I used to be scared of new media. I didn't like sharing my thoughts or ideas with strangers. I realized that in the creative process you have to spread your wings a little. I had to get out of the box that I put myself into. The possibilities of reaching a whole new audience for my business and to make connections is limitless. I have been sharing little tidbits of my creativity with my followers on Twitter. I am a cake designer and aspiring jewelry designer so I have posted pictures of some of my latest creations. I want inspire as well as reach a new demographic of possible friends and clients.
Here is a link to my creations. http://t.co/L1XXpuduHF (A piece from my Fall 2013 Jewelry Collection) and http://t.co/HRDoUY60HR (a baby shower cake that I did on October 20, 2013)
I hope to keep reaching people out in Twitter and other new media platforms to share my creativity from them. I also love learning from other creative people. Twitter is a place that allows us to connect and share!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Blog:Creativity
I think that new media is great for the creative process. It is another outlet that you can use to express yourself. It's a great way to get yourself noticed because of the viewership of the internet. This is especially true of YouTube. How many times have you heard a video that went viral from YouTube? It happens so often now. On YouTube you don't need to have expertise to make a video. All you need is a camera, computer and a creative idea. People are always looking for something new to entertain them. I think that today's consumer is very picky about the content that they view. In order to get viewership you must think out of the box. New Media allows you to put together something in a short period of time and get it to the masses. Such as in the article in the New York Times called "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?", a group of kids put together a video with Disney characters singing and what appears to be rapping to a popular hip hop rap. "The postings (called mash-ups), are made by editing together snippets of animated movies and TV shows. The finished products look like music videos in which the cartoon characters do the singing. As “Crank That” climbed the music charts over the summer — the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this month — the videos started gaining in popularity and users edited together versions using characters owned by other big media companies. A version using clips taken from Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants” has been viewed more than seven million times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html?_r=0
This video was very popular. These people took something that was ready created (the characters) and took it to another creative level by adding unique rap content to it. This helped to get them noticed by the world. I think that creativity in new media is limitless as long as you don't infringe on anyone's intellectual property, I think you can go far.
This video was very popular. These people took something that was ready created (the characters) and took it to another creative level by adding unique rap content to it. This helped to get them noticed by the world. I think that creativity in new media is limitless as long as you don't infringe on anyone's intellectual property, I think you can go far.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
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?
A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds are also called "digital worlds," "simulated worlds" and "MMOG's." There are many different types of virtual worlds, however there are six features all of them have in common:
1. Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.
2. Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments.
3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.
4. Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.
5. Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.
6. Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/whatis.shtml
In the Forbes article "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot", it says that "You can use virtual worlds in education, in delivery services, or as an advanced form of telehealthcare that offers so much more than videoconferencing. Virtual worlds can give us social connectivity, built-in support groups, and ways to avoid ever being alone again. There is a fundamentally positive aspect to this kind of connectedness we have not yet leveraged to the extent we can. But children are already figuring it out. There are about 2 billion accounts registered for the 100 or so virtual worlds in use today. Children age 5-15 own at least half of those accounts—they’re using these worlds for entertainment, social connection, and learning. And that’s because the physical world “roaming radius” we grant them has shrunk to less than a block. In the 1950s, you played with everyone on your street. Now the only chance kids have for free exploration without a parent hanging around is in these virtual worlds" http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/ I think that this is a con of the virtual worlds. No parents hanging on to see who you are talking to. In the virtual world people can hide behind an avatar (their virtual person) and you never know who they are. They can create an avatar that is a child but it could really be an adult that the kids are talking to. My son and nephew love Minecraft which is a game for kids where they use blocks to build there world. They have friends they talk to on there at times. I tell my son that he can just interact with the players in the game but he is not to speak to them. These worlds are made for interaction. Another problem I think about virtual worlds is that the fantasy can be more appealing than reality. It is easy to get caught up in these worlds if you are not careful. My brothers used to play World of Warcraft. They would be interacting with people all around the country. The game was so addicting that they would be lost in it for weeks. They only interacted with people in the game forgetting out the people in the real world. To the players in the game it was serious business.
