Creativity and New Media

For this blog, I decided to create a short video entitled, "I Love Delicacy", highlighting different foods I tried in a few countries.

The video is made with Adobe Spark, an online suite of applications that allows you to create an "storytelling" music album. It is a mashup containing the original photos and some animated effects, along with background music from the software.

Creativity

New technology fosters creativity through mashups. The ubiquity of the Internet and advances in technologies help create digitalization of traditional media into new online formats that are easily consumable and shareable by online users. With the ease of downloading, remixing, reproducing, and republishing, anyone can create content by combining multiple pieces of work from other sources. For instance, in the article, "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?", several users have created a parody of a rap song on YouTube that is based on popular Disney characters. It is a mashup because it is a music video, pieced together from snippets of animated shows along with cartoon characters doing the singing. The author noted that while there are potential copyright issues, Internet has generally tolerated parodies so far. This kind of mashup is made possible through digitalization of the original content, along with creativity of the consumers of media who also become content creators.

It is also important that through mashups, there is a convergence of user roles. A consumer of news can also be a contributor in online media. In the article, "User-generated visibility: Secondary gatekeeping in a shared media space", Jane Singer noted that journalists, as traditional gatekeepers of news based on their professional judgement and standards, have gradually relegated these responsibilities to Internet users who are also active contributors. In this ecosystem, since Internet allows users to easily create their own content, every user is, in effect, the gatekeeper to produce quality content that can attract more audience, who may create mashups by building on that content, or generate new ideas from their own creativity, and the cycle continues.

Works Cited:

Barnes, Brooks. “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?” The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html.

Singer, Jane. “User-Generated Visibility: Secondary Gatekeeping in a Shared Media Space.” New Media & Society, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444813477833.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds empowered by advances in virtual reality technology have evolved significantly in the last few years. Believe it or not, most of us have experienced and owned VR technologies at some point. Although virtual world was initially developed for games, there are practical uses for virtual reality in the commercial world. In the article, “Avatar II: The Hospital”, Stephanie Simon wrote that medical facilities are using virtual technology to simulate emergency situations. Nurses would control an avatar in the virtual ER, issue voice commands to triage patients, interact with them, and provide diagnosis and treatment based on their conditions. In other cases, patients become avatars in the virtual world and help train medical students through role-playing, developing a sense of empathy, and allowing them to practice hands-on.

There are pros and cons with the virtual world. For the pros, virtual reality has becomes very realistic and have many practical applications, from aviation and healthcare, to consumer electronics and education. For example, Google Earth helps you explore the world and view the streets of major cities at the comfort of home. Pokemon Go is a wildly popular game that combines VR with augmented reality to catch Pokemons in the places you visit using a mobile app. As for the cons, as Simon’s article mentioned, it takes a learning curve to master movements in the virtual world, not to mention the hardware requirements and Internet speed requirements. Some are concerned, according to the article, “In Simulated Worlds Online, Consumption Is Still Conspicuous”, that virtual world seems to be promoting a generation of high-rollers, that the online persona is hardly sustainable in the real world. In addition, people may become too immersed in the virtual world that they may become detached from the physical world where face-to-face interactions is still important.

Virtual world foster creativity by allowing users to envision, build and test prototypes in a virtual environment. Since there is no cost involved in acquiring physical materials, the sky is the limit. In the article, “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot”, it calls Minecraft a game-changer in that it is the LEGO-equivalent in the virtual world. It allows kids to use their imaginations to build and create things and to communicate with one another to exchange ideas.

There are boundless opportunities and applications for the futures of virtual world. As technologies continue to improve, virtual world will have more augmented reality built-in, making it more realistic to the real world. Virtual world help us dream bigger, as we can download an app on our mobile device, wear a VR headset and experience many interesting places in the world in 3D.  It also makes our lives more convenient, as virtual doctor visits are now possible for many common conditions. 

Works Cited:

Ferla, Ruth La. “No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22Avatar.html.

Mehta, Diane. “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 May 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/.

Simon, Stephanie. “Avatar II: The Hospital.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 13 Apr. 2010, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204.

Blog about Twitter

While both Twitter and Blackboard are online communication tools that facilitate discussion and feedback, they are different in their structures and usages.

