Creativity and New Media

(Link) My Brother's Graduation Video

So for this assignment, I wanted to show the class one of the first thing's I've ever created over the internet. To give a little background story, my brother graduated about a year and a half ago and both he and I brought a camera to document the entire thing. It may not have been a big deal, but we were the first generation to graduate college in America, so everyone in our family was excited for us. We were going to just keep these stashed file along with all the photos, but I decided to make a video out our footage (mainly his) so the rest of our friends and family can enjoy it.

My brother went backpacking Asia the day after, so I decided to surprise him while he was there. It took me about 8 hours total to get a nice flow going on and work on all the transitions. It came out much better than I thought it would, and although it was time consuming, it was definitely worth it!

     *It can get corny at times. Especially the music. 

Creativity

Am I a creative person? I would like to think so! What I enjoy most about certain hobbies, work, and even class projects is the opportunity to be creative. It allows a person to put life into their thoughts and imagination. Music and art are perfect examples of what I'm talking about. With a talent in an instrument or with a brush or pencil, you have the ability to breathe life into your creations, especially if you're extremely creative. However, these examples don't apply to everyone. As depressing as it sounds, I do not have the specific skills to play an instrument or draw for that matter. What does foster a certain form of creativity for anyone to enjoy is today's new media. It allows people to voice their opinions and tastes, and also gives them the freedom to customize anything! Take music again for example. Although not everyone has the ability to write their own music, they can edit and remix a track with the right ears and creativity. In the article "1+1+1=1: The New Math of Mashups",  Sasha Frere-Jones depicts creativity being practiced though a mashup of different songs and music. Using digital software, people are now able to take excerpts of numerous songs and “mashup” them to create a new song. It's gained so much popularity that even mashups and remixes of a number of tracks have given people a name in the music industry. In this example, creativity is definitely growing in this form of new media.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

     To be honest, a virtual world sounds a bit intriguing, yet there is a feeling of concern over the overall concept for me. A virtual world allows users to get away from their current life to experience a whole new lifetime with more opportunities, and basically, more acceptance of everyone. It’s something that I’m not familiar with at all, yet the overall model does share some similarities with video games that I’ve played in the past. I admit to enjoying MMORPG’s, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, which are video games centered around numerous concepts of fantasy and magic. They allow you to live vicariously through a character in a completely different setting, where the world is open to one’s imagination.

     Anyway, moving back to virtual worlds, there are some that allows users to experience a world other than this, and there are some that are a complete replica of the world we live in today. A ton of pros and cons go with the concept of a virtual world. Obviously, the reason why people actively participate in virtual worlds like “Second Life” is to live and experience another life that deviates from perhaps a repetitive, boring, and unsatisfied life they experience now. There are many things that we as people will not be able to do in one lifetime, and without real resources (money & time) limiting out opportunities in virtual worlds, players are able to do so without worrying about opportunity costs and trade-offs. In second life, as stated from the NY Times article “No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You”, users can teleport to private islands and splurge on luxury brands that are the cyber equivalent of Prada waders or a Rolex watch.” Now one of cons of living in a virtual world is how addicting it is to live a life that isn’t yours. No matter how bad your life is in the real world, you will always be treated better in the virtual world, where you have money, friends, and time. It creates a positive sensation that pulls users to customizing and spending more time on the virtual avatar – sometimes to the point that they’re in the virtual world longer than they are in the real world.

     But that’s not to say that virtual worlds are a threat to people of course. With the right technology and concepts revolving around virtual worlds, there could be huge benefits to not only entertainment, but also businesses. For example, virtual worlds would be extremely helpful for business conferences and meetings. A problem with this, as stated by Surinder Kahai, a professor from Binghamton University 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.” Another point is, that virtual teams can’t take advantage of the kind of impromptu “water cooler” conversations that occur in a real workplace, where colleagues can share information they may have forgotten to communicate in meetings. The lack of human contact may lead to serious feelings of isolation. All in all, virtual worlds can be extremely helpful for business efficiency, but human interaction is something that is needed amongst our race and human life. I can’t wait to see what other innovations come out of virtual worlds – maybe one where our minds can directly go into one!

Blog About Twitter

To me, having a debate or a discussion requires retort and a long, detailed explanation. This is the first time I've ever heard of a discussion on Twitter, but I think it's safe to say that it is the most inefficient mode of communication when arguing a point. What hinders Twitter from having any active and constructive discussions is the fact that you are limited on the amount of characters you can write per post. It forces you to be more concise and articulate, something that may seem great, but will definitely hinder a conversation. What if I want to explain a difficult or complex situation, or tell a long story?

Now in a student's perspective, BlackBoard seems like a logical place to hold discussions. You can freely write as much as you please, and to me, it's fairly user-friendly. If you wanted to see any responses from what you had to say, they are filed into the system in a way that it's just a click away. It shows how many people have viewed the post, and even how many responses you've received.

Nothing beats an in-class discussion, however. A strong discussion definitely requires some passion or emotion towards the subject, something that isn't easily shown on a computer screen. It's hard to read these things when you're just reading an excerpt, so to me, an in-class discussion is the most effective and efficient way to communicate.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking seems to be a very competitive and saturated market. Social networking has expanded in so many genres now that it’s extremely difficult to gain market share using a new, maybe even innovative application.

