Warcraft Far Reaching

Warcraft has a widespread audience. According to the article in our reading as of March 1, 2006 there were 6 million subscribers. Almost three years later I can only imagine how much that amount has grown. By now, it should be in Spain. Spanish speaking players can now enjoy the game in their own language.

Corporate Culture in Second Life

Since the goal of Second Life is to "have social interactions and do business," it was just a matter of time before the corporate world gets involved. If a company can use the virtual arena to market itself or its products, why not. Because Second Life involves so many people in its community, then this is the perfect place to market. That many people could not be reached in any other medium. Not everybody though is keen on corporate. But it is nice that users have a choice, like in real life, to simply not venture off into that area. They can continue to socialize and create they own worlds.

Games For Women

Personally, when I think of virtual games I always think of children and guys. Specifically because my nieces and nephews (elementary level kids) are always playing them. When I am at work, I see guys playing them. Girls never seem to be interested. When girls get online they're on MySpace and other stuff. So I can understand women feeling that the gaming industry is created more for men and that women are being overlooked, even though the game's creator says it's not so. Also, like all other industries where women have had to make strides to secure a place for themselves, so it is with the gaming industry. The WIGI organization is an important one. Women must continue to move up in this industry because if they don't it will be dominated by men who will always get the top positions. I applaud their effort.

Intro to Second Life

Second Life is interesting, especially the way you can go in and create the different environments. As mentioned in the video, you can create simulated stores and businesses and make them work. Creating your own merchandise and placing them in the stores on displays gives a virtual view of how the business will operate before you embark on the journey of starting one. From viewing one of the other Second Life videos on YouTube, I found out that people are making money in real life from their Second Life creations, or graphics, that others can use. If people are finding a way in real life to make a living by creating income in Second Life, then it's all worth it. It goes beyond just having fun.

Gender Imposters

The danger in virtual communities is that children and teens are playing around with them and meeting people who are not what they say they are. If teens are constantly interacting with the same person, they get sucked in and lose all sense of reality. Children's minds are impressionable. Sometimes they don't know the difference between what's real and what is not. These other worlds give them a sense of belonging, something a lot of them don't get at home. Technology is great, but sometimes the creators of these games can take it a bit too far. Because the inhabitants of these worlds can be pretty much who they want to be, it's easy for them to pose in a different gender. Sometimes the players take things too far, as in the case of "Joan" in "The Strange Case of the Electronic Lover" by Lindsy Van Gelder and "Sue", who lived in South Wales and was actually a married man that everybody thought was a woman. Don't get me wrong. I love the creative mind. It still amazes me what these people can do with technology.

Alternate Identities

With all the stuff that's going on in the world today, I can see why people go into these virtual worlds and get lost. They need new identities, they need a new life because they don't like the one's they have. They don't like who they are so they create another person and proceed to live outside of reality. I don't see how people can spend so much time trying to be somebody they're not. Games can be fun to a certain extend. But when it begins to consume you, you're in trouble. But I think so many people are addicted to them that it seems to be ok. Hmmm. Wonder when they're going to advertise a new drug to cure this disease. Wonder what kind of syndrome will they call it.

History of Virtual Worlds

The evolution of new technology never ceases to amaze me. Virtual games have evolved over time from their origin of MOO’s, MUD’s, and IRC’s (Internet Relay Chats). If a technology guru/user was dissatisfied with one application, he wrote a program and created another. The IRC sounds like the origin of chat rooms and social websites we’re using now. Its sole purpose was so that people of common interest could communicate with each other. Role-playing or creating environments was not what it was intended for. As these applications continued to be created, users found they had either more or alternate options than the previous version. Ultimately, they all played a role in the development of 3D virtual worlds as we know them today.

MOO's and MUD's

I remember seeing, years ago when the internet was young, people sitting at the computer with all this text on the screen playing games. I guess it was exciting to them at the time because it was something new. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know much of anything about the computer back then.

Reading the wikis about MOO's and MUD's seems kind of complex. I admire the developers of these programs. One thing I did find interesting with MOO's is that "users can perform object oriented programming with the server, ultimately expanding how the server behaves to everyone." Now that sounds like the virtual world games where each player brings his own personality to influence how the game is played.

Game Communities

Sometimes when I'm at my sister's house and see my little niece engrossed in an online game with avatars, It looks real interesting. But then I see how much into this game she is, without even blinking. It seems kind of scary.

