Creativity and New Media

Through New Media came the development of Virtual Worlds and video games. An extremely popular massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) was something I played at a very young age. It took real world concepts and incorporated it into a fantasy type game that had a truly global footprint. It was a virtual world that enabled you to customize your character, gain skills to unlock new items and interact on a daily basis with people all over the world. 

I have not played in years but you can literally do anything from fishing, cooking, archery, trading as long as you have the time. 

Here are some screenshots of the game and its possibilities:

Creativity

New Media fosters creativity by opening up the opportunity for anyone in society to have an outlet and global footprint. In the reading “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of its Critters. But Why?” exemplifies the endless possibilities. Who would have thought a mash up including Disney’s famed characters and a popular song would be so popular. YouTube as a platform enables and promotes these forms of creativity, which opened up a new wave of entertainment.

This newfound platform for creativity can either be destructive or humorous. In regards to Disney’s iconic characters it can be seen as degrading which can affect its reputation. On the other hand it can promote a brand in a very unique way like how it did for SpongeBob. “Our audiences can creatively mash video from our content as much and as often as they like,” said Dan Martinsen, a Nickelodeon spokesman.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html?_r=0

Blogs: Virtual Worlds

I think virtual worlds are extremely interesting and that they can become a huge factor when it comes to the future of education. Virtual worlds can be used for educational purposes in a lot of entertaining ways. For examples there are games like Runescape and Minecraft which Diane Mehta mentioned in her Forbes article. These games can educate and teach real life theories and ideas in an interactive and appealing way. I learned the basics about the market and economy through these games and a lot about different natural resources. Another pro for these virtual worlds include the interconnected nature of these games. You can reach practically anyone around the world through these platforms which can offer exposure to a bunch of different experiences. Virtual worlds foster creativity by enabling you to literally create things from scratch. You can role play through these games and allow you to aspire to reach specific goals that interest you. I think the future of virtual worlds has an emphasis on collaboration. You want to focus on benefit of having everyone connected and the synergies that come along with that connection.

With these pros comes a lot of different cons. The first negative is that privacy and security is something that will keep skeptical people from trying. Technology can also lag where many people throughout society are slow to convert to more modern things. Despite these possible negatives I believe virtual worlds add a lot of value to our current society and will continue to gain popularity.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/

Blog About Twitter

Twitter can be confusing, mad unorganized and contains a lot of ads. There are a lot of distractions whereas BlackBoard contains a very straightforward user interface. Twitter also limits you to a smaller amount of characters which makes conversations and discussions very straight to the point. BlackBoard enables you to write more about your thinking and thoughts behind a specific discussion.


An in-class discussion allows the conversation to flow in a very personable way. It allows people to be passionate about the conversation and it will be easier to see their true standpoint on a specific topic. An in-class conversation provides transparency to the discussion and when you use Twitter you can easily hide your true intentions. I feel like all these forms of discussion are necessary as our society evolves but the most transparent type of conversation is still a face to face one.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, to me is considered the benchmark of all social networking sites. The impression I got from Facebook was that it was very open and contained all the essentials. I feel like Facebook has all the functionality necessary and a majority of the other social networking platforms only contain parts of what Facebook offers.

Twitter is extremely interesting because it has the status like function which is a majority of its appeal. The impression I got from twitter is that it is very public which made it seem like it had very little security measures.

LinkedIn is a great platform and my first impression with this site is that its amazing. When you think about the downsides of networking, LinkedIn in many ways has effectively got rid of them. It easily connects different professionals and I believe their user interface is really easy to use.

Lastly, I went on Instagram and out of all four of the social networking sites I visited this was my least favorite. I definitely prefer their mobile application over their website because of the aesthetic appeal of the different feeds get messed up when viewing pictures over the actual site.

All in all, each of these sites are very entertaining to use and are definitely the epitome of social media platforms for each of their specific purposes.

Social Networking

Technology can be used effectively to benefit the corporate world as well everyday people. With the expansion of social media comes the advancement of social networking. The convenience and accessibility of the various networking platforms allows anyone and everyone to stay in tune with what is happening. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn became tools that people and corporations can use to network with counter-parties. Facebook can be used to promote your own personal image as well as a corporations through personal profiles or company pages. Twitter can be used by companies to connect with their followers more easily and allows a streamlined form of communication. This transparency and easy outreach can really help promote a company’s image. LinkedIn, much like Facebook can be used to network. However, LinkedIn has a more professional connotation to its network and can be used by companies to help prospect employees. It can also be used by employees to find the perfect job.

I think technology has a lot of benefits to society. The most important aspect of technology is that it connects us together. Technology created so many forms of communication which allow you to always be updated and facilitate has growth in society. In Frank Langfitt’s “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting”, it highlights the fact that social networking is used heavily by professional recruiters to look for job candidates. The article specifically mentions LinkedIn which has an advanced search engine that can help both parties find a perfect match.

Even though there is a lot of upside to the increasing sophistication of technology, I still believe there is a “dark side”. My caution to the advancement in technology is exemplified in “Antisocial Networking?” written by Hilary Stout in the New York Times. It talks about the increase in texting, instant messaging and the large decrease in actual face to face communication. This change in communication creates less intimate and personal conversations and can lower all of societies “soft skills”. We have become confined to the internet and cyber communication and it has dramatically affected our ability to actually have a normal conversation. Instead of phone calls or in person chats we resort to texting or messenger applications. To me, this is the dark side to the advancement in technology. It has made communication so easy and accessible that many of us use technology instead of waiting to talk to someone in person.

For the foreseeable future I believe that technology will keep advancing and will limit how people communicate. I think a majority of people would rather text or Facebook message than actually communicate in person. This will heavily affect business, society and our world.

Sources:

Langfitt, Frank. “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting.” 22 Nov. 2006. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

Stout, H. (2010, April 30). Antisocial Networking? Retrieved March 7, 2015, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?_r=0

Blog vs Wiki

Blogs and Wiki's have become a vital part of modern media and enabled everyday people to collaborate any information and ideas. They both improved the flow of communication allowing the world to be more interconnected. I believe convergence is extremely important because it allows everyone to have their own global presence. It allows you to catch up with friends and tend to your personal life while also being able to establish your professional side. According to Information week, they mention that wiki can be defined as the simplest online database that could possibly work. Its a quick web page that anyone with permission can create or edit. (InformationWeek, 2005) I believe that wikis and blogs both have this creative freedom characteristic. They allow you to present your ideas and information and also enable other people to present their own viewpoints. According to "Stung by the Perfect Sting", blogs and wikis give you creative freedom which can be a positive or a negative depending on the user. There is always positives and negatives to any action and for collaboration and transparency it is really a give and take. 

Blogs can be used for collaboration because users create postings and viewers add their own comments. This allows a free form of communication where either party can express their thoughts on a particular subject. 

I think a cool way to use a wiki (since its a simplistic database) is to create an extended study guide for maybe a large test or subject you would like to learn about. Maybe a whole page on finance or accounting where people can add their own expertise or personal way about learning a specific topic. Essentially it would be an easy platform to compare and share notes in an easy and digestible format.