In the article on CNN "Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life"
"The company's Enterprise tool will let employees' avatars -- animated alter egos -- meet in virtual worlds from the privacy of a company's own network, rather than the public networks used in standard Second Life. That extra security could encourage more companies to take up the technology.
The ability to collaborate effectively using virtual tools may now become an increasingly important skill as technology offers more options than, say, video conferencing." http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html This is a pro to using virtual worlds. This allows for even more creativity in employees. They get to think outside the box in the virtual world.
I think the look of virtual worlds in the future will be whatever people can create them to be. I think there is no limit because the world is based on what you make of it. It can be a world of fantasy of someone or it can be created to mirror life. It's an escape from the real world but I think that everybody needs to get away for a little why. I think the test will be finding a balance between reality and virtual reality.
A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds are also called "digital worlds," "simulated worlds" and "MMOG's." There are many different types of virtual worlds, however there are six features all of them have in common:
1. Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.
2. Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments.
3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.
4. Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.
5. Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.
6. Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/whatis.shtml
In the Forbes article "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot", it says that "You can use virtual worlds in education, in delivery services, or as an advanced form of telehealthcare that offers so much more than videoconferencing. Virtual worlds can give us social connectivity, built-in support groups, and ways to avoid ever being alone again. There is a fundamentally positive aspect to this kind of connectedness we have not yet leveraged to the extent we can. But children are already figuring it out. There are about 2 billion accounts registered for the 100 or so virtual worlds in use today. Children age 5-15 own at least half of those accounts—they’re using these worlds for entertainment, social connection, and learning. And that’s because the physical world “roaming radius” we grant them has shrunk to less than a block. In the 1950s, you played with everyone on your street. Now the only chance kids have for free exploration without a parent hanging around is in these virtual worlds" http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/ I think that this is a con of the virtual worlds. No parents hanging on to see who you are talking to. In the virtual world people can hide behind an avatar (their virtual person) and you never know who they are. They can create an avatar that is a child but it could really be an adult that the kids are talking to. My son and nephew love Minecraft which is a game for kids where they use blocks to build there world. They have friends they talk to on there at times. I tell my son that he can just interact with the players in the game but he is not to speak to them. These worlds are made for interaction. Another problem I think about virtual worlds is that the fantasy can be more appealing than reality. It is easy to get caught up in these worlds if you are not careful. My brothers used to play World of Warcraft. They would be interacting with people all around the country. The game was so addicting that they would be lost in it for weeks. They only interacted with people in the game forgetting out the people in the real world. To the players in the game it was serious business.
In the article on CNN "Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life"
"The company's Enterprise tool will let employees' avatars -- animated alter egos -- meet in virtual worlds from the privacy of a company's own network, rather than the public networks used in standard Second Life. That extra security could encourage more companies to take up the technology.
The ability to collaborate effectively using virtual tools may now become an increasingly important skill as technology offers more options than, say, video conferencing." http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html This is a pro to using virtual worlds. This allows for even more creativity in employees. They get to think outside the box in the virtual world.
