Blog: Creativity and New Media

This picture was actually created by my friend. He demonstrated our competitive nature through an activity enjoyed by both, and demonstrated it through a virtual world. He clearly demonstrates his competitive nature through the creativity of substituting of the ball with my head.

Here I created an image in a virtual world that demonstrates the predicament I find myself in often - being late. The juggling of breakfast and coffee while running to my destination is a creative exaggeration of such a predicament.

Lastly, this virtual world picture demonstrates that I find it too early for whatever errand it is I have to complete.

What is important to note here is that a virtual character has already been created to represent me. This unique character will represent me in the virtual world for all situations until I decide to change it.
The usage of the virtual world is quite fun!

BLOG: CREATIVTY

     The evolution of social media has done wonders to the creative capacity of the world. Because of the usage of social media, the artistic explosion throughout the world has increased dramatically because there was a new way to spread one's old artwork without the necessity of expensive advertising. Through the possibility of "viral" marketing, one can come to gain many followers in a short amount of time. And even without viral marketing, one can still gradually accumulate followers to support their artistic endeavors.
     Many of the creativity promoted by social media can be found on the sites of YouTube, various blogging sites, and even FaceBook. Many people have found ways to create a living for themselves off of the social media provided by YouTube. YouTubers like nigahiga, PewDiePie, and collegehumor decided to focus all their efforts on creating videos of whatever they wanted to provide viewers a source of entertainment. Eventually the following grew larger because of word of mouth - essentially free marketing. Now, these individuals are making a living off creating videos of choices for viewers to life, all because of YouTube fostering their creativity.
     Additionally, blog sites have many ways of fostering creativity. Blog sites can be used to share advice about anything at all, can be used to share food recipes, artistic drawings, and more. These bloggers can then gain followers based on the interest of the viewers.
     Lastly, FaceBook has recently become a huge component of creativity in social media. Now that pages can be made of anything imaginable, that sets the floor for basically anything anyone wants to express. Through a quick search using FaceBook's search function, their page can be found in a matter of seconds.
     The bottom line is, social media has definitely revolutionized the world in terms of available displays of individual creativity. From up and coming music producers and singers, to possibly the next Michelangelo, through social media the next famous person is just a few virtual clicks away.

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

BLOG: Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

     With the creation of the virtual worlds, the landscape of social connectivity as we know it can change drastically. The creation of a virtual world allows individuals to share their creativity and thoughts with others in a meaningful way, offering ways to socially connect with others.
      For example, minecraft is a gaming virtual world that allows an individual to share with others their architectural and creative view of a landscape. Through communication, they can share with others how they envision the world can be built, and why it is so, creating a connection with another person through the virtual world.
       In other cases, a virtual world can be used for hypothetical training and stimulus. The government already has such a program running to help prepare soldiers for certain conditions and precautions. By creating the virtual world to interact with, the soldiers are able to explore the surroundings of an area before actually going into the area physically. Pretty neat stuff.
       And in a completely different spectrum of virtual worlds, people can catch up with old friends and families through a more engaging way than a video-conference or phone call. So many different dimensions can be expressed through a virtual world than can be expressed in other traditional mediums.

Virtual worlds has an interesting way of fostering creativity. The main thing is that people really feel like they can establish a good connection and vibe with others through the virtual world. This in turn allows them to work together more cohesively, and have the thoughts build off one another. It is no secret that creativity is generated easier between individuals who have a sense of connection between one another.

In the future I think virtual worlds will be the new market to be tapped. Seeing as how it can literally be created to substitute any social interaction, I think it will be a topic of extreme interest for nearly stagnant technology companies. I can see it being used for educative purposes, and even therapeutic services (helping to get over social anxiety). The educative aspects to such a growth is definitely intriguing, however I fear that the next generation of kids will start reverting to be more socially awkward seeing that they might one day live in a world where virtual interaction is more prominent than physical interaction. Let's hope there's a balance to be found!

