Creativity and New Media

I created an account on Second Life and played for hours!

I was confused at first with what to do, but after some time I let my creativity take me and just traveled the "world". It was amazing that I could just think of a location and immediately be there and be able to look around, I felt like I was truly there. I see why many people say this game is dangerous because you can become so fully immersed that you lose track of time in the real world. I'll definitely be looking up tutorials on how to build in the game and continue to let my imagination drive me anywhere and everywhere in the game!

Creativity

In recent years, YouTube has played a central role in fostering the creativity of individuals who wouldn't have the opportunity to share their ideas otherwise. Anyone can launch their own YouTube channel and potentially become a star without the help of traditional Hollywood agents or studios. These people are also incentivized to be more creative because YouTube allows them to monetize their videos. YouTube also opens their doors to creators, who have ideas for movies or shows, and allows them to pitch these ideas for an investment and platform to air the show on YouTube Red. Due to all of these factors YouTube's traffic has substantially increased as stated in the article "YouTube Traffic Characterization: A View From the Edge". There are so many people putting themselves out there and, personally, since I was young, I have been glued to my computer watching YouTube videos, and it has been astonishing watching the evolution of the type of content uploaded unto YouTube.

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REFERENCES
1. Gill, Phillipa, et al. “Youtube Traffic Characterization.” Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCOMM Conference on Internet Measurement - IMC 07, 2007, doi:10.1145/1298306.1298310.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is a console-based simulated reality that allows individuals to explore or participate in activities using an avatar. Virtual worlds are commonly used for gaming, but have recently expanded to new areas such as medicine and education. In the article "Avatar II: The Hospital," it is stated that in health-care facilities nurses are using virtual worlds for training in emergencies. This gives them training in a more cost-efficient way than getting actors or dolls for drills. Also, in the article "The Virtual World Moves into the Classroom," the author reports on schools using virtual worlds on students to help them learn in a more interactive way. These students learn about current events, history and science using virtual worlds, and this helped them experience what they are learning about. These are also examples of how virtual worlds foster creativity, the teachers are using these new technologies to elevate their students' experiences, the nurses have the ability to retry scenarios and find new ways to handle high-risk situations, and gamers are usually allowed to create their own world and do things in games they didn't think they could otherwise do. Fostering creativity, ability to improve experiences, training programs, etc. are all advantages for virtual worlds. On the other hand, there are some disadvantages such as the hardship developers have when creating a high-quality game or program, software failures, lagging tracking systems, high-cost of purchasing a virtual world-based game or program, limited access, and aiding to technology-dependency. However, these problems would most likely be solved or ignored in the future, and virtual worlds will continue to expand and grow. In the future, virtual worlds are going to be seen as an ultimate escape from day-to-day life.
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REFERENCES
1. Simon, Stephanie. “Avatar II: The Hospital.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 13 Apr. 2010, www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204
2. “The Virtual World Moves into the Classroom.” Reporter Newspapers, 12 Sept. 2018, www.reporternewspapers.net/2018/09/14/the-virtual-world-moves-into-the-classroom/.

Blog About Twitter

A Twitter discussion is less formal than a blackboard discussion and it also seems faster. The character limit makes things quick and concise. The hashtag makes it easy to look for the discussion, read all the responses quickly, and respond to those that compel you. However in Blackboard discussion boards, there is no character limit so people choose to write paragraph-style responses. Additionally, you have to click onto certain threads in order to respond to someone making it slower and not as readily accessible. In terms of an in-class discussion, Twitter offers those who are otherwise shy a way to respond without having to speak in front of a large crowd. It does however lack some of the fundamental parts of person-to-person discussion where you can immediate reactions and have the ability to use mannerisms/tone to properly deliver your message.

Social Networking Sites

When looking over the different social networking sites, I visited Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. All of these sites allow individuals to connect and interact with each other. However, to me there were differences in the goal of each platform. Facebook's goal seems to be to connect and look for friends or groups. Twitter's goal is to engage people with each other in a concise and fast way. Snapchat's goal is more private with messaging and pictures for specific friends. Instagram's goal is similar to Facebook but it is mainly about posting pictures with a caption, and geared towards creative photography. Each site has their own unique features as well, such as the disappearing pictures in Snapchat, that contributes to their goal.

Social Networking

Social media is a new media platform that allows users to connect with their friends, relatives, celebrities, and browse the news. Social media has also recently allowed cooperations to advertise and sell goods. According to Facebook for Business: Everything You Need to Know, "small businesses can use Facebook in a number of ways to promote services, increase customer support and boost recognition." Therefore, social media is beneficial both for personal reasons and business reasons, but it does have its downsides. Social media is causing individuals to become more reclusive, anti-social, and have a tendency towards social anxiety. In Antisocial Networking,  there is a discussion about how social media makes children more antisocial because "the quality of their interactions is being diminished without the intimacy and emotional give and take of regular, extended face-to-face time." Additionally, social media is giving a rise to scamming businesses that do not ship items after receiving payment. An example of this is discussed in "NBC2 Investigators: Multi-million dollar scam being used on Facebook," where scammers advertise vehicles for sale, ask for a fast transaction, and don't respond after they receive the payment.  So, social media does has its advantages and disadvantages, but I do personally believe that it is a powerful tool that, when used correctly, benefits society as a whole.

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REFERENCES
1. Stout, Hilary. “Antisocial Networking?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Apr. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html.
2. “NBC2 Investigators: Multi-Million Dollar Scam Being Used on Facebook.” NBC2 News, www.nbc-2.com/story/38062070/nbc2-investigators-multi-million-dollar-scam-being-used-on-facebook.
3. Driver, Saige. “Facebook for Business: Everything You Need to Know.” Business News Daily, 30 Jan. 2019, www.businessnewsdaily.com/7761-facebook-business-guide.html.