Creativity and New Media

On top is a picture I took inside a MMORPG I play casually called "The Secret World". The whole premise of the game is that it takes place in the modern day, except suddenly all of the myths and conspiracy theories you thought were just stories actually come true and the world is in total havoc. You create a character and align them with one of the three factions (The Illuminati, The Templar, and The Dragon) who actually have control, power, and experience dealing with the esoteric, and then you work for them to try and stop the world from ending.

I made a character called Francis Tybalt, but you give them a code name that everyone refers to you which I named "StormMaven" (It has to be all one word). You choose the abilities the character actually has and then you just go along with the story.

I personally bought that clothes that he's wearing since the characters you make don't start like this (with in-game currency, not real money. Although if you think shopping in the real world is overwhelming, you should see the virtual one...) and aligned him with The Illuminati since I feel they have better writing in the game than the other two factions.

Here's an example video of what their story is about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNt7mEfFynA

And here's the launch trailer of the game, all created using in-game environments and character models, not CGI like most other trailers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MXgWLg9fVI

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

It's amazing that technology and virtual space itself has advanced to the point where now whole worlds can be created, and therefore whole lives could be lead in what is just a reality made up of "1"s and "0"s. It's actually really baffling to me. As a long time online video gamer I've had ample experience with virtual worlds of many different kinds, so I guess my viewpoint is kind of biased when I say that I love them.

Virtual worlds can be used for a variety of things such as creating stuff online such as with second life where people lead whole careers by creating different things for the game such as theme parks or costumes since real people will shell out real money just to obtain a virtual creation. Virtual Worlds can be just about having fun, as well with MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games). In these types of games you team up with friends or even perfect strangers to defeat difficult monsters and earn rewards like armor or prestige among people on the server. It's all about achievements and conquering in games like those.

Virtual worlds have also helped to foster a ton of new creative outlets. A good example of this is the company known as "Machinima". They provide people with the tools and legal support needed to use copywritten game character models and soundtracks to make their own videos with on YouTube. Many people have created comedy short clips using World of Warcraft characters or even used it to facilitate stronger story telling and created movies of their own stories with tools and support like this. And they also make money with it, too!

What I would say a virtual world does best, however, is facilitating communication. I can hold a conversation with three different people, from three different parts of the world, with three different accents, simultaneously in just one space. Sometimes you don't even have to speak the same language as games like Final Fantasy 11 and 14 have integrated translate features into their games to facilitate team play between Japanese and English audiences. (You're really restricted to just the bare minimum of words and phrases, but even that alone makes up a several hundred word library. It's kind of amazing.)

However because the virtual world is so amazing many people end up shirking their responsibilities in real life in favor of the virtual one. There are countless stories and running jokes of "losers" with carpal tunnel who do nothing but get fat playing games online and making their characters more "epic". I even knew a guy who quit his job in real life so that he could work harder at making events and getting to know more people online. That was probably the most extreme example that I've ever personally come across, especially considering he wasn't looking to make money off of what he was doing (Which he could if he wanted to). It was baffling.

The future of the virtual world is only going to blur the line between itself and reality further, in my opinion. With the implementation of virtual reality glasses and graphics only coming closer and closer to emulating what the real world is like, maybe one day the term 'virtual world' will have a much more concrete existence than it does now.

Works Cited

At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide: Forget C-SPAN: Congress Goes Interactive. Washington Post, Wednesday, April 2, 2008; Page D03. available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/01/ST2008040103032.html

"I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, January 6, 2008, available athttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html*

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Pinterest. I almost feel like singing that kids song, "One of these things is not like the other...!" given how different Pinterest is in comparison to the other three, but they all seem to stand out pretty well on their own. Since we're only asked to give our impressions, I'll start with MySpace, since it's my least favorite.

I'll be honest. The fact that MySpace is still alive and kicking is impressive to me. After the "war" it got into with Facebook and it's complete defeat I would have thought MySpace would have rolled over and died, but apparently I was wrong. The site looks very different from the days when it was competing with Facebook still, and if I almost didn't know any better I would say it's a pretty solid site with a good chance at establishing a name for itself. The problem with MySpace is no longer it's layout or appearance, it's the reputation. The finicky part about Social Media is that you have to be relevant in order for you to mean anything. Since Facebook established itself as better than MySpace within the social media sphere MySpace will probably never make a comeback unless something really shocking and unforeseen happens with Facebook. It's nice that it still gets some traffic and has activity going on with it, though.

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. I'm not a person who fully understands the point of Twitter, but I do see the allure of it. Short messages, constant updates, lots of news from only people you care about. It seems like a hyperactive thriving community that never sleeps. Every minute of every hour there's an update about something, which only gets worse the more people you follow. I apparently came in late to the game with Twitter, though, as many people are proclaiming it is dying due to companies using it as a platform to espouse their news and latest deals, perverting it from what it once was. Maybe that's part of what influences my outlook on Twitter and how it doesn't seem to have much of a point to me. It is a very pretty looking site, though, and has become one of my primary places to go to when I want the latest news on video games that I follow.

Pinterest I used very little of, but it is a sight much like Instagram in that it is ruled by images. I think what really strikes at the heart of Pinterest users is the ability to "collect" images on folders called "boards" where you "pin" them up and almost keep a collection for yourself of whatever theme your heart desires. Maybe you use it to get ideas for a new halloween costume, or you could be a cooking enthusiast looking for new delicious recipes. Whatever the case, the picture makes the post on Pinterest. I'm not much of a collector so Pinterest doesn't really appeal to me. Maybe if I was more of a designer or a cook it would pose more useful, though. Who can really say?

