Ceativity

New media provides us with a new way to handle information which effects our thinking process.  That is simply one of the reasons why new media fosters creativity.  Creativity is also encouraged as the people have more authority and their ideas are being heard.  An article titled, "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" in the New York Times published on October 25, 2009 mentions the several successful ideas companies have incorporated int heir business model by listening to the consumers.  Even non-technology companies are adopting "user-generated innovations"; companies such as Ford hired college students to come up with an idea to come up with a successful way to use sync sound system the way consumers prefer. In the article it is mentioned how twitter was reluctant to use "#" which was suggested by one of the users, but the popularity of this trend among the users convinced Twitter to make this an official feature.  The fact that innovation has now been democratized, one doesn't have to be an IT genius to come up with creative ideas.  The power now truly lies in the peoples hands.

Creativity and New Media

New Media fosters creativity and lets our imagination run wild. To provide an example I took inspiration form the poem Ode on Solitude by Alexander Pope and made a video of my own interpretation. I took some pictures, picked some off the internet and picked a song that I thought tied well with my video and created this montage.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds is a fairly new concept but has been very popular recently. A lot of my classmates must be familiar with the game "SIMS. I used to play this game when I was in high school but never understood the point as I enjoyed the things I did in the real world better than the game itself. Contrary to my views, the game seemed to gaining popularity and since then have been many new versions of the game. This was primarily because virtual world can be used in multiple ways as mentioned in the articles for this weeks class. I was amazed at the range of activities that could benefit from the virtual worlds.

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled "Avatar II: The Hospital", published on April 13, 2010 mentions the use of virtual world to train nurses and the medial staff for emergency situations. By creating models of the future possibilities of a famine or a hard to deal with patient, the medical staff is provided with a close to real life experience and trained on how they should face a problematic situation. It is mentioned in the article, "In addition to the disaster drills, Second Life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills. Medical schools traditionally have run such exercises using computerized mannequins, which can be programmed to exhibit certain symptoms. But each mannequin costs about $65,000, so there may be just one for every 50 or 100 students. In Second Life, though, every student can take on a nurse or doctor avatar and practice interviewing virtual patients, filling in medical charts and making diagnoses." Virtual world allows the training to be price effective and the same benefit is provided to the business world as well. In one of the readings for this week it was mentioned that employees at IBM have meetings int he virtual world saving the cost on travel and is more effective than a mere phone call providing the "sense of space".

On the other hand it is important for us to understand the cons of the use of the virtual world.  Are we losing the sense of reality? An article in the New York Times titled "No Budget, No Boundries: It's the real you" it is mentioned how Ms Rayna is able to fulfill her fantasy for multi-strap platform sandals and other expensive real world items for a much cheaper price. It saves her money and lets her live her life in the virtual world, but it's still encouraging materialism.  Virtual worlds seem to be a boom for the professional world and teaching, but is it beneficial to use it for personal use?  Was the want for the real world items not enough that now we would want to purchase materialistic items for our items online?  Virtual worlds to me translate to escape from the real world: Instead of facing our problems in the real world and making it a better place, we are creating a second world and trying to stay under the impression that we have control over our lives.  Virtual worlds provides the sense of a society and space, but what about the real society we reside in?  

Blog aboutTwitter

Tweeting has become the new way for not only communicating but it plays a huge part in diminishing the differences across the world.  Not only your thought is valuable once put on twitter but you can also stay in-tuned with the things, people, products, corporations, and many more things that interest you.  Through the articles provided to us for this class,

I realized the vast usage of tweeting: it can be classified as a blog, share pictures, business advertisement, political platform and usage for class.  Compare to BB and in-class discussions, tweeting is very convenient as we as a class are in touch with each other constantly and it is much easier to use.  We also are able to have discussions that are relevant and to the point with everyone getting a chance to speak their mind. Tweeting doesn't seem like class work to me but I actually think I'm learning something that will practically help me in the real world.

Social Networking Sites

Can You Recognize all the Symbols?

