Creativity and New Media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB23TSo69hQ

This is a video that I made which originally started as a joke between my brother and I. It was posted on reddit and has gotten over 35,000 views since then. The video is pretty odd, but I think that says a lot about what new media allows us to share and what people like to watch on the internet. Enjoy.

Creativity

New media has played a vital role in fostering creativity all across the internet. It allows for users to create any video or idea imaginable and share it with the rest of the world. Sites like YouTube allow for this content to be spread, and that is directly seen when one views viral videos. Viral videos can range from ideas that were planned to complete accidents caught on tape, but the concept gives anything a chance to become "viral". Many users creatively make a web series, episodes of certain videos, blogs, and perform other unique stunts. New media has also allowed other websites to generate content and ideas, such as twitter. The concept of mentioning someone using an @ symbol was put into place because users just started doing it.  Twitters CEO Evan Williams even said “That one really took us by surprise” but since that moment the @ sign has been a vital feature of twitter. The same goes with the hashtag symbol # and how it is used, and now that is a wide spread phenomenon. New media has allowed for both users to create viral videos for themselves but also for users to shape the product they are using, and that wouldn't be possible without the use of the internet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

There are many ways in which virtual worlds can be use to benefit us. First it has been growing in use in the corporate world, as a place to "meet" people."large companies, educational institutions, government agencies and even the U.S. military -- use Second Life to hold meetings, conduct training and prototype new technologies more efficiently."This fact shows the ever growing importance and usefulness that virtual worlds are providing us. They allow us to be there without really being there.  It also allows us to keep things preserved, which is another pro regarding these worlds. The case of Hotel Chelsea, a popular hotel that was taken over by new management and completely remodelled not exists, in its original state, on a virtual level thanks to Second Life. Second life also allows users to purchase goods within the world, using real money that is trading for virtual money.

It has also been practical in the medical world, with the use an online simulation designed to help nurses make quick, sure decisions in emergencies. These virtual worlds are sweeping the real world and drawing users in, whether it be for work or leisure purposes. Some negative effects of living in these worlds is that one can become "absorbed", spending more time in the virtual world than in actual reality. Sometimes players can become so obsessed they wind up spending every moment living out a virtual life, and spending a lot of money on these virtual items with no physical value.

Virtual worlds do a lot to foster creativity. It gives the opportunity to explore the world without leaving your computer chair. One could visit world landmarks, virtually, or even recreate them. It allows people to express themselves in a way that they cannot in real life, due to many reasons. The future of virtual worlds is definitely growing as people spend more time on computers. I think it will continue to be a great method in the professional world, with meetings, demos, and simlations to help workers in everday scenarios. In the future, the entire Earth will be virtual, down to every last inch and we will be able to explore where ever we want to visit while sitting at our desk.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204.html?KEYWORDS=avatar+ii+the+hospital
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/nyregion/thecity/03virt.html?_r=1
http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html

Blog about Twitter

How does a Twitter discussion compare to a BlackBoard Discussion? To an in-class discussion?

A Twitter discussion has its positives and negatives when compared to a BlackBoard discussion. Since Blackboard is essentially an online forum, it is very easy to separate and group each topic and read each reply. Using Twitter the only way to do this is to separate by hashtags, and then scroll through a list of tweets and replies that you may not know what they pertain to. In this case Blackboard is more effective. Also the fact that Twitter limits you to 140 characters could be a positive or negative. For one it could help users get there point across in a more concise way but most times it forces tweets to be shortened and less detailed. Twitter however is a better way of communicating with people, since you can directly message and tweet at each person.

Twitter compared to an in class discussion is a completely different experience. In an in-class discussion, you can engage with other classmates and the teacher, and be able to get your point across in a better fashion. Using 140 characters is sometimes hard to tell people how you really feel on a certain subject. Also, an in-class discussion is more personal and you can get a sense of how people think and feel on the subject matter. The only upside of using Twitter is that everything is stored online, if you would like to go back and review what others have said.

Overall while Twitter is very effective in communicating it does not compare to a real in class discussion, and may be slightly less organized than using a regular forum page /email like Blackboard.

