Creativity and New Media

In one of my classes my teacher asked us to make groups of 4 and choose a leader. we thought that we could make it interesting and go above and beyond. We asked if we could make a youtube video expressing why we thought each of us are suitable candidates for being the leader of the group and come to a unanimous decision at the end for who we believed would be the best leader. The video was 30 minutes each with all four of us giving our reasons as well as our experience in a leadership position prior to the recording of the video or even experience that is still continued today. When it came time I was not chosen to be the leader but the person we choose was a suitable candidate. Once the recording of the video was finished I would go to youtube to upload the video and make sure that it was only visible with the link to the video. Then I would email the professor the link to the video. I feel like what we did was creative since we dint have to go and do it we could've just picked someone at random like how most of these types of situations go and let the professor know who we choose. We felt like we could be creative and standout among all the other groups and students by dong something different from everyone else and use youtube as the platform to accomplish it.

HW Creativity

When we think of creativity we usually think that its is doing or making something on your own without the use of something else. When you think about it creativity can be anything and everything that happens around us because everyone is different so there isn't a clear definition of creativity because it is based on how everyone see's it. In this day and age everyone is using a form of new media to create something like on youtube or in music like it states here in an article by The New Yorker called The New Math Mash Up "Mashups find new uses for current digital technology, a new iteration of the cause-and-effect relationship behind almost every change in pop-music aesthetics: the gear changes, and then the music does." When we see something like this new media brings about a different form of creativity by expanding on something that has already been around, or even make something new from it that may not have been able to be done. In other words new media has expanded the the range of what you can do with your creativity so you don't have to start from the bottom and you have a base to begin with. Now there are many mashups of current songs being made every time a new song comes out and sometimes these mashups are liked more than that of the original and I am one of those individuals since the mashup connects to me more. So creativity has be expanded since new media has been apart of it and helped others to express themselves more than the could've without these certain programs being introduced.



The New Math of Mashups from The New Yorker Magazine - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/01/10/1-1-1-1

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

There is more than one way to interact with people than just meeting someone face-to-face or through social networking sites. The other way is through virtual worlds where people can create an avatar that represents them. Some ways that virtual worlds can be used are by communicating with other people in these worlds. You can also have fun like in Minecraft and make friends and build different structures in the world. You can also use it as a stress tool or a social tool for children with special needs as it states in the article Naughty Auties by Forbes “One benefit is that visitors can practice social interaction and find information about the condition.” When you see all that can be done with virtual worlds you can only think what are the pros and cons associated with them. The pros that can be seen are that they help those that have trouble with social interaction by giving them a platform to interact in the comfort of their own home. Another pro can be that in education these virtual worlds can be used to create projects and work together as a group. One of the best pro of the virtual world is that people can have a sense of belonging and be able to feel like they aren’t alone like they might feel in real life as stated in the article After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot by CNN “Virtual worlds can give us social connectivity, built-in support groups, and ways to avoid ever being alone again.” Some cons that can be seen here are that bullies can still find their way to these virtual worlds and hurt those individuals more by taking away something that might be an escape for them. Another con could be that the technology itself may not be perfected and may not be responsive or work which may affect the people using these worlds to help them interact more and to cope with stressful problems in their lives. The thing with virtual worlds is that they help foster creativity because people feel more open to express themselves here. People are more open in virtual worlds because no one would know who they are so they can truly be themselves without the judgment of the status quo. Also with the advancement of technology what they imagine can come to life no matter how crazy the idea it can be expressed without judgement and would attract others with the same thoughts and ideas resulting in possible friendships. The future of virtual worlds I believe will grow significantly especially since many companies are investing quite the amount of money into virtual reality.

Blog about Twitter

I would think that a Twitter discussion in comparison to any other type of discussion method would be quite distracting. When you think about it more it seems like students would be more attentive since we're always on our phones. The other argument for that would be students would get distracted from what is on their feed by hopping back and forth from the class discussion to new posts on their feed. When compared to a Blackboard discussion twitter is more reliable since you get notified about everything in relation to what you're doing. When you are mentioned you get notified, if someone replies you get notified, etc. Whereas in a Blackboard discussion you can only see what someone replies when you go and check, which might not be as frequent as the one hopes to actually have a discussion. When you compare these two options to an in-class discussion this is the best option. This form of discussion allows for the students to be more engaging since it is something they're are used to. In addition, the discussion can move more quickly since everything is obviously happening in person rather than waiting for someone to respond you can just say it and someone can comment right away on it. When I think about it I feel that an in-class discussion is better since those are the only types of classes I've been in and are used to, but the upside to the other forms of discussion is you can have them at a time that fits your schedule rather than having to only have it in a classroom environment.