Links:
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/

Social Networking Sites

Hello fellow bloggers,

I recently visited 4 different social networking sites and wanted to compare my first impressions of each! The four sites are: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Tumblr. Here we go!

 Facebook: I have actually used Facebook for years. My impression is that it is a great way to establish social connections with friends, or people you haven't actually met yet formally. It is a great way to share thoughts or feelings through status updates, profile pictures, and cover photos. It also lets your friends see what you've been up to through regular picture uploads, or 'photos of you'.

Myspace: One of the pioneers in social networking along with Xanga in my opinion! Myspace was definitely cool, and ahead of its time. Myspace design scripts are definitely unique for social networking because it lets the users be more expressive when sharing thoughts or posts! Colorful backgrounds? Check. Trailing mouse designs? Check. Automatic music player? Check. Fancy digital clocks? Check. Whatever you can think of for your Myspace design, there's probably already a a script for! The creepy thing is the ability to check who has viewed your Myspace though.

Twitter: Definitely a new concept! Allows users to have conversations through #tweets. Unique limitation to 140 characters, forces users to be concise on what they want to communicate. The use of hashtags definitely has #revolutionized #socialmedia though. #twitter #hashtag #abuse. It seems like Twitter is not staying stagnant either, as they look to expand their platform to be more versatile!

Tumblr: Different from the rest, being a blog site. Aims to be more private, yet still is social media through the use of followers. Like Myspace, it offers a customizable background for the blog, and offers twitter-like #hashtags. Overall, it's the concept of an open diary. I like it!

How are your social media experiences? What different social networking sites do you guys use?!

Blog About Twitter

I have to say, after my initial with Twitter I was utter intrigued to this new concept. In Twitter people around the world can pretty much engage in a conversation through "tweets", which is limited to 140 characters. This sets a very different type of conversation than a blackboard discussion or a class discussion because you are limited to what you say. Therefore, more thought is required into what you input to the conversation to make sure you stay within the limited characters. In a blackboard discussion, or class discussion you have no limits other than time limits. Also, in twitter you can unite with others posting about the same topics through hashtags, which pretty much is the best way to read through the conversation of a certain topic. Today is my first time using Twitter, but it seems it will not be my last!

Social Networking

     With the evolution of the Internet, a new world has emerged: Social Media. Basically setting up ways for all Internet users to communicate with one another through various online mediums, social networking is starting to become an integral part to our society. And like everything else, there are pros and cons to this prevalence in society.
     Social Networking can have many usages. First, it can simply be used for the purposes of social interactions. Websites like Facebook and Twitter allow its users to communicate emotions or messages to friends or followers through its 'status' updating capabilities, allowing users the chance to 'be there' in each moment. Yet through these very same platforms, others may use it to advertise products and services, and even search out potential candidates for various job or service positions. In a way social networking has allowed its users a new way for instant and effective, electronically written communication. From being a world that only allowed communication face to face, social media has shrunk the world to the point where it does not matter how distant you are from another person. As long as an internet connection is available, they are only seconds away from having a conversation. And because of this, it benefits society with these technologies because people can be more time efficient with instantaneous communications, while being able to be utilized for bigger tasks like advertising.
    However there is definitely a dark side. Because the Internet and social media is so huge, it is very hard to stay hidden from unwanted viewers. The whole issue of privacy, and to whom content belongs to once it is posted online is always a subject that causes controversy. Just like there are beneficial uses to social media, there are also detrimental side effects. For example, people like to use social media to carry out scams online, through the use of social media the growth of cyber bullying has emerged, and even using social media to stalk unsuspecting individuals.
   The Social media is new, and it definitely has long ways to go. The benefits are definitely there; real time communication has unlimited potential. In the future it can be used to help find items, find missing persons, or even plan events for communities. What must be remedied is the detrimental side effects that are present now. Filter out users that do not contribute, or are using the platforms for malicious intents. If that happens, I think the landscape of our society will drastically change. There will be less time spent for experimenting or thinking, and more time for doing.

Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15wwln-medium-t.html?_r=0

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