Creativity

The digitization of media has increased the accessibility of media, fostering creativity in our society. It represents the progression of media from the past to the present. In the old times, creativity was limited because people did not have tools to build their creativity. Because of this, things were not "creative" back then. A society with limited creativity is also a factor that limits creativity from individuals. If people are not exposed to the creativity of others, they will not really understand what creativity is. As stated in the article, "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Users", technology companies rely on the ideas of others to create newer ideas. The internet allows people to exchange ideas easily and efficiently. For example, Twitter monitors the actions of their customers to see how they implement improvements. A customer used a "@" in a tweet and this sparked an idea in twitter, "@" can be used to tag people. This creates the creativity in businesses ( Miller 2009).

All media tools and outlets allow for the exchange of information and we all learn from this information. With information readily available, businesses can easily monitor the actions of their customers, and create innovative ways to cater to their needs. Without the media, none of this can happen. There will be no creativity because information will not be shared as easily across people. 

References:

Miller, Claire Cain. "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers." 

          The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Oct. 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.

Creativity and New Media

New Media fosters creativity and virtual worlds is a perfect example of this. After reading articles about Second Life, I decided to give it a try. I was surprised to see that it was a downloadable game. I actually thought it was something was played on a website. There were lots of avatars to choose from so I randomly choose one, knowing that we can customize our avatar later on. In the game, I noticed that there were different destinations and there was a destination just for new users. This is very helpful as it creates a community for new users. Also, I think that the flying ability is pretty cool since we cant do that in the real world.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds are communities that represent the real world, but in a simpler way. Users create avatars or characters where they move around in the game, carrying out everyday activities. Users become the person they are online and not the person they are in real life. Because of this virtual worlds bring both pros and cons to its users.

For pros, virtual worlds create opportunists and possibilities that are not present in the real world for certain people. As mentioned in the " 'Naughty Auties' battle Autism with virtual interaction",, virtual worlds allow for people with Autism to foster their social skills by interacting with others in chat rooms. They are able to express themselves and meet people. In real life, it is not easy to do this, but with virtual worlds social communication becomes easier ( cnn.com).

The ability to create and immerse yourself in a avatar also brings negative effects to the user. According to the article, "Virtual World may impact real-world behavior", the way we represent ourselves in the virtual world can affect how we behave towards other in the real world. Users who played villain roles in the video game would appear to be more violent in real life (health24.com). Virtual worlds acts as a model for a lot of people and because they are so immersed into a game, they can bring their character into real life. At the end, the virtual world and real world are two different things, so bringing the virtual world into reality can cause problems.

This is also why virtual worlds foster creativity. Inside a game, we are able to observe and explore the countless opportunities in a game. You use your creativity to decide what to do inside a game. You can choose to walk left, run or fly. It is up to our creativity. Creators of the virtual world are also using their creativity in creating this environment.

I believe that virtual worlds will continue to be popular among people of all ages. It allows us to do so much and without virtual world's we will lose a source of entertainment and creativity. I think it will continue to grow and we will be able to do much more in the virtual world.

References:
Itzkoff, Dave. "I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life." 
                  The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Jan. 2008. 
                  Web. 19 Mar. 2015. 
                 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html>.                                    

"Virtual World May Impact Real World Behaviour." Health24. N.p., 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2015. <http://www.health24.com/Mental-Health/News/Virtual-world-may-impact-real-world-behaviour-20140210>.

Social Networking Sites

There are numerous social networking sites out there available for us and each site caters to different types of people. Below is a comparison of 4 social networking sites that most people use

Facebook
The first thing on Facebook, that catches one's attention is the news feed. As you scroll down the page, users are able to view all status updates, videos, and photos posted by their friends. Each Facebook User has their own profile page which displays their interest, education and pictures. In the upper middle section of the Facebook web page, is the section of us to update status, add photos, and even check in to certain locations. On the home page, there is also a list of recent applications that was used. To the side is a list of online contacts and we can Facebook message them through the chat boxes. All videos, photos, and status updates have a comment box underneath. Friends can comment on these updates and communicate with each other.