Blog: Social Networking Sites

When I think about social networking sites I usually think about Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. One of the other sites i use but not as much as the Facebook and Instagram is Pinterest. The thing about Facebook and Twitter is that the layout of both sites are quite similar. The color is the same its just that the shade of blue is different for both. Other than that I don't really see a difference between the two. There are obviously small difference between them like when you want to mention someone on Twitter you put the "@" sign and then the name, whereas on Facebook you can just put the name and wait to see if they're name comes up to tag them. Instagram is similar to Facebook and Twitter except it is a lot more simple. Instagram just has the one feed with the people and pages you follow. It also has a "Find" page with posts that are similar to that of the posts on your feed. Other than the basic features including direct messaging Instagram seems to be the more simple Social networking site since they don't have all the the things Facebook and Twitter have. Pinterest is interesting in that it give you the option to work with people on projects and create something that you wouldn't on the other sites. Also Pinterest is like an open market of ideas that express who you are without judgment since it is other people who share similar interests with you and do what you do. Also Pinterest allows you to save those designs like you can save posts on Facebook. Being able to save a post on Pinterest allows you to be able to see an idea of someone else that resonates with you and try to recreate it with your personal touch so to speak. In all fairness even though I see similarities between these social networking sites all of them are different in their own way and that is why certain people are pulled toward these sites. In the end regardless of the platform you use I believe these websites serve the same purpose of being able to express yourself to all that want to listen without any form of judgment.

Blog Social networking

The use of social networking can be used in many ways to help find a friend, find a place to eat, find a specific photo or location as stated in the article Facebook Search: Facebook adding search feature “Let users browse mainly photographs, people, places, and members’ interests.” In doing this people are able to connect more easily and find things in a breeze since everyone posts photos and so forth on Facebook and to find them you can search it up. There is also a corporate aspect to social networking where employers can find qualified candidates on the website LinkedIn as stated in the article Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting  “Typing keywords into a search engine, Crawford can scrape the entire network to dig out high-quality candidates that she can't find elsewhere.” Using this type of technology is very helpful and beneficial to all groups of people. These technologies can help someone reconnect with a long lost friend that moved away at a young age or even keep the relationship going if they move when you still know them. It is also beneficial for the job market since one it can give an individual seeking a job and interview since all the credentials are posted on the website, and it benefits the company since they were able to find that individual. Even with all of this there are always negatives to come with the growth of social networking. When Facebook started the search option it is possible that it led to people finding someone that they didn’t want to see in other words stalking could possibly happen. Also the possibility of finding someone to scam and take his or her money or anything else that would affect you negatively. I believe that eventually that LinkedIn will advance to the point where you will be able to take video calls for your interview rather than having to do it externally. Also for Facebook I believe that they can improve on certain privacy aspect since people can still be able to view photos and so forth that you post even of they aren’t your friend, and They have invested a lot of money into vr it would be pretty interesting if you could hang out with your friends through that technology from your house.

Facebook search: Facebook adding search feature- http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-15/news/chi-facebook-01152013_1_ceo-mark-zuckerberg-social-network-long-term-money-making-prospects

Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

BLOG: Blog v Wiki

          There’s a difference between blogs and wiki’s one being that one can be edited by outside people and the other cannot. Blogs are posted by people who want to voice their opinion and who wont be silenced since the post cannot be edited by an outside source. A Wiki is “ The simplest online database that could possibly work” as stated in the article InformationWeek- How to Use Wikis For Business. In other words it is a database that can be edited by any person or anyone with permission so there is a possibility of false information as well as accurate information. I believe that convergence in today’s networked world is very important because it makes us more interconnected with one another. With convergence information is brought about through different forms of technology like writers or advertisers produce things that would interest us like works of literature videos for advertising and so forth. Also there is a way to communicate with the writers with online blogs that they might have or live videos where you can chat with them and they respond and so forth. I would say a way that blogs can be used for collaboration would be like as explained in the article in The New York Times titled Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid here “Subjects over the last year or two veered away from apartment sales … and sounded more like rat-a-tat police reports.” As we see here it is explaining how ordinary worked together to be a source to help the police make a drug raid. That is a way blogs can be used for collaborative purposes. I think a new way of using wiki would be to do peer review of essays and certain students would receive permission to review the essay as a group.

InformationWeek- How to Use Wikis For Business- https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDoxZGQ4MDY2YmJiMmY1ZDY4

Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html