Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are a relatively new phenomena. They are worlds hosted online by massive computers that allow users to communicate and interact with others as well as build things. In an article by Diane Mehta on forbes.com, Diane validates the idea that software like second life and minecraft are being used by people of all ages to interact online. I know from my own personal studies in psychology that second life has been used to treat social anxiety in many people across the world. Sometimes these people find it easier to interact with real people online than in person. Eytan Bakshy validates this thesis with data in his paper titled "Second life Social Influence EC". This helps build their confidence and leads to better personal touch and go relationships. On the other hand, virtual worlds are used by children to build things and utilize their creativity. Kids create their own virtual worlds in minecraft and build things however they'd like. My own cousin plays this game and he often hosts parties on his server where people join and help him build his village. I think virtual worlds are here to stay and will only become more popular as developers release more tools like this that fit a greater scheme of needs. I can see it mysef, even here at Baruch, people go crazy over this game called "league of legends" in the computer labs.

Blog About Twitter

Twitter discussions are much better than blackboard discussions. We can easily click on our class hashtag and view all posts that we may have missed. It is also easier to get the full experience on our mobile devices without having to log into the cuny portal. Blackboard may be fuller featured, but is only useful if one is sitting in front of a desktop computer. It is similar to an in class discussion because we all share our personal thoughts and opinions when asked.

Social Networking Sites

I've visited Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Facebook is boring and crowded with grandmas pictures. Twitter is dated and cluttered with spam bots. Instagram is by far my favorite and i use it every day. Tumblr is also another favorite because it is like instagram that posts must be simple, but gives the option to post things other than Photos or video. Users can post poems and music as well.

Social Net'g

Social Networking has become a colossal part of todays society. Corporations and individuals can utilize the tools to reach both a large audience and also a niche market. For example, in this article by David Carr, discusses how president Obama used facebook to reach his supporters on facebook and by email. This enables a much easier and frequent channel of reach. The benefit is the ability to be recieve information instantly no matter where we are since we now carry around these devices in our pockets. The dark side to this wealth of information is that literally anyone can log into a computer and stir up some trouble online. For example, this article by Kristina Grifantini explains that sometimes we rely too heavily on what the online community thinks. For example, we check rotten tomatoes for movie reviews and amazon for product reviews. What we fail to realize is that what is right for one person may not be for another. I think that in the future our brains will be connected to the infrastructure of the world and we will be connected  24/7. Think google glass, but as a part of our bodies.

Blog v Wiki

What is the difference between blogs and wikis you ask? Wikipedia defines a wiki as "A wiki (ⁱ/ˈwɪki/ wik-ee) is a website which allows collaborative modification of its content and structure directly from the web browser". Similarly, a blog is a tool that allows Ideas to be shared across the internet, but with less anonymous input. For example, Wal mart employee said “Is it really all that and a bag of chips?” about Windows Vista. This message was broadcasted over the internet and gave everyone a biased view of windows vista. If this was a wiki, it would have most likely been modified several times until the public reached a mutual agreement.