The way virtual worlds can be used is endless. You can literally do possibly anything and everything with them. For example, you can use them for business meetings incase that people can not meet physically. In the CNN article, "Going to The Virtual Office in Second Life," it is mentioned how more than 1400 companies use Second Life, a virtual world created by Linden Lab. Second life is a virtual world that allows these companies to conduct training and meetings without having to physically meet. It helps save costs as it cuts back on lease agreements for buildings.
The pros are that it helps with connecting people, so communication becomes easier. Virtual worlds can lead to people from different ends of the continent in interacting with each other. Another pro is that it can help with people becoming whoever they want to be, so it can help someone who is shy in real life become someone else online.
Cons of this are that it limits human interaction, and leads to people not being truthful. As previously mentioned, someone can act as someone else in a virtual world which is deceptive. At the same time, it is not easily accessible to everyone, because someone who does not have internet access cannot access a virtual world.
Virtual worlds can foster creativity in the sense that it allows people to do the extraordinary. For example, the WSJ article, "Avatar II: The Hospital," it is mentioned how virtual worlds are used to train nurses on making quicker decisions. This is creative because it actually puts a nurse into a stress test without risking patients lives.
I think the future of virtual worlds will be used more often than now. I think they will become more integrated in schools, as architects in training can use them to design buildings, and because medical schools can use them to conduct virtual surgeries and learn more about the human body. So essentially, virtual worlds can lead to great help in the real life.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Blog About Twitter
A twitter discussion compares to a Blackboard discussion in the sense that both consist of the basic, people communicating with each other, and that both can be set to private, so that only certain people are able to view them. Both Twitter and Blackboard can be used as mediums for people to share their viewpoints, and then have others read it and comment on it whether they wish. A difference between Blackboard and Twitter is that, on Twitter you tweet your thoughts, but you are limited to 140 characters, so you have the option of tweeting your thoughts concisely in the given limit, or tweeting multiple times. On the other hand, in Blackboard, there is no limit on how much you can type (at least that I have experienced), unless specified in instructions, and because of this you can put a lot of detail in your post at once opposed to having to break it up into segments. Another difference between Twitter and Blackboard is that, Blackboard has a nicer user interface in the sense that all the posts are visible at once, opposed to Twitter, if many people are retweeting something, you have to go a wild goose chase.
You can say that Twitter is like an in-class discussion because it allows people to voice their opinion and then get feedback on it or hear someone else's opinion. One major difference is that an in-class discussion is a lot more organized than compared to Twitter. It can get pretty chaotic when you have 30 people retweeting multiple tweets that may get controversial. But in a class discussion it is easier to organize as you can give people time and a fair chance to express their ideas.
You can say that Twitter is like an in-class discussion because it allows people to voice their opinion and then get feedback on it or hear someone else's opinion. One major difference is that an in-class discussion is a lot more organized than compared to Twitter. It can get pretty chaotic when you have 30 people retweeting multiple tweets that may get controversial. But in a class discussion it is easier to organize as you can give people time and a fair chance to express their ideas.
Social Networking Sites
The four social networking sites I will be discussing are, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and my favorite, Reddit.
Facebook - So I've had Facebook for about 8 years so far. It is definitely one of the most popular social networking sites and relatively easy to use. It gives you the option to share photos, your thoughts, and like things that interest you. You can like groups and pages, along with content that other people post. It also allows you to stay up to date with family and friends, as you can talk to them via Facebook, so it does remove the need to meet with people in person or talk to them on the phone. In general, it is just an easy way to keep friends or family that you do not socialize with close and stay in contact with them.
Twitter - So I'm new to Twitter, I've actually had one before that was just created for free giveaways, but I never actually used it. Twitter is like a blog that is actually limited to 140 words. In a sense it is a place for people to post literally whatever is on their mind. They can follow certain people to get "insider scoops" of updates in their lives, or of people that they share common interests with. Twitter allows you to tweet your views to the world and let others "retweet" them, so that they can it can help spread awareness, or simply share something that they agree with. The one thing I do like about Twitter is their usage of the hastag, or the # sign. The hashtag is pretty much ways for people to "organize" what their tweet is about, and in that sense if many people do use that hashtag, it becomes trending and pretty much becomes top news on Twitter. This is pretty cool and useful because it allows you to find whats happening news without actually looking for news.
Instagram - Instagram has actually become one of the most popular social networking sites in the past couple years. The concept is really simple, it allows you to share pictures and add a caption to them. It allows practically anyone to become a photographer and share their "portfolio" as they can upload whatever pictures they have taken and have people who follow them comment or like their photos. Another cool thing about Instagram is that it actually helps with marketing purposes. Companies will do Instagram promos, where they will give special promo codes, or an individual will promote a company by posting about it.
Reddit - So Reddit is my favorite site, it's actually community that can be thought to be a massive blog. You can find Reddit pages, called subreddits which are pretty much topics, for anything; be it gaming, politics, food, cat videos. It's a massive board that allows people to share their thoughts, content they may have created, or just have discussions. In a sense you can think of Reddit as a larger version of Twitter because they both act as hubs for people to communicate with each other more than Facebook and Instagram do.
