Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

The virtual world relates to the life on the internet. In the virtual world, people can engage on activities that they won't be able to do so physically in real life. It's basically another dimension created online where users control and take in the form of avatars. So far I've seen virtual worlds used  mostly for gaming but I'm sure there are other useful uses for it.

The pros of the virtual world are staggering. People are able to do things they can't do in reality. In video games characters can fly, drive nice cars, live wealthy and more. The virtual world is the ideal world people want to live in. Besides being fun, the virtual world can help professionally. According to the article, "Going to the virtual office in Second Life," the computer company, IBM created a virtual office where it "allows businesses to share ideas and collaborate in a 3D world" (Tutton). Workers are able to communicate and share their ideas online even if they're miles apart.

The cons may include, focusing more on the virtual world and less on what is actually real. For example, according to the article, "I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life," by Dave Itzkoff, he mentions that it took him months to create a virtual world of the Lower East Side even though he could experience the world outside himself. In the virtual world he was able to go to a cafe/music club that was too packed and crowded. Instead, he spends hours on his website living the virtual world. He's using the virtual world in replacement of real life. Besides reality confusion, another aspect that isn't as ideal is cyber bullying. Users create false accounts that are used to orally harm another behind the screen. It's pitiful but people do it anyways just for the heck of it.

The virtual world can definitely foster creativity. The people of IT and developers can use their skills to create a world where everyone can enjoy. It creates team collaboration, where developers work together to design an ideal world. In "Going to the virtual office in Second Life," IBM was able to create a world made for sharing ideas and communicating conveniently. In "I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life," Dave was able to create a world to his liking. He was able to experience things he wouldn't be able to experience and enjoy in reality. Creating the virtual world stimulates one's brain to creatively construct the perfect world.

The future of virtual worlds seems to be successful. Since our society is so technology oriented, it's no surprise that one day virtual worlds would be of great benefit to us. I've heard about e-malls where people can shop online more conveniently. There's a program where the mall is in 2-D diagrams and customers are able to shop in the mall as if they were actually there. Maybe in the near future, businesses will operate in the virtual world like the virtual office in second life but more developed.

Works Cited
Itzkoff, D. (2008, January 5). I've Been In That Club, Just Not In Real Life. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html?_r=0

Tutton, M. (2009, November 9). Going to the virtual office in Second Life. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html

Social Networking Sites

There are a variety of social networking sites out there. A few that our community currently uses is Myspace, Facebook,  Instagram, and Twitter. Myspace is one of the first social networking sites that people were hooked onto. Back in the day when I was still using it, I connected with my friends and listened to good music. But after Facebook took over, Myspace has just been abandoned. Currently, Myspace has a new look and is solely based on a music background. There are features for songs, music videos, radio and artists to follow. It has a new and vibrant look but most of it's fans have moved onto to the next big thing which is Facebook.

Facebook is currently one of the most famous and most used website for social networking. People use it for online communication, interaction and connection with friends. It also features news feeds updates of people's daily lives, shared links of entertainment videos, and shared pictures people post. Now with a convenient app that Facebook created, users can connect with others through their mobile devices. The app makes it so much more convenient and easier to access the site instantly. People can check their statues and account every second if they have their notification enabled.

Instagram on the other hand. started off as an app made for sharing photos only but recently become more popular when users were able to share videos as well. Instagram is a great site where people can share a moment of their life with just a click of a button. Users are also able to make comments on the pictures or videos. Another great feature is the like button, all the user has to do is double tap the picture and it will be marked as like. This site is great to use with friends and family when a great moment is captured and is worthy to share.

Twitter is a site mainly for status updates. Users are limited to only 140 characters. One of the main features that is very popular on Twitter are hashtags. People would literately hashtag any word or sentence they can. Whether it's #eating or #working, there would be a hashtag with the word. Another feature for twitter is the follow button. Users can follow anyone they can, whether it's family, friends or even a celebrity. After they click the follow button, the user will get updates on their news feed of whoever they follow. Nevertheless, Twitter is one site where people can express their thoughts and be updated on other people's lives.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter differentiates from Blackboard discussions in many ways. Twitter is both convenient and easy to access. It has a limit of 140 characters and people from all around the world can see what one has posted. There are notifications when someone replies to a tweet since there's an app created for twitter for east access. Blackboard has none of those features. It is not easy to access since there is no app for it and there is no live update to know if someone replied on a comment. But one good thing about Blackboard discussions is that there is no limit on how much one can type for a post. Nonetheless, both  Blackboard discussions and Twitter are both great places people can share thoughts and relate to one another.

What's different about Twitter and in-class discussions is quite simply. Twitter is used online where as in-class discussions is face to face interaction. But of course, one big difference between the two is that with Twitter, people from all around the world can make comments on the tweets when shared to the public. But one can say, in-class discussions are more intense when one has to criticize the person in the same room and at the spot without given much time to think.

