Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds today play a big role in society. It shows people living in the 21st century a whole new experience. This kind of virtual experience is pretty hard to replicate to reality. There are many different ways that virtual worlds can be used in society today. In the article "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds get a Reboot?", the author explains how virtual worlds can play a different role than they did in the past. "One thing tech has led us to consider is what some people consider a sense of isolation. We’re “alone together” as Sherry Turkle says in her latest book. In virtual worlds, however, you are not alone together, you are really, truly together—connected by these bodily representations caused avatars." What the author is saying here is that virtual worlds seem to eliminate the fact of real world isolation. People can simply go onto these virtual worlds to connect with people on a global network. She went to talk about a huge phenomenon called Minecraft. It is a game where you have a character and you use your imagination to build new things. "It’s digital LEGOs if you will, but it’s a space for kids to exercise their imagination and to connect with others to also want to build and create things. And it’s the biggest phenomenon today." Back when I was a kid, we actually played with physical legos. We had a variety, but there was always a limit to how much you can build because of sufficient pieces. If you wanted to build more things, you would have to buy more pieces. But it seems that this virtual game of Minecraft has unlimited number of lego pieces so you don't have to stop building. This is a great game for kids to stimulate their inner imaginative skills and pretty cost efficient. This virtual world seems to be a whole new concept of networking and stimulation for kids to exercise their brains while they are on the computer. Virtual worlds can also be used as a tool for military relief. "When the U. S. Army funded the creation of ICT USC in 1999, they were looking for ways to leverage the kind of engagement that Hollywood was able to get—and apply that to better training for the army. I started making virtual training environments that could were more cognitively real, in that they could evoke in soldiers a sense of unease and fear that could make training more realistic." It seems that the army can benefit from these virtual world by giving soldiers experiences before they go to combat or after. It brings the new concept virtual training for soldiers to see if they are qualified for war or just a tool to see how prepared they are for war. Virtual worlds foster creativity because they allow people to use their minds even though it may not be real. For example, a child who plays Minecraft will definitely use his creative mind to create new things with the tools given to him. His creativity is endless and children have fun while playing as well. For the army, this may foster creativity by allowing soldiers to think more strategically, but explore their options due to the situation. It allows them to think differently and be more creative because they are in an artificial world. Some pros of virtual worlds is the fact that you can easily network and meet people domestically and internationally by simply logging into your avatar. It also allows you to test your military unit to see if they are fit for battle. Another pro is that people with autism can use these virtual worlds to do things that they could not do in real life. In the article, "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction", people that have autism seem to live second lives on the virtual world. "Savill, who represents himself in the virtual world using an avatar named Dave Sparrow, said one benefit is that visitors can practice social interaction and find information about the condition. The graphical representations of real people create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others, he said." It seems that people come to this virtual world to share their thoughts on the disorder in a safe environment. This is a pro because there are not many places in the physical world that one could meet with other people that have knowledge of autism and feel comfortable talking to them face to face. The virtual worlds eliminate that face to face conversation and turns it into a chat room where people can converse amongst each other in a safe and comfortable manner. Some cons of virtual worlds may be kids getting too fat from not getting physical exercise. If kids were to be on the computer the majority of their free time, they will not get physical exercise which is bad. Although their virtual avatar might be in shape, their physical bodies would not be. The soldiers that go through the simulation could be scarred for life if something goes wrong. It could also trigger a vet's memories bringing them back to war times and have them go into P.T.S.D. It could be back for the autistic virtual world if people feed the wrong information. I see virtual worlds expanding in the future. There are somethings that people look down upon them, but I believe it would expand so great that everyone will have a use for them. I think the fact of 3D modeling would definitely help business presentations be more exciting than your regular powerpoint. I see virtual worlds aiding the world into world peace in the next century or so.

BLOG: Social Networking Sites

There are many different social media sites in society today.  Some are very viral and used daily while others slowed down and slowly died down.  Some of these sites include Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  These sites seem to be quite popular with connecting people domestically and global.  

