Creativity and New Media

For this assignment I wanted to see how well I can create an avatar of myself. So I Googled a couple of sites and found a website called "MyBlueRobot". Within your web browser you can create a splitting image of yourself with all the different customizeable features. However, as you can see I wasn't too good at creating a replica of myself even after several tries. But on the bright side, these "avatars" can be used in many online communities. You can even create avatars in Xbox and PlayStation consoles. This allows you to be creative and also hide your identity instead of putting your real picture in these communities.

Creativity

New media fosters an environment for creativity. Each and everyone of us can create something unique and share it with the world. We can do this by making YouTube videos about a certain hobby we enjoy or to instruct others on how to complete a task. Another example of creativity is creating a mashup of an existing song. In the New York Times article by Sasha Frere Jones, she talks about how mashups tells us how digital technology allows almost anyone to create mashups of existing songs. These mashup even got as far as Billboard top 10. That is certainly impressive. There are certainly a lot more ways new media influences our creativity but I think YouTube is a prime example because we can create anything we want and show it to the world in a video.


Works Cited

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/01/10/1-1-1-1

Virtual Worlds

Upon watching the videos assigned, I instantly remembered when I used to play the Sims in the early 2000's. You were able to build your own character and basically live real life in a virtual environment. Second life is more in depth though as it has a lot more options than The Sims. A virtual world mixes reality into a simulated environment. In the Washington post article, "At hearing real and virtual worlds collide" shows how a hearing was broadcast in second life. I found this pretty amazing because they were able to watch in "second life" what was going on in real life conference meeting. Another article that intrigued me was published in the NY Times," I been in that club, but not in real life" these people were actually going to clubs in the virtual world. This virtual world was made by MTV and it basically replicated the lower east side of Manhattan. Virtual worlds can also be used for training pilots. They can fly a plane in a virtual world that is almost identical to flying a real plane. Even people at home can load up flight simulator on their computer and learn how to fly a plane.  This shows how technology can assist us with learning new things and is a major advantage of virtual worlds. It can also foster creativity and a major example of this is with the popular game Minecraft. You can create basically anything you want in blocks. In the future I think virtual worlds will allow us to feel like we are more in the virtual world. I can envision us all wearing virtual headsets and actually being able to interact with real life environment virtually. The only con I can see is that virtual worlds will make it harder for people to interact with real life people. It might make people more socially awkward.




Works Cited


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/01/ST2008040103032.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html

Social Networking Sites

Some of the most popular social networking sites are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Linked-in. One can even argue that Snapchat is a social networking site because you can share your "snaps" to all of your friends. Lets start with Facebook. Out of all the listed, I think Facebook is more of the formal one because this is where you post pictures of your friends and family. You can update your statuses and even talk to your friends with the built in chat features. Now lets look at Twitter. The primary purpose of twitter is to "tweet" your followers about anything you want like your mood and what you think about something. Its more to get your message out quickly. Next is Instagram. This is where you share your photos you take to the world or your followers. People can like and comment on them. I would say this is less formal than Facebook as you would post pictures of anything you think is cool. Lastly, is Linked-in. This is where you market yourself for the professional world. It allows others to view your professional profile that can you help land jobs. At the end of the day, these social networking sites are similar at the core as they allow you to communicate with others over the internet.

Blog About Twitter

Twitter and BlackBoard have one sole purpose and that is to communicate to each other on any particular subject. However there are a few differences. I think twitter is more for "quickly" replying to a subject. That is evident because there is a limit to how much you can type on twitter. BlackBoard is for a more in depth discussion and its simply not meant to be quick like twitter. The best however is an in class discussion because you can pick up on the emotions of other people which is very hard to do on-line. The last thing I should mention is that twitter is a lot more mobile friendly than BlackBoard. BlackBoard should definitely work to improve their app. 

Social Networking

Social Networking can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used for consumers to review and talk about products or to express our thoughts, emotions, and opinions (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc). Privacy is one of the main issues of social media. In the case of Randi Zuckerberg posting a photo that was meant to be viewed by friends, but was viewed by millions of people. She was upset on how she thought her photos remained private to her friends, but little did she know other people had access. Another main issue of social media is cyber-bullying. Traditional bullying usually only happens in school, but now people can bully each other via the internet which is a lot worse because it can happen 24/7 and the whole world can see it. In the article "Antisocial Networking?" found in the New York Times, Mrs, Stout conveys to us that psychologist are not only looking how social networking leads to cyber-bullying, but how it makes us more anti-social. Its kind of an oxymoron, something that is suppose to make us more social is doing the opposite. It is also diminishing our emotions which makes sense because it is hard to show emotions via texting as opposed to talking to the person directly.

In a broad sense, these technologies have became an integral part in our society. Each one of us is guilty of posting content to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. They can benefit society because through these platforms we are able to get messages out instantaneously whether it be news or our opinions. It is ambiguous how these technologies are going to evolve in the future since technology is quickly growing, but I think they will become more connecting with our lives. 

Works Cited

Antisocial Networking? by Hilary Stout, New York Times, May 2, 2010, p. ST1. Available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html

Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private,” The Atlantic Wire, Greenfield, R. December 26, 2012
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and Wikis share many similarities and differences. The main difference between a Wiki and a Blog is that a wiki can be edited by virtually anyone. Think about it, Wikipedia, one of the largest wiki's in the world gets its knowledge from its users. In other words, many people all over the world contribute to the information that is on Wikipedia's website. On the other hand, a blog is a website that allows the publishers to post about any topic they want. The publishers can get feedback and comments from anyone who visits his/her page. These tools of the internet are important in our lives. Through wiki's and blogs we are able to obtain information about a topic relatively fast. Wikipedia has evolved into basically an online encyclopedia. Wiki's can also help companies gather and manage their own collective knowledge. This statement was found an article posted on CIO.com"More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia." The main point in the article was that companies who used Wiki's allow their employees to remain more current on a project. This is something I never knew companies where doing. Blogs can allow us to get the latest news on a particular topic. For example, there can be a blog dedicated to new products that Microsoft launches. Or in the case in the New York Times article, "Walmart Tastemakers write unfiltered blog", consumers were able to give feedback about a particular product sold at Walmart. This feedback can help consumers decide on whether they should by the product or not. 

Another area Wiki's might be useful is within the classroom like we are doing this semester. We all can work and learn together from each other.  

"More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia." CIO. Web. 3 Mar. 2015. http://www.cio.com/article/2436789/time-management-productivity/more-on-how-to-build-your-own-wikipedia.html

"Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog," by Michael Barbaro, The New York Times, March 3, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0