Facebook - So I've had Facebook for about 8 years so far. It is definitely one of the most popular social networking sites and relatively easy to use. It gives you the option to share photos, your thoughts, and like things that interest you. You can like groups and pages, along with content that other people post. It also allows you to stay up to date with family and friends, as you can talk to them via Facebook, so it does remove the need to meet with people in person or talk to them on the phone. In general, it is just an easy way to keep friends or family that you do not socialize with close and stay in contact with them.
Twitter - So I'm new to Twitter, I've actually had one before that was just created for free giveaways, but I never actually used it. Twitter is like a blog that is actually limited to 140 words. In a sense it is a place for people to post literally whatever is on their mind. They can follow certain people to get "insider scoops" of updates in their lives, or of people that they share common interests with. Twitter allows you to tweet your views to the world and let others "retweet" them, so that they can it can help spread awareness, or simply share something that they agree with. The one thing I do like about Twitter is their usage of the hastag, or the # sign. The hashtag is pretty much ways for people to "organize" what their tweet is about, and in that sense if many people do use that hashtag, it becomes trending and pretty much becomes top news on Twitter. This is pretty cool and useful because it allows you to find whats happening news without actually looking for news.
Instagram - Instagram has actually become one of the most popular social networking sites in the past couple years. The concept is really simple, it allows you to share pictures and add a caption to them. It allows practically anyone to become a photographer and share their "portfolio" as they can upload whatever pictures they have taken and have people who follow them comment or like their photos. Another cool thing about Instagram is that it actually helps with marketing purposes. Companies will do Instagram promos, where they will give special promo codes, or an individual will promote a company by posting about it.
Reddit - So Reddit is my favorite site, it's actually community that can be thought to be a massive blog. You can find Reddit pages, called subreddits which are pretty much topics, for anything; be it gaming, politics, food, cat videos. It's a massive board that allows people to share their thoughts, content they may have created, or just have discussions. In a sense you can think of Reddit as a larger version of Twitter because they both act as hubs for people to communicate with each other more than Facebook and Instagram do.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Social Networking
Social networking has many uses, it is not only to be thought of as being "social" just because the word is in it. Social networking can be used for recreational, business and corporate needs. Examples of social networks would be Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even blogs. People can use these social networks for recreational purposes to increase their social circle, keep in touch with friends or family that they do not live close to. Another use for an individual would be to share their thoughts by posting them to websites like Facebook or Twitter, and getting replies from many others depending on the privacy settings being used. For business use, social networks can be used for advertising purposes.
Small business can use social networking websites to cut back on their advertising costs because most of these social networking websites are free and will let you create a page for free. Big businesses can also use social networking to not only cut back on their advertising costs, but to also expand on their advertising. They can pay for ad's on some of these websites, and at the same time they can give special promo's to people on these websites which will increase their business.
On the corporate end, it's great for job recruiting due to websites like LinkedIn. For example, Frank Langfitt's article in NPR, Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, discusses the perks of using LinkedIn for these recruiting purposes. It is mentioned how LinkedIn is a network of 8 million professionals that are all over the world, and Shally Steckerl mentions how he can scout a group of candidates in just half an hour because of LinkedIn.
The "dark side" of social networking is that it changes how people socialize in general. For example, when we traditionally think of socializing, we think of face to face interactions with someone opposed to just talking to each other through a computer or cellphone screen. Stephen J. Dubner of Freakonomics interviews many people in his article, Is MySpace Good For Society? A Freakonomics Quorum. Some of these individuals say that social networking websites were positive on society, while some give negatives. One of these individuals, Judith Donath, gives both the good, the bad, and the ugly. She mentions how the good of social networking technologies is that it allows a larger circle of friends. However, the bad is that it changes how you define a friend because there aren't that many face to face interactions, and the ugly is that it can lead to bullying and emotional stress.
I think these technologies will eventually lead to becoming fully virtual, for example I think Virtual Reality technologies will become implemented and lead to full-sized holograms, so individuals can socialize with their friends without leaving their homes.
Small business can use social networking websites to cut back on their advertising costs because most of these social networking websites are free and will let you create a page for free. Big businesses can also use social networking to not only cut back on their advertising costs, but to also expand on their advertising. They can pay for ad's on some of these websites, and at the same time they can give special promo's to people on these websites which will increase their business.
On the corporate end, it's great for job recruiting due to websites like LinkedIn. For example, Frank Langfitt's article in NPR, Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, discusses the perks of using LinkedIn for these recruiting purposes. It is mentioned how LinkedIn is a network of 8 million professionals that are all over the world, and Shally Steckerl mentions how he can scout a group of candidates in just half an hour because of LinkedIn.
The "dark side" of social networking is that it changes how people socialize in general. For example, when we traditionally think of socializing, we think of face to face interactions with someone opposed to just talking to each other through a computer or cellphone screen. Stephen J. Dubner of Freakonomics interviews many people in his article, Is MySpace Good For Society? A Freakonomics Quorum. Some of these individuals say that social networking websites were positive on society, while some give negatives. One of these individuals, Judith Donath, gives both the good, the bad, and the ugly. She mentions how the good of social networking technologies is that it allows a larger circle of friends. However, the bad is that it changes how you define a friend because there aren't that many face to face interactions, and the ugly is that it can lead to bullying and emotional stress.
I think these technologies will eventually lead to becoming fully virtual, for example I think Virtual Reality technologies will become implemented and lead to full-sized holograms, so individuals can socialize with their friends without leaving their homes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)