Creativity and New Media

Creativity and New Media can go hand in hand with one another. New Media can make one’s interest in certain things and cause their imagination to “run wild.” An example of this would be the game wordcraft. Worldcraft upholds creativity by taking the player into a new world that is randomly generated and then letting them do whatever they wish to do. Worldcraft allows individuals to basically have access to all the materials within the game to build whatever they desire. An example of this would be the house I built recently. This prototype “house” was created in about 1-2 hours in the game. I can't imagine how much I can do in this game, the more I spend time on this game the interesting and tempting it gets. 
There are many other types of New Media that foster creativity and Worldcraft is just only one example of how new media allows the users to be creative.

Creativity

New Media has opened many opportunities for people to express themselves. Not all of us can sing, dance or draw. But, with the help of New Media, we can all be artistic. For those of us who can’t sing, with the use of new media we can still make beautiful that sounds good. Artists like Jeremy Brown aka DJ Reset, make mashup songs all the time of music most people wouldn’t think go well together. For example, mashing the Beatles with Jay-Z. For those of us who can’t draw, we can still make artistic videos by mashing up well-known characters to popular songs. We can also make a virtual character of ourselves and give them the talent of dance by clicking a button. With the help of New Media, anyone can be an artist.

Sites Used

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/10/050110crmu_music

MODELING REALITY WITH VIRTUAL WORLDS

By definition “A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities and communicate with others”. There are so many ways Virtual words that are online can be used. According to Mark Tutton in his article “Going to the virtual office in Second Life” he explains that since the recession cut expense on travel, many companies are using the virtual world. One of the ways the virtual world could be used is to have a business conference with partners from a different part of the world. This way they can collaborate ideas and talk about business without having to travel abroad. Another way the virtual world can be used is to train nurses into making decisions. The Wall Street Journal article, “Avatar II: The Hospital” Stephanie Simon, states “Health-care facilities are discovering that practicing in the virtual world can have major benefits in real life.” There are situations Nurses have to face to make a decision that could save lives. We see Creativity in the way how people use the virtual world. Also having to see that people feeling that they can use the virtual world for many different activities illustrates that creativity is changing and will continue the way we use the internet.

The world is changing fast and constantly. There will be a time in the upcoming future of the virtual world where people will make millions without having to take a step out from home. Nowadays, seems like people are more comfortable with talking to a computer, than meeting another human being face to face. Technology is taking over, sooner or later everyone has to adapt to the fast-changing world because great things yet to come.

Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest  

Today’s society depends on more and more on technology, social networks. Some of the platforms are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Day by day they are becoming a part of our daily lives. These platforms offer us many services such as communicating with others and reading about current events.

Facebook is one of the popular platforms, not only to connect with others but also use for business purposes as well. It is a socially oriented website where users can talk about almost anything. Facebook offers the most features out of the four network services. It provides features like you can share photos, instant message, share posts, fan pages, applications, and much more. Facebook also gives users the option of more privacy settings, from a visible profile to who can view what. You can set particular posts and pictures as private, or share it to particular groups.

On the other hand, LinkedIn is more likely designed specifically for formal networks. In other words, in this platform, you do not talk about where you went last weekend or go on live video. LinkedIn does not allows to have a photo sharing option and is only focused on company profiles, individual, and professional connections. LinkedIn is mainly emphasis on job seekers and recruitment since it is a professional social network.

Twitter is also social networking somewhat related to Facebook. But unlike Facebook, it is a micro-blogging service that allows users to post messages within 280 characters also known as "tweets." Twitter is a platform that allows short, simple posts and comments. Twitter is more for users to follow people and topics that are important to them. The 280-character might not be a good thing, it can even cause frustration because not every important point can be posted in a limit of 280 characters. On the bright side, Twitter has recently announced features such as form group chats and even posting videos.

Pinterest is a little different from other social networking sites that are mention above.  Pinterest is a like online pinboard which is mostly for collecting photographic pieces of multimedia. Often mages are shared on Pinterest, where users can create as many pinboards as they want, and that’s great for organization. For instance, if a user likes collecting pictures of birds, they can create a board and name it “Birds.” On the other hand, if they also like collecting flowers, one can also create another board and label it “flowers.” Somewhat like other social networks Pinterest also allows users to interact with other users through liking, commenting, and repining each other’s posts.

Social networking changed our lives so much. Our life became more convenient and easy because social networking is a very useful tool for us in the 21st century, it could help us to improve our lives. 