After reading essays on gaming communities, that seems kind of scary also. No wonder people are losing their minds. They get to play in these domains that aren't even real but yet they're doing things that are. One person said the character came from behind him and gave him a "thump" that he could feel. Then the same character sneaked up on him and killed him. He was dead. The fact that these players bring their own unique personalities to the game so that it is unpredictable makes this thing too real. A person could lose all sense of reality. Especially when it was indicated that in the Narrath game that 20% view themselves as living there and 22% express desire to live there there. Again, that's scary. I think the future may be like a SciFi movie.

Top 5 Bookmarking Sites

they all have their pros and cons. I particularly liked Magnolia's interface. It's clean with lots of white space. I like the fact that my eyes don't get jumbled up. When I first saw del.icio.us on the social bookmarking Powerpoint, I felt kind of intimidated. It looked so crowded that I felt I didn't even want to bother with it. But now that I've read the review of the top 5 social bookmarketing sites, I like the whole concept and the fact that the article tells me what to look for when choosing a site.

Social Bookmarking

They certainly are right about how challenging it is to remember all the websites we look at and where they are found. Sometimes when I'm looking at a site I really like and then click away from it for a while, I suddenly remember that I didn't bookmark it. I have to go back and and try to find. Sometimes it's embedded in other sites that I had forgot I was in. So I understand the importance of bookmarking.

But to have someone else share my bookmarks and I share there's is awesome. Sometimes I find some good stuff and I know other people do to. Some people are really good at conducting some deep research and finding better stuff. Why not share it. This makes the internet even more powerful and what we can do on it to help each other .

Library of Congress Photos

The photos on the Library of Congress website in Flickr are so beautiful. They are rich in color and really stand out in black and white. And furthermore, they are free of copyright, therefore they can be tagged and distributed anyway you like. As was mentioned on the website, It would be interesting to see how people categorize them with tags and how they will be used. These would be good to use if anyone decided to use them as part of our assignment in Unit 4.

Folksomonies Tap People Power

Imagine all the thousands of photos being uploaded per day by people from all over the world. They could get lost out there! That's where the power of the people come in. Taking responsibility for what we upload or put one the internet. If we tag our material, photos, and so forth, we provide greater usability for others.

"Tags are great, but the thing that is hard is getting people to use them," said Caterina Fake, who co-founded Flickr with husband Butterfield. "But the thing that has happened recently is they've become part of a social arena in which they are valuable not only to the individual but to the group."

The above paragraph says it all. the more we tag, the more valuable and usable our photos are to us as well as others who are searching for them.

48 Percent YouTube Users

If you had a choice between reading about a topic and watching a video on that topic which would you choose? I would choose the video, of course, because I’m a visual learner. But, even if I weren’t, technology is the driving force that dictates the use of high-tech videos. Not only are video-imaging websites popular, they’re fun to watch and educational. Amateur viewers are also making their own videos to put information out on the web. These are sometimes fun and funny to watch. At times, viewers who search the web are suddenly bombarded with pop-up windows containing YouTube videos. So it’s really hard to get around them. Once, I just wanted to find out more about a topic I was interested in, I typed my topic in and a whole slew of YouTube videos were listed. I enjoyed them so much that I lost track of time.

Shifting Demographics of MySpace

When I first saw someone using MySpace I thought it was just kids stuff. All the colorful graphics and pictures. I figured it wasn't for anyone my age. Even my little niece was using it and she's in elementary school. I don't know if she was faking her age or what to register, but I didn't think anything of it. Although I did consider it to be pretty and the users are very creative when building their sites. I've seen some beautiful ones. One day a student at my school was on the computer and another student said to him, "Man, are you still using MySpace? That's old. People are using Facebook now." So it doesn't surprise me that the demographics are changing on MySpace. The young people discovered it and are now moving on. They sort of paved the way for older people. Usually in life it's the other way around. The older people pave the way and the young people follow. Between August '05 and '06 there was a decline of users between the ages of 12-24. During this same time, ages 25 to 55+ increased dramatically. At that rate, in '08, I suspect there's been a continuation of this trend.

Continual Evolution of Social Networks

I guess the internet, when it comes to social networks, is pretty much like buying stock: buy when it's low and sell when it's high. Under the topic "Major Players Jump on the Bandwagon, I see some heavy hitters are "cashing in" on the trend. Who knows where these networks are headed, but just the same they're being swiped up anyway.