I think the look of virtual worlds in the future will be whatever people can create them to be. I think there is no limit because the world is based on what you make of it. It can be a world of fantasy of someone or it can be created to mirror life. It's an escape from the real world but I think that everybody needs to get away for a little why. I think the test will be finding a balance between reality and virtual reality.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Social Networking Sites
I remember when MySpace was the space to be in! Back in the early days of MySpace it was a place where new artists could release their music. It was like a new toy everybody had to have a MySpace page. I remember when my daughter used to use it to talk to her friends. I never really liked it. Then Facebook became popular. To me it was the new and improved MySpace. It had more features than MySpace and your audience was vast. It was a very integrated social networking site. You could post pictures and you could post things about your every move of your daily life. Facebook overtook MySpace in popularity. You have friends on Facebook. They don't necessarily have to be people you know personally so I use the term "friends" loosely! A friend could be a friend of a friend. Does that make them your friend? Facebook is used by people as well as companies to reach out to the world. People use it for business purposes or to find a job too. Most companies that have an online presence has a page on Facebook. I haven't seen any companies of late that have a MySpace page or even a MySpace logo to connect to on their website. MySpace is being revamped and getting a new image. I think that one of the people that are trying to do this is Justin Timberlake. I don't know if this will help MySpace outdo Facebook. There is another popular social networking site that is booming right now. It is called Reddit. It is a site where you can go to find out what the world is talking about. There website seems more like a newsfeed site than just social networking. You can talk about whatever interests you and people can post comments about it. Sometimes people post things here before it hits the traditional news sites. The last social networking site I like is Twitter. I love the fact that you can post your opinion on anything you want. On Twitter you have followers and people you follow. I choose to follow people that I have something in common with or those that have interesting tweets. Unlike Facebook or MySpace, Twitter posts are short and sweet. You only a few characters to get to the point so your followers understand you. Twitter is a place where place where companies can let you know about their upcoming events and get real time responses to their tweets. You can retweet something you like as well. I find myself falling in love with Twitter. I think on Facebook people put too much of their lives out there. On Twitter there is no place to do that in a few characters!
Blog about Twitter
How does a Twitter discussion compare to a Blackboard Discussion? To an in-class
discussion? I think that a Twitter discussion is very different from a Blackboard Discussion. On Twitter you create a thread that any of your followers can respond to. It is a more open discussion. The people that respond to your tweets don't have to be classmates they can be anyone who is on Twitter. On Blackboard it is only your classmates and teachers that can respond to your posts. The access to your posts are limited to that group of people. The posts on Twitter are very short and only several characters long. On Blackboard you can post a thread that is as long as you want. In class discussions are more formal and pertains to what you are doing in class. On Twitter you can tweet about anything that interests you. On Blackboard or an in class discussion you are limited to the subject matter of the syllabus. I am new to Twitter but I find that I like it. I feel free to express myself. I wish it allowed more characters in it though!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Social Networking
Social networking is a powerful tools for the corporate world. In today's job market you have to learn how to use social networking if you are hoping to get a job. You cannot just use the traditional ways of finding a job like looking in a newspaper for postings or replying to postings online. If you want to increase your chances of being employed you should put profiles on several social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In the article Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt says
"Professional
recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking
technology — like the kind found on the popular sites MySpace and Facebook."
"Maureen
Crawford-Hentz recruits for Osram Sylvania, the global lighting company. She
says the new tools have changed her life. "Social networking technology is
absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting — ever."One of Crawford-Hentz's favorite sites is Linkedin, a network of 8 million professionals spread across the
world. Linkedin says users include executives from all of the Fortune 500
companies. Typing keywords into a search engine, Crawford can scrape the entire
network to dig out high-quality candidates that she can't find elsewhere." Linkedin has become the go to place to find employment and for employers to find viable candidates. If you are linked on the site to people on the site then they can put you in touch with someone else that might be in the company that you want to be in. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf It's way better than cold calling!
The downside to social networking is that sometime people put too much of their information about themselves out there. In the article
"BBB: New Wave of
Phishing Scams Uses Facebook Info for Personalized Spam"
"Scammers are tapping into the personal data available through
Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn to pose as your friends in fraudulent emails.
Watch out for these personalized scam messages and take steps to prevent them.
Scammers find your information through Facebook or other social media accounts.