Social Networking

Social networking websites has been around for years. Currently the popular ones are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and blogs. One of the many benefits to these social networking technologies is that people are able to stay connected with each other even if they're miles apart. Besides helping distant family and friends staying updated with each other, the social networking technology can help people access employers for a chance of recruitment. One well known website current used for job recruitment is LinkedIn. The benefit of this website is that, not only those in search of a job can use it but also employers can select the people they want to employ by looking at their uploaded résumé. According to "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting," Langfitt states that there are "8 million professionals spread across the world" who uses LinkedIn and with a click of a button the recruiter can find high quality candidates they won't find anywhere else. Alfred LaSpina was hired as a product marketing manager by a company called Osram Sylvania as a result of making an account on LinkedIn. The recruiter was able to view his profile and background information and decided he was the right fit for the job. Thus social networking websites has benefited job hunters and recruiters by allowing one another to look for the right candidates for the job from a span of selection from around the world.

Although these technologies may be beneficial, there is a "dark side" to it. With social networking websites being so convenient to communicate with others, people abuse the power of the internet by using it for cyber bullying. According to "They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites" by Jeffrey R. Young, there are "abusive, harmful, and embarrassing personal attacks on high-school-aged children." People would comment anonymously about their classmates and make false accusations about them. The classmate would talk trash about another through a school form used for news updates. It is hard to control cyber bullying with users being able to create fake accounts and comment anonymously on the internet but there are ways to track down the user with the help from government officials.

Undoubtedly, these technologies will eventually evolve in the future. With technology advancing every year, it isn't surprising that these technologies will someday impact our world significantly. In comparison to apps we use everyday on our phones, there will always be an update. Maybe someday, social networks will come to the stage where people would no longer speak face to face any more. People would rely on the internet so much that they might eventually replace face to face conversations. Who knows what might become of the future. With so much technology being created and impacting our daily lives, it's hard to tell what's to come next. 

Works Cited
Langfitt, Frank. "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Young, Jeffery R. "They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites." Chronicle, Web. 05 Oct. 2014

Blog v Wiki

With the internet being used dominantly in society, people rely on websites such as blogs or wikis as a source of information. The difference between blogs from wiki is that blogs are written in a journal format and others are able to comment on it but only the user can edit it. Whereas wikis are just information posted by a user and set to public where anyone is allowed to edit the post. Blogs usually consists mostly of personal opinions rather than facts or information. Blogs and wikis are similar in which both are places where people can publicly provide information to others. But sometimes wikis can't be trusted since there are anonymous users who can just publish whatever they want without having a credible source. Nonetheless, blogs and wikis are both websites where people are able to express their thoughts and share their knowledge with others.

Convergence definitely impacted our world today. With so many people sharing their stories on social media, it's what helps bring opposite ends together and form commonality among groups. On the other hand, collaboration refers to the cooperation with another person in order to produce something. As people share stories with others, it unintentionally helped with crime fighting. There's an example given by New York Times publisher Michael Wilson in "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drugs Raid," about how blogging helped police officers solve drug raid cases. Bloggers described their neighborhood surroundings about suspicious drug related activities which cops read about and investigated. Later on it lead to the arrest of several drug dealers. Due to bloggers blogging about reoccurring suspicious drug-related events in their neighborhood, police officials were able to make several arrests and solve the case.

With wikis being so widely used, it's not surprising that wikis might one day evolve into bettering companies. According to "How to Use Wiki for Business" by Ezra Goodnoe, "Wikis can centralize all types of corporate data, such as spreadsheets, Word documents, PowerPoint slides, PDFs — anything that can be displayed in a browser." With wiki being able to operate with these types of files, all companies will one day use wiki for collaborate with other businesses and manage or share their business files online. A new way people can use Wiki for is to work on company projects with their co-workers. Since wiki is able to support various file types, the co-workers can all share a file on wiki and edit it together. Wiki's useful functions might one day just impact our world in social networking.

Works Cited
"Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid." New York Times., 26 June. 2008. Web. 29 Sept. 2014 "How To Use Wikis For Business." InformationWeek. N.p., 8 Aug. 2005. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

Social Networking: Better or Worst than the Real Thing?

Social networking has become the dominant form of communication amongst individuals and groups nowadays. With so many social networking services being designed, its not hard for people to keep in touch with each other. These services brings people together through communication over the internet. These services not only allow people to communicate with each other but it also builds relations by connecting those who share the same interest, profession or even mutual friends. Social networking has made a huge impact in history by allowing the impossible to happen. Who would have known that such an innovation would allow friends and family to be even closer to each other even though they could be miles away. These services even allows businesses to reach out and learn more about their potential customers. Allowing communication is just one of the benefits to social networking. There's a lot more to it.