The past week, I have been exploring the virtual world of Second Life, and it has surprised me and brought about a new outlook on the functionality of Online worlds in my mind.
In the beginning, I found it strange and incredibly slow. I also had a big urge to close it and forget about it. However, my curiosity to figure out why people liked the game preserved.
I did research to learn more about Second Life and I chatted with the locals as well. Soon I found out that unlike other virtual worlds, in SL you can actually write code scripts, design objects and see your object come to life. Not only that, you can put it up for sale and watch with satisfaction as people buy up your designs and walk around with it. In Second Life, the sky's the limit in terms of imagination, as long as you can code it or design it, it's possible. As a CIS student learning C++ and other codes, the concept of it is just so amazing. And apparently, in Second Life, instead of C++ , they code in a madeup computer language called Linden language, where Linden is the name of the game company.
Also, there's no way that one can see all there is to see in SL in a lifetime. With users being able to code their own environments, there is so much to see. This is starting to sound like an advertisement for SL but the concept is revolutionary to me. But it isn't without it's shortcomings. Because content is user created, is isn't uncommon to come across Mature content or swindling. However, the problem I have the most with is that the SL, instead of doing the work on their servers, forces the user's computer to unpack and calculate all the physics of objects in the SL world. This makes loading incredibly slow, and often I have to wait 10 minutes for a few advertisements on a wall to finish loading. With so much to explore, it makes the waiting frustrating. Of course, a better computer with a better processor speed would help.
I still feel that it is worth the wait. And as of right now, since I have started writing this post, I am still patiently waiting for those advertisements to load.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds
Virtual Worlds can be used in a variety of ways. It really is a "virtual you" walking around in a virtual representation of reality. Quoting from the Naughty Auties Battle Autism with Virtual Interaction article, "For people with autism, we've found it's a very nice way of setting up situations they might come across in their everyday lives," Bignell said. "For people who have social, emotional, communicational problems ... we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life." Virtual Worlds are a great place with people who have trouble interacting with others in real life. Another way is that, companies that wish to have an online presence, can do that in virtual worlds like Second Life. There they can have a whole land and even buildings dedicated to their organization without the price that it takes to do so in real life.
Virtual Worlds benefit as shown above, people with disabilities, as well as companies that are trying to target the more tech savvy population.
However, one problem of this new technology is, it can become very addicting for people where they spend so much time on it that they start to lose the ability to socialize normally with people.
Another problem is listed in the article Toys with a Second Life in Business Week, "Indeed, Ganz has stumbled trying to cash in. In mid-December, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood noticed ads on Webkinz World for the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. More than 1,000 protest letters were sent to Ganz." Fear of influencing children at a young age is another conflict in the development of virtual worlds. However, this shouldn't be that much of a big deal since, televison is similar in the fact that it displays advertisements at young children as well. For this problem, it lies deeper than just in virtual worlds.
In the future, virtual worlds will become much more than just a flat image on your computer, the introduction of virtual reality where people will be able to walk around and everything will actually be like real life except it all takes place instead your mind and the device that is worn on your head.
Virtual Worlds benefit as shown above, people with disabilities, as well as companies that are trying to target the more tech savvy population.
However, one problem of this new technology is, it can become very addicting for people where they spend so much time on it that they start to lose the ability to socialize normally with people.
Another problem is listed in the article Toys with a Second Life in Business Week, "Indeed, Ganz has stumbled trying to cash in. In mid-December, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood noticed ads on Webkinz World for the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. More than 1,000 protest letters were sent to Ganz." Fear of influencing children at a young age is another conflict in the development of virtual worlds. However, this shouldn't be that much of a big deal since, televison is similar in the fact that it displays advertisements at young children as well. For this problem, it lies deeper than just in virtual worlds.
In the future, virtual worlds will become much more than just a flat image on your computer, the introduction of virtual reality where people will be able to walk around and everything will actually be like real life except it all takes place instead your mind and the device that is worn on your head.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Social Networking
Social Networking can be used in many different ways. One important point is the ability to share information with a whole network of individuals immediately. This can be very useful for corporations that want to advertise their service or products to a large group of people. Also it can be used to find other people that have similar tastes or interests. Lastly, another good way it can be used is as a database of job applicants if you are looking for someone to fill a job position at your company.
The benefits of social networking are huge. It helps connect people around the world and keep old contacts close. It also allows information to be shared with others in record time. In the article "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power" in the New York Times, Obama mentioned social networking benefits as having "tremendous communication capabilities and aggressive database development".
