Creativity and New Media

Being a gamer myself, video games today allow users to be very creative.  These video games include role playing games, first person shoots and even simulation genres which fosters creativity.  Based off my experience, I have decided to show how creative video games can be by incorporating the other 4 remaining C's related to new media with an online role playing game called Dungeons and Dragons Online.

 Collaboration requires people, including soldiers, to work together for a common goal

Convergence allows high level players and low level players to converge and take on a tough enemy



Communication takes instant communication to a whole new level with the use "Orien's Lightning Post" as mail is delivered with lightning speed



Community is where people come together anywhere, including spas, to discuss and share their thoughts and opinions.

Creativity

New media fosters creativity in many ways nowadays.  With the internet, people are able to create and upload any kind of videos, such as video logs or "vlogs", videos of babies laughing, videos of animals, etc.  New ideas and creations are constantly created with the use of new media channels.  Take for example Twitter, many new ideas and features of Twitter came about because of the creative minds of its users.  According to a New York Times article by Claire Cain Miller entitled, "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers," the symbols @ and # were all created and thought up by users.  The @ symbol is famous for its use to direct readers and followers to the person mentioned.  The creation of the hash symbol was also very interesting as it was idea that was shot down.  However, its creativity caught on and is applied to conferences and meetings and eventually any event that people come up with today.

With something as simple as Twitter promoting creativity, who knows how other channels and mediums of new media can foster creativity.  With YouTube, people are able to use videos to reply to other people's videos, similarly Twitter has the feature of "retweeting" other people's Tweets or a response to their Tweets.  In fact, creativity can be seen in every aspects of our lives as our lives are constantly revolving around the internet which brings out the creative side out of all of us.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be called a haven for some as it is a place people go to escape from reality.  However, these virtual worlds today are being used for more complex and helpful situations.  As explained in Nicole Saidi's CNN article entitled, "'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction", these virtual worlds are being used to serve people with autism spectrum disorders.  It is with these virtual world that allows people to "create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others" which helps better improve their social and communication skills.  With these virtual worlds, people are able to be themselves without the negative thoughts of being criticized as they are under an alias and only shown an avatar.  However, there are some negativity with this as people are not always what they seem online.  For example, there can be instances of cyber bullying in these virtual worlds and people can get away with this as they are hidden behind an alias and avatar.  Although virtual worlds can benefit people who are socially isolated, they can also be targeted as a result of this.

Another use of virtual worlds can be applied in the business world.  Instead of meeting up in person, business partners are able to meet up in virtual world to discuss and exchange files and documents.  This is exemplified in Mark Tutton's CNN article entitled, "Going to the virtual office in Second Life".  More companies are using the same virtual world technology, but have extra security.  This would help employees to meet up easily as they do not have to be in the same room or even the same country.  However, Tutton mentions some negative drawbacks to this such as isolation caused by lack of human contact as well as not being able to "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."  This can cause people's lives to become more "scripted" as they are able to prepare for in advance instead of thinking up topics on the spot.

Virtual worlds foster creativity as it allows people to come up with an alter-ego who they can relate to.  With virtual worlds such as Second Life, people are able to live the life they come up and create.  These "second life" they have can be the total opposite of their reality which is not necessarily a bad thing.  The future of these virtual world looks to be very promising as many video games can be thought up as a virtual world.  Maybe in a few years or so, we may be able to live out our virtual world in holographic forms as something seen from a Matrix movie.

