technological problems through a collaborative online platform.
The initiative, which was introduced on Thursday, involves the creation of a digital “Air Force Collaboratory,” in which youths will be challenged to develop new technologies for search and rescue operations in collapsed structures; to create software code for a quadrotor, a type of unmanned, aerial vehicle; and to help unveil the newest GPS satellite.
The Air Force hopes the program will attract students of so-called STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — to collaborate with the Air Force in developing solutions for the three challenges, and, ideally, to consider enlisting.
The initiative — which the Air Force will promote through digital advertising, social media and partnerships with Discovery Education and others — is the latest recruiting effort created for the Air Force by GSDM, the Austin-based agency that is part of the Omnicom Group.
GSDM has been the Air Force’s agency since 2001, developing campaigns to help the Air Force attract the more than 28,000 new recruits it needs annually; GSDM said its work has helped the Air Force meet its recruiting goals each year since 2001.
Col. Marcus Johnson, chief of the strategic marketing division of the Air Force Recruiting Service, said the Air Force focused on “going after the best and brightest young men and women, with an emphasis on STEM. Whether they’re in high school or college, those topics translate into what we do in the Air Force.”
He said the Collaboratory program is meant to appeal to young men and women between the ages of 16 and 24, including high school students still determining their future plans.
Ryan Carroll, a creative director of GSDM, said the Air Force was “very much like the Apples and Googles of the world in recognizing the huge need for scientists and engineers. They reach out to kids at an early age, and show them the amazing things they can do with science and technology,” through initiatives like the Google Science Fair, an annual online science competition for teenagers worldwide.
Similarly, the aim of the Air Force’s Collaboratory program is to “inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians, and to show them all the amazing, science-related things the Air Force does,” Mr. Carroll said. The program will also allow them to “participate and solve real problems the Air Force solves every day,” he added.
Youths will be able to access information on the Collaboratory’s challenges on a new Web site that will act as an online forum. Challenge participants will be able to use custom-built tools to share ideas, and work with airmen and other experts to develop solutions.
Not surprisingly, primarily digital media will be used to promote the Collaboratory.
Thus, customized editorial content is being developed for the STEM hub of GOOD.com, a global community of “pragmatic idealists,” while customized videos are being filmed for DNews, an online video series from Discovery Communications; the videos will feature DNews hosts Trace Dominguez and Anthony Carboni. Blogger outreach is being conducted through Technorati, while the Air Force will pay to place videos on Web sites like YouTube, Blip and Machinima. In addition, the Air Force will promote the Collaboratory through Facebook and Twitter.
Digital banner advertising also will run on Web sites of Scientific American, Popular Science and the Verge. One set of ads depicts an Air Force helicopter approaching a scene of destruction after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that has trapped dozens of survivors. The text says, “Your idea could save them. The Air Force Collaboratory. Search and rescue 2.0 is now open. Start collaborating.”
The Air Force also is working with Discovery Education, the education division of Discovery Communications, on an outreach program for high school STEM teachers.
Colonel Johnson said that although the Collaboratory would run through November, it was possible that new challenges could be created after that; he also said it was the first time there had been “such an open dialogue between the Air Force and the other side.”
In addition, he said there would be no overt recruiting messages on the Collaboratory site, nor would the Air Force actively recruit challenge participants. He said the Collaboratory was meant to ignite interest in the Air Force and possibly encourage participants to seek out more information about opportunities there.
The budget for the Collaboratory campaign is $3.7 million.
Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow and military expert at the Brookings Institution, said he was “generally favorably inclined” toward the Collaboratory campaign, but said the Air Force would need to be “very empirical, see how well it does, reassess it.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/business/media/air-force-invites-youths-to-help-solve-problems.html?partner=rss&emc=rss