Some set up fake accounts and send out friend requests. When you accept the
request, they can view your friends and personal and contact information. Other
scammers rely on social media users not locking down their privacy settings, so
basic information, such as your name, email address and friends' names, is
publicly available." This the dark side of social networking. They are always going to be predators out there that are patrolling social networking sites to see what you post. Another dark side is that when people post their every waking moment on social networks like Facebook they are also giving the predators a map of their every move. When someone posts that they are on vacation that lets predators know that no one is home and they can burglarize your home without interruption! You have to also be careful about pictures you post on Facebook or other social networking sites because potential employers can search for them on the internet and deny you employment because of what they deem inappropriate pictures on they find. Also colleges are now perusing social networking sites to research potential students during the application process. They use this to put together a profile and decide if you are a candidate for admission to their school. You can also potentially lose any form scholarship or be expelled from you college if you have inappropriate activity on your social networking sites. On social networking you have to be careful of what you put out there. In the future, social networking is going to be a key marketing tool for businesses and a communication tool that we use. I think that eventually there will be no way to do business without having a social networking presence.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Blog vs Wiki
I am posting a thread about a blog vs wiki in business applications.
What is a blog? As defined on Wikipedia, A blog (a contraction of the words web log)[1] is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject. What is a wiki? Wiki.org defines wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Inspired by Apple's HyperCard programming environment, the first wiki software was created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham as a way to manage the Portland Pattern Repository's site content. Named after wiki-wiki, the Hawaiian word for quick, wikis are essentially Web pages that anyone — or at least anyone with permission — can create or edit. http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/167600331?pgno=1
A blog is an online diary and a wiki is a collaboration software tool. A blog is usually started by an individual and is edited by that individual. The blogger makes posts and allows other individuals to make comments on the posts. The blog does not allow other viewers the opportunity to edit the post of the blogger. Blog commenters can be more anonymous than on a wiki. A wiki is used for collaborative projects. A blog is used more for the expression of one's self. In a wiki there are a set of rules that have to be adhered to. A blog is used to post opinions on. In a wiki the validity of the information to be posted is usually agreed upon before the wiki is started. This is monitored. Changes to a wiki are usually monitored by experts in that field.
In the article in Informationweek "How To Use Wikis for Business", "In June, the Los Angeles Times created a wiki that it hoped would focus on the war in Iraq. The editors wrote an opinion piece entitled "War and Consequences" and invited anyone who cared to rewrite the editorial to take their best shot. Unfortunately, the denizens of the Internet saw fit to spam the "wikitorial" with porn and profanity, and after three days of maintenance hell, the newspaper took it down. " The article also stated "The real problem with the "wikitorial" was that the Times sent a wiki to do a blog's job." This meant that the Los Angeles Times used the wrong tool for what they were attempting. They should have used a blog if they wanted people to post their opinions on a topic and not facts. Blogs can work in business especially for Wal-Mart. In the article "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog", Wal-Mart, "
The result is an intensely personal window into the lives, preferences and quirks of the powerful tastemakers at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, who have spent years shielded from public view.
Their decisions about what makes it onto Wal-Mart’s shelves have enormous impact, earning (or costing) vendors millions of dollars. It was a blogger on the Check Out, after all, who first disclosed last month that Wal-Mart would stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format, rather than the rival HD DVD system. The decision was considered the death knell for HD DVD. " This shows how useful a blog can be in business. It is the opinions of the consumers that made decisions about products. Using wiki instead of a blog would not have worked for Wal-Mart. In this way, the blog was collaborative. The blog allowed for people with various opinions to help with deciding what products would be worth putting on the shelves in the stores. This type of blogging is very helpful to us today. For example when I used to buy toys for my kids for Christmas in the 1990's I used to have to rely on a consumer magazine report for my information. It usually only listed a limited amount of toys and the safety of it. Today when I buy toys or electronics for my kids all I have to do is go to the internet and find a blog about that particular product. I don't want to just find out about the toy company which I could probably find in a company wiki but I want to find out the opinion of other consumers before I buy it. Thus the collaborative community does continue with the blog. I think that in the future more people will look to blogs for opinions on businesses before they even consider doing business with them. That is why as a wedding cake designer I like to check what, if anything, is said about my company on the blogs because people's opinions matter before they open their wallets to you. It can be the difference between a sale or no sale. The use of blogs and wikis continue to evolve. I feel that blogs will continue to grow as a tool for consumer decision making. I think that wikis will grow as a tool for people to gather information from. Wikis are very influential including Wikipedia and Wikileaks (I just saw the commercial for the upcoming movie and it looks intriguing).