BLOG ABOUT TWITTER

If we compare a Twitter and blackboard discussion, there are some differences between them. The main difference is that the limitation in how long a tweet can be. Sometimes to come across your point discussions can be very lengthy and it may take over 280 characters, as a result of this basically limits your discussion to be the way you wanted. On the other hand, in a Blackboard discussion its other way around. There are no limits on how long discussion has to be and so you can express yourself more clearly. But on top of both choice, I believe class discussion which is face to face is the most powerful way to have a discussion because it is a personal interaction with clear emotions. The problem with typing is that the audience may get different emotions and that for sure changes how powerful the discussion can be.

SOCIAL NETWORKING BLOG:

When we talk about the use of social networking, we should keep in mind that they can be in use in many ways. There are many ways that they can be beneficial to the corporate world and so much more. In the article “Impact of Social Media on Business Communication” by Anirudh Menon talks about how companies have to invest in the use of social networking if they are serious about reaching customers. Some of the ways I believe social networking is beneficial to people are as follows: They can bring better images of the business to the customers, can be used to get feedback on services and new products, help connect with friends and overseas family fast, Social networks allow in sharing ideas also allows people to find jobs by connecting to other networks.

We can see that online social networking are beneficial in many ways. They help eliminate many of the difficulties of the offline world. I believe social networking will take the corporate world on a new level in the future. However, as it has a good side it also has a dark side too. Hateful online behavior can become a real problem for social media users. Cyberbullying is harassment through text, email, and messages on social media, with significances for the targets reaching from anxiety and even resulting to suicide in some cases. There are many forms of cyberbullying, including stalking, revealing personal information, insults, and threats. According to John Pepiewski in his article “The positive and Negative Effects of Social Networking” hackers stole the Facebook records of 6 million users. Stealing personal information through social networking is the number one negative impact that society faces.

Sources:

https://www.techfunnel.com/martech/impact-social-media-business-communication/

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-positive-and-negative-effects-of-social-networking

BLOG V WIKI

Compare and contrast blogs and wikis. Comment on the importance of convergence in today's networked world. How can blogs be used for collaboration? Can you think of a new use for a wiki that has not been done yet?

Wiki and blog both are platforms to share useful information. A blog is like a journal entry where people can post entries about anything, such as articles, videos, images etc.  One good thing about the blog is that the latest entry is listed first. On the other hand, a wiki allows users to add, remove, or edit all content quickly and easily. One weakness of the wiki is that the information can sometimes be false. They are not always written by experts. Anybody can add incorrect information on wikis since a wiki can be created and updated easily.

As we move on with our lives the importance of convergence is increasing in today’s world. Our nation is getting so commercial where people have to work together to get things done. To do that people share each other’s ideas and information through the technology. According to Margaret Locher in the article “More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia” she talks about how Tony uses the wiki to work on his project. He made the project available on a wiki page and his team would log in with their user and contribute their ideas. As a result, this made their decision making better and faster.

We live in a world where sharing thoughts and information got so much easier. For example, we can talk about the use of blogging in education propose. Which will provide the students and teachers with a platform for developing their writing skills and advantage of instance view. The teachers can provide the students with tips on the blog so that they can practice and take full advantage who needed.  Blogs made online mentoring very easy. Students also have the chance of contributing to the different educational activities which can improve their skills in a motivating way. Blogging also has therapeutic benefits. In the article “Blogging--I’ts Good for You” by Jessica Wapner discusses that blogging can be very helpful in reducing stress, produce many physiological benefits, improves memory as well as sleep.

One way the wiki can be useful is for every company to have a wiki website where companies can post what important dates and upcoming events, or what projects are coming up, or what new ideas employees can contribute. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Same way, you never know who is capable of what talent and skills by looking at their face. Resume does not say everything about the individual, which could be very beneficial for the company. So wiki would work as an informative page for employees within the company only to access, and this way we can all cooperate and share ideas.

Sources:

1.     1. Wiki While You Work; The technology popularized by Wikipedia can help companies gather and manage their own collective knowledge. Here's how to get started by Margaret Locher. CIO, May 1, 2008. Vol. 21, Iss. 14. Available at: http://www.cio.com/article/336818/More_on_How_to_Build_Your_Own_Wikipedia    or download the PDF on th bottomof this page: More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia _ CIO.pdf (below)

2.     2. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-healthy-type/

Project Description

Social Networking: A Purposeful loss of Privacy  

Social Networking has evolved into popular Web places where users communicate and share updates, photos, videos with friends. This expedited exchange of information helps create social capital by bringing individuals closer together and sustaining existing relationships. However, media-driven user privacy concerns might harm the self-sustainability of social networking and ultimately destroy their public value. In this project, I will identify the privacy concerns specific to social networking and explores their influences on self-disclosure changing aspects. My field of research will cover what causes loss of privacy using the social network? What are ways of losing privacy? How can people prevent it? I will also look into numbers and charts which will support my thesis.