Creativity and New Media

I decided to give the game Second Life a go. This game fosters creativity by allowing you to customize your character and identity however you like. You start off by choosing an initial avatar, and there is an option to be a vampire if you're not satisfied with just being a person. Once you're in the game you can further individualize yourself by changing your avatar, selecting different clothes to wear and modifying your facial features. Second Life allows its users to create any unique identity with hundreds of customization options.

Here is a screenshot of my avatar flying above the city.

Creativity

There is no doubt about it, new media not only fosters but encourages creativity. The amount of information available to us is virtually unlimited. Because of this, you never really know where your next inspiration will come from. This can be seen in the popularity explosion of parodies over the past several years. The article, "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?", talks about videos posted to YouTube in 2007 that include some of Disney's most loved characters and the song "Crank That" by Soulja Boy. The visuals of the Disney critters and the audio of the song edited together (known as a mash-up) gives the impression that the characters are rapping the song. As the rap song became a hit over the Summer, the videos became more viral. Another version of the video was made using clips from SpongeBob SquarePants, which has over one million views. Without YouTube and other new media, transformative works like these might never have been thought of, let alone published for others to enjoy.

1. Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why? The New York Times, September 24, 2007; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are simulations of real life experiences that take place through digital technologies. The ways in which virtual realities can be used are limitless. We can create environments that provoke learning. For example, The Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology discusses a scenario where fifth grade students engage in a role-playing simulation set during the Industrial Revolution. The students can interact with their avatar's family and co-workers, perform work at a textile mill, and decide how to spend the pay that they have earned based on their job. These kids get to experience life in a setting that no longer exists, rather than just reading about it in a textbook. Alternatively, we can also use these virtual worlds to digitally experience the very same world we are currently living in. As mentioned in the article, "I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life", Virtual Lower East Side is a website that provides users with an online version of a small segment of Manhattan.

One of the great benefits of virtual worlds is, as I have mentioned, that we can create new and better ways of learning. Students can live in past time periods, rather than reading about them; employees can train through simulations that mirror their actual encounters on the job. However, a great drawback to be considered here is the addiction factor. To some, virtual worlds will not only be an escape from reality but a second reality in itself. Similarly to video games, the pleasure of portraying characters that we normally cannot, is enough to make people spend more time on their virtual lives than their real ones.

Despite this, virtual technologies provide us with the opportunity to nurture our imaginations like never before. Just like Minecraft, which has captured the hearts of millions of kids. Both give us the freedom to build anything that we can think of. Specifically, in virtual worlds there are no norms or rules as to what should or shouldn't be, allowing room for creativity to flow freely.

1. Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations
http://mfile.narotama.ac.id/files/Jurnal/Jurnal%202012-2013/Situated%20learning%20in%20virtual%20worlds%20and%20immersive%20simulations.pdf

2. "I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, January 6, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html?_r=0

Social Networking Sites

Facebook is a social networking site that is meant to keep friends and family together. You can distinguish your Facebook friends by relationship in order to decide how much information you want to receive from them. One can upload their status to express how they are feeling at a given moment, upload a picture or video to share their experiences, or share links from other websites such as YouTube to express interest in a certain topic. All of these updates appear on your friends' news feed, unless you choose to not make it that available. Friends can connect by 'liking' or commenting on each other's updates. You can also message someone privately if you do not want others to see.

This course has provided me my first experience with Twitter, and the 140 character limit per tweet makes it very clear that there shall be no ranting (Very unlike Facebook). At the same time, the character limit does not take away from the meaningfulness of one's tweet, it's just more to the point. This, along with trending topics that are organized by hashtags, allows for Twitter to be your instant news update anytime. Discussions are formed by replying to, or re-tweeting someone else's tweet, with the option to add your own comment to their tweet. Photos, videos, links, gifs and even polls can be shared via Twitter.

