ASSIGNMENT: Suggest a new type of "new media" that doesn't currently exist. Describe it.
A type of new media that I would suggest would be a social credit system that allowed for tipping and rating, similar to the one portrayed in the popular Netflix series, “Black Mirror”. Users would have a numerical rating on a certain scale that allowed others to view how personable, friendly, and interactive they are with others. Anyone in a small radius around that person would be able to rate them via a mobile device. This would also be used to tip people and get rid of the service industries’ low hourly wages for workers and allow them to collect a decent minimum wage along with tips for their performance.
This system can be used to ensure that people have a good history of interactions and are amicable should the need for a background check arise. It would speed up security screenings and be a universal system recognized everywhere. Abuse of the system would blackspot you and give you a mark on your profile that would label you as something negative to anyone around you. There would be social implications for doing something morally or ethically wrong and it would in itself, bring a sense of social justice and reform.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Creativity
ASSIGNMENT: Create a new post on your blog with the above title. In your post, cite at least one of the assigned readings and discuss how new media fosters creativity.
In Miller's NYT article, Professor von Hippel states that "Economists have long thought that producers — the people making products and running companies — are naturally the ones coming up with new ideas." In fact, he said, consumers often come up with ideas for products, and companies wait on the sidelines to see if they have mass appeal.
Many businesses and companies have followed suit, some even create mass media polls for the community to vote on what content or features they would like to be added next, whether it be in an update or a patch to the current version. An example of this is in virtual worlds, such as Minecraft.
Minecraft is just one example of a creative world; however, its possibilities are endless. Seven years later, the game is still fostered by a dedicated community of users that are pumping out new content and different takes on the game, which allows for new texture packs and maps to be created by any player.
Works Cited:
1. Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers by CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, the New York Times, October 26, 2009. Available at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html
In Miller's NYT article, Professor von Hippel states that "Economists have long thought that producers — the people making products and running companies — are naturally the ones coming up with new ideas." In fact, he said, consumers often come up with ideas for products, and companies wait on the sidelines to see if they have mass appeal.
Many businesses and companies have followed suit, some even create mass media polls for the community to vote on what content or features they would like to be added next, whether it be in an update or a patch to the current version. An example of this is in virtual worlds, such as Minecraft.
Minecraft is just one example of a creative world; however, its possibilities are endless. Seven years later, the game is still fostered by a dedicated community of users that are pumping out new content and different takes on the game, which allows for new texture packs and maps to be created by any player.
1. Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers by CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, the New York Times, October 26, 2009. Available at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html
Creativity and New Media
For my demonstration of how new media fosters creativity, I chose to create an avatar for Halloween in one of the most popular games in the world, Maplestory 2. This game features a virtual world with Minecraft block-like graphics and endless opportunities for creativity. Creating and designing an avatar is just a part of the game, as you can collect many different outfits as shown below.
In addition to outfits, you are also able to equip musical instruments and play a score that you can compose via the games musical composition interface! In this photo, I am playing Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin on the guitar!
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
ASSIGNMENT: What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used? What are the pros and cons? Be specific. How do virtual worlds foster creativity? What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?
Virtual worlds is a blanket term for the ever-expanding technology that encompasses augmented and virtual reality, as well as open-world creative platforms that allow people to exercise imagination and creativity. From its launch in 2011, Minecraft is still relevant today, its claim to fame as a block game being the best-selling PC game with 29 million copies sold makes it one of the largest communities of user-generated content. Minecraft is a sandbox video game that procedurally generates worlds and allows players to implement their own creative spin on virtually every aspect of the block world.
Virtual worlds can be used in many different areas, such as education, delivery services, or health care. SMART technology and online resources that allow for virtual engagement and audio/visual learning allow for more effective and efficient education. Delivery services utilize virtual worlds to estimate and plan out proposed delivery routes and estimate traffic. Health care systems train doctors and surgeons using virtual animations of the human body, brain, and anatomy to prepare and educate them on locations and allow for familiarity.
Minecraft is just one example of a creative world; however, its possibilities are endless. Seven years later, the game is still fostered by a dedicated community of users that are pumping out new content and different takes on the game, which allows for new texture packs and maps to be created by any player. Many laudable feats such as building a replica of an entire world city or sculpture have been accomplished in the game that took hundreds of players in a collaborative effort over several years.
The future of virtual worlds definitely lies in virtual and augmented reality. The idea has already been tested with a recently popular augmented reality game, Pokemon Go. As a childhood favorite amongst the current generations, Pokemon started out as a children's television series that evolved into a trading card game. Its popularity worldwide allowed for the game to pursue a video game series that is still played today. With the introduction of Pokemon Go, a mobile game that advocated for exercise to effectively play the game, augmented reality was an option for users to experience the "Pokemon world" in their own. The game and AR itself was received positively, and we can be sure to see many companies have their own take on the future of virtual worlds, sandboxes, and augmented reality in the future.
Cite at least 2 of the assigned readings:
After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot. April 30, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/ or Below.
The virtual world moves into the classroom Posted by Joe Earle | Sep 14, 2018 https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2018/09/14/the-virtual-world-moves-into-the-classroom/
Virtual worlds is a blanket term for the ever-expanding technology that encompasses augmented and virtual reality, as well as open-world creative platforms that allow people to exercise imagination and creativity. From its launch in 2011, Minecraft is still relevant today, its claim to fame as a block game being the best-selling PC game with 29 million copies sold makes it one of the largest communities of user-generated content. Minecraft is a sandbox video game that procedurally generates worlds and allows players to implement their own creative spin on virtually every aspect of the block world.
