Creativity and New Media

I decided to create an online bar using one of the Japanese virtual worlds called "My Bar". It is specialized for creating and operating virtual bars. I designed the interior of bar like furniture, wallpaper and ornament, and created a own menu and the uniform of employees.

Creativity

New media has a great influence on our lives and can foster creativity as well. New media such as virtual world, social networking, blogs and mobile technology makes us more creative and innovative. By virtual world, we can create the designs or models of characters structures and services. It is important for creators, and it encourages us to be more creative. It is because we can actually form our idea into something visible. Blogs and social networking cites can be the great places where we can share our ideas with a large number of people by publishing them and receiving feedback. In the article, “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?,” the author explains that some people have created and posted creative videos on YouTube, using copyrighted contents, and  they have watched by many users. Some media firms do not even consider them as copyright infringement. This is one of the examples that how people can be creative by new media.

Virtual World

Virtual world is an online community in the form of an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple online users. These are various types of digital worlds, but there are common features; sharing space, socialization and interactivity etc. Virtual worlds are usually used for commercial gaming, socializing gaming, Education and Training. For example, the U.S military and IBM are using virtual worlds for soldier and employee training. Digital world can be usable for many organizations and companies. In business field, simulations allow their users, employees to experience and practice their tasks without actually doing and risk involved, and more organizations nowadays have used virtual worlds as meeting places. According to the Article, Going to the virtual office in Second Life, “more than 1,400 organizations… use Second Life to hold meetings and conduct training.” This can be also a good opportunity for students to practice business principles in digital worlds. They can make some products and sell them in virtual market to obtain business experiences. Virtual world can be also used for education like virtual college. One of the disadvantages of online education is that there are no in-class and campus experiences. However, digital worlds allow students to c­­omplete their education and have campus experience through virtual classrooms without leaving home or office. In addition, Virtual worlds can help to foster social skills as well. In the Article, iReport: Naughty Auties Battle Autism with Virtual Interaction, the authors states that “for people who have social, emotional, communicational problems… we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life.” 

However, virtual world can bring some disadvantages as well. One of the negatives is that some people spend more and more time in the virtual worlds than real world, and then they may have difficulty to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Some people become confused what they can do in real and virtual worlds. Some psychologists caution for people who depend on too much on digital worlds because it may cause aggressive behaviors leading them to commit illegal activities. 

In the future, I think we will be able to do more things and feel more “reality” in the virtual worlds as computer technologies develop. In other words, there will be almost no difference between real and digital worlds since everything we experience is about electrical activity in our brain. If we invent technologies to provide these electrical signals to our brains, we will able to have “actual life” in virtual world like the movie, The Matrix.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter is a great tool which helps us to share our perspectives and information. Twitter discussion can have the immediate response than Blackboard and In-class discussion. Many users post comments on Twitter by their smart phones so we can have discussion anywhere and anytime. However, we can have only short discussion on Twitter because we are allowed to comment limited to 140 characters.  On the other hand, Blackboard is used to communicate by professors and students. Students can ask any question regarding the class and professors or other students can comment anytime. Because it has no character limitation, professors can explain full details like providing full homework solutions to students. In-class discussion can be more efficient than the discussion in Twitter or Blackboard. By having face-to-face communication, we can have more understanding other perspectives, and we can have reactions immediately. However, we have time limitation to discuss the topic so we often do not have enough time to share everyone's opinions.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook: This is my favoritate social networking site. It is very easy to use the site for everyone since Facebook provides the same organized page. Because of the well-organized pages, I do not have to spend so much time on keeping in touch with my friends; checking friends' updated posts and pictures or new messages. I also like the grouping feature of this site. Last semester, I had a group work with my classmates and prepared for an essay and a presentation for the class by Facebook group. We updated everything related to the group work like the meeting schedule and divided tasks. Even though everyone in my group had different schedules, we were able to have enough communications to prepare for the assignment by the feature. 

MySpace: This site used to be very popular until few years ago. It allows its users to customize their sites depends on their reasons or purposes. It is especially usable for those who are creative people like artists. In fact, my many musician friends are still using the website to put their music sample or announcements. Every site can be unique and creative, but it also makes us difficult to check or follow them. 

Twitter: This site is known as "micro-blogging. I had never used this site before. My first impression was that the layout of Twitter is very simple. Twitter also have photo and video features, but I think facebook is more usable for these features. 

Linkedin: This site provides more professional networks than other social networking sites. I can update my professional career and resume so I can have more job opportunities. I also like the company status updates feature, and I can learn more about the companies that I follow.  For example, the feature lets us know the latest products and services, employee moves and relevant hob opportunities.

Social Networking

Social networking is the conduct which expanding social or business contacts by having connections among individuals. Even though social networking is possible in person, in the workplace and schools, it is most popular online. Especially, websites are commonly used for social networking. These social sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Cyworld, have attracted millions of people since these have introduced. Many users utilize them daily and enjoy the great convenience. Many of online members are able to share common interests in anything as long as they have internet connections to access to social sites. Social networking technology is not used only for sharing common interests but also for business field. According to the article, “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting,” recruiters have started using social networking technology as a new tool of hunting for job applicants. Users update the profiles with their work experiences and specialized skills on these social sites, so they can have more opportunities to find a job or better job. In addition, recruiters are able to find the most suitable person for a particular position. Therefore, social networking sites are beneficial for professional recruiters, employers and job applicants. Although online social networking is commonly used and useful for many people, it also has negative sides. These sites increase the possibility of online data theft and viruses. Nowadays, more people are aware that using private setting is important to protect their personal information. According to the article, “Who Cares about Facebook Privacy? Students Do,” it states that most Facebook users modify their privacy setting. However, we still need to teach young people understanding what kind of information to be private to have online safe social networking. Currently, there are many kinds of social networking sites in the world but I believe that most of social websites will be connected in the future so they will be more useful.