Creativity and New Media

I created an animated GIF - a short three second image of nonstop repetition as my example of how new media fosters creativity. This short animation depicts me in the background with a supernatural power to warp and phase objects into and out of existence. I used the new media technologies known as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash to tie and edit images together as well as create motion tweens or moving parts. My inspiration of this came from watching "Naruto," well regarded as a top anime, in which a character by the name of Kakashi, yields a similar ability.

Creativity

Creativity is the phenomenon to transcend from traditional methodologies to create something new. The term "New Media" revolves around this notion- creativity, one of the 5 C's. New media makes leeway for creativity because it allows anyone for their personal space. New technology enables users to entitle their own private place in which ideas, thoughts and feelings are spilled. Like with everything that comes brand new, there's always a brainstorming process involved, and this is where those ideas and thoughts conjure up to new levels of creativity. Media outlets such as YouTube allows users to create their own videos and share it with the world. Blogs allow for individuality in which  users can create their own journal. Editing programs such as Audacity allow creativity in the musics and audio field. Photoshop allows users to be creative in arts and create limitless forms of images. Campaign Editors and Creation Kits allow users to code their own games as well as make their own additions and addons to games. These forms of new media fosters creativity because it allows people to create from scratch; from nothing to something- zero to hero. If you wanted to build a house, you would need a foundation; some sort of architectural design along with starting materials to work with. But with New Media, you can create without any physical wares. According to Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?, Brooks Barnes state that through the advantages of spreading awareness and popularity within new media, companies allow users to use their products to create something new. Such as in the case with Disney, they decided not to hold copyright claims to the mashups created by users who used their characters because it ultimately generates new forms of creativity as well as market their company's name.

Virtual Worlds

A Virtual World is a platform simulated environment. A video game is perhaps the best example of a virtual reality. Some of the most popular virtual worlds are MMORPG's or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, such as World of Warcraft or Minecraft. Although not all video games are a simulation of a realistic environment, such as Pac Man or Tetris, they too can be seen as a virtual reality. The player immerses themselves into a reality that does not exist in a physical medium, but rather from pixels on a glass screen. And better yet, a virtual world does not have to come in the form of a video game; such as helicopter simulations.

Virtual worlds can be utilized in many different ways, not just for entertainment purposes. In Stephanie Simon's article Avatar II: The Hospital, young professionals are exposed to a different type of training. Future doctors and nurses are put into a simulated virtual world, an event is then triggered, and from here, the participants will witness a somewhat first handed experience. They can now use their own judgement to alleviate the situation to the best of their abilities. This "fire drill" technique gives future employees  a chance to be more well equipped if a situation like this were to occur in real life. Instead of having to adapt on the fly and commit major mistakes, workers can be more prepared.

The pros of virtual worlds are limitless: it promotes innovation, socially connects the community together, envisions learning, strives as a source of entertainment, trains our muscle memories and much more! As the world is gearing towards a more and more new social media revolved atmosphere, children are being more and more exposed to virtual worlds. In the article  After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?, Diane Mehta mentions that the world renowned virtual reality "Minecraft" is a place that fosters creativity. Users aren't just interacting with one another, they are looking into boundless possibilities of constructing new designs. It is a virtual world that encompasses creativity at its finest- starting with just pixel Lego blocks, players create their own realm of architectural fantasies.

Of course, nothing comes without drawbacks. Cons of virtual worlds include the many recent events and ongoing incidents of massive obsessions and extreme levels of addiction. There have been too many cases in which people can not control themselves and get in the way of harming others because these virtual worlds were taken from them. Teenagers murdering their parents because they took away an XBOX gaming console, etc... If people knew their limitations on how far they go and use some self control on their addictions, then virtual world would not have such a negative light shed upon it.

I believe that virtual world is going to achieve new heights in the near future. Virtual reality and 3D reality might become the next big thing; where a user wears a device and sees, tastes, smells, hears and feels through a different dimension. They will literally be immersed in another world, with the device "hypnotizing" their observable senses and perception of what's reality and what's not. Google glass is somewhat the first level of this virtual reality, although they are still in the early development stages.

