Creativity and New Media

I utilized new media tools such as a virtual software called Virtual Makeup. Basically its a software program where you can upload a personal photo or use preselected models to add and change hair or hair color and makeup. I used the Virtual makeover from the MarieClaire.com site and just played around with shades of blonds and hair styles on a model since spring is coming and different makeup looks.

HW Creativity

                 1 + 1 + 1 = 1

In The article “1 + 1 + 1 = 1, The new math of mashups”, Sasha Frere-Jones starts out by describing a DJ named DJ Reset and how he contrives songs out of overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another by blending two or more pre-recorded songs together. Mashups has become sort of a new form of artistry where the people who create these mashups consider the final project to be a completely and entirely new song and that the various artist featured in the mixes are not being violated in reference copy right infringement. These “mash-up Artist” if you will, argue that the creative process is far more important than the final product. I Feel as though theses artist use the inspiration of others to foster their creativity which has been the case since the very beginning of mankind. This is still considered creativity to me although some may argue that you can’t argue personal creativity when it’s based-on others. Recently I was introduced to the film “Rip!: A Remix Manifesto” produced by film maker Brett Gaylor. In this film Brett creates this manifesto consisting of four key points:

1. Culture always builds on the pass

2. The past always tries to control the future

3. Our future is becoming less free

4.To build free societies you must limit the control of the past

The Point that he makes which is most valid for this topic is how culture is built on the past. Which attest to the fact that with new media people are able to take influences from the past and use them in different and unique ways fostering creativity, coming up with a totally new result.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Anshe Chung

In Second Life, subscribers get a tool kit that enables them to build and create an avatar (a character in the world). They also get a small quantity of Linden dollars to start out with, enabling the participant to buy additional tools and objects within the world itself. Linden Lab converts currency at a floating rate that, now, is about 257 Linden dollars per U.S. dollar.

Second Life's economy looks remarkably like that of the physical world. More than 50 businesses in the virtual world made more than $100,000 each last year. As Second World has grown, some users have built full-time businesses.

Second Life's owner, Linden Lab, makes money by selling land plots and islands. An island runs about $1,000, a high barrier of entry for most Second Life users. But to open a strip mall, dance club or office tower, or to build a home, avatars need land. Some Second Life users have taken on Donald Trump-like personas, buying land from Second Life and then leasing plots to small-business owners or would-be homeowners, or flipping their properties as speculators.

Anshe Chung (real name Ailin Graef ), a real-estate tycoon in the digitally simulated world Second Life, has apparently become the first virtual millionaire in 2006. She began by buying small pieces of real estate, which she subdivided, developed and landscaped to sell on or rent. She now has real estate equivalent to 36 square kilometers of land, cash in the form of several million exchangeable Linden dollars and a number of virtual shopping malls and store chains.

Beyond Building virtual businesses involving real money, actual Companies are utilizing this technology in the office place. In the article, going to the virtual office in Second Life by Mark Tutton over 1400 companies use second life to conduct meetings. I was even more shocked to learn that even the U.S Military has used the software for various reasons as well. The pros of utilizing virtual world in the work place is that it may foster a sense of confidence due to the fact het the forum is online using an avatar. The Cons of the software in the workplace is depending on how often the software is used to facilitate meetings it may promote a lack of motivation being that a virtual meeting is just that Virtual. Virtual World foster creativity by eliminating certain pressures that come along with face to face interactions allowing someone to feel freer to create and share ideas.

As the world and technology progresses I see the future of virtual world becoming the norm. With people being increasingly afraid to attend social events due to the fear of mass shooters or terrorism I can see citizen more susceptible to using virtual world software’s like VLES.com (virtual lower eastside) which I read about in the article “I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life” by DAVE ITZKOFF. In this article Dave describes a typical night out where he hang outs and meets up with friends who enjoy the same gritty strip between Houston and Rivington Streets of lower Manhattan.

