Creativity and New Media

New media fosters creativity. It allows us the ability to do things that we can’t do in real life. With this assignment, I decided to use Second Life to create an avatar of me. A direct representation of how I would look like in real life. But then as I was creating this avatar, I realized that I could be or an animal or even a vampire or a zombie. So I decided to create two addition avatars to get a full picture of what this new media platform can offer. I even made one of the avatars female. In the first snapshot, it is a direct representation of how I would look in real life. (Minus the vest and obviously not floating in the air.) I had a little fun and took a snapshot of my avatar flying which is something you can’t do in real life. With the second snapshot, I decided to create a werewolf. I was a little frustrated because the application would not allow me to wear clothing or else it would like messed up. Finally, I created a female zombie.

Creativity

New media fosters creativity because the roles of the producer and consumer has changed. Before the internet world the producer was responsible for coming up with new ideas and innovations. The consumer just sat back and waited for the goods and services. But ever since the establishment of the internet and new media the consumers have the capabilities to voice themselves and create as well. This ultimately makes the consumers become producers in an amateur sense. Because of the influx of amateur producers, it forces the professionals to think even harder so they can create better products. For example, YouTube is saturated with amateur video makers as well as professional video makers. This saturation causes all video/content creators to become more creative so they can get more views. All in all, new media has enabled the consumers in old media to become producers using new media. This leads to more competition and brains which fosters creativity. But this isn’t the only reason why new media fosters creativity. Claire Cain Miller, a writer for the New York Times, states “The company watches how people use the service and which ideas catch on.” By looking at how users use the products companies can now see what the consumer likes and what changes they want as well. This makes it easier for new media companies to foster creativity because they act upon consumer’s requests.

Miller, Claire Cain. Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers. The New York Times, October 26, 2009.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are models of the real world. They can be used in many ways and in any industry thinkable because virtual worlds mimic the real world. For example, in Avatar II: The Hospital, Simon writes about a virtual simulation of a chaotic situation that can happen in a hospital. Nurses can play on this simulation for practice so when a situation like this one does pop up they can be prepared. In another example, the virtual world is used for meetings because it is less costly and still has the same security as a real life one. The virtual world is not just a game. It is beneficial in many ways. It provides training programs for the military, medical procedures for doctors, psychology therapy, training astronauts and many more. The virtual world can do all this because it mimics the real world. However, there are some negatives to the virtual world such as lag time and it overlooks basic laws of physics. In Going to the virtual office in Second Life, Tutton states, “one problem is that virtual teams may not share national and organizational cultures, and that virtual workers should make a conscious effort to see things from their colleagues' point of view.” Virtual worlds foster creativity because there is no risk to whatever you try. You can try something out in the virtual world and if it works you can bring it back to the real world. I think more and more companies will be using virtual worlds to do the tasks that take travelling, time, and money because via the virtual worlds it is free.

Simon, Stephanie. Avatar II: The Hospital. The Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2010

Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life. CNN.com. Nov 5, 2009 

Blog about Twitter

A twitter discussion is very different from a Blackboard discussion or even an in-class discussion. Twitter discussions are much more informal and in a way restricting because you are only limited to 140 characters. You need to find a way to express all your thoughts within those limits so often you might use short hand or slang to cut down on your post. You can retweet something you agree with instead of writing your own post about a similar subject matter or you can comment on someone’s post. Lastly Twitter discussions can be seen by the public or your friends depending on how you set up your account. A Blackboard discussion is more formal. Like Twitter it is done online through the internet. However, Blackboard discussions do not limit you on how much you can write. You also can comment on your peer’s post. Unlike Twitter posts, Blackboard posts are only seen by those who are in your class. In-class discussions are very different. Unlike Twitter and Blackboard discussions, in-class discussions are done in class. You must be physically present and participate to be a part of an in-class discussion. In-class discussions are not done through the internet and you can’t post comments. Instead you just speak out your thoughts. 

Blog: Social networking sites

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are all social networking platforms but are all very different from each other. On YouTube, there are a multitude of videos you can choose from once you go on the website. The videos are put into different categories. When you choose a video, it brings you onto a different page. On that page the video plays and while the video plays there is a long list of videos next to the video playing. Usually these videos are recommendations or videos that are like the one you are watching now. Instagram is very different from YouTube. There are videos on Instagram but Instagram is predominantly pictures. When you go onto Instagram you will only see pictures posted by the people you follow. But there is also a link to see what your followers liked and you can explore trendy pictures as well. Twitter is very different from YouTube and Instagram. There are no pictures or videos. Instead when you get on Twitter you will see posts that your followers have posted or retweeted. Facebook is like a combination of YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. You can post videos, pictures, and share posts. Facebook is very complex because you can join groups and play games. On the right-hand side, there is also a section for trendy news articles. Although these social networking platforms are very different from each other they all share the ability to comment on each other’s posts whether it’s a video, picture or a post. They all also can share something you see to anyone you want to and they have very similar privacy features. 

Blog Social networking

Social networking has made it easy for us to connect with friends, family and even strangers. Through social media we can share things about our life and things we see that we find fascinating. We even have the control of who we want to share this information with. Because social networking makes it easier for us to connect with others there are many ways to use this technology. According to Frank Langfitt, recruiters are using social networks to find ideal job candidates and it is easier than the traditional way. Shally Steckerl said, “I have a thousand contacts that could potentially lead me to 100,000, now I have 8,500 contacts that could potentially lead me to 4.5 million." Social networking enabled him to find more people for the job with less contacts. However, with all the benefits that social networking can bring there are always downsides to the technology. Google and Facebook were not always considered to be competitors but after Facebook signed a partnership with Microsoft it became clear that they were competing to get online ads. Google uses algorithms to define our searches while Facebook collects our personal data and uses it to give us a more personalized search result. Because these two companies are in such a fierce battle to get ad deals and collect data on us Google and Facebook may not always putting us the consumers in their best interests. A practice Web 2.0 evangelists said in Fred Vogelsteins’ article, “that the company values its proprietary data more than its users' experience.” This is a huge problem because we might not be safe with all our information on Googles and Facebooks servers. There must be a reason they are competing for our data. I believe there will be many more forms of social networking that will allow us to share even more facets of our lives.   

Citations:

Frank Langfitt. Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting. NPR, March 16, 2008.

Fred Vogelstein. Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out", Wired, July 2009