Creativity and New Media

        I created an avatar in Second Life, something I had never heard of before this assignment. Second Life is a virtual world online that allows you to create and customize an avatar of yourself and meet new people as you travel around the map. The destination I chose to visit was really beautiful and this software allows you to create your own profile and chat with people from around the world. The creators replicated reality in how they made their own currency system and everything. It also lets people's imaginations run free and allows them to create and build what they want while meeting people they would never otherwise have the opportunity of communicating with. This is similar to how social media allows us to communicate with people from around the world that we would not otherwise be able to interact with.

Creativity

        New Media fosters creativity because it has made technology today so much more user friendly. This allows everyday people to actually be able to turn their imagination into a reality when before they would not be able to figure out the complicated software to do so. An example of this is seen in The New York Times article, “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?” New media has allowed people to be able to edit cartoons and songs and put together snippets to create “mash-ups.” In this article, they discuss how classic Disney characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Simba, and Bambi are turned into rap stars singing along to Soulja Boy’s “Crank That.” Also, while companies such as Disney are really cracking down on piracy, “Anthony Falzone, a copyright expert at Stanford, said, “media companies have been fairly tolerant of Internet mash-ups and parodies so far” (Barnes).

Citations:

    1.     Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why? The New York Times, September 24, 2007; available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

              Virtual worlds are not just a new addition to the gaming world. This technology is used for important situations such as the military and air and space research for astronauts to practice what it feels like to go into space. The medical field is also another place where these virtual worlds would be helpful to practice certain procedures and for research.

            I found the study about Situated Learning in Visual Worlds extremely interesting and an amazing idea. In this study, virtual worlds are used to not only teach students about history, but to motivate them to want to learn as well. What better way is there to learn about the industrial revolution than to become a factory worker yourself and go through their daily life tasks and responsibilities? (Dawley & Dede p. 5)

            Another advantage of virtual worlds is that they give people the ability to express themselves in the safety of their own homes. As discussed in the article on CNN, a teenager with autism created a place where people like him could go and practice socializing with others and meeting new people without the anxiety that comes with it because they are still in the comfort of their own homes. Although virtual worlds such as these should not be a solution to social issues such as those autistic people face, it is definitely a way for them to practice their social skills (Saidi).

            A disadvantage of these virtual worlds is that they affect people’s ability and skills to have a face-to-face conversation and effectively communicate with people. Even though some of these virtual realities allow you to become an avatar that replicates the actions of humans, you are still on a computer. This is especially a problem for children who are sitting inside a fake world instead of being out in the real world making real friends.  Also, people tend to do or say things through these virtual situations that they would not normally do if they were physically in front of the other avatar.  This can be dangerous because if you are meeting people in these virtual worlds, you do not know their real identity and they could be pretending to be anyone.

            These virtual worlds foster creativity because they give people the ability to bring their imaginations to life, which they otherwise would not be able to do. Examples of this are the games Minecraft and Sims where you have the ability to create your own world how you want it to be.

            I think the future of virtual worlds is only going to grow even more. This technology not only has so many advantages to so many different fields, but it has also become so accessible to everyone.  They have already created way for people to turn their mobile devices into a virtual world with special goggles, which only shows us what else is to come in the future.

Citations:

1. Dawley, L., & Dede. C. (in press). Situated learning in virtual worlds and immersive simulations. In J.M. Spector, M.D Merrill, J. Elen, & M.J. Bishop (Eds.), The Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology (4th ed.). New York: Springer. http://mfile.narotama.ac.id/files/Jurnal/Jurnal%202012-2013/Situated%20learning%20in%20virtual%20worlds%20and%20immersive%20simulations.pdf

2. Saidi, Nicole. "IReport: 'Naughty Auties' Battle Autism with Virtual Interaction." CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Mar. 2008. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

About Twitter

            Twitter discussions allow classmates to respond quickly and reply to specific students. As well as add a hash tag so you could easily follow the conversation and do not get lost with everything else posted in between. The characters allowed is also limited, therefore, it keeps the discussion constantly flowing and more of a back and forth dialogue. I believe that a Twitter discussion is closer to an in-class discussion than a Blackboard discussion is for these reasons.

            In-class discussions are the most instantaneous in regards to feedback. They are the closest discussions to a debate that go back and forth between questions and opinions. It is also easier to get your intended point across when communicating with someone in person as opposed to through typing because people cannot always properly read your attitude through your posts and may not know if you are being serious or joking about something.

            Blackboard discussions are a lot longer and more formal in comparison to a Twitter discussion.  On Blackboard, students’ first posts are usually very long with a lot of details and information, and even the responses from classmates tend to be longer as well.  Having an unlimited amount of space could be a bad thing because people often ramble on and fill their posts with unnecessary information. On Twitter, on the other hand, you only get so many characters so you need to make the most of them.