What is a blog? As defined on Wikipedia, A blog (a contraction of the words web log)[1] is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject. What is a wiki? Wiki.org defines wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Inspired by Apple's HyperCard programming environment, the first wiki software was created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham as a way to manage the Portland Pattern Repository's site content. Named after wiki-wiki, the Hawaiian word for quick, wikis are essentially Web pages that anyone — or at least anyone with permission — can create or edit. http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/167600331?pgno=1
A blog is an online diary and a wiki is a collaboration software tool. A blog is usually started by an individual and is edited by that individual. The blogger makes posts and allows other individuals to make comments on the posts. The blog does not allow other viewers the opportunity to edit the post of the blogger. Blog commenters can be more anonymous than on a wiki. A wiki is used for collaborative projects. A blog is used more for the expression of one's self. In a wiki there are a set of rules that have to be adhered to. A blog is used to post opinions on. In a wiki the validity of the information to be posted is usually agreed upon before the wiki is started. This is monitored. Changes to a wiki are usually monitored by experts in that field.
In the article in Informationweek "How To Use Wikis for Business", "In June, the Los Angeles Times created a wiki that it hoped would focus on the war in Iraq. The editors wrote an opinion piece entitled "War and Consequences" and invited anyone who cared to rewrite the editorial to take their best shot. Unfortunately, the denizens of the Internet saw fit to spam the "wikitorial" with porn and profanity, and after three days of maintenance hell, the newspaper took it down. " The article also stated "The real problem with the "wikitorial" was that the Times sent a wiki to do a blog's job." This meant that the Los Angeles Times used the wrong tool for what they were attempting. They should have used a blog if they wanted people to post their opinions on a topic and not facts. Blogs can work in business especially for Wal-Mart. In the article "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog", Wal-Mart, "
The result is an intensely personal window into the lives, preferences and quirks of the powerful tastemakers at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, who have spent years shielded from public view.
Their decisions about what makes it onto Wal-Mart’s shelves have enormous impact, earning (or costing) vendors millions of dollars. It was a blogger on the Check Out, after all, who first disclosed last month that Wal-Mart would stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format, rather than the rival HD DVD system. The decision was considered the death knell for HD DVD. " This shows how useful a blog can be in business. It is the opinions of the consumers that made decisions about products. Using wiki instead of a blog would not have worked for Wal-Mart. In this way, the blog was collaborative. The blog allowed for people with various opinions to help with deciding what products would be worth putting on the shelves in the stores. This type of blogging is very helpful to us today. For example when I used to buy toys for my kids for Christmas in the 1990's I used to have to rely on a consumer magazine report for my information. It usually only listed a limited amount of toys and the safety of it. Today when I buy toys or electronics for my kids all I have to do is go to the internet and find a blog about that particular product. I don't want to just find out about the toy company which I could probably find in a company wiki but I want to find out the opinion of other consumers before I buy it. Thus the collaborative community does continue with the blog. I think that in the future more people will look to blogs for opinions on businesses before they even consider doing business with them. That is why as a wedding cake designer I like to check what, if anything, is said about my company on the blogs because people's opinions matter before they open their wallets to you. It can be the difference between a sale or no sale. The use of blogs and wikis continue to evolve. I feel that blogs will continue to grow as a tool for consumer decision making. I think that wikis will grow as a tool for people to gather information from. Wikis are very influential including Wikipedia and Wikileaks (I just saw the commercial for the upcoming movie and it looks intriguing).
Monday, September 16, 2013
The Digital Divide
Definition of digital divide (n)
dig·i·tal di·vide
- inequality of access to information technology: the difference in opportunities available to people who have access to modern information technology and those who do not
My project is going to be on the digital divide. I will be exploring the division between those that have access to technology and those that do not when it comes to various aspects of life. I will be exploring the digital divide in education, the digital divide between the people of different ages (younger generations versus the older generations). I would also like to explore the digital divide among our society (the poorer versus the richer).
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