To me, social networking is contingent on its user, and everyone has a different set of preferences. Some enjoy having the ability to edit and change these preferences and some simply like to stick to the classics. I have to say that Facebook has done an amazing job in its layout and user-friendliness. Although there have been complaints about the lack of privacy along with the constant changing interfaces of Facebook, you can't say that it's easy pleasing everyone. Myspace on the other hand allows for countless customizations to show one's unique taste and work. Whether its the layout, music or a cool animation, Myspace offers a plethora of customization preferences that allows a large amount of personalization. In my opinion, however, Myspace may be too messy and disorganized at times. Twitter on the other hand is extremely straight-forward and user friendly. Everything is very accessible and easy to use, and it’s clean cut and not messy in any way whatsoever.

For the fourth social networking platform, I chose Instragram. Instagram share many similarities with Twitter - good quality pictures/content and an extremely user-friendly website. In general, I like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and hold a really positive impression from a user's perspective. If there was more time in a day, I would definitely be using these applications to my leisure.

Social Net'g

     As you all probably know, social networking is a form of indirect communication through a network of social interactions and personal relationships. To be simple, these include a number of different websites primarily focused on allowing communication to other people through the use of posting information, commenting, messaging, and sharing information. It’s used by many, especially businesses and companies. LinkedIn, for example, is a great example of a form of social networking that allows employers a more efficient way to find employees. With a simple search on LinkedIn, a number of qualified candidates can be found almost instantaneously. As shown in, “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting,” with the correct search and being in the right place at the right time, a job opportunity can arise. LinkedIn essentially has the advantage of screening through a crowd and viewing their so called bio and as well as practically their resume. Aside from the well-known LinkedIn, many other companies are involved in the marketing and advertising of a company’s brand name. Lately, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instragram are wonderful ways to not only promote a product or company, but you can also have the public do it for you! Twitter has actually been in talks recently to monetize their business to those that have been using their service amongst their strong marketing strategy. 

     There are downsides to this service however. As information become more and more public, as well as readily accessible, privacy amongst public consumers deteriorates. With a click of a button on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can practically view the history of a person as well as their bio. As depicted in the article “Facebook Exodus”, a community of people began to leave Facebook because of the addiction it has caused as well as the dependence to it to go about their day. Stalking and information seeking as also been addressed as an issue that arose due to the fact that information is easily shared. Another dark side to the service, as I mentioned in my previous blogs, includes the lack of interaction and decreasing efforts in physically meeting friends, family, and loved ones. Both articles actually addressed how there is nothing better than meeting with the person face-to-face and that communicating via computer screen is impersonal.

     But even with this “dark side” of social networking, I can still see it being an important factor in everyday life in the future. I may have my opinion about the matter, but I can’t entirely deny the fact that it has improved some social aspects in life with maintaining relationships with friends and family as well as it allowing me to view a status update of a long-lost friend. There is definitely an addictive element to social networking and my only fear is that it can and will cause complications in life as these social networks begin growing and developing into larger beings.

     What do you guys think?

Blogs vs Wikis

     The purpose of blogs and wikis are almost one in the same. Since the age of wireless and online technology, these two have become a hub of new and social media that allows an audience to hear or learn of the world in which they aren’t capable of doing alone. They do differ, however, and that difference makes the two platforms as different as apples and oranges.

     Starting off with blogs, they’re essentially a personal website on an individual’s thoughts and opinions, firsthand experiences, and observations. Blogs can be a treasure trove of useful information or even a simple rant on someone’s bad day.  With the emergence of the internet, the opportunity has allowed the public to consume specific and personal information at an incredibly efficient pace, and many have agreed that it has benefited the society in a tremendous way. Being a blogger allows your voice to be heard, and also allows one to play a great role in everyday operations to the public. Take a fashion blog of example. It plays two roles where it gives the public an opinion on what’s trending and in fashion, and also allows the public to respond with feedback as well as gain knowledge on what’s “in”. We can even simplify it more to consumers reading blogs that offer positive and negative feedback to a product/brand they’ve been thinking of buying.  From the article “Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog”, Michael Barbaro states how Wal-Mart is now “…encouraging its merchants to speak frankly, even critically, about the products the chain carries.” It allows consumers to find the best product in the least amount of time.

     With wikis, information is gathered and unified together into one website by multiple users. It allows for people to work together in assembling a collection of factual information independently gathered to be as accurate as possible. Look at Wikipedia, one of the 10 most popular sites on the Web currently, for example.  It substitutes as a free encyclopedia of information, but as accurate and reliable as people may see it to be, it is still a collection of information based on the input of volunteers. Anyone is given the power to edit the content – to either improve the collection or defile it for self-amusement. As stated by Michael Snow, the chairman of the Wikimedia board, “There was a time probably when the community was more forgiving of things that were inaccurate or fudged in some fashion — whether simply misunderstood or an author had some ax to grind. There is less tolerance for that sort of problem now.” As useful as wikis are, they are not entirely based on accurate information or from credible authors.