Social Networking Sites

            I feel that Facebook has become old news to our generation and has captured more of the attention of our parents as was mentioned in the article from FoxNews.com.  As quoted in the article, Facebook has more drama than other social networking sites (FoxNews.com). Also, Facebook tends to have very long detailed posts that people today no longer have the time or the intention span to look at and read. Facebook is a good way to communicate with friends and family from different countries and keep in touch or for people who do not get to see each other often and could keep up with what is new going on in their lives.

            I have recently come to realize that Twitter is more than just a quick way for friends to update each other on what they are doing. Twitter can be a way to inform people in the event of an emergency. An example of this was seen back in 2013 when the Boston Marathon bombing took place. Twitter was the quickest and easiest way for the Boston Police Department to keep the public updated with the newest information on the terrorist attack and helped to get some of the chaos under control (Bindley). It is a way to get instant news updates on multiple topics.

            Snapchat is a social networking site that is beneficial because of its time limits just how Twitter has its character limits on their posts to keep them short and concise. You could follow news channels and other accounts of your choice that give you a quick synopsis of what is going on through their stories. One great thing about Snapchat is that you could choose who you want to send your snaps to. Sometimes you just see something funny and only want to show certain friends for a few seconds without posting it on other social media sites where it will stay unless you take it down.

            Pinterest is a social networking site that is different from most of the others in the fact that you “pin” posts on your board instead of posting them. This site allows you to capture people’s attention through the picture you pin up and if they want to see what it is about they could click on it and go to the website. You have the ability to categorize your pins into different folders so you could easily find them. I love Pinterest because I love to cook and bake and Pinterest is a great way for me to find new ideas and recipes and save them to my board where I can easily re-access them when I need them.

Citations:

Bindley, Katherine. "Boston Police Twitter: How Cop Team Tweets Led City From Terror To Joy." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/boston-police-twitter-marathon_n_3157472.html

FoxNews.com. "Twitter Winning Teens As Parents Flood Facebook." Fox News. FOX News Network, 23 May 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/05/23/twitter-winning-teens-as-parents-flood-facebook.html#ixzz2U8uzovRG

Blog Social networking

            The technology of blog social networking is used for almost everything in today’s society from careers and businesses to personal pleasure and entertainment. Businesses use these outlets to spread word about their business. Blog social networking is beneficial to anyone with a message or a photo that they want to get out to the public. Small new restaurants that would not otherwise be known across such a huge audience such as Black Tap who got a picture of their signature milkshakes on Instagram are now one of the most popular and trending places to go. Companies research possible employee candidates to see what they could find out about their lives and how they behave before they consider hiring them. People post what they do and where they go, follow what interests them, and stay in touch with people whom may otherwise be hard to communicate with. Social networking is especially important to students in this school because there are so many international students who need to be able to contact heir families back home.

            I believe there is a dark side to these technologies. When people sign up for Facebook and other social networking services, they give up their privacy. So much of people’s personal information is released onto the Internet every day and they do not even realize it. Between intentional sharing of information and the power of social networking, you could find out almost anything about anyone in today’s society and that is pretty scary. Strangers have the power to know where you are and what you are doing, if you are home, with friends, or on vacation.  With this information, you could easily be a target and a victim both physically as well as online for identity fraud. As seen in Virginia Heffernan’s article by a previous user of Facebook is, “What especially galls him is the commercialization and corporate regulation of personal and social life. As Facebook endeavors to be the Web’s headquarters – to compete with Google, in other words, and to make money from the information it gathers – it’s inevitable that some people would come to view it as Big Brother” (Heffernan).  We see the same issue in Wharton’s article about privacy and personal security. This issue is basically summed up by the fact that, “Few of these users realize that the information they post, when combined with the new technologies for gathering and compiling data, can create a fingerprint-like pattern of behavior” (Leaving ‘Friendprints’: How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security)

            I feel that even though these technologies have revolutionized the way we communicate, they will only get worse in the future. I personally do not use any platforms of social media and prefer not to. I see the benefits for businesses as a way for them to advertise and spread the word about what they are currently doing but I feel that it is unnecessary for people to share every moment of their lives. People use social networking to show off what they are doing and if the people you follow were your real friends, they would already be clued into the events of your life.

1.  Heffernan, Virginia. “Facebook Exodus", NY Times, August 26, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html?_r=2&ref=technology

2. Knowledge@Wharton, "Leaving 'Friendprints': How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/leaving-friendprints-how-online-social-networks-are-redefining-privacy-and-personal-security/