Creativity and New Media

This is my first time to visit and create an avatar of myself on secondlife.com. I picked one of the characters on the website. The avatar I picked originally was wearing a party dress and I just changed her top to student red sweeter since I thought it would be more appropriate for this assignment :-)

This is where I took some instruction how to walk, fly etc….

I visited Egypt and chatted with other avatar

Finally I fly…..

I thought it was kind of interesting how the virtual world used to create 3-D images of avatars’ that are capable of walking, flying as well as communicating with other avatars.  I have to admit that before this class I had no idea this type of websites even exist.   

Creativity

The word “creativity” in my opinion is the process under which one is using his/her own ideas, imagination etc…, in order to create something new or to make new improvement on something that already exists. New media technologies have taken creativity to a different level. For many creative individuals, new media have become an essential way of making and sharing what they produce. For example, YouTube, one of the most popular site that is fostered by new media has enabled creative individuals, artists etc… to share and express themselves through videos.  Many businesses also have taken advantages of the new media to become more creative and to produce better product by collecting information on consumer feedback and ideas through the internet. For example, in the article “Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers” Claire Cain Miller stated that“Technology companies have been the most active in relying on others to innovate for them. This is in large part because the Internet lets people exchange ideas easily and rapidly with large groups, and computing tools let people design new products cheaply.”

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual world is a new online based community that allows users to interact with one another by creating 3-D graphic images known as “avatar” to live in a fantasy world. According to Wikipedia, “Residents can explore the world (known as the grid), meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another.” Users can create an imaginary place where they can reside and become any characters of their choice in that environment. For example, the article In Room 100, It’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again by Saki Knafo, shows how virtual world used by  Michael Brown in order to create a replica of the Hotel Chelsea in virtual world for those who use to reside there. As the article explained Hotel Chelsea was a center spot for many. Unfortunately many of its residents were forced to leave from the hotel because of rent increase and unable to enjoy staying in the hotel. “But now, thanks to Second Life, a 3-D virtual world on the Internet, the hotel’s spirit lives on.”

Virtual world also used in education fields and in job training.  According to Stephanie Simon “Dozens of hospitals, medical schools and health foundations have staked out space in the online community Second Life, where participants can build their own virtual clinics and stage just about any training drill they can imagine.”

In my opinion virtual world have pros and cons. To begin with pros many users utilize virtual world to live the life of a different person than they are in real life. Many people have many dreams that cannot be accomplished in their real life due to different circumstances. For example, in one of the video from the lecture note tells the story of a disabled person who want to do more in real life. Unfortunately because of the physical condition she was unable do what she wants to do. But she has become the person she wants to become in virtual world. Also virtual world helped many people with disability. In the article 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction, the creator of this virtual world who has autism said, “one benefit is that visitors can practice social interaction and find information about the condition.” The negative aspect of virtual world is that it can become very addictive and can be very time consuming. While tending to details of these virtual worlds, users can fall behind schedules in their real-life duty; lose their jobs, marriage etc.

Social Networking Sites

These days it has been hard to distinguish and choose between the fast growing social networking sites. In my opinion Facebook and MySpace are kind of similar in terms of how you set up your account compared to Twitter and Blogger. Also both Facebook and MySpace are types of social networking sites that allow user to interact with friends and families through pictures, words etc…. MySpace allow user to upload and share videos.  Both these sites also attract different groups of people based on different ages. For example MySpace tend attract younger audiences while Facebook attract more middle age groups. MySpace also allow users to locate friends by which high school or college you attend. Also the way advertising tend to be different between Facebook and MySpace. For example, you don’t see any advertising on Facebook sign page while MySpace bombarded you with top news, adds etc…. before you even sign in. I believe both Facebook and MySpace promote more advertising than Twitter and Blogger.  Twitter and blogger are not really created to connect with friends and family only. On Twitter for instance, you can follow anyone who share your idea, interest  or someone you found interesting like celebrities, news, or even any ordinary person with unique topic to name a few. Twitter promotes users to engage and comment about same topic. Blogger is more different than any one of the three sites. In my opinion Blogger is more personal oriented for one to express on a topic based on his/her opinions, knowledge, experiences etc. Like Twitter, other users are able to comment on blogs. The only differences is that on Twitter users are limited to 140 characters, so they have to be creative in order  to send a clear comment  across. On the other hand blog allow you to say more. All of these sites have become useful tools for today’s living. For example Twitter makes it easier for us to get up-to-date information for any topic we want. We can ask questions on Twitter to get answers fast from other users etc…