About Twitter

Twitter is a widely used social networking media that focuses on titles, subtitles and short replies. In my opinion, I think that Twitter is for social purposes, and less on the academic side. There's a bit too much clutter and advertisements that can be way too distracting for a learning environment. Blackboard on the other hand might be a bit more learning friendly. It is straightforward and replies can be posted just as fast as tweets. The down side for a Blackboard discussion is that students would have to manually refresh their webpage every now so often in order to keep up with the most recently added comments on the discussion board. Whereas Twitter, it is manually updated with live information and replies. Another negativity about Twitter is that you are limited to 140 characters per post- that is about two sentences in length. Having a discussion would be difficult if people had to split up their thoughts and post several times back to back in order to voice their opinion. And if another student were to interrupt the flow in between posts with his posts, then it would be hectic to organize posts accordingly. And there is no way to know when someone is about to submit a post.

In class discussions might be the best option in terms of education; I mean, what are schools for right? There's less distraction; getting side tracked on the internet is extremely easy- it's literally a click away. Student activity can be monitored by a teacher, and there wouldn't be students interrupting one another. Some positive aspects about online teaching is that time restraints and meeting areas are a lot more lenient. And perhaps the most influential factor is that the internet is just a click away if you need any fast research on a topic you're unfamiliar with.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook vs.Twitter vs. Instagram vs. Reddit.

Facebook is perhaps the most well known and most versatile social networking application in the world. It provides users with almost all functions other social networking websites use. The primary functions of Facebook are communication and information sharing. Users can post written diary like entries on their personal homepage and friends are allowed to read and comment on it. Users can also link pictures or videos onto their posts. Facebook also allows users to speak to each other, either one on one chatting, or group chatting sessions.

Twitter might be the second most used social networking application in contemporary days. The difference between Facebook is that Twitter is the "short" blog. Each post you submit on Twitter is very brief and short, almost like a summarized version of your thoughts. You're basically writing the title and subtitles of a novel; and maybe one word you might use to describe it. Twitter is famous for the term "hashtag" or another way of saying, re-post this and share it with the world.

Instagram is the even "shorter" blog. Each post you submit is just a picture's length. There are no written words on your post besides a caption for your picture, and of course other people's comments. Instagram emphasizes on the saying: "A picture is worth more than a thousand words."

Reddit is a website who's popularity that has recently emerged from the social networking market. It is a mixture of all three Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Users can submit a post with a picture, or just a subtitle and readers can comment on it. One interesting feature that it offers is the voting system. Posts that recessives the most votes for the day is shown on the front page of the website.

In general, social networking applications are for "socializing" with other people on the internet. All four social networking websites offer practically the same service; communication and information sharing- a user brings something to light, another user gives feedback. One very important aspect social networking websites bring upon is publicity and rising awareness. All big named social networking websites are linked to thousands of other websites in one way or another. Almost every content available online has some sort of share button option, allowing users to link that specific content onto their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit posts, etc... This is an extremely effective way to bring attention and spread the word about an issue; whether it's a recent global incident or for commercial advertising uses. An example of this is Twitter's iconic "hashtag," in which users use the "#" symbol in front of their post to publicize it; and if enough people hashtag the same thing, then it will go viral.

Social Networking

Social networking is the process of communication in order to meet and establish somewhat of a connection between other people. In today's day and age, social networking revolves around social media; forming a new bonds and relationship with someone is embraced by new media and the applications with the internet.

Social networking technology can be used in many ways. One is for personal use, such as creating a personal blog or twitter to rant out your thoughts and opinions. Another is to expand your network of connections, Linkedin and Monster are some examples of professional uses of social networking. Those who want to pursue their career can list themselves on the "bulletin board" and those who seek potential employees can browse for open candidates. Not only are social networking technologies beneficial in a personal space, but large corporations also utilize them. In the article Why is Nissan Mimicking MySpace? Nissan launched a social networking website called N-Square, in promises to achieve more by lessening the gap between communication. Such a tool allows employees to make suggestions, comments and give advice to co-workers.