Myspace was a social network I used in middle school.  It was your basic social network.  When it was launched, you automatically had a friend named Tom, the creator of myspace.  You slowly added people you knew or wanted to know to enhance the experience of social networking.  I know I met a lot of people I know today through Myspace.  The last time I used Myspace was back in 2009.  I just reconnected with my old account for this assignment.  Many things have changed about the lay out of it. You can now connect your Twitter and Facebook friends with Myspace.  Some things that weren't there in the past was the side bar and bottom bar.  They grant you shortcuts and notification tab which can be convenient and useful.  There is also a music player for you to play music.  I think it changed drastically over the last few years to compete with other social networking sites, but it seems to always be one step behind.  

Facebook is very popular in the past and today.  I remember using it about 1 year after I joined Myspace (yea I was a late social network bloomer).  My sister introduced it to me and I was instantly hooked.  Everything was so organized and they had shortcuts before Myspace.  There was even games on the site where you could interact with your friends over the internet.  Even today I still use Facebook frequently to connect with old friends and make new ones as well.  I like the overall organized homepage and the games are always a plus.  I use Facebook to network with people doing school projects or when I study for tests.  Facebook is a very useful social network that I see growing in the future.  One thing that I don't really like is the constant update of the layout.  I really enjoyed the original layout and I hope sometime down the line they bring it back! 

Twitter seems to be what the new buzz is.  I've had an account for a long time and I never seem to use it.  My friends got me to make one and I always think to myself, "what's the difference between tweeting and posting a status on facebook?"  It virtually is no different, but Twitter has those constant updates which is really cool and the fact that it reaches anyone across the globe is awesome as well.  With Twitter, your posting does not have boundaries.  I also like how Twitter is easily accessible and it is user friendly.  Once you knock down the basics of tweeting, replying, following, retweeting, and hashtagging, I think you will survive pretty well in the Twitter world.  I think Twitter is great and it continues to grow because I know different companies using it to their advantage.  I follow Nike.com on Twitter and they always answer to customer complaints and provide necessary information to customers simply by replying to a tweet.  

Tumblr is a blogging site where people blog about things that interest them.  I've been using Tumblr for about 2 years and I have to say my experience is lovely.  I follow funny people that blog about hilarious things so I get a good kick out of it.  Tumblr is a blogging site that allows you to be private or public and lets you blog about anything.  You could put up written posts, pictures, videos, advertisements, and etc.  Tumblr enables the user to do blog about what they want and when they want.  My tumblr consists of funny pictures and fun gifs.  Gifs are moving images that are excerpts from movies, videos, or just self made.  I follow people that posts things that will brighten my day, because I love to laugh.  My experience with Tumblr is that it is a fun way to express yourself in a relaxed manor.  Whether your audience is your friends or someone across the globe, Tumblr extends your boundaries to blog to anyone. 

Blog about Twitter

I believe twitter revolutionized the world with their constant updates.  Someone in the world could tweet something and it could reach an endless amount of users.  Many different kinds of people use Twitter.  Celebrities, businessman, students, athletes, and etc. all use Twitter to communicate.  When conducting a blackboard discussion, people go on and post what opinions they have and wait for responses.  These responses can vary due to the availability of the other users.  With this wait, it shows that blackboard discussions are inconsistent due to the factor of availability.  Sometimes users may post an opinion, but no one replies for hours.  As opposed to Twitter, the tweets and easily refreshed and people reply in seconds.  Twitter is better to hold online conversations because people are able to reply real quick as opposed to waiting.

I think that Twitter is very similar to in class discussions.  People that are in in-class discussions each respond to a stated question and each person is entitled to their own opinions.  This is just like Twitter because by tweeting your opinion, you are essentially voicing your opinion through the internet.  In class discussions is like Twitter, except with a smaller audience.

Social Net'g

Social media today has affected society in many different ways. One very important way is the fact that social networks are now being used for job recruitment. Before social media existed, people were always putting out hiring ads on newspapers, asked employees to refer qualified friends, or just simply go to career fairs. With social media, human resources departments easily access potential candidates on sites such as Facebook or Linkedin. In the article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting", people share their insights of how social media has enhanced their experience searching for people that could possibly work for their company. "Using Linkedin, Steckerl says he can scout a group of job candidates in just half an hour." Browsing a professional social network can easily lead you to potential candidates for opening in your firm. "I ended up looking for consumer product marketing," Crawford-Hentz says. "And I hit upon his profile, and I sent him this e-mail saying: 'Hi, Alfred, I found your profile on line. And we have a position that I think may be of interest to you.'" Its as simple as uploading your resume online for recruiters to look at when they have free time. Social media has definitely enhanced the experience in job hunting and recruiting.