Virtual worlds can be used in many different areas, such as education, delivery services, or health care. SMART technology and online resources that allow for virtual engagement and audio/visual learning allow for more effective and efficient education. Delivery services utilize virtual worlds to estimate and plan out proposed delivery routes and estimate traffic. Health care systems train doctors and surgeons using virtual animations of the human body, brain, and anatomy to prepare and educate them on locations and allow for familiarity.
Minecraft is just one example of a creative world; however, its possibilities are endless. Seven years later, the game is still fostered by a dedicated community of users that are pumping out new content and different takes on the game, which allows for new texture packs and maps to be created by any player. Many laudable feats such as building a replica of an entire world city or sculpture have been accomplished in the game that took hundreds of players in a collaborative effort over several years.
The future of virtual worlds definitely lies in virtual and augmented reality. The idea has already been tested with a recently popular augmented reality game, Pokemon Go. As a childhood favorite amongst the current generations, Pokemon started out as a children's television series that evolved into a trading card game. Its popularity worldwide allowed for the game to pursue a video game series that is still played today. With the introduction of Pokemon Go, a mobile game that advocated for exercise to effectively play the game, augmented reality was an option for users to experience the "Pokemon world" in their own. The game and AR itself was received positively, and we can be sure to see many companies have their own take on the future of virtual worlds, sandboxes, and augmented reality in the future.
Cite at least 2 of the assigned readings:
After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot. April 30, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/ or Below.
The virtual world moves into the classroom Posted by Joe Earle | Sep 14, 2018 https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2018/09/14/the-virtual-world-moves-into-the-classroom/
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Blog about Twitter
A Twitter discussion is definitely more accessible than a BlackBoard discussion and has a better layout and user interface than BlackBoard. Blackboard is also private only to those in the class and registered, whereas Twitter discussions are public and can be viewed and commented on by anyone assuming privacy settings are properly set.
Compared to an in-class discussion, it also allows individuals to voice their opinions from the comfort of their homes and generate their thoughts without feeling pressure from those around them. It also takes away from the need of having a structured discussion with formalities of real-life etiquette having to be in place, allowing for a more free-range and open conversation.
Compared to an in-class discussion, it also allows individuals to voice their opinions from the comfort of their homes and generate their thoughts without feeling pressure from those around them. It also takes away from the need of having a structured discussion with formalities of real-life etiquette having to be in place, allowing for a more free-range and open conversation.
Blog: Social networking sites
I visited and made an account on: Facebook, Twitter, reddit, and Instagram.
As an avid user of all four, I can definitely say that the reason these are all mainstream contemporary platforms are that they each have their own intended uses and do not overlap too much with other popular social networking sites.
For example - primary uses of Facebook have evolved from just simple status updates (what Twitter is known for) to being used for tagging others in viral videos and posts and most notably, Facebook Messenger, which is arguably one of the greatest takeovers in instant messaging that is able to compete with WeChat, Line, and iMessage.
As previously noted, Twitter prides itself on its character-limited status updates, which allows for more condensed and efficient status posting for both the contributor and user. It allows for a message to be delivered to the top of a user's followers' "new tweets" update every time they refresh or re-open the app. This systematic programming design enables those with large follower-counts to have their tweets "pushed" to the top of everyone's virtual list.
Instagram is solely for <30s videos and creating that online portfolio that we all aspire to make for ourselves to better our own image. In my opinion, it is one of the best and worst things to happen to a social media user: we're able to generate what we want the world to see us as, and we hold ourselves to that standard of doing things with the intention of sharing our experiences with the world. More disconnected in real life although we remain more connected digitally.
reddit will remain as one of the largest user-generated content platforms and arguably my favorite. It allows for so many different functions which are then categorized by special interests. To sum it up, it is a large forum comprised of many smaller forums - allowing for people with different interests to utilize the same platform & be a part of multiple different communities while still having the same privileges of contributing, reading, and commenting.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Blog Social networking
What are some ways (corporate and otherwise) that these technologies can be used? What are the benefits of these technologies to society? Be specific. Is there a "dark side"? Make sure to include your opinion of the way these technologies might evolve in the future.
Carr writes that in 2007, Barack Obama had the idea of implementing a large-scale communication and database development scheme utilizing social media at the forefront of his campaign. The type of thinking that originates from "guy[s] in a garage who [were] thinking of taking on the biggest names in the business" (Carr). Obama is an avid user of Twitter - one of the largest social media platforms in the world that allow him to engage with hundreds of thousands of active users as simple as sending a text message. Juxtaposing his campaign for the seat at the top of a world power with technology that will advance our society towards a more efficient and effective future was just the beginning of the true digital era. Today, we also have watches that can tell us our heart rate, mobile phones that can track our daily steps and flights, cameras and software that are able to bring digital images to seemingly-life.
However, there are also downsides to an ever-evolving and rapidly growing technology. Young writes that campus gossip sites and other forms of blogs and anonymous user-contributed websites have been expanded across the internet and utilized for harassment, cyber-bullying, and even promoting sexism, racism, and homophobia. These are no different from celebrity tabloids; Young compares the intentions of these forum creators to those of 'Hollywood A-listers'.
These technologies can certainly evolve to be utilized for the rallying of the public and engagement of a wide-spread audience, as Obama had shown. However, there will always be those who intend on pushing the limits of anonymity and accessibility of the internet for their own benefit, and sometimes others' detriment. The current big thing is now cryptocurrency - we have seen e-mail phishing scams and phone calls already evolving to target people for their passwords, identities, and monies. Wherever greed goes, technology follows.
Cite at least 2 of the assigned readings:
"How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power," by David Carr, The New York Times. November 10, 2008
"They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites," by Jeffrey R. Young, The Chronicle for Higher Education, Sept 4, 2009, p. A20+.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)