Like many great utilities, social networking comes with many drawbacks as well. The "dark side" to social networking is not one that can simply be ignored. In the article Antisocial Networking, Stout points out a couple of maleficent contributing factors of social networking. It is diminishing real life values of meeting other people face to face. One loses the capabilities to communicate effectively in person. Oral speech and shyness also poses as a negativity in social networking through new media. Cyber bullying is another aspect that is occurring more and more and it's not just simply hurt feelings; victims have committed mass murders and suicides because of insecurity and lack of self esteem hiding behind an invisible barrier- the internet anonymity. A lost of privacy also hosts as a threat to social networking. It is a two way encounter that can backfire on either side. Inside information has been leaked from large corporations countless times by hackers, identity theft, and online scamming schemes resulting from tracking social networking websites are just a handful possible outcomes. There have been many accounts in which employees were fired because personal social networking information get leaked to their employers.

Despite all the shortcomings, I believe social networking is beneficial to society as a whole. More voices are heard, there is a greater opportunity for everyone's "self label" to be seen by a wider audience (whether this is positive or not depends on the scenario). I think that social networking has already reached its pinnacle, that it can not evolve very much any further. Aside from a few tweaks here and there, what possible way is there to reduce the already short amount of time it takes to form a chat session across the world with a hundred different people? In the end, it will still rely on the internet. I think social networking has achieved its goal and hit its climax. After all, social networking is a form of reducing time it takes to reach an audience and in the end, it is just a way of communication. Unless we come up with some gadget that can be implanted into our brains and enable telepathy, communication can't get any faster.

Blogs vs. Wikis

In today's rapidly growing world of information technology, almost everyone is familiar with the terminologies "blogs" and "wikis," or at least heard of it. Both blogs and wikis are information exchange platforms. They are applications available on the internet for everyone; commercial uses, business uses and so forth.

The main difference between blogs and wikis is that blogs are somewhat of a an online diary; except anyone can read it. The author has complete control of his or her own "diary" blog, and chooses what goes on it, be it a picture, a piece of music, an excerpt from a book, a section from a news article, something he/she wrote in his/her own words- you name it. This creates an atmosphere of persona, and entices the sense of ones own color. People who read the blog are welcomed to share their opinions and thoughts, much like a forum, except the author again may choose which comments go and which ones stay. In today's networked world revolving around the internet, blogs promote a sense of convergence, that is people share similar tastes and preferences, characteristics, etc... People are opened to others reading their personal "diary" because of these similarities, and also the fact that the internet is anonymous.

Wiki's on the other hand is an online encyclopedia- a collection of information from various sources. Unlike a blog, a wiki has no central author in charge of what stays and what goes. A wiki is also more information based, and lacks personal opinion such as in a blog because it is an open source; you are not the only one telling your perspective. Everyone can contribute to a wiki- such as adding additional information or simply editing a current page. Sometimes information on wikis are incorrect and rarely do wikis host misleading information; that is because the community depends on the will of good faith, that the majority of contributors do not post unreliable information.

To put into analogy terms, blogs are like open classrooms- opinions are voiced and are usually less informative. Wikis are like libraries- information on just about everything. Both blogs and wikis are used for collaborative purposes, 

In the article Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid, police were able to detain the suspects of drug dealers in a timely manner due to community blogging. Through this collaborative effort, daily minuscule actions of common everyday bloggers led to action. Not only are blogs useful in the criminal and civil justice network, they also serve a purpose in the retailing industry. According to Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog, the general public gets a stab at both sides of the spectrum on the insiders of Wal-Mart. Employees and employers alike can give a glimpse of what their monthly sales and expectations are to come, while customers can rant about their likes and dislikes on products.

Tying blogs vs. wikis together, one suggestion of new wiki uses would be a musical wiki. To my extent, I don't believe there exists a wiki pertaining musical pieces, something along the lines of a musical library; or a place that holds titles for every piece of music for any entertainment content.