Blog about Twitter

Both BlackBoard discussion and twitter allow people to engage discussing on the same topic by posting their ideas, knowledge as well as opinions on the topic. However, BlackBoard allows you to post more details about the topic than Twitter since Twitter has limits of 140 characters you can post. Also Twitter is more public since it is a popular social networking site. On the other hand BlackBoard dissolution is somewhat private since only available to student on specific class sections. In my opinion in-class discussion is a lot different than both Twitter and Blackboard discussion since it involves discussing about a topic in person. The only similarity between BlackBoard/Twitter and in- class discussion is that students can engage in discussing and sharing ideas.  

Social Networking

Social networking such as Facebook, tweeter etc... are a new way of communication technologies that have emerged in the past few years.  Many corporations and businesses have taken advantage of the fast growing social networking sites in order to advertise their products, recruiting prospective employees etc...  For example, advertising products based on individual interest on social networking sites have become more popular these days since these sites such as Facebook has the capability of targeting individual needs. Before the social networking sites such as Facebook this type of advertising was not possible.

Social networking sites have some advantages to society. These sites have helped many people to get in touch with their friends and families. The sites also helped many people to find jobs. For example, many companies used social networking sites in order to recruit and hire the best candidate that fit their companies. In his article, Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, Frank Langfitt stated that how “professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technology — like the kind found on the popular sites MySpace and Facebook.”

One of the ‘dark sides’ of social networking is its profound effects on our privacy. All users have given some of their real personal information through these social networking sites willingly or by mistake. For instance, in the past many third party data mining companies on social networking sites like Facebook have used or sold  individual information to advertising companies  in order to gain more benefit. In addition, some people have been victimized by the same people whom they met through social networking sites.   The article, Leaving 'Friend prints': How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security explain the danger part of social networking by stating, “what about the person you don't really know who wants to be your friend because you have some friends in common? According to Hoffman, that new friend may just be mining your social circle for information. As networks grow and more friends of friends (and their friends) are accepted by users, it's unclear who can be trusted.”

Blogs vs. Wikis

Wiki is a website that allows many users to work in collaboration on the same subject or project. All users can contribute to the wiki page, add more information, as well as edit the page. On the other hand blog is a single user page that is only one user can post information to his/ her blog site. Melissa Gerry in her article Celebrity Blogs: The Impact of New Media stated that “Through blogs, people are able to write about topics that interest them and comment freely on what is going on in their lives and in the world around them” Unlike Wiki, on blog site people can only post comment about the subject whether they agree or disagree, or like or dislike etc… The similarity of wiki and blogs are both these pages provide information based on people idea, opinions, knowledge to name a few that help provide more information about any subject that one can think of. Since Wiki is updated periodically, its content is usually more accurate than blogs.  

For the past few years information technologies have been growing rapidly. As such, it became important, especially for businesses, to move forward with these technologies in order to compute. In many businesses today wiki has become mass communication media among workers in order to work on same projects .Many companies have adapted sharing information and follow certain guidelines via wiki instate of e-mail. According to Margaret Locher “Diverse organizations, including businesses, schools and government agencies, are waking up to the benefits of wikis—one of the group of Web-based applications designed to improve information sharing and collaboration known collectively as Web 2.0.”

For the past few years blog has become very poplar to get information.  Even though blog is used by single user it can be classified as collaborated if everyone can blog and give comments in the same topic. For example, in his article “Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid Recommend” Michael Wilson explained how the bloggers in the Brooklyn neighborhood helped the lead to arrest drag dealers. In my opinion that is collaboration because everyone provides same sort of information about what is going on in their neighborhood.