Creativity and New Media

This semester at Baruch I registered for MUSIC 1003, although a very simple class at first it does have its challenges. In this class, obviously the tests are based upon the music that we listen to. The students are expected to be able to listen to a song and recite who is the composer and title of the track. With this new media technology, Spotify, I am able to listen to the music whether I am on my morning commute, taking a walk, running errands, or just trying to do some homework. This app allows me to familiarize myself with the songs and be able to ace the tests! Besides using this for academic reasons, I listen to music daily to unwind especially during my commutes. This innovation of listening to music through your laptops or phones is great and has impacted my life greatly. 

Creativity

In recent years, new media has become one of the most important and influential aspects of the internet world. New media technologies enable users to broadcast their creativity to their followers. Users of different social media platforms are able to share various personal content with others, friends, family, etc. One of the major social media platforms that caught hidden talent was Youtube. It allowed users to post their own content such as videos that they had created and tailored towards a specific audience. For an example, Justin Bieber was found by an agent on Youtube. His mother use to share videos of him signing covers of songs so his family could easily access it. Sooner or later, these videos were getting more views than just family and an agent came to the conclusion that he would be a star! "Mashup artists like Vidler, Kerr, and Brown have found a way of bringing pop music to a formal richness that it only rarely reaches. See mashups as piracy if you insist, but it is more useful, viewing them through the lens of the market, to see them as an expression of consumer dissatisfaction. Armed with free time and the right software, people are rifling through the lesser songs of pop music and, in frustration, choosing to make some of them as good as the great ones," ("The New Math of Mashups", 4). The article shows yet another example of how new media fostered creativity in music. Mashups are basically a collaboration of the music that has entered the internet and made into one beautiful piece. This shows how efficient the internet for taking raw materials and forming it into one finished publication; in this case a music track. Citations: The New Math of Mashups from The New Yorker Magazine 2005.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

To begin, virtual worlds merge two spheres together, creativity and community. These virtual worlds literally model reality, providing an alternate reality to the users. In this world, users can create their own identity. Another chance at life, whether they want to be exactly the same or completely different. There are numerous advantages that come with virtual worlds. This realistic environment allows users to emerge themselves to effectively and efficiently learn without the detrimental consequences. Virtual reality is used in many areas of healthcare. This can range from diagnosis, treatment, methods of rehab. It also can be used to teach incoming students in the medical field. "Immersive technologies provide alternative environments for situated learning, because an almost endless variety of virtual contexts are available, or can be created, that give users a sense of "being there," ... and thus, the ability to apply learning in a plausible, unique context," (Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations". However, there are disadvantages in which it is very time consuming. According to "Virtual World May Impact Real-world Behaviour," users of the virtual world may implement their characters persona onto their owns. Whether the user decides to play as a hero or a villain will dictate if they reward or punish strangers. These virtual worlds foster creativity by allowing the user endless capabilities of creating their own realm, expressing their feelings, and sharing information with others. The future of technology can never be properly guessed, as it improves by the minute. However, I believe with how virtual worlds work now that the VRs could probably improve even more. One way it could improve is with the focus. The human eye is designed to focus especially at different distances and the VR is not capable of doing so yet. 

Citations:

Dawley, Lisa, and Chris Dede. "Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Virtual World May Impact Real-world Behaviour." Health24. N.p., 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Blog: Social Networking Sites