Social Networking Sites

I am going to be comparing Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Linked In as social networking sites. Since I have used all of these sites in the past or present I already have a good impression of how they work. Facebook immediately comes off as very personal, since most users have there full names, cities, phone numbers, and other various information you could find of someone. If you are looking for someone specific, Facebook is most likely the place to go. Since I have all of my friends and most of my family on there, it is definitely what I check most in order to keep in touch with alot of people. The fact that Facebook allows you to basically make a photo album of your whole life is definitely a reason that so many people use it.

Twitter on the other hand is a lot more impersonal in my opinion. I use Twitter as a way to keep up with my favorite artists, celebrities, sports teams, and close friends. The interface is confusing at times however it is very efficient, even more then Facebook at spreading news. I think Facebook is more suitable for keeping in contact with a large amount of people that you won't talk to everyday, while Twitter will help keep you updated with a smaller group of people that you may not even personally know. I definitely think Twitter is the least like all of these sites in that it is not trying to  make a profile of information about you.

Next is Myspace, which almost seems ancient at this point. Having not logged into Myspace in many years I was greeted with nostalgia but quickly realized the reason many people left it. It is very cluttered, but mostly similar to Facebook in most senses. However Myspace always had a more teen user base in my opinion. Myspace is very messy at this point, many peoples pages are different colors with animated gifs and songs blaring each time you open a new page. It is also less personal since a lot of people never used there real name, unlike Facebook.

Lastly is Linked In which I admittedly have spent the least time on. Linked In is a great tool for networking, and keeping up with contacts that you may not speak to otherwise. Also I noticed there are many job postings on the site now, which is definitely a plus. Linked In is definitely the most important social networking site in the business world, and you should try your hardest to keep your profile "clean" there.

Overall all of these sites serve a different purpose but most of them accomplish the same things. My impression of all of these sites is that they are or were useful in at least one aspect as they continue to grow.

Social Networking

There are many ways that Social Networking could and has been used in both corporate and everyday life that benefit society.  A very important option is the use of LinkedIn. Instead of the traditional method of the candidate coming to the employer, LinkedIn has allowed the employer to come to the candidate. Users of LinkedIn can create their profiles, and enter certain keywords so that they may be found by recruiters. For example,recruited Maureen Crawford-Hentz has offered many jobs based on LinkedIn profiles.

She stated, "I ended up looking for consumer product marketing," Crawford-Hentz says. "And I hit upon his profile, and I sent him this e-mail saying: 'Hi, Alfred, I found your profile on line. And we have a position that I think may be of interest to you.'"

This is a clear indication that the use of social networking is very powerful in all aspects of life. However there is a dark side that many people are unaware of that pertains to the privacy portion of using these websites. When people use social networking sites frequently, such as Facebook and Twitter, they are creating a digital fingerprint in their name, and many hardly take this into account. Lance Hoffman, a computer science professor stated that " by giving up such information as their name, birth date, and a list of their network of friends, users are revealing far more than they know" What Hoffman is alluding to is that many applications "steal" that information everytime we use the site and piece it together like a puzzle, until they have enough information to steal someone's identity. This is the reason that social netoworking sites have recently increased the level of privacy to offer users, although some argue there is never enough.

Facebook can also be detrimental to the job search. Employers are more and more everyday using Facebook to screen potential employees. They are able to access a potential candidates whole life in certain scenarios if specific settings are not in place, and this can thwart them from getting a job. In the future, I strongly believe privacy will play even a bigger role in how these social networking sites are used. I know the goal for some social networking sites, specifically Facebook is to encompass a persons online experience.  Facebook will definitely continue to grow, but there will be many issues regarding how they store and use the users data. The very useful professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn will continue to have a growing impact on how employers are recruited, as time passes and computer interaction becomes more prominent.

Overall while social networking is becoming a key tool in getting jobs, on LinkedIn, it may be detrimental to one if they do not update there privacy settings. Outside of the corporate world, I think users should be careful about how much and what information is hosted online as puzzle pieces are added to our digital fingerprint.



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2262