Creativity and New Media

Hi everyone! Below I created a Word Collage filled with some words we've used in our blogs and class lectures. The fonts sort of mimic my perception of the word association. I used the website wordart.com to create this collage. I remember creating these collages to make a wallpaper to help me keep my eye on my goals. I decided to do this for this class to give us an idea of what we learned in the class so far. Hope you all like it! 

HW Creativity

New media technology fosters creativity in a way that was not possible before the emergence of Web 2.0. With new media platforms emerging, consumers are at the front of the stage. When it comes to social media platforms, it's all about the users and what they like. In the 2009 article, "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" by Claire Cain Miller, since the internet allows many individuals to voice their opinions, product innovators in companies are able to gain insights on what users enjoy and dislike the most. This occurs in startups because they are trying to find their way in the market, so in order to figure out their niche, their best bet is to listen to their consumers and mold their business around the value that their consumers use. New media fosters creativity in the sense of generating solutions as a community. For example, in the article, Twitter users began using the @ symbol as a way to acknowledge a person (likely a fellow twitter user). Twitter decided to grab that concept and innovate it by hyperlinking the persons page and adding a section that allows a person to see how many times their name has been mentioned in tweets. The interaction we see on social media platforms foster creativity because people are constantly striving for convenience and simplicity. Humanity is lazy, we will find a way to make the use of technology easier than it is. So when we speak, chances are it's something good. Which means, that corporations need to be listening to its users/consumers to help generate their next big idea. 

Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html 

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are the new way of gaming according to most. However, what they don't know is the use of virtual reality extends far beyond that. According to the article, "Avatar II: The Hospital" by Stephanie Simon, virtual reality is being utilized in hospitals to help aid nurses and personnels in training. Nurses are able to train using the simulation program designed to mimic that of the hospital they work at. The program allows them to make fast decisions depending on the situation. By figuring out their weak spots, hospitals are able to create solutions for issues that could slow down the ever moving environment. According to the article, Dr. Ramloll is a computer scientist who charges $150,000 to build a virtual hospital, which is way cheaper than what medical schools did and still do, using mannequins that cost about $65,000 each, which needs to be shared between every 100 students. However, the negative aspect of this technology, as it is with most new technology is not all devices support it. Some students have a hard time getting proper internet access. However, with all technological introductions we see issues arise and solutions will likely follow. 

In 2009, during the recession, virtual communities were formed as a way for employees to meet up for conferences and meetings from all over the world. According to the article "Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life" by Mark Tutton, IBM sells its own meeting tool, Sametime 3D, which allows businesses to communicate in a 3D world. However, this could be negative. Communicating with coworkers in person offers much more than virtually communicating with them. Think about all of the social cues we receive when speaking to someone, we can see it in their face when they dislike something. We can tell when they're angry or frustrated by looking at their faces. With virtual worlds we are unable to receive these cues. By not being able to see everyones body language and emotions, we are depriving ourselves of proper communication. Although, we might think we are appropriately communicating, we could be making someone uncomfortable with our words and not even know it. The article points out "virtual teams can't take advantage of the kind of impromptu "water cooler" conversations that occur in a real workplace." Again, pointing out that we can't gain those organic connections with people. 

The future of the virtual world would likely include continuous attention in the video game sector, because of the fact that people are more likely to find themselves more into feeling like they're actually in the game. Virtual worlds foster creativity by putting people in situation they would not always have encountered in the real world, creating ideas and leading to solutions to reoccurring problems. If a person never encountered an issue, chances are they would have never thought of a solution. Virtual world put them into these problems and allows them to derive solutions, sparking critical thinking and creativity.