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Google+....what is the difference between them? Its not the people that use it because all four of the social networking sites have users from all ages and countries.  It is the way they are structured and what they want to offer to the people.  Facebook started off for college students and is formed more int he sense to stay in contact with ones friends, peers, and families.  Recently one can see Facebook having certain aspects of Twitter.  It seems as if the popularity of twitter has forced the creators of Facebook to make it more up-to-date.  Facebook also gives one the option to like a status: one can express their thoughts without having to say words.  Facebook has become very user-friendly and provides clear instructions on how get started.

I have never used MySpace in my entire life as I refused to sit on my desktop customizing my page to let people know what they should think about me. Users of MySpace have either not updated their account or stopped using it.  MySpace as the name reflects is more of having your space on the internet where you can keep in contact with your friends and make new friends.  I feel MySpace forces you to express yourself, but isn't a media site where you are able to stay connected to the world.  Twitter is something that I just started to use, and thanks to the my CIS class, I am being introduced to this new world.  It is much different than any other social networking site I may have used.  It allows you to express yourself more freely, and also updates you on things that you are interested in.  One can pick and choose what they'd like to follow and know every second of what is going on in the world without overwhelming you with any information as one is only allowed to tweet 140 characters.

Google+ is fairly new but it seems to be catching fast.  Using Chrome as a web browser and having Google+ helps me run my daily operations smoothly while keeping in contact with the outside world.  Google+ lets me map all the places that I've lived in and lets me provide more logical information about myself.  It also provides me the ability to to add people to my circle and create my circles. Anything that I browse on the web is on Google+ and in fact this blog also provides me with the option to make this a part of Google+.

Social Networking

Technology is changing our planet. It affects the way we think, do things and our relationships. One of the key contributions of technology has been social networking. Social networking includes Facebook, Twitter and all other social media websites that provide us with a sense of community. These sites have become a substitute for the real-life social communities. These days kids after school plan meetings on AIM or ooVoo instead of meeting at the playground and their emotions, excitement and thoughts are expressed through these social networking websites. This is a good way to keep your friends and family updated on your life, but it shouldn't be the only way you interact with them.

Initially websites like Facebook and MySpace were a way for people to keep in contact with people who they don't get to see a lot and make new friends online, but slowly it all changed. It become a place where you add random people in the hope they become your friend, you post updates from your day, discuss important issues, and even discuss what homework is due for math class. This transition happened after the downfall of Myspace and the up rise of Twitter after which Facebook was being used as a place to vent your thoughts and feelings. An article published in the New York Times titled "Being There" states, "People point out that there’s a significant sleight-of-hand in every status update, because the real answer to “What are you doing right now?” is always just “Updating my status.” But the current friendliness of handheld devices to Facebook (and Twitter and MySpace) has made it more likely that when a pal — the Jägermeister-besotted Sean, say — writes that he’s stumbling home, he is stumbling home, right then, and simultaneously apprising his friends via his mobile." This has become the reality of our world today, and the good thing about it is- if I haven't seen Megan for a whole year, by following her on these social networking websites I'll be able to know how she is doing and provide support to her in her bad time but also be a part of her happiness by liking her joyous status.

The downside of social networking websites include an uneasiness to have relationships face-to-face. As mentioned in the article title "Antisocial Networking" published in the New York Times on April 30, 2010 by Hilary Stout, “Initial qualitative evidence is that the ease of electronic communication may be making teens less interested in face-to-face communication with their friends. More research is needed to see how widespread this phenomenon is and what it does to the emotional quality of a relationship.”  Can you imagine growing up not sending greeting cards, or having a pen friend, or being teased online by your schoolmates?  The world that this new generation is growing is completely different than what was happening in the 90's.  Relationships on social networking website might not even be the same in real life but seem to hold more importance.  If a person is dating someone and the relationship status on  your Facebook account is single, you aren't really considered to be in a relationship.  It seems like what is on these websites is almost more powerful than the word of mouth.

After looking at both the sides of social networking, the question that arises is that is it how can we make it more useful? On of the ways we can improve the life of a college student and help communication better in commuter school such as Baruch is have a Facebook page for a class.  The professor can update statuses on what he expects from the students , the syllabus, assignments and anything else he would like to discuss.  On the other hand student can ask questions or send requests to explain something that they might have not understood during lecture.  By posting these queries on the wall, it is also possible that fellow students help each other out so the professor is not burdened with a whole lot of questions.  Believe me, students will be more updated and prepared for a class if this format is followed.