Twitter
Similar to Facebook, Twitter is all about updates. We can upload photos and status updates on Twitter, but it is limited to 140 characters. This makes Twitter unique because status are now shorter and straight to the point. This also means that we can tweet a lot more than we can post statuses. It seems more normal to tweet frequently on twitter than to frequently update our friends on Facebook. There is also a option to add a hash tag (#) to our tweets, which categorizes tweet. If we search #newyorkcity, we will see all tweets that are tagged with that hash tag or mentions it. Hash tags that are popular will be listed under trending topics, so users can see what people are talking about. Facebook actually has this trending topics function as well, but it is more frequently used on twitter.

Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging platform for users. Like Twitter, users also follow blogs and users will update with blog posts. Blog posts are usually photos with a caption underneath or just a photo. Users can then reblog a post that find interesting. This function is the same as twitter's retweeting function. If we don't want to post a photo or reblog something, we can write a blog post. Something interesting is that, we can add hash tags to our blog entries. I think that it is just like Twitter, but instead of short updates, we can write long blog entries.

Instagram
Instagram is a photo/ video sharing networking site that allows to upload pictures and videos and share it with our followers. Everyone has their own Instagram page, which consists of a profile picture, a short description about yourself, and a news feed of all their photos. After following people, the home page acts as the news feed for all the photos of the people that you follow. We can like and comment on pictures, as well as respond to comments. The simplicity of Instagram makes it easy to use and is attractive to photographers who wants to share beautiful moments and pictures with the world. Instagram seems to be a simplified verison of Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr because updates are simple and short. Also, the comments are equivalent to Facebook comments. Users also repost Instagram pictures just like how Twitter has retweet and Tumblr has reblog.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter is a social platform that works similar to posting Facebook updates. With a 140 character limit, users can post statues or updates and share this with their followers. Followers can then reply to these tweets and conversations will occur. These twitter discussions that occur between a user and their followers resembles discussions on blackboard and in classrooms.

Blackboard discussions involve the creation of a thread in a discussion forum. Students can then reply to a post in that thread. A thread is like the trending topics in twitter, comments and related information is all grouped together. Replying to a tweet would be the same as replying to a thread. In blackboard, students are allowed to view all the replies to a single post all in that thread. However, on twitter, it is hard to see other people's replies to someone's tweet. We would just see our reply and the person posting would receive notifications for all the replies. On blackboard, we can even reply to a reply of a post. On twitter, we can actually do the same if we are able to read the other replies to a post.

As for classroom discussions, students take turns voicing their opinions and either add comments or reply one another's responses. Twitter also works the same way. However, twitter replies are much shorter and brief. In the classroom, discussions will eventually die down and come to an end. However, twitter discussions can last much longer and is more ongoing.

Social Networking

In today's society, almost everything can be done online, including networking. Social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are sources of information and connections for a larger population. Many news sources are on Twitter and by following them, we are able to get up to date information. As for Facebook, users are able to post pictures and can update their status. This allows them to share bits and pieces of their lives. A friend across the country can access this information and Facebook is the source that connects people together. Businesses also have Facebook pages and they can post updates and interact with their customers through feedback. Based on the article, " Social Networking boosts Job Recruiting", Linkedin is a popular platform used by many professionals to connect with more professionals around the world. With your experience and information uploaded on the website, recruiters are able to search for individuals with potential to join their companies. In the article, Maureen Crawford-Hentz was able to recruit Alfred LaSpina into Osram Sylvania after she found his Linkedin account (2006 Langfitt). 

Although, such technology has lots of positive affects on society, there is also a negative side to it. According to the article, "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private", Facebook may not entirely be private. Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of facebook's founder, found that her pictures were in the hands of someone else. Facebook's privacy settings are very confusing and it is hard to fully understand and keep our accounts private (2012 Greenfield) This is the "dark side" of technology, information is open to the public that anyone is able to access it. This can also lead to incidents with celebrities. If their information is leaked out, everyone will know. 

As technology continues to grow and advance, the future of social networking are endless. I think that one day, there will be another Facebook. Today's social networking sites are already very good and I don't really think they can really grow anymore. They seem to have reached the peak of their success. But I do think that there will be new methods of networking that will allow us to do things that we can't today. 

References:

Greenfield, Rebecca. "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family 

                        Photo Isn't Private." The Wire. N.p., 26 Dec. 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.Langfitt, Frank. "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting." NPR. 

               NPR, 22 Nov. 2006. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.