Creativity and New Media

I created a video and posted it on YouTube. As you can see the shows many pictures of me in a video format. I created this using iMovie. First, I uploaded all the photos i wanted to use onto iMovie. Then i edited the arrangement of the photos. Next I added music to the video by dragging a song from my iTunes library into iMovie. Finally, I aligned to the best of my ability the music with the pictures changing. I was not able to upload the video directly to YouTube from iMovie. In order to upload it I had to extract the video to iTunes. This allowed me to upload the video. To be honest I had no idea how to do any of these things until now. It's amazing how you can easily make something with these new forms of media.

Creativity

Take the time to sift through the video's posted on YouTube and you'll notice that there are millions of videos created by millions of different people. This is new media fostering creativity. These video's are expressions of people's minds, thoughts, and emotions. Without the creation of YouTube, or some other video sharing website, these video's may never have been posted and these people who never have gotten the chance to be creative. But creating/sharing videos is not the only way new media fosters creativity. Take a look at the article "1+1+1=1" by Sasha Frere-Jones. This article discusses the how digital music (new media) is being manipulated by people to create "mash-ups" of songs. DJ Reset created the song "Frontin' on Debra," a mix between Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams' song Frontin' with Beck's song Debra. The artist used software to edit, cut, and paste the songs together. An unproductive, not creative, and dull person would not have thought up something like this.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used? What are the pros and cons? Be specific. How do virtual worlds foster creativity? What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?

I knew things like Second Life existed, but I always assumed they were just online versions of the Sims games. They're really much more than that. There are many different ways virtual worlds can be used. The article "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction" is one example of how virtual worlds can be used. In this article is discusses how a young man with autism used Second Life to interact with others. So this means that virtual worlds can be used to help foster communication skills for those who are socially inept or those who have something like autism. Virtual worlds can also be a place for ordinary people to interact. In the article "I've been in that club, just not in real life," by David Itzkoff, it talks about the virtual world VLES or virtual lower east side. This is virtual world that depicts the lower east side of new york. This virtual world connects people living in the lower east side and others. An individual who uses VLES describes how they were at a bar about to watch a concert when the crowd and smells in the atmosphere ruined it for her, so: "I walked a few blocks to my apartment on Avenue A, turned on my computer, directed a small, pixelated representation of myself to enter a small, pixelated representation of Cake Shop, and rejoined the show." Or virtual worlds can be used to connect individuals in an organization like at IBM.

A "pro" of virtual organizations is like that discusses in the article about the Chelsea. Although in real life the building was renovated and changed around, destroying its history, in the virtual world it was recreated and given back its significance. This is also an example of how virtual worlds foster creativity. A single man created this from his own passion and love of the Chelsea. Another "pro" is helping out those who having socializing with others. It enables them to communicate from their own home in which they are more comfortable.
A "con" of virtual organizations is the exploitation of the consumer. In the toy industry, organizations like Ganz sell products that have codes in which people can redeem for online goods in the organizations virtual world. They sell $9 things of lip-gloss and other accessories. These are really unnecessary items that the customer is suckered into buying in order to have the coolest avatar in their virtual world.
I think the future of virtual worlds will be ten times more popular than it is today. There is still a stereotype of being on the computer all the time and being labeled a "nerd." I believe this perception will change as more and more people begin to accept virtual worlds. 

Social Networking Sites

There are many social networking sites now available; Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Blogger.com. Each is similar to the others, some more, and each has their differences. Take Facebook and MySpace. Both have a very similar mission and format. They both are sites that allow others to communicate with one another by allowing users to create personal profile pages. These pages include pictures, interests, hobbies, education and the like. What also makes these sites similar is how users interact with each other. Users go to other users' pages and post comments; these comments can be positive, negative, funny, upsetting, encouraging, discouraging, etc... As well, with both of these websites, posting pictures is the key to creating a desirable profile. Many users post many pictures of themselves and with others. It's really a way for friends to bond, keep in touch and for potential boyfriends/girlfriends to get a sneak peak for what they might be getting themselves into. Now, as for the other two sites, Twitter and Blogger.com. They have their similarities in respect to Facebook and Myspace. Like the latter two sites, the former two allow users to post comments about whatever it is on their mind and lets other users comment. However, the former two sites have their differences. Twitter and Blogger.com do allow users to upload a picture of themselves, however, there is limited amount one is able to upload. As opposed to Facebook and Myspace which allows users to post as many pictures as they desire.  One thing all of these sites have in common is the ability to make your profile/page private. This enables users to filter who is allowed to view and comment.

Aesthetically, these sites vary greatly. In my opinion Facebook blows MySpace out of the water. Facebook has a neat, well organized look/feel to it. While Myspace allows its users to completely customize their profiles, it creates a cheesy and unprofessional look to it. Twitter has a clean and simple page like Facebook and is easy to navigate. As for blogger.com, it is too an aesthetically pleasing website.

