Creativity and New Media

For this project, I used a website, Wordle, which creates word clouds from any text or web link you would like. You are able to play around with the layout, the fonts, and the colors used in the word cloud. The site allows you to save your work onto an online gallery to share with friends, family, and the world. I created a word cloud using the link to my blog, so the subject of my Wordle is new media and it incorporates many words that I've blogged about into a picture.

Creativity

New Media promotes creativity in many unique ways. There are so many different ways for people to express themselves via new media. A second life avatar can represent a person designing a new image for themselves. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, people design worlds and islands in Second Life that are extremely creative. It is an art of its own. We all have great ideas everyday - new media provides us with a method expressing these ideas. Take the jk wedding dance, Jill and Kevin had a creative idea for a wedding march. Through the use of YouTube they were able to share their wedding dance with the world.

Mashups, are another way people use new media for creative ideas. People remix videos and songs all the time. The article "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?" discusses how many companies will not consider mashups a copyright infringement. In fact many companies, such as Nickelodeon, find these mash videos entertaining and amusing.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are social media sites such as Second Life that create a simulated world for the user. In many ways these virtual sites are very much 'real.' Users can create avatars and buy/sell products. People can go to the gym, buy real estate and build developments, in short, it is a life that takes place inside a computer. The article "No Budget, No Boundaries: It's the Real You" discusses how there are businesses that make profits selling products in virtual worlds. Stiletto Moody, is a shoe company that designs and sells shoes in the virtual world Second Life. Virtual worlds can be used to promote businesses and create new jobs in the economy. Additionally, Second Life can be used in business training. Businesses can create a simulated scenario in which employees need to resolve a problem. The article "Avatar II: The Hospital" discusses how hospitals can use Second Life to create simulated scenarios to train medical staff on how to treat patients.

Second Life and other virtual worlds do have some cons. People use Second Life as a place to escape the real world. They may not be happy with all scenarios in their lives so they use Second Life as a place to express themselves and develop into what they wish they were. It fosters an environment for people to escape their troubles instead of confronting them.

Something fascinating about Second Life that I wanted to add is that it does promote creativity. People create worlds or scenes in second life that can be very extraterrestrial. A photography professor of mine, Joel Lederer, felt that these environments needed to be documented. He embarked on a project in which he "photographed" (through screen shots) different views of this world in Second Life from different angles. It really showed the creativity of people and how they used Second Life to create fascinating worlds. (His project is titled "The Metaverse is Beautiful")

Blog About Twitter

Twitter is a great way for people to have a discussions. People can discuss opinions, thoughts or experiences and others can reply to the tweets. One way the discussions are kept short is the limit of 140 characters per tweet. Though it is short, it helps drive the point quickly and simply.

When compared to a Blackboard or an in-class discussion Twitter is much different. An in-class discussion is limited by time and people in the classroom. An online discussion can continue "forever." People can check in and provide comments anytime from 5 minutes later, to a week later, or even months later. Additionally, the number of people that can participate in a conversation are limitless. A blackboard discussion, although it is online is not very convient. The site is not very user friendly and in order to comment or reply you need to log into blackboard, check the discussions, and reply in blackboard. Twitter is more universal and mobile. It is more convient and user friendly.

Social Networking Sites

In todays world, social networking sites are very important as they play a large role in communication. Each site is used in different ways to provide the users with different methods of communication for a variety of function. The top 4 social networking sites used today are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Myspace.

Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site used today worldwide. With over 750 million users, Facebook is the most visited website in the world. Facebook is used in a variety of ways. The main concept is for people to connect and keep in touch with friends, share pictures, videos, or websites, and to share status updates. Facebook is a useful tool to learn more about someone. It has become a central location for almost everything people need from IM's to video chats to reading the news. Additionally, businesses have begun to use Facebook to reach customers. Customers can search for information about products and read and provide feedback about a company's products. Facebook has become a vital tool in todays world.

Twitter is also used to share videos and pictures, however, the main function of Twitter is for people to share status updates with people instantaneously. However, the functions of Twitter expand way past people tweeting "just took a shower." People tweet their opinions regarding events and share important information with their friends. Organizations use it to send updates to clients and customers to provide them with the most instantaneous news. Twitter helps news travel faster than ever in todays world.

LinkedIn's main function is to create an environment for the business world to network, maintain connections, and keep your contacts updated regarding your professional life. A LinkedIn profile, opposed to a Facebook profile, is business oriented. It is very similar to ones resume. You can list all organizations you have worked at, your experiences there, your education, and special skills. Additionally, people use the groups function on LinkedIn to help connect with other people and help find new business opportunities. LinkedIn has revolutionized the business world in many ways.

Myspace was created as a social networking site for people to find friends, contact them, and share media with each other. With the rise of Facebook there has been a decline in the number of Myspace users as they are similar in many ways and Facebook provides so many more features.

Today's world revolves around social networking sites. I think the next step from here is for all these advantageous sites to somehow be integrated into one 'megasite' that provides all the various functions in one convenient location.

Social Networking

Social networking has become a wave of the future. As people are using new media it has become increasingly common for people to use social networking as a way to connect and meet people. Today, close to 1 billion people worldwide use Facebook and/or some other forms of social media. Over 15% of the world's population (including people in 3rd world countries) use Facebook. These technologies have presented us with many advantages and disadvantages. People have become Facebook addicts. There is an obsession people have that they are on Facebook all day long. I've reactivated an old Facebook account a few weeks ago. With in 20 minutes of my account being activated I had 4 friend invites from people, and another 100 over the next 24 hours. Additionally, social networking sites have led to cyberbullying and suicides.

However, there are some positive aspects to social networking. In the article "Social Media Technology Boosts Job Recruitment," Frank Langfitt discusses how Facebook, Myspace, and Linkedin have helped recruiters scan applicants for jobs. Recruiters rave how social media is the best thing that has happened to assist them in recruiting. Additionally, the article "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power" discusses how Obama used social networking in the 2008 elections to reach out to people and push his campaign.

The future of the world lies in social networking. Although there are many negative aspects to it, the positive aspects heavily outweigh it. Additionally. with the number of people using social networking, not using it makes it very difficult to succeed in the business world. The future lies with information at the finger tips of people. Sites such as Facebook allows news feeds, messaging, chatting, video calling and more to people all over the world. It will continue to act as a central point for people to connect and access their information.