For someone who vowed never to tweet too much, I found myself having fun discussing virtual worlds in our own virtual world (somewhat virtual).
While the Discussion Board on Blackboard can be helpful when talking among your classmates and professor, I found Twitter to be more useful. By adding tags, you can easily search topics that interest you, much more easily than with Blackboard. The notifications when someone replies to one of your tweets also helps you stay on top of the discussion as it progresses, and allows for more interaction as a result. However, it does not allow for such detailed discussion as on the Discussion Board, simply due to the character limit. Therefore, Twitter tends to be more helpful when sharing basic ideas/thoughts.
How does a Twitter discussion compare to a classroom discussion? Well, to be honest, I'm on the fence about that. On the one hand, being face-to-face for a discussion allows for much easier communication, especially if you're having a long, heated debate on a topic. Typing a 160 character response back and forth doesn't quite allow for such intellectual discourse. On the other hand, by allowing discussion to occur anywhere at any time, the discussion can continue on into different areas and ideas, as people are able to share them the minute it pops into their head - long after they leave the classroom or their computer (assuming you have a cell phone data plan).
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds can be used in almost any capacity that we can think of (and I'm sure even more that we CAN'T think of at the moment). Anything from socialization, learning, training, disaster preparedness simulation, conferences, and even the military can use virtual worlds.
Increasingly, we find virtual worlds such as Second Life being used to create a virtual copy of social situations. This is the case with Naughty Auties, a virtual world for people with autism. As Simon Bignell from the University of Derby noted in a March 28, 2008 CNNhealth.com article entitled iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle Autism with virtual interaction, "For people who have social, emotional, communicational problems ... we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life."
Virtual worlds can also help medical students get more real-life training in simulated environments. As Dr. Ramloll noted in an April 13, 2010 Wall Street Journal article entitled Avatar II: The Hospital, "If nurse-avatars get lost trying to evacuate patients, it's clear the hospital needs better directional signs. If one hallway always gets clogged with virtual gurneys, perhaps administrators should rewrite the evacuation protocol to ease the bottleneck."
Virtual worlds can also cut costs for companies by allowing a more interactive conferencing or training experience, without the expensive costs of travel and accommodations. They can also provide a collaborative simulation for emergency situations within and outside of the government.
This of course does not mean that virtual worlds do not pose issues. This use of technology assumes that everyone has easy access to high-speed internet, which unfortunately is not the case. Additionally, having these virtual worlds now seems to be pointless for me. When we have the capability for TRUE 3D picture that actually places us in the world, walking through as a 1st person, instead of a 2nd person avatar model of ourselves, that is when we can really seek to reap the benefits of it.
We also have to be careful not to become too dependent on the outcomes or reactions in the virtual world in guiding us for how we behave in the real world. Whether situations that play out in a virtual world will unfold in the same manner in the real world will always be open to speculation. As technology becomes more interactive, our programming and modeling will become more and more prone to human error.
This of course won't keep us from "living it up" in the virtual world. Since we are not bound by real world rules, we can be as creative as we'd like. This includes everything from glamorous outfits and expensive cars, to just generally throwing out the rule book and living our virtual world the way we always wanted our real life to be. Perhaps we can all be our own Jackass characters in our virtual worlds.
As it turns out, my dad was on the right path when he said (mind you this was 8-9 years ago) that he'll only switch over to online grocery shopping when he can actually go through the aisles of the virtual supermarket and place them virtually into his shopping cart. Fresh Direct Second Life anyone?
Increasingly, we find virtual worlds such as Second Life being used to create a virtual copy of social situations. This is the case with Naughty Auties, a virtual world for people with autism. As Simon Bignell from the University of Derby noted in a March 28, 2008 CNNhealth.com article entitled iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle Autism with virtual interaction, "For people who have social, emotional, communicational problems ... we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life."
Virtual worlds can also help medical students get more real-life training in simulated environments. As Dr. Ramloll noted in an April 13, 2010 Wall Street Journal article entitled Avatar II: The Hospital, "If nurse-avatars get lost trying to evacuate patients, it's clear the hospital needs better directional signs. If one hallway always gets clogged with virtual gurneys, perhaps administrators should rewrite the evacuation protocol to ease the bottleneck."
Virtual worlds can also cut costs for companies by allowing a more interactive conferencing or training experience, without the expensive costs of travel and accommodations. They can also provide a collaborative simulation for emergency situations within and outside of the government.
This of course does not mean that virtual worlds do not pose issues. This use of technology assumes that everyone has easy access to high-speed internet, which unfortunately is not the case. Additionally, having these virtual worlds now seems to be pointless for me. When we have the capability for TRUE 3D picture that actually places us in the world, walking through as a 1st person, instead of a 2nd person avatar model of ourselves, that is when we can really seek to reap the benefits of it.