In today's day and age, society seems to have an account with at least one of the major social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. In fact, I have an account of all the mentioned social networking sites because it allows me to stay updated with my family, my friends, the latest trends, and the news. Each of these platforms have a different purpose to give to the user, which can also be different to each user. For me, I use Facebook as a way to connect with my friends and family from all around. I can easily see the photos they shared of their vacations, growing family, and their passions. I primarily use twitter to keep up to date with trends but also to scroll through funny memes. Twitter has so many funny tweets or images to share especially with how short and concise of a message one could share with their followers. I use Pinterest whenever I need new creative ideas for certain events. For an example, I was in charge of my sister's bridal shower last summer. All I had in mind was what theme I wanted to try out but didn't know how to properly execute that idea. Therefore, I made a Pinterest account and looked up Bridal Shower and automatically had numerous hits on very helpful ideas. This was the sole reason why the bridal shower I threw was a success! Anytime you need to come up with creative ideas and you can't think of any, just log into Pinterest! Lastly, I use Instagram to share photos and see the photos that my friends post! This is probably the account that I am most active on because I can also ideas from this social networking site as well! If I want ideas on a specific topic, I could use a hashtag that can best describe this and look it up! Instantly can get hits off of that! Overall, each of these social networking sites have been proven to be beneficial in my day to day lifestyle. 

Blog about Twitter

There are many different ways to have a discussion, whether it may be Twitter, BlackBoard, or an In-Class discussion. To begin, Twitter is a very diverse, quick-paced platform to have a discussion on. From a vary of minutes, you can have people from all over the world discussing a single issue, sharing their thoughts and ideas. Educating others on what they think of it. However, it differs with the formality of it. Twitter is a very informal platform as you can only share one thought at a time using only 140 characters in each tweet. This may shorten thoughts to very concise measures with the usage of slang. A blackboard discussion takes more time to develop thoughts and also has a difference with the formality. In this, blackboard discussions tend to be lengthy and extremely formal. Elaborating several details to convey one message to the audience. As in this there is no rush to share your ideas. Lastly, in-class discussion have an entirely different feel to it. With this you can visually see and hear what the person has to share with others. This can give it a more comfortable feel to openly discuss your thoughts and say whatever you have on your mind. Each of these different methods of discussions have their own appeal to it, and can be used for different topics.

Blog Social Networking

Social Networking is the backbone of society's form of communication among one another. There are numerous networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These sites allow for people to communicate through the usage of posting biography, commenting, messaging, and simply sharing information with others. This is used by individuals, businesses, and corporations. These technologies could be used in productive, efficient ways. For an example, LinkedIn is a business-focused social networking site. The main purpose of this site is to help people network professionally; to find other clients and colleagues whom you already know. This quickens the process for users. According to “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting,” recruiters could scout a group of job candidates in merely a half hour. Another way this technology could be used is to advertise products or services a company has to offer to potential cliental. Facebook allows for the greatest platform to display items that potential cliental may want to purchase.

Not only are there productive ways to use these networking sites but also are a special benefit to society. According to New York Times article, “In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers,” traffic police started a Facebook page as a weapon against dangerous driving. The page automatically had residents post photos of drivers violating traffic laws. Thus, because traffic officers can’t be at the everywhere at the same time, users of the site are making it easier for them to do their job. As always, a violation is a violation. Networking sites allow for more than just connections in this case, it forces drivers to drive safer if they want to avoid a violation.

Although, social networking sites have proved to be very influential in our daily lives; there is also a dark side to this. The boundaries of privacy seem to disappear when it comes to social networking. Users share loads of information to their friends, but seize to realize this information can go to the wrong hands. In “Facebook Privacy is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo isn’t Private,” Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, Randi, shared a photo of her family celebrating the holidays, in which one of her subscribers got a hold of the photo and shared it via twitter. In this case we can see that Randi wanted only her friends to see the photos that she has posted, but somehow a complete stranger in her eyes shared this photo. This proves for Facebooks settings to be a bit confusing and slightly infringing upon rights.

These technologies have already evolved so much in the span of a decade, there is only room for improvement. I believe that companies and marketers will think of new ways to use social networking to promote their products to their target audience. With so much technology use, advertisers will have to think of much more creative ways to attract users. Overall, social networking has both its advantages and disadvantages to society.

Citations:                                                                                 

Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private,” The Atlantic Wire, Greenfield, R. December 26, 2012

"In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers" By Heather Timmons, NY Times, August 1, 2010

Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, NPR, March 16, 2008.