Twitter is a general purpose social media platform with millions of users. Each message is limited to 140 characters, so choice of words is very important. Otherwise, it could be taken out of context and being misunderstood. Tweets are generally public and viewable by anyone, unless you start a Direct Message to a specific user. Tweets are organized by hashtags, allowing users to search for a particular topic or see what’s trending. The primary purpose of Twitter is to send short, concise messages to others as a form of "microblogging".

Blackboard, on the other hand, is a learning management system. Its usage is limited to classroom settings and discussions are typically facilitated by the professor. The discussion board is a forum, in which someone may post a topic, and others can post a reply to this topic. Blackboard discussions are restricted to students enrolled in the particular course. There is no specific restriction on the character limit in each message. Finally, being that it is a learning management system, Blackboard has other features, such as syllabus, announcements, and assignments, which allow the instructor to post class materials and students to submit their work.

Still, neither Twitter nor Blackboard can replace in-classroom discussions. Face-to-face communication is important, as it brings a level of human interaction that no online activity can replace. In-classroom instructions are always considered the most direct teaching-and-learning method. The instructor can facilitate discussions more lively, and it nurtures students’ engagement and participation as it creates an environment that more conducive to learning. 

Social Networking Sites

In this blog, I will compare four different social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and LinkedIn. While all of them have the common characters of the 5C’s to engage their users, each platform serves a different purpose to a different audience.

Facebook is still the king of social media. It is known for its versatility and it combines many elements of social media, such as live feeds, multimedia, chat, groups and events, and third party app integrations. It’s a great way to stay in touch with family and friends. You can “like” someone’s update, tag someone a photo, and organize an event. One of the most important features is Safety Check, which lets you report your status and location to your loved ones in the event of a crisis or emergency.

Twitter is a popular platform for sending Tweets, in 140 characters or less, to a public audience. It is the quickest way to post something – whether it’s a quick message, a photo or a short video – for the world to see. You can use hashtags to organize and search messages in particular topic. President Trump is a fan of Twitter, and his messages are controversial and faces mounting criticisms for being unpresidential. Businesses often use Twitter to post service interruption notices and to keep their customers informed. Although I don’t personally use Twitter to post anything, I do follow other interest groups and trending topics. I also use Twitter for breaking news, as others often post raw videos and messages as news start to develop.

Yelp is a popular platform for writing reviews for businesses. It’s the old traditional word-of-mouth, but leveraging the social media create a robust community base of reviewers. It’s a perfect way to try out local restaurants, find new travel destinations, or discover new activities of interest. I find Yelp particularly useful because it helps me find out what to expect before I visit a place. I often depend on Yelp ratings when selecting a doctor. All doctors have different levels of compassion and patience, so having Yelp reviews is very beneficial in finding a suitable doctor for my medical needs.

LinkedIn is great way for networking and job searching. It allows you to create a professional profile, so that recruiters can contact you. LinkedIn also has a database of job postings and can recommend jobs to you based on the profile and your preference. It can also help you make a connection and ask for a recommendation. In recent years, I find myself use LinkedIn for job searching more than any other sites, primarily because the networking aspect of it really helps in landing the right job at the right company. 

Social Networking

Social networking started out as a way to create online profiles, post updates on personal details, connect with friends and family, and make new friends. Nowadays, it’s quite common for someone to have profiles built in multiple sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or LinkedIn, each serving a different purpose with different audience or followers. For example, Facebook can help users share personal stories, discover new events, and stay connected with your friends. LinkedIn can help you build your professional image online and it’s frequently used by recruiters to scout potential candidates. Taken together, social networking sites receive millions of visitors each day and are among the most frequently visited sites, as people often rank social networking as one of the most interesting and intriguing activities online. For example, in the article, How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power, David Carr described how Obama ran a successful online campaign, and through the effective use of social media, and reached out to millions that help him get elected. In another use case, Heather Timmons reported in the article, In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers, that people has been using Facebook to report traffic violations to the police, helping the police capture critical evidence to issue citations against reckless drivers. Although there were concerns about authenticity of the photos as well as privacy, the most people welcomed the change that helped make a city safer.