Unfortunately, social networking does have a "dark side". A negative aspect of it is that whatever is shared with others has a chance of coming back and hurting your reputation later. And also, the large amounts of time spent on it, decreases our social skills when talking to people in person. In the article "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum" in the New York Times, it says that social networks "offered them only a way to disclose information they shouldn’t disclose, collect hundreds of “friends” they didn’t know, and waste time better spent studying". There is good and bad to social networking. Also, it can become addictive to the point that more time is spent on it than conversing with others in real life.
In the future, I can see social networking as ascending from just a webpage or broadcasts on a cellphone. People will be able to send live holograms of themselves and sit down and have coffee with people across the globe.
The benefits of social networking are huge. It helps connect people around the world and keep old contacts close. It also allows information to be shared with others in record time. In the article "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power" in the New York Times, Obama mentioned social networking benefits as having "tremendous communication capabilities and aggressive database development".
Unfortunately, social networking does have a "dark side". A negative aspect of it is that whatever is shared with others has a chance of coming back and hurting your reputation later. And also, the large amounts of time spent on it, decreases our social skills when talking to people in person. In the article "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum" in the New York Times, it says that social networks "offered them only a way to disclose information they shouldn’t disclose, collect hundreds of “friends” they didn’t know, and waste time better spent studying". There is good and bad to social networking. Also, it can become addictive to the point that more time is spent on it than conversing with others in real life.
In the future, I can see social networking as ascending from just a webpage or broadcasts on a cellphone. People will be able to send live holograms of themselves and sit down and have coffee with people across the globe.
My New Media Class so far
What kinds of technologies are part of the new media?
Wikipedia, social networking, virtual worlds, blogs etc.
How important is the Internet to the new media? Why and how are the new media replacing and / or enhancing the old media?
Most of the new media recently have emerged from the internet itself, so the Internet is vital to the production of new media as well as the continuation of the existing new media.
In the article "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid" in the New York Times, it said "a core group of seven people who met through the blog brought the case to the attention of the community board and met with the authorities. “A group of people who did not know each other came together and traded information,” he said." As you can see from this quote and if you read the rest of the article, blogs in some cases have replaced telephones and email as a medium of information sharing. In a century where information can be accessed and shared in seconds, telephones and email have been put on the backburner.
Another example, in "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power" in the New York Times, it said "by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans." From this quote it is evident that Obama used social networking to his advantage. By utilizing new media, he did something different from previous candidates that relied on the old media strategy with telephones and email. Obama turned towards new media, specifically social networking to reach out to America.
Wikipedia, social networking, virtual worlds, blogs etc.
How important is the Internet to the new media? Why and how are the new media replacing and / or enhancing the old media?
Most of the new media recently have emerged from the internet itself, so the Internet is vital to the production of new media as well as the continuation of the existing new media.
In the article "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid" in the New York Times, it said "a core group of seven people who met through the blog brought the case to the attention of the community board and met with the authorities. “A group of people who did not know each other came together and traded information,” he said." As you can see from this quote and if you read the rest of the article, blogs in some cases have replaced telephones and email as a medium of information sharing. In a century where information can be accessed and shared in seconds, telephones and email have been put on the backburner.
Another example, in "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power" in the New York Times, it said "by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans." From this quote it is evident that Obama used social networking to his advantage. By utilizing new media, he did something different from previous candidates that relied on the old media strategy with telephones and email. Obama turned towards new media, specifically social networking to reach out to America.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Exploring Social Networking Sites
Before this assignment I was already an avid user of Facebook and maybe I'm partial to it but I still found it to be the best of the four sites I visited.
To me, as I signed up and logged into Friendster, I already had the notion that it was an outdated social networking site that the older generation used, such as professors, no offense. Whether or not it is true, I couldn't shake off the idea when I was browsing through the site. I found it bland.
MySpace on the other hand, felt too cluttered with advertisements and it distracted me.
Tagged was simplistic but user friendly. However, when I had it for a few weeks I began to notice that it had become more like a online dating site/search engine. More overseas students and people used it than Americans.
In retrospect, a big factor in how much you feel towards a social networking site, is determined by how many of your friends are on it. User interaction is important for these sites.
And that is probably why I still stick with Facebook in the end.
To me, as I signed up and logged into Friendster, I already had the notion that it was an outdated social networking site that the older generation used, such as professors, no offense. Whether or not it is true, I couldn't shake off the idea when I was browsing through the site. I found it bland.
MySpace on the other hand, felt too cluttered with advertisements and it distracted me.
Tagged was simplistic but user friendly. However, when I had it for a few weeks I began to notice that it had become more like a online dating site/search engine. More overseas students and people used it than Americans.
In retrospect, a big factor in how much you feel towards a social networking site, is determined by how many of your friends are on it. User interaction is important for these sites.
And that is probably why I still stick with Facebook in the end.
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