Creativity and New Media

For the creative assignment, I decided to share one of my online hobbies of writing stories using gifs. I go through different TV serials and make my own gifs and using those gifs I create different stories on a website called Wattpad. Here is one of the Gifs stories I wrote using two actors. Some of the words are in Hindi but translations are right next to it.  Enjoy the gifs.

HW Creativity

With the advancement of New media, people found different ways to share their talent. Take the YouTube platform, for example, people can upload videos of themselves singing or dancing and could become famous. No one knows what is the actual viral trend, but one viral video can make anyone famous from just their bedroom. But making videos is an art form since no one knows who will like or dislike their creativity. In the past, many of us didn’t have a platform to share our talents but with new media, we see a rise to the creative industry.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Reality Vs virtual reality, it is a world we could be anyone forgetting who we are in the real world. Often times we find ourselves sitting behind a screen living another life, a life filled with fantasy the world of gaming. But what if virtual reality is a life that someone has when their reality is the worst thing they possibly can have. In the article “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?", Mehta interviewed a virtual world designer, Jacki Morrie that stated the different ways virtual worlds can offer to people: education, delivery services, telehealth care, social connectivity, and businesses, etc. When I say a possibility of people living a better virtual life than reality, I mean those who have some sort of problem to enjoy their reality. The virtual world allows them to be part of a world where they are more connected to other people. Sometimes those people’s reality are so harsh they aren’t able to set foot outside of their house.  Another good usage of virtual reality is online classroom. The article, “The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher” goes in detail of the use of a virtual class. With today’s busy schedule many people want to learn but aren’t able to make time. A virtual school gives people ways to learn. It’s kind of like our hybrid class, we are all doing our homework from home.

Reference Link:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDo2ZTg5MGFiMmRkMzA4NjZm

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDozYmQxM2I2M2Y0YmQ3MmE0

Social Networking Sites

Social media is a very scary place, I know social networking is great, you meet new people  and connect with communities which have similar interest to you. There is so many options to make your page and site your own and let people know who you are. It opens the world to you behind a small screen. However, as great as those social networking sites are, there is a very scary part to it, which I will be discussing comparing those four social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. All those social networking site has a very scary commonality, which is picture and video sharing. Now sharing pictures online is very common, but have you ever wondered how many people have access to your pictures and media. Facebook on one hand started of as a way to connect with old friends and colleagues who you may have lost touch with. But now all of us are basically adding new people whenever we get a friend request. Sometimes it is very necessary to check who you add. As well as that most people have their Instagram connected to their Facebook account. When you add someone on Facebook, they get connected to your Instagram page. Instagram is set up as a social media of pictures. People on a daily bases adding pictures and videos on that app. Now , on the other hand, Twitter also has a way to share pictures but people use that networking site to discuss topics and follow other people, but that doesn’t mean people often don’t use Twitter to share their pictures. Your profile picture on Twitter is your picture, cough I don’t use my real picture there. Then there is Snapchat, which was advertised as chats with pictures, again the word pictures.

If the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true; then why are we letting strangers’ access to a thousand words about ourselves. It is so easy to make a fake profile using someone else’s picture. All you need to do is gather someone’s picture from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, (if you are lucky enough to access that.). Then open a fake profile in any networking sites. Add their pictures then add a bunch of people and wait for them to follow you. Thus, you have someone else’s identity as your profile. And if you don’t want to get caught, block the original account and their followers. The world of catfishing is finally open to you.

I am not saying that one shouldn’t share their pictures but, I think you need to be cautious about who has access to you.  In the past, I used to add random people on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, thank god I was not dumb enough to do that on snapchat. But now after an incident that happened to a close friend of mine whose identity was stolen; I take great cautious on who I add online. I went through my Instagram and Facebook deleting pages where it seemed like it was a robot or someone I didn’t know. I know my blog may be a bit dark, but it is a messed-up part of Social media and one must also address the bad as well as the good.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter discussions, blackboard discussions and in-class discussions differ in many ways. Early on in the semester, we all used Blackboard to introduce ourselves and to comment on each of our post. We replied to one another without running out of character limits. When we use Twitter there is always the worrying about word limit. However, besides that we can continuously add replies in a thread. The replies in Twitter needs to be direct to the point and simple. As well as that Twitter has a more personal vibe to it. We tend to make our Twitter account more personal to our interest and taste compare to blackboard. As well as that Twitter notifies someone when someone replies to them. Blackboard, on the other hand, failed to do that.  I would often have to check the discussion board a scroll through the posts to see if someone replied to me. On the other hand, I prefer Twitter discussions more than class, sometimes one needs more time to let their thought process and their word to sync to discuss something. In class, we often have to reply within minutes or a few seconds. With Twitter, people who have a hard time saying things upfront in class can take their time to write down their thoughts. Different people have different communication styles, some communicate with writing, others with words. 

Blog Social Networking

Social networking, it’s a life style now. Everyone has a way to connect to one another, through the use of web. In the past it was Myspace, then Facebook, and now so many different apps and methods its kind of hard to keep track of. We could see that in many ways this social networking is allowing us to reach out and connecting with people. LinkedIn is one such platform that allows its users to use the site to both promote and connect with people. “Linkedin, a network of 8 million professionals spread across the world. Linkedin says users include executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies.” (Langfitt) This kind of search engine allows both employees and employers to find the best match for one another to promote their career growth. "We have a setting when you sign up for the site that says, Are you open to being contacted about job opportunities?"(Langfitt). Here we see the positive side of connecting with one another. We are able to show our dedication to grow meet people with common ambitions. This site connects us to people who can help us and how we can be helpful to them. Overall itbasically any part of the world.
However, with so much exposure and people able to connect with one another, where does that lead to us. Are we actually heading to an era with vast communication between people or just exchange of small p can be seen with a rise of social networking people are more able to reach out to one another from hrases and interactions through pictures and videos?  In one hand I mentioned the goodness that comes from social networking, but with pros there is also cons. In the New York Times article, I read: “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.” (Stout). In this New York Times article it’s stated; that yes there are more communication but its no longer through face to face, nor hearing one’s voice. With rise of technologies, there also been rise of cyber bullying. Right now, maybe things are a bit under control sine most social networking users went through a time period before social networking was a big part of one’s life. However, the next generation that is coming to be is facing a different form of social networking. There will be more issues that maybe tech companies need to be aware of in the future, one of the biggest one would be privacy. Right now, a 13-year-old has more access to the web and allowing strangers to have their information than 13 year old a decade ago.

Reference:

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?auth=login-email