Facebook was once the social media king, and while it still holds a spot as one of the sites you -must- be on in order to establish an internet presence it is facing strong competition with other sites like Twitter and Instagram. It's an incredibly complex site that thrives on trying to look simple and keeps people in touch with family and friends through status updates. It also gets a bad rep from its own community because Facebook likes to see what's working for other social media platforms and adopts it for itself. A good example of this is the new "trending" graph that shows up on your news feed which used to belong to just Twitter. Facebook is already being labeled by the newer generation as a site for older people, though, which is a shock to me considering that I'm a person who primarily uses Facebook and I'm just 23 years old. However my younger brother and his friends and people younger than him, too, are all about other sites like Pinterest  Instagram, and Twitter. I wonder if those sites will be considered old news once he gets to my age.

Technology sure moves fast...

Social Networking

Social networking is such an incredibly hot topic these days. Everyone wants to be everywhere, all at once, always to reach as many people as possible. In fact, companies and even individuals are privately hiring other people to manage their social media networks for them just so that they don't look like they're behind. In the office I work in alone there's a good majority of people who have Facebook pages and Linkedin profiles that they don't even know how to log into, but don't care because they hired someone else to take care of it for them. It's pretty astounding.

The benefits are many, which is why so many people are constantly trying to learn more about it. With proper social networking utilization companies and even individual people can reach out to anyone else across the globe within seconds about anything they want. It could be anything from important events and news to what you ate for breakfast this morning. It also gives ample power to the individuals through websites like Yelp and Amazon where you can give products ratings and comments and inform others on where you should or should not be spending your money. A super fluffy and successful advertising campaign for a new pair of shoes, for example, could be totally torn down and lead to the creator's demise if people start commenting on how horrible they are or their own poor experiences with the shoes. Never before has the customer had so much influence over a company/product. Since reaching out to anyone in the world is so easy now social networking has also allowed for many people to start their own businesses and it also enables businesses to flourish that previously would never have even be opened. Amazon would not be what it is today were it not for it giving the consumers the ability to rate and comment on products, a simple ability that lead it to be the top online re-seller ever.

The dark side of social networking deals with privacy, which has gone from a well understood subject to a confusing grey line. There are horror stories of nasty breakups made public online, compromising photos and videos of people uploaded onto YouTube and Facebook that completely ruin a person's reputation, poorly handled company profiles that get hacked and completely defacing them done by bored people on the internet... Social Networking has given many people access to other people, and not all of that access is good. There's even tons of money to be made now that companies can collect information about you from the various sites you use and utilize it to sell you products that you might not even want. If you're trying to look for the negatives of social networking to counter the positives, you wouldn't be hard pressed to do so.

Despite that I can only see social networking becoming more integrated and involved with our lives as time goes on. I can easily see something like Facebook implementing technology like augmented reality to enhance the talking experience you have with a friend or family member (Something that is totally possible seeing as how Facebook bought the company that was working on virtual reality goggles). Soon resumes won't be paper submitted anymore and part of your bio on the net. It's a great time to be alive because you get to see how fast things change in just a short amount of time.

Readings Cited:
1.) Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private,” The Atlantic Wire, Greenfield, R. December 26, 2012 http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/

2.) Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, NPR, March 16, 2008. available fromhttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

Blogs Vs. Wikis

Blogs and wikis, explained simply, can almost be described to be similar things, but they serve different purposes. The way in which Blogs and Wikis are interacted with by the users are very much alike in the fact that they are both text based types of sites, they have a user who edits and adds pages and texts, and they are available for an audience of people to look and use the information. That's about where the similarities end, though.

Wikis are much more about collaboration with a set group of people towards an end goal, or a means. It is very unified and created to serve a purpose and access is generally only given to people who are considered part of a team or serve the general purpose of the Wiki. A blog is (usually) only written and maintained by a single person and the audience it is given to is essentially the entire internet. Anyone and everyone can stumble upon a blog and start reading. Blogs don't necessarily have to have a purpose, either. Many people just ramble or use it as a type of journal. Other people actually make their lively-hood off of blogs and generate passive income through programs like Google AdSense or Affiliate Marketing.

That's probably the one area in which Wikis have not been really used for, which is generating income. Every so often the people who own and run Wikipedia actually put up a message asking for donations to help keep Wikipedia running since it is not funded by any particular corporation and does not generate income on its own. If Wikipedia could work like a blog could and make money through ads and back linking and such, it would be able so sustain itself but it would also become a VERY different website. Being sponsored by corporations could lead the information available on Wikipedia to be affected in a way that is skewed in favor to the companies that fund them, which would then lead to the info on Wikipedia being much more unreliable than it is now. Probably one that people would not feel compelled to use, really. So it is most likely best that Wikipedia remain reliant on the donations of generous people.

Works Cited:

1.) Wikis at work: Up from the grassroots by Rob Edmonds E.learning Age; Oct 2006; p. 14

2.) "What motivates WIKIPEDIANS?" by Oded Nov, Communications of the ACM; Nov2007, Vol. 50 Issue 11, p60-64. 

The Impact New Media Has Had on Education

The research topic I have chosen for my project is to research the impact that forms of New Media have had on Education. I plan to look through ways Education has changed due to the influence of New Media, whether it is a drastic change or a minor change, and also whether the change has benefited or hindered society as  a whole. Much of my research will focus on online forms of education that are not directly linked with particular schools seeing as I do not have the authority to interview schools that may currently be using new media in their own curriculum.