Blog about Twitter

There are many different ways for individuals, classes, organizations to interact with each other and have discussions these days. The ways are: Social Networking Website, in-person, and for our sakes, Blackboard. How do these styles of interaction affect a discussion?

Twitter:

• comments are confined to 140 characters
• = limited amount one can say per tweet
• unless made otherwise, a Tweet is made public
• if not intentional can be frustrating if privacy is wanted
• organizes individuals involved
• easy to see who is following and participating
• no face-to-face time
• lack of relationship building with others

In-Class Discussion:

• face-to-face with professor and others
• easier for everyone to participate in a timely manner
• everyone is in the same space and is involved in the discussion at the same time
• no outside distraction
• allows for replys from others
• but less likely someone will disagree with you when face to face rather then on a computer in their own home

Blackboard:

• organizes posts and comments in a orderly fashion
• makes it easy to locate ones post and view comments
• no picture/face is seen in posts/comments
• unfamiliar with those posting comments and those making posts

Social Networking

As we all know, Facebook is the world's most popular social networking tool today, with the largest user base compared to any other site like it. Facebook's original and most fundamental use today is to connect individuals at all times in any place. For example; you may have made friends on your recent trip to a foreign country; what better way to stay in-touch with than becoming friends on Facebook. Aside from its most basic function, Facebook also alows individuals and organizations to form groups and invite others to become apart of the group. Through groups, people can share thoughts or ideas and collaborate in other ways. Nicole Ellison, who responded to a question by Stephen J. Dubney in his article, "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum?" says that there are some positive aspects to social networking, "such as political activities organized via Facebook." The article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" is an example another way corporate uses social networking: "professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technology — like the kind found on the popular sites MySpace and Facebook."

Everything has a positive and negative aspect to it, social networking sites especially. There are clear positive characteristics of social networking websites like Facebook. It is in an easy and convenient way to stay in-touch with long distance friends/family. It can help organize a corporate event or a friends surprise party. It can even help people get to know one another better with things that people post as their "interests/hobbies." In the article written by Stephen J. Dubney,"Is MySpace Good for Society?," Nicole Ellison responds to his question stating; "These students were using Facebook to increase the size of their social network, and therefore their access to more information and diverse perspectives." So a positive aspect of Facebook is that it can help strengthen relationships. Lets not forget about the other, negative side, these social networking sites have. The following link is about a girl from Long Island who about this time last year committed suicide due to hateful remarks written about her on the social networking site Formspring.me: "Alexis Pilkington." This is one of the MAJOR negative or "dark sides" to social networking sites, cyberbullying. Other negative aspects of social networking sites is the amount of private information one discloses. We are letting the world know where we are, what we are doing, as well as many other things.

I do not really see the social networking sites evolving much more than they already have. Unless there is a major scandal causing everyone to become anti-facebook, I believe it will stay the number one networking site for many years. If anything, these websites might become apart of our daily lives even more. Instead of having board meetings at the office, people have them via facebook.

Blog vs. Wiki

According to dictionary.com, a "wiki is a web site that allows anyone to add, delete, or revise content by using a web browser;" as opposed to a blog which is defined as, "a web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites." As you can see from the dictionary definition's of blogs and wiki's, it is evident that there are clear differences between the two. A blog is created by an individual who states his opinions and invites people to comment with their own. According to the article by Melissa Gerry, "Celebrity Blogs: The Impact of New Media", "Through blogs, people are able to write about topics that interest them and comment freely on what is going on in their lives and the world around them." A wiki is made up of many minds. Wiki's do not deal with opinion like blogs do. Their purpose is to inform people with facts. However, the information found in wiki's may not always be true, while the information on someone's blog is only opinion, not to be taken as fact. While wiki's and blogs do have their differences, they also have similarities. One of these similarities is that they are both created by user's who intend to share their information/opinion with the public.

"How can blogs be used for collaboration?:"
Our CIS class is a perfect example of how blogs can be used for collaboration. As we posted our topics on our blogs, we received feedback from our fellow classmates. The feedback received might open the door to new ideas that someone hadn't thought of. Another way blogs can be used for collaboration can be found in the article "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid," by Michael Wilson. He writes about how neighbors in Brooklyn posted comments on a blog about two shady houses on their block and what they saw happening. A few months later and BAM!! the cops busted down the doors and arrested the people who lived in what turned out to be a crack house.

I think it would be interesting to use a wiki for consumer shopping. Instead of going to each store or brands website, you have one main website where companys post facts about their products. For example, lets say you were looking for a computer. You don't know if you want a mac or a pc, a dell or an hp, a notebook or a desktop. To help make your decision you go to this website with wiki's on each product. You click on ones that interest you and it displays them all side by side. It must have a "compare" feature so that one can compare different products to see which best fits their needs.