Social networking has also been helping large corporations to learn more about their customers in ways that were seemingly impossible years ago. One of the major emerging trends in the corporate world is Big Data, using large, multi-dimensional data sets to analyze people’s behavior and predict future trends in the business. While structured data, such as personal and transactional information, has been traditionally captured and stored in relational databases, many companies are beginning to tap into unstructured data, such as Facebook and Twitter feeds, by using text analytical tools to parse the natural language and store them in non-relational databases. Many companies believe that social networking feeds contain hidden treasures that the businesses can leverage to help analyze consumer behaviors and to better align the business with the consumer needs.

While social networking has benefited us by keeping us more connected, it also has numerous “dark sides”. In Doug Gross article, Dictionary word of the year: 'Unfriend', it highlights the danger of Facebook in which the user could be a target of someone’s stalking or “sexting” attempt. Indeed, privacy has become a major concern in social networking, as it’s easy to become someone’s friend or follower, but that may bring unwanted attention. The privacy setting could be so confusing that, it may not be easy to “unfriend” somebody or disconnect from the virtual social world. 

Carr, David. “How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power.” The New York Times, 9 Nov. 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html.

Gross, Doug. “Dictionary Word of the Year: 'Unfriend'.” CNN, 17 Nov. 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/17/unfriend.word/index.html.

Timmons, Heather. “In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers.” The New York Times, 1 Aug. 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/technology/02traffic.html?ref=business.

Blog v Wiki

Blogs and wikis are both new media platforms, allowing users to post information, and share with others on the Internet. Given that new media have the characteristics of the 5’Cs – communication, collaboration, community, creativity, and convergence – blogs and wikis share those common qualities as well. However, due to the different ways these two platforms in organizing, searching, and presenting information, they have distinct use cases as well. Blogs are opinions and thoughts written by one individual or a small group, which may be subjective, while wikis are authored by a larger group through collaboration and collective thinking, with information edited for content and consistency, and it’s usually more subjective.

Blogs center on the author and are typically organized in reverse chronological order. Since the author is usually one person or a small group, he/she can express his ideas promote his agendas freely. Since it is more like a journal reflecting a person’s thoughts, the blog is often written through the lens of the individual, and therefore, views are subjective. The nature of the blogs also encourage collaboration, because it facilitates feedback through comments. As mentioned blogs share many characteristics of the 5’C, but perhaps the most illustrative one is convergence. Blogs may appear in various forms of old media, such as print journals in magazines, personal diaries, etc. Technology has enabled the transformation and “converged” the traditional platforms into online blogs that encourage sharing and feedback. There was also convergence of users. In the article, Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog, Wal-Mart’s buyers often writes reviews about the products from the suppliers on the company’s blog - Check Out. The blogs provide honest, uncensored feedback to the supplier. In that sense, Wal-Mart’s buyers and shoppers have converged because they are both providing product reviews to help inform others. 

On the other hand, wikis focus on the content, and are often navigable by subjects and searchable. The primary purpose of wiki is to serve as a collection of documents centered on one or more subject areas. Wikis are editable by others, as it emphasize on group contribution. Since wikis often require consensus among the contributors, the content is more often objective. Wikipedia is perhaps the most prominent wiki, since it offers an encyclopedia of all subject matters, and is entirely contributed the user community. In his article, What Motivates Wikipedians?, Oded Nov argued that since contribution is an entirely volunteering activity, their motivation is often based on fun, enhancement, as well as ideological and career-enhancing objectives. Wiki usage is wide and broad. According the article, How to Use Wikis for Business published by InformationWeeks, wiki is a centralized document management software that allows sharing of content and collaboration with other colleagues. Other uses of wiki include group collaboration projects, authoring simple websites, and creating knowledge base of articles. Perhaps a new approach to use wiki which we haven’t used in the past is around planning and organizing events, since it follows the same general concept of collaboration and establishing user community.

In short, blogs and wikis are both new media tools that allow ease of sharing and collaborating, but each with its own usages. Blogs are created by one individual or a small group and may be more opinionated. Wikis are contributed by a community of users and the views are more neutral and may be used in more professional settings.

Barbaro, Michael. “Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog.” The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html.

 “How To Use Wikis For Business.” InformationWeek, http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/d/d-id/1034971.

Nov, Oded. “What Motivates Wikipedians?” ACM, 1 Nov. 2007, http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2007/11/5534-what-motivates-wikipedians/abstract.