Instagram is for the visual sharers. This social media platform is strictly limited to photo and video sharing. All it takes to post is opening the app, and tapping the Instagram logo. The app allows you to choose from a wide variety of filters, to customize and enhance the photo/video you're about to upload. Being that a picture is worth a thousand words, most users elect to only upload their very best moments, in an effort to paint the best possible picture of themselves. The profile page displays the number of posts, pages followed, followers and any personal information the user wishes to share. Many users place great value on the amount of followers that they maintain.

Snapchat is also a photo/video sharing app, but it is much more playful and has an interesting twist. Users can set a timer on their uploads or messages, so others have a limited time to view it. You can also draw on, caption, or put a tag on your photos to customize it just the way you want. The silliness is amplified by the wacky filters, some of which can only be activated by opening your mouth. Users have a snap story which contains all of their recent snaps, as well as chats with anyone whom they communicate with individually.

Social Networking

The phenomenon that is social networking has enormous potential to be both beneficial and harmful. Usage of these social networks provides us with oceans of information readily available at our fingertips. Maintaining contact with distant friends and family has never been easier, as geographical barriers have been broken down by these technologies. We can even observe the advantages of social networks manifesting in the workplace. According to the Freakonomics article by Stephen J. Dubner, companies, such as IBM, have created their own internal social network in order to increase utility and cohesiveness across teams.

On the other hand, social networks also provide hackers and other bad actors with more resources to commit their mischievous acts. We are publicizing more and more of our personal information these days, making us more vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. As mentioned in the BBB article, scammers can use your information on Facebook to gain access to your profile and potentially do harm.

I believe that social networking will only become more intertwined with our everyday lives. As we have already seen, this transition will compromise the amount of privacy that we keep.

1. Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum by Stephen J. Dubner. NYT Feb 15, 2008 http://freakonomics.com/2008/02/15/is-myspace-good-for-society-a-freakonomics-quorum/
2. BBB: New Wave of Phishing Scams Uses Facebook Info for Personalized Spam. January, 28, 2013 http://www.cinewsnow.com/news/local/BBB-new-wave-of-phishing-scams-uses-Facebook-info-for-personalized-spam-188696411.html

Blogs vs. Wiki

Blogs and wikis seem very similar on the surface. They both provide a platform for users to collaborate and share information. However, the two are very different from one another. Blogs are pages created by individuals that share their interests, hobbies and such. Fellow bloggers are free to comment on one's blog, but the creator of a blog reserves the right to regulate what is displayed on their pages. The blog in the NY Times article by James Dao chronicles the life of an Army specialist stationed at the front-line in Afghanistan. Blogs can be used collaboratively by companies looking to receive feedback on their products/services from consumers.

A wiki, on the other hand, is a collaborative work by a group of people and is meant to share information. The most significant distinction of  a wiki is that the content can be edited by anyone, and the changes are not tied to a single user, potentially compromising the integrity of the information. As mentioned in the article by Margaret Locher, wikis can be used in the workplace to efficiently organize information about new company projects.

1. "Pentagon Keeps Way Watch as Troops Blog" By James Dao, The NY Times, September 8, 2009. Available at: https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/lobj-wiki-bb_bb60/wiki/BAR01_CIS_3810_S1NT_1166_6W1/_24412808_1/Home?cmd=GetImage&systemId=Pentagon+Keeps__0.pdf

2. Wiki While You Work; The technology popularized by Wikipedia can help companies gather and manage their own collective knowledge. Here's how to get started by Margaret Locher. CIO, May 1, 2008. Vol. 21, Iss. 14. Available at: http://www.cio.com/article/2436789/time-management-productivity/more-on-how-to-build-your-own-wikipedia.html

Project Proposal

My paper for this term shall be entitled Trade-offs of Social Networking. I will be focusing my research on the intentional forfeiture of privacy in the social networking world. In my analysis, I will be weighing the benefits against the drawbacks of social networking, in relation to privacy. This analysis will be conducted through the examination of our more widely used social networks.