Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are very intriguing, they've been around for years now in games such as Sims, Runescape ann now a big one is Minecraft. It was a very interesting to be a part of these online Virtual worlds. I played Sims and Runescape when I was younger and it was more than just playing a game you were part of a community.

In the article "Avatar II: The Hospital," Stephanie Simon discusses how how nurses and doctors use virtual worlds to practice emergency hospital scenes. Nicole Saidi article “Naughty Auties” talks about how virtual world allows people with autism spectrum disorders to create avatars and connect with other people using the Internet. These two virtual worlds are used for positive use , however virtual worlds can have some negatives including cyber bullying which can occur in virtual world games like Runescape, Minecraft or Sims. Virtual worlds foster creativity in many ways one would be it gives you a different perspective with allows to have different view on situation fostering creativity. I think the future of virtual worlds will only continue to grow with time as interent continues to grow and become an even more powerful source.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html#cnnSTCText

Blog about Twitter

Twitter is a very unique way to communicate, with only allowing 140 characters limit it makes less formal because people use a lot acronyms to try to fit in their entire point where as a blackboard or in class discussion is more formal. Twitter is used for updates and people are constantly tweeting every second. Blackboard discussion and in class discussion are very limited compared to twitter due to the fact that twitter has 316 million monthly active users twitting so you have access to millions of tweets daily where as a blackboard discussion or in class discussion is limited to you, your classmates and your professor. I think twitter discussions are very different from in class and blackboard discussion. The biggest difference is in replying people reply quicker on social media like a twitter than in a blackboard discussion.

Social Networking Sites

4 of the biggest social media are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. Facebook is used for connecting people adding your friends and family so they can see what you're up to. On Facebook you can post pictures, statuses, videos etc. Twitter is used to post status and constant updates, twitter is now one the fastest sources for information with constant news updates, sports and celebrity gossip. Instagram is used for strictly posting pictures where you follow people and people follow you and you can view and like each others pictures. Instagram had filters built in that you can add to your pictures to make them look cooler. Snapchat is used to send pictures, videos and messages but they only last for 1-10 seconds, which makes it a fun way to communicate with friends.

Social Networking

One of the major ways social networking is used to review products and services. I believe all most all people look up a product or a service before they buying or using the product or service. In Kristina Grifantini's article "Can You Trust Crowd Wisdom" she speaks of how many people use stars and basis to whether or not the product or service is good. The article states "His team looked at hundreds of thousands of items and millions of votes across the three sites. In each case, they found that a small number of users accounted for a large number of ratings." That is the dark side to looking at these reviews online is that sometimes people write multiple reviews on a product or service. However at the end of the day the reviews can be helpful if you use them properly one tip from the article is to look over overly positive or negative reviews. I think the way we communicate with social networking has big affects on today's world because we have instantaneous access to so much and so many people now. As stated in Hilary Stout's article "Antisocial Networking" "Last week, the Pew Research Center found that half of American teenagers — defined in the study as ages 12 through 17 — send 50 or more text messages a day and that one third send more than 100 a day. Two thirds of the texters surveyed by the center’s Internet and American Life Project said they were more likely to use their cellphones to text friends than to call them. Fifty-four percent said they text their friends once a day, but only 33 percent said they talk to their friends face-to-face on a daily basis. The findings came just a few months after the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that Americans between the ages of 8 and 18 spend on average 7 1/2 hours a day using some sort of electronic device, from smart phones to MP3 players to computers — a number that startled many adults, even those who keep their BlackBerrys within arm’s reach during most waking hours." We see how much we use social networking in todays world and its a positive thing because it keep us connected. However a dark side to this is "The laughs were typed ha ha’s. “O.K.” was just “K” and “See you” was rendered as “c ya.”" which causes less use of proper grammar, which is viewed as laziness. Overall i think its a very positive things with a few dark sides.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and wikis are two very important parts of technology, though they have a lot similarities they are very different. Blogs are very opinion oriented while wikis tend to be more fact oriented. Blogs are mainly the authors opinion on the topic he or she is peaking about. Whereas wikis are resources of factual information. Th importance of convergence in todays networked world is people wanting to have access to information quickly and easily. In Jeff Bercovici's article "Yahoo's Next Problem: Tumblr's Traffic Isn't Growing" he talks about Yahoo's $990 million purchase of Tumblr. Bercovici's stated in his article "the social blogging platform, which had drawn interest from the likes of Facebook and Microsoft MSFT +0.30% despite having negligible revenues. Like Snapchat, Tumblr justified its sale price with its astonishing rate of user growth" shows how even with a lack revenue Tumblr a blogging site has $990 million worth. Noam Cohen's article "An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified" she talks about the use of Diplopedia to identify who would be attending to meet an Italian political figure. Cohen stated in her article "Today, she said, they still produce the memo, but “now they attach a link to the Diplopedia article” showing the use of Diplopedia. Cohen also stated "The advantages are obvious, in efficiency and in saving paper" speaking about the advantages of switching to wiki.