I have joined Sims Social on Facebook, which is similar to the Second Life that we learned about. Here, First I was able to create my character. I could choose their appearance as well as their personality. I get to know my surroundings at first as they guide me to do different things to keep my "sim" happy. Next, they invite me to a Halloween Party! I can add friends that are also playing and interact with them. I can build a house and relationships and basically have a whole life on this game.

Creativity

When you think of new media, I think one of the first things you would think of is creativity. New media gives people the opportunity to express themselves in new ways. Furthermore, it gives people a better way to reach the public and be noticed by others. In the article “The new math of Mashups” we see how artists are using new media to create mashups of songs that people would never think of combining. Some of them becoming very successful. Also, in the article “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?” explains how artists are also using mashups even with Disney characters and creating videos on YouTube. Which were also a big hit. New media allows artists to do so many things just by using their computer and not having to use all these high tech studios.  

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Wow! Have I been living under a rock? I had no idea the extent or existence of Virtual Worlds until now. Virtual Worlds are being used for various reasons and various ways, and it is so interesting. In the article, “In Room 100, its Sid and Nancy All Over Again” they explain how they are using virtual worlds to recreate the Hotel Chelsea. The hotel was remodeled and lost a lot of its history. As a result, someone re-created exactly the old hotel and people can go there to interact as their virtual character. There are even poetry readings that are held in this “hotel”. This is great way for people sharing in the same interest to interact and be able to hold on to something that no longer exists. In the article “Toys with a Second Life” we see that of course this idea is being used to make money.  Many toy companies, such as Mattel are creating a life for the toys that they create. Children are able to not only play with their toys and buy them things in real life, but now they can also do this via a virtual world – and it is very successful.

            As far as I can see the virtual world creates a lot of positive things. After watching the YouTube video that the professor posted, it really means a lot to some people. People who have disabilities physical or emotional use virtual worlds to interact with people and they get to do things they could never do. This is amazing. One could argue that a con of a virtual world would be that you do not get to have contact with real a person which is critical to your social skills. However, for some people who cannot leave the house because of a physical disability, that is not the case. This is their only opportunity to interact with people and do things that they could never do otherwise.  The possibility of creativity is endless. You can create a virtual world for anything and create the characters using many different features. As far as the future of virtual worlds, I think we are going to see a huge boom of them. The graphics and technology are definitely going to get much more sophisticated with time. I also think many professions and companies as well as government will be using these worlds to better perform their jobs and train people for these jobs.

Blog about Twitter

A Twitter discussion is not bad, but I think a Blackboard discussion is more organized and easier to follow. With Twitter, everything is constantly moving and you are following people besides the people in our class. So it gets confusing because in order for it to be simple, it would be ideal that we would all be tweeting a the same time. However, this is not really case and it is difficult to keep track of everyone's posts. Blackboard is designated for the class and you can find everyone very easily and comment them accordingly. In-class discussions are the way to go as far as I am concerned. There is nothing like a debate where people fire back and forth and you have to think on your feet. With Blackboard and Twitter you have time to think about what you want to say, which is also good. However, sometimes I think a good old fashioned in-class debate is the best! What do you think?

Social Networking Sites

            MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have a lot in common but also have a lot of differences. MySpace is sort of the has been in this case, it already had its 15 minutes of fame. It has the same concept of posting pictures of yourself, and commenting others. However, you chose your “name” it can be anything you want. You can put songs on your page, and really design it the way you want. Its not professional at all, and definitely more personalized than anything else. Facebook has the infamous “status” in which you see your friend’s status updates on a “newsfeed”. Everyone has the same page and there is not much room for personalization. When you post pictures, you can “tag” people in them so that it appears on their page as well. Facebook seems to be used more for communicating and keeping in touch with family and friends.

            Twitter is interesting because you get to follow people without becoming their friend. There is not much personal information about yourself on Twitter. You get to follow celebrities and even the news. All you get is a status update, its like a shrinked form of Facebook. LinkedIn is more for business purposes and job searches. Everyone has the same page layout as well. It is not as much for socializing as the other three sites are.

Social Networking

Social Networking has become a major part in my life and well as many other people. It is almost if not already addicting. These technologies can be used to keep in touch with relatives, especially those who are not near-by to promoting your business. Many businesses have developed a “Facebook Page” and have users “Like” the page. It is a great way to advertise for free- putting up pictures of latest products, and informing customers of certain promotions. Now there is even a way to sell your products via Facebook.

In the article, “Social Networking Technology Books Job Recruiting” explains how Social Networking can be beneficial to society. The site Linkedin is a site containing over 8 million professionals around the world. It has enhanced the way job recruiters look for potential employees, chaning the hiring game forever. It has allowed recrutiers to really find the perfect fit for a certain job, rather than settling on someone because they could not find anyone else. The networking possibilities are endless and as you can not only see one person but you can also see their entire network.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” There are negatives to Social Networking. A huge one is Privacy. Although now it is easier to control your privacy settings on Facebook, once you confirm a firm someone as a friend you are allowing them to become a spectator to your life. In the article, “ Leaving Friendprints : How Online Social Networks are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security” explains that just by giving up your basic information of your name and birthday you are being prone to indentity theft. This article also touches on the dillema of having a co-worker wanting to be your friend on facebook- do you really want them to see you doing things on your time off? Social Networking definitely invades your privacy, but you controls have been set it to help this problem. Ultimately, you decide what you want the world to know.

I see these technologies evolving into the future, especially Facebook. It is not going anywhere anytime soon. It has already revolutionized communication. In the future, I think there will definitely be more people selling products directly through facebook. It will also help with marketing people to analyze trends. I think there could be a collaborative effort in the future combining facebook, twitter, and blogs in some way.

Blogs Vs. Wikis

Both Blogs and Wikis are forms of new technology that are innovative ways that people share information. However, there are some key differences between the two. Blogs are websites that a single author creates and shares particular things that they are interested in. The variety of what an author wishes to share with his/her audience can be about anything- thoughts, ideas, reviews, etc. People often will comment on someone’s blog in response to what it posted. Wikis are a bit different because it involves sharing information in which users all collaborate to make. Each user can edit the Wiki, rather than a blog where someone writes and people may only respond.

In today’s fast paced world, Blogs and Wikis are certainly making their mark. In the article, “An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified” the author explains how the employees for the ambassador for the U.S. Embassy in Rome used to e-mail him the biographies of the people attending a meeting. Now, the people’s biographies can be found directly on Diplopedia- which is a Wiki. Given, that since Wikis can be edited, you must be aware that the information could have false information. However, they try to protect instances like this by requiring people to become legitimate users who can be traced. This shows how Wikis have emerged not just for entertainment purposes but larges as informative and educational resources.

The article “Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid” explains how a blog started as neighbor noticed that there was unusual behavior and suspected that a house on the block may be being used a crack house. Some other neighbors began responding to the blog, and would update their fellow bloggers whenever they saw or thought something. Eventually, with all the people collaborating they were able to take it to the authorities. Quickly enough, the criminals were busted. Not only is this a perfect example of a blog being used as collaboration but it is also a good example how the technology of blogs has revolutionized the way people interact and share information.

It seems Wikis can be used in a lot of ways. I think it can be especially usful in the work environment. I know when I am working on something at work E-mails and transferring of files can get hectic. I think it would be interesting if I were to put something on there and then my boss could edit it right there.

Wikis and Blogs seem to be making their mark in society, and the opportunities seem endless.