Creativity and New Media

Back in high school I created a video for drama class with my classmates.  The assignment was to make a presentation about Shakespeare's Hamlet.  We decided to make a video presentation because it was fun and allowed us to be creative.  The first idea we had was to make our own version of the Snatch movie introduction.  Our shot the video with no written script, it was all impromptu.  We didn't go out of our way to buy props.  We used what was available.  A friend of mine help me with the video editing.  With multiple ideas we came up with ways we could input animation in to our video.  Our final fantasy theme near the end cater to the age group that was going to watch the video.

The link below is a video of the Snatch Movie introduction.  The introduction doesn't start until a minute in.
Snatch Movie Intro

High School Drama Video Part 1
High School Drama Video Part 2

Creativity

Creativity is greatly appreciated.  When it is combined with new media, it can be used to many different types of work.  For the most part we use new media for entertainment.  It tends to be true when works of art are creative, they are much more entertaining. Combining creativity, You Tube and video editing has lead to many great amateur videos.  People have posted their own video blogs, comedy skits and sports highlights on to YouTube.  The videos on YouTube are not always creative, but it is rather the idea behind the videos.  Creativity could also be seen in music.  In the article 1+1+1=1 you could over come copy right infringements by combining multiple beats of several songs to make your own song.  It may seem easy, but cutting, editing and making sure the parts fit in together is very time consuming.  A lot of the times you end up replaying the video or song multiple times to make sure everything is in place.  Generally creativity can't be shown unless you willing to put in work.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

The virtual world seems like a different dimension, where we could log in and out of, or stay connected for long periods of time.  There are different rules that govern the virtual world as oppose to our own world. The virtual world could be very useful in a sense where we could use it to simulate situations that could happen in real life.  In the article Avatar II: The Hospital, a virtual world was used to simulate a situation where nurses had to quarantine patients who were heavily infected with disease.  This help nurses be better prepared when an actually outbreak happens.  It is also very cost effective.  To perform some of the medical tasks not only can be  costly in a monetary sense, but also costly in a human lives.  Another useful purpose a virtual world could provide is communication.  In the article Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life, companies could use the virtual world to assemble meetings.  It makes it easier for company employees who travel very often.  They could attend a company meeting with out physically being in a meeting room.  They could just log on to a Second Life account that is connected to the company and attend the meeting from half way across the globe.

The virtual world second life allows users to customize their characters and allows people to socialize over the internet.  This could allow sexual predators to take advantage of the virtual world.  There could also be hackers who would get information on users who spend a lot of money on the second life game.  The virtual world maybe great for simulating a situation at a hospital, but it is not hands on.  The nurses are not really put in a high pressure situation where their reaction time could be crucial.

The virtual world allows people to be really creative.  It allows people to create scenarios with their imagination.  In fact people could probably create a cure for cancer or non cancerous cigarettes. There are endless possibilities.  The virtual world could continue to grow. Since almost everyone is using the internet, it is only a matter of time until everyone stumbles into the virtual world.

Social Networking Sites

Currently the most popular social networking sites that come to mind are Facebook, Twitter and MySpace in that order. Before that there were many variations of social networking sites that could be seen a blog.  Sconex which is no longer in existence, was the closest in similarity to Facebook.  Like all these social networking sites, you have to sign up to use their website.  Sconex was based on your high school.  Upon creating an account, you would chose the high school you currently attend and you were able to see people's profiles from the same high school.  Like Facebook, you can post pictures and comments.  However Facebook has grown to a point where they have numerous applications that you probably won't be able use, where as Sconex has pretty much disappear from the internet.  A social networking site that caters to just high school students won't succeed in the long run.  Upon graduation, students will most likely abandon their accounts and move on to Facebook.

Before MySpace came along, many people were using a blogging site call Xanga.  They were relatively the same.  However for whatever reason, many people decided to jump ship, abandon Xanga and use Myspace.  Both Xanga and Myspace allows you to edit your home page and let you set a music playlist which plays when your page loads.

Another social networking site that comes to mind is deviantART.    A few of my friends who enjoy creating different types of art are frequent users of this social networking site.  The site is practically a an online art community that allows users to post picture of their artwork. Once again you have to sign up to post and comment on, however non registered users are still able to view the artwork posted by the registered users.

Although all the social networking sites are very similar, I see Twitter as the most distinct.  It is probably the only site that limits your message posting content.  You pretty much tweet something short and simple, while in blogs or Facebook, you can go on and on.

Blog about Twitter

If I was to choose between a blog or twitter for a discussion type setting, it would definitely be a blog.  Twitters strong points is being able to update and display information in an instant.  It is effecient, but it is not always effective.  It is because you can only say so much in one tweet. In a blog you can go in to full detail about any particular subject.  Twitter discussions seems to be more fast pace and limited in thoughts and expression.  Where as a blackboard discussion is more lengthy and you are usually able to get your point across. Comparing to a twitter discussion to a class discussion is very difficult.  Once again you are limited to a number of characters on twitter, while in a class discussion you will not be limited in any circumstance to express your thoughts.

Social Networking

Social networking has become the norm for many people.  Since millions of people use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, companies are able to take advantage of Facebook and Twitter.  They use these sites to conduct a thorough "personal interview" of possible job candidates.  According to the article Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting written by Frank Langfitt, companies could use Facebook to find people who suit their company needs.  They are able to look at photos and dig up information about random people who suit their requirements.  It is said that is a more efficient way of find talent rather than asking around on LinkedIn for people with the job requirement skills.  Social networking is also beneficial to companies with a large number of employees.  According to http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2007/gb20071030_537362.htm, Nissan is one of the larger companies that employs over 180,000 people world wide.  They created a social networking site similar to myspace called N-square.  Having their employees use N-square allows collaboration on projects and ideas such as breakpads from multiple places.  For example employees from a Japanese and American research department could be working on the same project without having to commute the thousands of miles back and forth.  Even though social networking is very useful for multiple purposes, I believe it has become an addiction for many.  In one of the articles, there has been research that children between the age of 8 and 18 use an average of 7 and 1/2 hours of electronic devices daily.  Children are now less physically active, which often leads to obesity.  The rate of obesity has increase at such rapid rates that even states like New York have the ratio of 1 in 5 people would be overweight.  This would lead to more money spent on treating health problems caused by obesity.

Blogs vs. Wikis

I believe Blogs serve the main purpose of allowing people to voice their opinions and thoughts.  It is a place where anyone could express their thoughts or opinions on any issue that comes to mind.  Sometimes people want to express themselves but they can't physically say it.  They could turn to blogs and unleash what they have to say.  It doesn't matter if one person reads it or one million people read it.  I believe the feeling of expressing their thoughts is most important to people.  Blogs can also be informational. According to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html the information from a few blogs gave enough information for police to bust a crack house. The use of blog as a collaboration is very common.  People of the same blog community often collaborate and share the same ideas.  They tend to have the same opinion towards certain subjects, and their tendency to react the same way creates a bond between that blog community.
I believe Wikis serve the main purpose of providing information.  The fact that it could be updated and edited constantly allows the most accurate information to be posted.  I think most people want to give the most accurate information unless they have the intention to deceive people.  Wiki is a great way to publish information.  It has no production cost, yet anyone who could find your wiki will have access to it.  Wiki is a great way for people from multiple locations to work on a project.  According to http://www.cio.com/article/336818/More_on_How_to_Build_Your_Own_Wikipedia companies like EMC are utilizing Wiki to work on projects.

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