We also have to be careful not to become too dependent on the outcomes or reactions in the virtual world in guiding us for how we behave in the real world. Whether situations that play out in a virtual world will unfold in the same manner in the real world will always be open to speculation. As technology becomes more interactive, our programming and modeling will become more and more prone to human error.
This of course won't keep us from "living it up" in the virtual world. Since we are not bound by real world rules, we can be as creative as we'd like. This includes everything from glamorous outfits and expensive cars, to just generally throwing out the rule book and living our virtual world the way we always wanted our real life to be. Perhaps we can all be our own Jackass characters in our virtual worlds.
As it turns out, my dad was on the right path when he said (mind you this was 8-9 years ago) that he'll only switch over to online grocery shopping when he can actually go through the aisles of the virtual supermarket and place them virtually into his shopping cart. Fresh Direct Second Life anyone?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Social Networking
Social networking sites have become a staple in both our personal and professional worlds. The uses of social networking media are endless, with great benefits, and of course risks as well.
It's a common jumping off point for dating and new relationships, even yours truly has a few ex boyfriends care of them (though I suppose their "ex" connotation doesn't fare well with my use and judgment in using it). For many people, it's a great "pre-screening" alternative to meeting a random person at a bar or nightclub. You can do some research on their activities, hobbies, network of friends, etc. At the same time, this may keep you from actually stepping outdoors and meeting new people by actually, you know, DOING something. So I suppose everything in moderation is the key.
Students use it to create their own mini network of students in their school. You can know/have a group of friends at school before ever stepping foot on campus! It's a great social support mechanism for students. However, having such easy access to a large number of students can make you more easily victimized by potential classmates. The recent tragedy at Rutgers University is a very harsh reminder of those risks.
Recruiters can peruse professional-focused websites like Linked In to find not just viable candidates, but better candidates than they could normally reach. It multiplies their network and candidate options exponentially. As LinkedIn founder Konstantin Guericke stated in a 2006 NPR article entitled Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, "With social networking, I don't need to go to Bob directly to find out who Bob's friends are. Or Bob's friends' friends. So, effectively, I have a thousand contacts that could potentially lead me to 100,000, now I have 8,500 contacts that could potentially lead me to 4.5 million."
At the same time, both recruiters and companies can investigate potential new employees by exploring their Facebook, MySpace, Linked In, etc profiles, to get a more in-depth knowledge of these candidates. This is great for employers, but can be damaging to employment candidates. If you found yourself in a compromising photo, etc when you were 17/young and stupid, that photo can easily be lingering in social media somewhere, and permanently damaging to your reputation as a professional. Our "young and stupid" phase now has the potential for permanent consequences.
Companies use it to help employees within or across locations to discuss, collaborate, and help evolve the process of learning and decision-making. Coming up and implementing new strategies can now take a fraction of the time and effort, since they can pool together a very large network of employees. Companies can also use it to market products (we've seen countless Facebook profiles for products), get consumer feedback, etc.
Politicians, like Barack Obama, can use social media to reach a wider audience at a much lower cost, while at the same time allowing for a more interactive and up-to-date experience for followers and supporters. Instead of being fed information through quickly out-dated info, supporters find themselves getting up-to-the-minute info, being able to easily and widely voice opinions, participate and even plan events. It's the modern twist on grassroots politics. In an interesting NY Times article published Nov.9, 2008, entitled The Media Equation, How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power, Ranjit Mathoda astutely noted, "Senator Barack Obama understood that you could use the Web to lower the cost of building a political brand, create a sense of connection and engagement, and dispense with the command and control method of governing to allow people to self-organize to do the work.”
It's hard to imagine any facet of our modern life that DOESN'T involve social media. Even government agencies have Facebook profiles/pages. So what does the future of these technologies hold for us? Perhaps one day, instead of turning on our usual, standard morning news shows before leaving for the office, we will turn on the TV for our personalized, customized, socially networked news show - content and layout completely tailored to the individual!
It's a common jumping off point for dating and new relationships, even yours truly has a few ex boyfriends care of them (though I suppose their "ex" connotation doesn't fare well with my use and judgment in using it). For many people, it's a great "pre-screening" alternative to meeting a random person at a bar or nightclub. You can do some research on their activities, hobbies, network of friends, etc. At the same time, this may keep you from actually stepping outdoors and meeting new people by actually, you know, DOING something. So I suppose everything in moderation is the key.
Students use it to create their own mini network of students in their school. You can know/have a group of friends at school before ever stepping foot on campus! It's a great social support mechanism for students. However, having such easy access to a large number of students can make you more easily victimized by potential classmates. The recent tragedy at Rutgers University is a very harsh reminder of those risks.
Recruiters can peruse professional-focused websites like Linked In to find not just viable candidates, but better candidates than they could normally reach. It multiplies their network and candidate options exponentially. As LinkedIn founder Konstantin Guericke stated in a 2006 NPR article entitled Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, "With social networking, I don't need to go to Bob directly to find out who Bob's friends are. Or Bob's friends' friends. So, effectively, I have a thousand contacts that could potentially lead me to 100,000, now I have 8,500 contacts that could potentially lead me to 4.5 million."