The thing is, everybody's still trying to figure out the financial profitability of social networks. But despite that, Rupert Murdoch has purchased the owner of MySpace; Yahoo recently bought Flickr; Amazon has invested in 43 Things, a network approach to marketing; and Monster Worldwide has purchased Tickle, a testing and matchmaking site. But whether these sites are making money now or not, the evolution of the internet is well worth investing in its future.

Social Networking Goes Professional

Reading this article has made me think twice about this whole social networking thing. Before this class, I didn't care about any of this. But now, I'm beginning to see just how important it is now and in the future, as long its creators keep tweaking the sites and making them better. And it seems this is what they're doing. I've gotten to the point where I find myself searching for sites for different professional areas just to see if one exists.

I found Sermo.com to be quite interesting because "doctors are generally more interested in getting treatment advice and access to other doctors' experiences." This is a remarkable way to network and pick the brains of other medical professionals without having to know or see them. This is valuable technology for the medical field. However, since the site does not require users to give their real names, it is crucial that identities be verified to make sure imposters are not posing as doctors and giving misleading information. According to the article, Sermo does hold and verify the identifies of those who register. But on the other hand, I'm sure doctors or any professional worth their credentials will verify any information they get before using it.

Scholars Link Up With Facebook Data

According to Ms. Ellison in the article, "On Facebook, Scholars Link Up With Data", one important finding using data collected from Facebook, is that students with low self-esteem and low satisfaction with life accumulated "weak ties." These are non-family members and people they meet who are not close friends. I don't know what information was gathered to help Ellison determine which students had low self-esteem or a dissatisfaction with life, but one thing I know to be true, at least for myself, is that when I tend to feel depressed or distressed, I usually don't choose family members to talk to. Sometimes it helps to get another perspective from someone I don't know and who does not know me. So, I can relate to what Ellison is saying because family members and close friends have most likely already seen me in this state, know the reasons why I'm feeling depressed, and can only offer the same advice they've given before. Also, they tend to be overly critical. Other people, however, are in a position to give me "new perspectives and opportunities."

Ellison also shared what she said others might think a trivial bit of data known as "triadic closure": whether one's friends are also friends of one another. Considering the fact, as Ellison pointed out, that a 2004 study in The American Journal of Public Health suggested that "adolescent girls who are socially isolated and whose friends are not friends with one another experienced more suicidal thoughts," I feel, in the case of students who are in a depressed state, the "friends" on Facebook should be real friends of one another. Sometimes strangers, especially the ones who prey on weak people, will use this depression as an opportunity to take advantage. Real friends will use their time on Facebook to encourage and provide help through tough moments. And those tough times will come for all of us.

Facebook Marketing

Youtube is remarkable. During the video I learned some other aspects of using Facebook. As a matter of fact, I took the opportunity to view some of the other videos pertaining to Facebook's use. Since I'm still new at using Facebook and have not had time to thoroughly play around with it, the video was actually a way to market Facebook as a useful tool for connecting with friends, and networking as a means of not only communicating with them, but also keeping tabs on what they've been up to. Also, one of the other videos did mention that "bosses" were prohibiting their staff from using Facebook so the narrator showed some ways that it would be advantageous for its use in the business sector.

Employers want to be restrictive about letting their staff use tools like Facebook because they don't want them to waste time on the web. Technology is here and it's not going anywhere. Employers should work with their IT departments to find ways to embrace this new technology and make it work for them. Facebook has been in use for a while now and it has proven to be a powerful tool for communicating. I think employers should try to see the positives and ask "How can this techonology help our business?" It might just give them an edge over their competition. In today's economy, who wouldn't want to be ahead of the pack?

Zuckerberg: Another Bill Gates

It's amazing how students can sit in a dorm room and create such incredible tools for advancing technology. I didn't realize Facebook was so new, only a little over two years old and has grown to be the "social phenomenon" that it is.

It seems Mark Zuckerberg's goal was to take the users of MySpace and lure them over to Facebook. With the experience I've had with Facebook so far, I think his problem is that Facebook seems to be for a more mature user. From what I have seem of sites that teens create on MySpace, there's a level of excitement and beauty. The teens love to decorate the pages with all sorts of photos, backgrounds, and flashy things. I haven't seen that in Facebook. But since I'm new to it, I have yet to experience all that Facebook has to offer. The teens love MySpace and that's all I hear them talk about. They enjoy viewing pages their friends create.

