Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds have many functions in todays society that include functions of recreation but also functioning as real world duplicates or look-alikes. Virtual worlds are used a lot in gaming. One game that illustrates the creative aspect of virtual worlds for their users is MineCraft, a game that is basically virtual legos with more details. The article "Going to the virtual office in Second Life" by Mark Tutton, shows how virtual worlds can be used for everyday activities like meetings where a virtual setting is created and subjects who use it create their own personal avatars to resemble themselves. The article "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide" by Mike Musgrove further illustrates this point, reporting about a congressional subcommittee hearing about virtual worlds that was done in a virtual world. Virtual worlds are helpful because they are able to create a unique experience as well as create a realistic experience that can resemble real life. With these two pros, virtual worlds are helpful for recreation and for long distance communication in a dynamic, realistic environment. Creating the virtual worlds to begin with takes a lot of creativity. As long as there is a demand for the programming of virtual worlds, creativity will be fostered by the programmers and creators of virtual worlds. For gamers that use these virtual worlds, they are able to be creative within these worlds whether they are building things, talking to people, or creating ideas or art. As new technologies continue to develop in a society where internet communication is used more than ever, the ability to collaborate effectively using technology as a communication medium will most like become a crucial job skill in future job markets.

How does a Twitter discussion compare to a BlackBoard Discussion? To an in-class discussion?

To me, an in class discussion is the most useful discussion. Though Twitter emphasizes real-time interaction, nothing can compare to real life discussions which are more personal. In class discussions include real time conversation with classmates and teachers and do not eliminate things like body language, sarcasm, and other characteristics of in-person interactions that are lost in many social media site. Being able to speak your ideas rather than type them makes in-class discussions different because you cannot delete what you have said or take an extended period of time to revise and gather information.

Twitter discussions and Blackboard discussions are similar to me in many ways especially that they lack the characteristics of in-person communication, but they also have some contrast. Twitter discussions, in my opinion, are more updated and fast paced than a BlackBoard discussion. You are able to be notified when somebody posts a reply to something that you said unlike BlackBoard. One characteristic of BlackBoard that makes it so different than Twitter but makes it similar to in-class discussions is the reason why you are having that discussion. Twitter is full of people who are voluntarily voicing their opinion on a certain matter whereas most in-class and BlackBoard discussions are mandatory for getting a good grade. While you are not forced to talk in class and in BlackBoard, you will receive a worse grade. In our class however, Twitter assignments are graded, therefore giving us the incentive to participate in them.

Social Networking Sites

In my experience Facebook and Twitter, though similar can provide different resources that people sometimes use differently. For many of my peers, Facebook is used to make friends and maintain relationships. A lot of people who are geographically separated are able to utilize the Facebook Messenger tool to engage in real time conversation with old or new friends. Facebook also have games, music, and art pages, but for the majority of users that I know, it is used to communicate.

Twitter is similar in the sense that one can post something and view others posts in real time but I believe that long term communication with people is not as utilized. Twitter seems to also be centered around getting news stories and being updated with popular culture and world events. It seems that Twitter emphasizes a connectivity with the world and world events as opposed to Facebook which emphasizes personal relationships more.

The site snapchat is a social networking site that is centered around videos and what is called “stories”. Many of my peers use this site for daily updates on their lives using a video camera. A story is a video made by a user that documents a certain event or group of events in their day that usually last no longer than ten seconds. Because of this, users are forced to take quick videos to provide a concise idea of what happened to them that day or moment. In my opinion, this site is used by people who want to update their friends and peers on what has happened in the recent past or at the very moment and connectivity and news though present, isn’t as greatly emphasized.

Instagram is that last site I will mention. This site to me is similar to snapchat but instead of using videos, it mainly uses pictures. Many people also use this site for daily updates on their life events but do so by posting images more often. A user is able to provide a brief summary of the photo but the star medium of media seems to be picture within this site. Like snapchat, this site is used by people who want to update their friends and peers on what has happened in the recent past or at the very moment. Connectivity and news though present, isn’t as greatly emphasized like in Twitter.

Social Networking

Social Networking can be used by everyone from individuals looking to connect to others, to large corporations and businesses to promote their business and even find out what the individual consumer prefers. Individuals can play games, speak about hobbies and share common interest with others, review medical and health information, find and speak about work, and simply socialize with other individuals. These technologies aid in the increased inter-connectivity that we find between people in the modern age of technology which can help people with a common goal come together even if geography or distance separates them physically. If these groups are working towards a positive common goal, then the effect of social networking can be positive but if the common goal of the group of people is malicious, then the effect of social networking can be negative as it is bringing together individuals with harmful intent. Organizations like ISIS are doing exactly that to recruit new and mostly young members to their organization which is arguably malicious towards a large percentage of human kind. This would be an example of how there can be a "dark side" to social networking. In the article "BBB: New Wave of Phishing Scams Uses Facebook Info for Personalized Spam" social networking's "darkside" is again portrayed as it shows that scammers are able to use personal information from Facebook to gain access to your more personal information through malware and viruses by messaging Facebook users as their "friends". They use Facebook pages of individuals to see who is friends with who so that an email is sent that may be considered suspicious is considered normal because of the sender. The article "Facebook Privacy is So Confusing, Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private," shows how sites like Facebook often reveal private information for the whole world to see noting that a relative of the creator of this website's picture was released after she posted a picture of her family for her friends and family to see and this picture was posted to other social networking sites without her blatant consent. To me, this shows that the future of social networking may be social networking with more privacy as more and more scandals like this continue to arise.

Blogs V Wiki

       There are many different media outlets in our present age that provide a network of communication with individuals from around the world. Blogs and Wikis are both useful types of websites for those who want to upload or add some sort of information, whether it is through text, audio recording, and even visual recordings and pictures. When you mention the words 'blog' and 'wiki' you are referring to sites that allow users to post this textual, visual, and audio information and connect with other users. There are, however, a few differences. A blog usually has a single author while wikis are able to be updated by multiple authors. Pages in wikis are thus pages that are able to be edited unlike blogs which are  chronological postings, entries, and comments. Blogs are able to document events as shown in the article "Pentagon Keeps Weary Watch as Troops Blog"by James Dao explains that a anonymous soldier was able to document some of the intense events that occurred in Afghanistan during the soldier's campaign. This shows how events that are happening overseas can be accessed by the rest of the world as long as you have an internet connect and a suitable device to connect and access the internet.
         The importance of convergence in today's networked world is exemplified through the article, "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid' by Michael Wilson because it shows how users of the blog site BayRidgeTalk.com, were able to exchange information about drug dealers in the neighborhood and how this collaborative information led to the incarceration of drug drealers there. This same type of collaborative effort could be used to take down even more malicious criminals.
        Both of these articles show how people can collaborate with media outlets like blogs and wikis to gain information. The concern is if people will use it for good or for bad.

Social Networking: Better or worse than the real thing?

My topic of choice was "Social Networking: Better or worse than the real thing?" As you may have already read, this is my first blog. When it comes to social media and social networking, I am generally against it. I like to keep my life private from the outside world. Despite my personal beliefs, I know that social media can be important in today's world when it comes to educating the masses or creating awareness on a global or national scale. I do think that relationships should have a personal, real-life element and that without that element, important information such as body language is lost. Because I am generally cynical when it comes to the use of social media, I think that I will provide an interesting perspective on how it could be worse, though I will make sure to investigate how social networking can be better as well.

CIS 3810 Classmates

Welcome Students and Professor Weisel to my first ever blog. I am looking forward to communicating ideas through this novel (to me) method and learning about new media.