Blog about Twitter

Blackboard Learn, is a virtual learning environment and course management system developed by Blackboard Inc. It is Web-based server software which features course management, customizable open architecture, and scalable design that allows integration with student information systems and authentication protocols.  While Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and interact with messages, known as "tweets." These messages were originally restricted to 140 characters, but on November 7, 2017, the limit was doubled to 280 characters for all languages except Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Besides the message character restraints blackboard discussion and twitter discussion are similar in many ways. Both platforms allow their users to post about various topics in a forum with friends and likeminded piers. Twitter promotes interaction and discussion with their tagging and reposting feature. This grants users to comment or follow up on what someone else has tweeted to keep the conversation going. Blackboard uses similar methods as the software contains the ability to comment on what others have posted and these comments are able to be viewed by everyone on the thread. Futhermore, each thread on Blackboard discussions is like a hashtag, a hashtag is a keyword, or a phrase used to describe a topic or a theme. Twitter users put hashtags in their tweets to categorize them in a way that makes it easy for other users to find and follow tweets about a specific topic or theme.

Blog: Social networking sites

      Besides messenger i personally haven't used Facebook for much since maybe 2014. So its interesting to see how much the site has updated but im not a 100% sold on 2018's version of Facebook. Im particularly not too thrilled about the notifications settings. My notifications are filled with the most random information like : one of my followers commented on her own status & seriously Facebook do i really need to know everyone's birthday with over 1900 friends it becomes superfluous. Twitter , for me at this very point in time is very vague and confusing when i log on to this site i never really know what to do Twitter or where to start. Myspace i couldn't even begin to remember my username in password or when the last time i was on the site.However i must not be getting th Myspace memo because according to huffingtonpost.com 15 million people visit Myspace on a monthly basis. Myspace has totally revamped their look. Upon visiting the site I've noticed it looks very urban and interacted. on Their main page they offer featured content to allure users into loging on and i must say i am intrigued. There is Instagram! i am obsessed with instagram the content on my news feed and explore page is always on point. I really enjoy the visual heavy content because it allows users to express there self explicitly through picture and videos. I actually enjoy watching Instagram videos more so then cable t.v some of my favorite comics like @jessicahilarious post a lot of material on Instagram.

Blog Social Networking

Social Networking Technology Boots Job Recruiting

One way these technologies can be utilized, is for HR purposes. In fact according to the careerbuilder.com 72% to 80% of employers are using social media to find workers. In the article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" Frank Langfitt points out the fact that these recruiters are not just interested in your Linkedin accounts like i would've guest but also in your Facebook and Myspace accounts. With about two in five companies checking your social media profiles to evaluate your character and personality it's inevitable that they find some inappropriate things that may cause them to reconsider an applicant. To help job seekers like us better understand the role of social media in their job search, CareerBuilder.com conducted a survey of 2,303 hiring managers and human resource professionals. A third (34%) of employers who scan social media profiles said they have found content that has caused them not to hire the candidate. The good news is that hiring managers aren’t just screening your social media profiles to dig up dirt; they’re also looking for information that could possibly give you an advantage. The CareerBuilder survey revealed that 29% of surveyed hiring managers found something positive on a profile that drove them to offer the candidate a job.

Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private

In the article "Facebook privacy is so confusing even the Zukerburg family photo isn't private" Rebecca Greenfield recalls an incident on Facebook where the founder of Facebook Mark Zukerburg's sister Randi posted a photo only intended for her personal friends. However with the emerging privacy settings on the site the photo got into the hands of a mutual follower who then reposted the photo on her timeline. This was able to occur over the new "privacy" settings being developed by Facebook. I feel as though privacy has a new meaning these days and i see the term only becoming more blurred as time progress and as new technologies emerge. After reading this article i recall my own experience where the lines on privacy were blurred. A couple months back i switch my phone from iPhone to Android , and in doing so i wanted to transfer my information from one phone to the next. When it came time to transfer my pictures from the iPhone to the android i was warned not that it may take some time depending on how many pictures were in the phone. Being that i had just deleted a bulk of the pictures out of the iPhone i figured it shouldn't take more than a couple minutes. Wrong! I was there for 2 hours transferring photos all due to the fact that when u delete photos on an iPhone they are not at all deleted and store on their iCloud system. This was an eye opener for me and it showed me that nowadays privacy isn't a given and has to be explicitly specified like in the article it states " Randi has indicated that she only wants her friends to see photos that she has posted. But the way Facebook works, friends of your friends tagged in a photo album also see the entire roll, unless you choose otherwise in the settings of the album posted. The term "friends" in this album at right indicates my friends and all the friends of people tagged in the post. Changing that involves clicking "custom" and unchecking a box that reads "friends of those tagged." Randi shouldn’t have to activate privacy features. Instead she should have had to enable public features.