Turning down 1 billion dollars?! I know I would have taken it, and whatever Yahoo decided to do with Facebook would be their business. However, Zuckerberg proved he is serious about the product he created and is willing to hold out for the right buyer who can make his dream a reality and make his baby, Facebook, all that he wants it to be.

Facebook Face Off

The Internet is a powerful tool. It is unfortunate that people use it to slander and bad mouth individuals. I think the comments the students made could have been kept to themselves in a private conversation and not made public. We all have, from time to time, had classes that we hated. It may or may not have been the professor's fault. I have had such a class. However, I didn't blame the professor. I felt she was a brilliant person who loved the subject she was teaching. But I felt the class was taught in such a boring manner. I did not do well in this class. But when I thought about it, I didn't blame the professor for my shortcomings. I turned it around and asked what I could have done to get a better grade.

I felt the University was correct in disciplining the students. Students should exhibit proper conduct when representing or speaking about the school in public. However, I do have to agree with one comment that was made, "I think that the group shouldn't have affected a mature educator confident in her abilities." Students will say nasty things. But if an educator really knows her/his subject, it shouldn't matter what people say. They either like the class or they done. We must work to do whatever it takes to get through a boring course. We are there to learn.

Social Networking

Although I’m fairly new to social networking I can see its value. A person would have to be blind not to. I realized how lucrative these sites were when I conducted a search and all of a sudden YouTube came up. I didn’t ask for it, but I sure did appreciate the visual. It’s much better than reading text. Not only did I get a video of my search request, but I also got other videos pertaining to similar subjects. That’s a lot for just one search. I can only imagine how many people are reached each day with this type of networking.

It amazes me how people can create all these interactive sites just by indulging in their everyday hobbies. And placing ads on the pages, no wonder Rupert Murdock and Yahoo invested so much in MySpace and Flickr. Now that I think about it, the marketing concept will have no end. It’s only as limited as an idea and from the looks of it, the ideas just keep coming. According to Bradley Horowitz, head of technology development for Yahoo, “For media and Web-portal companies, the new social gadgets can look like a magic money machine. Rather than exhaust yourself producing what you think the kids might want, you sit back and let them show off for one another.” (Anya Kamenetz’s The Network Unbound) These social network sites can pretty much sell themselves.

I missed the speeches of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the national Democratic Convention. Immediately I went to YouTube and viewed them there. My most recent YouTube searches were photography, braiding and cutting hair, and Beyounce's "Ring the Alarm." A woman took me on a walk-through of her house she has for sale. I also went hiking up a mountain with that same woman. It's like I was really there. "Why watch fake "reality" shows when you can connect with actual reality?" (The Network Unbound)

Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

I classify myself as a digital immigrant. Technology came along and I was taught to use it. I didn’t get email until 1997 and even then I didn’t know anything about it except that it was another way of communicating with people. Then I started to learn about the Internet, web pages, and a primitive instant message that was out at the time. Naturally, I was fascinated. But there was still so much I didn’t know. The things I didn’t know then, I classify them as being simple now.

My nieces, on the other hand, were born into technology. They eat, sleep, and wake up at the computer emailing, working on My Space, and walking around in virtual rooms they created and decorated themselves.

I totally agree with Marc Prensky’s observation “…students have changed radically,” in his 2001 article Digital natives, digital immigrants. There was a time when it was ok to teach using a lecture and textbook only, and it was effective. But, educators in public schools who continue to teach today’s generation in this manner are losing their students. Charters schools, from what I hear, are using computers more frequently in their instruction.

The words on the T-shirt, “I’m not ADD, I’m just not listening,” seem to be the sentiment of students in public schools. My experience with observing students in a classroom is that they have very short attention spans when all they hear is lecture. But, if that lecture also includes work on a computer, and the students are continually engaged in the lesson, the students enjoy learning.

Technology is the new vehicle being used to drive education. Therefore, it’s understandable that students in this generation have different cognitive learning patterns than those of previous lessons. I also agree with Prensky in saying that Digital Natives view technology as a “friend.” I tend to use technology simply as a tool to help me accomplish a task.

Technology is here to stay and it has become our way of life. Educators who continue to operate in the old manner and fail to embrace technology and incorporate it into their instruction will become obsolete.