Although social media is helpful in many different aspects in today's world, there are some dark sides to social media. Personal information is always asked when creating an account to their social media sites. When you make a Linkedin account or Facebook account, you must provide basic information about yourself such as name, birthday, education, etc. Although many people make this information accessible by friends and family, others that may not have access want in as well. In the article, "BBB: New Wave of Phishing Scam Uses Facebook Info for Personalized Scams", people use personal info and act as your friends to try and hack your computer. "You receive an email that appears to be sent by a friend or family member. The message addresses you by name, but the content is strange. Usually, it's just a link to a website. If you click on it, you could end up downloading malware to your computer." So the scam is setup to appear like your friend is sending you things when in reality they are trying to hack your computer via virus.  Social media may seem like its all good and new innovative technology to benefit us, but with benefits there are always people abusing it.  In my opinion, I think the social media will evolve even more.  Right now job recruiting seems easier, but in the future maybe people will conduct business over social networks.  In the future, social media might enhance their security systems so people don't send those virus links and have a way to recognize it on the spot.  Security is a big issue today and I hope in the future they clean it up.

Blogs vs. Wikis

In society today, people love to use the internet for various things. Whether it is to communicate with friends, look things up on the internet, or to voice opinions, people love to roam and surf the web. In new media today, people voice their opinions on blogs. Blogs are designed for people to journal about their lives, talk about specific topics, or just to voice an opinion about things going on in society. Blogs are designed so that the writer of the blog has the power to edit their post and to publish it so that the public can comment about their post. This happens especially for people who have famous blogs that stir up controversy. For example, in the article "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid", people voice their opinions on a current drug situation that was taking place in their neighborhood. One of the people living in the neighborhood wrote on the blog “Fighting and drug deals going down in the driveway of this house,”, which led others to reply voicing their opinions and point of views. This later led on to people taking actions because now they have a sufficient amount of people that have the mutual feelings about this topic. "But peering turned to blogging, and blogging turned to action, as neighbors started filing complaints with the 68th Precinct station house and attending Community Board 10 meetings and generally making noise until a narcotics investigation began, leading to the arrests." This shows that a blog can be a very powerful tool in uniting people together to fight a cause. In society today, many people that have strong opinion on hot topics create blogs to get their feelings out and to receive either praise or criticism via the internet. Blogs are quite popular in the 21st century and people usually use blogs to voice opinions. Blogs are a great source of networking today because people can interact with others on the internet and maybe stumble into a job just from someone seeing a blog.



Wikis on the other hand is a tool that aid people trying to put out information. People that work on group projects usually takes a lot of time to communicate amongst their group members sharing and swapping information. But with Wikis, it makes everything much more accessible. In the article "How to use Wikis in Business", the author explains how convenient wikis can be in group work. It is said that "wikis are essentially Web pages that anyone — or at least anyone with permission — can create or edit." This is convenient to use in the business world because many people can just simply add their parts to the web page when they finish their work. Wikis are similar to blogs because they are both located on the internet and they are both ways to share information on the web. Although wikis may be more informative rather than opinionated, they are still very useful for people to obtain information about a company or person. Wikis can become a tool to network with people based on who edits a page. For example, if you put up an informational page about Apple and other people edit and comment on your page, you are technically networking with them over the web. A new use for wikis could be to use them to reconnect old classmates. For example, a person from your high school makes a wiki page for class of 2011 and other people discover this page. People would want to reconnect with others and then they post information of where they reside now, some general info of what they want people to know and etc. Wikis can be used as blogs, but people can edit them so they can get things out there faster.

Project Description

For my CIS project, I chose to do the topic of Social Media: Benefit or plague to society.  My project will discuss the good things that social media offer and the bad things of social media.  I will do my research on the web and find different people's perspectives about social media.  Some things that came to mind when making this topic were the emergence of social media opposed to life before it, the opportunities of making money through social media, and deaths that may have occurred because of social media.  After doing my research, I will choose one side of the arguments.  This project will expand my view on social media and to investigate if the benefits outweigh the bad.

My first post

Hello readers! My name is Jason Cen and this is my new media blog!  I will be discussing readings and class discussions here to voice my opinion.  This class is my first ever online class and I am very excited.  I hope to expand my knowledge on new media from this course.