At the same time, both recruiters and companies can investigate potential new employees by exploring their Facebook, MySpace, Linked In, etc profiles, to get a more in-depth knowledge of these candidates. This is great for employers, but can be damaging to employment candidates. If you found yourself in a compromising photo, etc when you were 17/young and stupid, that photo can easily be lingering in social media somewhere, and permanently damaging to your reputation as a professional. Our "young and stupid" phase now has the potential for permanent consequences.
Companies use it to help employees within or across locations to discuss, collaborate, and help evolve the process of learning and decision-making. Coming up and implementing new strategies can now take a fraction of the time and effort, since they can pool together a very large network of employees. Companies can also use it to market products (we've seen countless Facebook profiles for products), get consumer feedback, etc.
Politicians, like Barack Obama, can use social media to reach a wider audience at a much lower cost, while at the same time allowing for a more interactive and up-to-date experience for followers and supporters. Instead of being fed information through quickly out-dated info, supporters find themselves getting up-to-the-minute info, being able to easily and widely voice opinions, participate and even plan events. It's the modern twist on grassroots politics. In an interesting NY Times article published Nov.9, 2008, entitled The Media Equation, How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power, Ranjit Mathoda astutely noted, "Senator Barack Obama understood that you could use the Web to lower the cost of building a political brand, create a sense of connection and engagement, and dispense with the command and control method of governing to allow people to self-organize to do the work.”
It's hard to imagine any facet of our modern life that DOESN'T involve social media. Even government agencies have Facebook profiles/pages. So what does the future of these technologies hold for us? Perhaps one day, instead of turning on our usual, standard morning news shows before leaving for the office, we will turn on the TV for our personalized, customized, socially networked news show - content and layout completely tailored to the individual!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Check Out Social Networking Sites
Facebook, Myspace and Friendster are all great social networking sites. They have features like sending messages to friends/people, events, people you may know, friend requests, newsfeeds/status updates from friends, people in your network, etc.
Of course, Facebook is the most popular among these three sites. I feel this is in part to all the features that it pioneered. While Myspace and Friendster now has a lot of these features, Facebook set the pace for the sites.
It gained popularity by creating a truly emersive, fun, social website for people to converge and communicate with eachother. Features like chatting and games became popular with its members. Although Myspace and Friendster initially had games and applications, Facebook games tend to be more collaborative, where you can send these virtual items to friends, in many of these games/apps. Facebook also built on Myspace's status update feature by allowing members to post embedded video links (i.e. YouTube) and pictures into their status updates. Although all three allow members to control their privacy options, my Myspace profile turned into a marketing bullseye. This is why I eventually deleted my profile and just kept my Facebook profile - it was more controlled, and limited truly to just my friends.
But social networking isn't limited to just friends and your social life. Websites like Linked In help professionals network within and outside of their industry. There are standard features like those you would find in the other popular social networking sites; messages, invitations, People You May Know, Who's Viewed My Profile, and Your Network. However, there are features not found on the other sites, tailored specifically to the needs of professionals. Some of these interesting and helpful features include Jobs You May Be Interested In, Reading List by Amazon (which includes Your Reading List, Network Updates, Industry Updates) and Ads by Linked In Members. These features help professionals stay on top of important events, publishings, etc related to their field, by giving them a snapshot of what their peers in the industry (and outside of the industry) are currently doing.
Of course, Facebook is the most popular among these three sites. I feel this is in part to all the features that it pioneered. While Myspace and Friendster now has a lot of these features, Facebook set the pace for the sites.
It gained popularity by creating a truly emersive, fun, social website for people to converge and communicate with eachother. Features like chatting and games became popular with its members. Although Myspace and Friendster initially had games and applications, Facebook games tend to be more collaborative, where you can send these virtual items to friends, in many of these games/apps. Facebook also built on Myspace's status update feature by allowing members to post embedded video links (i.e. YouTube) and pictures into their status updates. Although all three allow members to control their privacy options, my Myspace profile turned into a marketing bullseye. This is why I eventually deleted my profile and just kept my Facebook profile - it was more controlled, and limited truly to just my friends.
But social networking isn't limited to just friends and your social life. Websites like Linked In help professionals network within and outside of their industry. There are standard features like those you would find in the other popular social networking sites; messages, invitations, People You May Know, Who's Viewed My Profile, and Your Network. However, there are features not found on the other sites, tailored specifically to the needs of professionals. Some of these interesting and helpful features include Jobs You May Be Interested In, Reading List by Amazon (which includes Your Reading List, Network Updates, Industry Updates) and Ads by Linked In Members. These features help professionals stay on top of important events, publishings, etc related to their field, by giving them a snapshot of what their peers in the industry (and outside of the industry) are currently doing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)