Blog about Twitter

New media is definitely visible in the classroom nowadays.  Instead of textbooks, people now use e-readers such as Nooks and Kindles.  Classroom discussion has also changed now as students use Twitter and college community sites like Blackboard.  Twitter can be considered a lot more convenient than a Blackboard discussion.  Students are able to just log into their Twitter account and "retweet" about people's discussion with a simple "@" symbol.  With Blackboard on the other hand, the student would have to log into the CUNY website, go into the Blackboard portal, search for your class section, go to the discussion page and then respond to a classmate's discussion. 
However, Twitter limits the amount of information you are able to talk about.  Tweets are limited to a certain amount of characters, whereas Blackboard discussions allow a person to fully express their ideas and opinions.  Also, With Blackboard discussions, we are able to see who the poster is instead of an alias.  Therefore, there are pros and cons with using Twitter as opposed to Blackboard for discussions.
Twitter, as opposed to in class discussions, lack spontaneity.  With in class discussions, the students are unaware of the topic of discussion before hand and must think about it on the spot.  With Twitter, students are able to research the topic and organize their thoughts before they post.  This does not prepare the student for the real world as many things in life are spontaneous and requires people to quickly think on the spot.  However, Twitter does help people who are shy and not outspoken as they are able to contribute to these class discussion with some sort of anonymity.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook:  If I'm not mistaken, you had to have had a college email address to be able to sign up for Facebook years ago.  However, it seems now that anyone is able to get a Facebook page.  Being the most popular social networking sites, its clear to see how it has gained such popularity.  Not only are you able to reconnect with people who have moved away or transferred to different schools, you are also able to interact with them virtually with the "poke" system.  Other things that you can use Facebook for includes social gaming, the most popular being Cityville or other games ending in -ville, status updates, creation of photo albums, etc.  What you can do on Facebook appears to be endless.

Myspace: It used to be the King of social networking until it was dethroned by Facebook.  In my opinion, their "top friends" option was very interesting as it determined people's popularity in a way.  The Music option was very unique at its time as it allowed artists to upload their work for people to "sample."  Other than that, Myspace does not appear to be as popular now.  Instead, it appears that only young teens are the majority of its user base.  Also, their attempt to be "cool and hip" by having their name as "My______" appears to have the opposite effect.

Twitter: In my opinion, Twitter appears to be a clone of Facebook's status update without the Facebook.  However, it appears to be very popular with teens and adults, even celebrities are on Twitter.  Although it does not have the feel of a social networking site similar to that of Myspace and Facebook, it still appears to be popular.  Other than status updates, it appears there are other ways to use Twitter, such as photo upload, video upload, etc. that makes it interesting and popular to use.

Deviantart: In a way, Deviantart can be considered a social networking site as it is a community for artists.  With Deviantart, people are upload their art to be viewed by others as well as viewing other people's arts.  There are many talented artists out there and with this site, people are able to get noticed.  However, this social networking site only attracts a niche of users; artists.  Also, it does not appear to have the same look and feel of Facebook and Myspace, but people are still able to comment on each other's works similar to commenting on each other's page of a social networking site.

Social Networking

Social networking can be described as as interaction between groups of people who share a similar interest.  As a result of this, millions of people worldwide are part of a social network as they communicate with each other, with the most famous social networking site being Facebook.  In a way, social networking can be used in a corporate world.  For example, when a company needs to come up with a new pitch for something new, social networking would come in play.  The company would find a group of like minded employees to brainstorm ideas that would be useful.  Due to this, there would be less arguments and rejection of ideas between these like minded people and more positive outcomes and results because of social networking.

In a way, social networking and social networking sites can be used to benefit the society.  Take for example, a case in India involving Facebook being used to catch law breakers regarding traffic laws.  Facebook users were able to upload pictures of any violators, such as riding a motorcycle without a helmet, onto a Facebook page created by the traffic police.  The success of this is exemplified in the August 1, 2010 New York Times article written by Heather Timmons entitled "In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers".  Here, Timmons states how many people contribute to the Facebook page as "The online rap sheet was impressive. There are photos of people on motorcycles without helmets, cars stopped in crosswalks, drivers on cellphones, drivers in the middle of illegal turns and improperly parked vehicles."  Therefore, this shows how social networking can be used to better improve society as well as creating more law abiding citizen.

However, social networking does have its downfalls and its "dark sides" not many people are aware of.  In this day and age of technology, many people are using computers and cell phones for social networking.  As a result of this, people become isolated and ironically antisocial because of all this social networking usage.  As Hilary Stout explains in her April 30, 2010 new York Times article entitled "Antisocial Networking?", the question involving increased use of social networking is "whether the quality of their interactions is being diminished without the intimacy and emotional give and take of regular, extended face-to-face time."  This can show how people communicate less and less with each other personally and more and more with each other virtually, creating an antisocial behavior.

Throughout the years, social networking has definitely evolved from text messaging to "tweets".  In my opinion, it appears that it has reached the peak of its popularity and evolution.  Not only can you communicate with others over the computer, people are now able to tweet on the go on their mobile device, letting others know their current status.  The only way to improve on this is probably some form of telepathic update which would improve social networking with a simple thought.