Creativity and New Media

I have used to Media for creative purposes to create a mashup. I layered two songs of two different genres to create a hybrid work. To do this I mixed the songs live on Rekordbox Dj(or any other digital djing software) and recorded it. The art that accompanied this track is a collage I created in Photoshop from art pictures that existed already.


https://soundcloud.com/vee000/gods-wisdom-i-want-to-know-x-dj-earl-f-da-hataz-2016-vee

HW Creativity

New media fosters creativity by allowing people to create and share content without much skill. In the past in order for one to compose a song and have an audience to listen to it  they had to study music and learn how to play an instrument. In the New Yorker article 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 new media allows anyone to create a song without even playing an instrument. Software called DAWs (digital audio workstations) allows people to create music with existing songs. In the New Yorker article people create songs called “mashups” which are two different songs layered on top of each other to create a new song. You don’t need to be a musical genius to create a mashup.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be used for educational purposes. Virtual worlds can create simulated learning environments. In the Wall Street Journal article “Avatar: II the Hospital” med school students are able to experience what working in a hospital is like to practice before the real thing. The downside to learning in a simulated environment is that “The lack of face-to-face interactions with other peers and the instructor can be a disadvantage for the students and professors.(The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher)”

Virtual worlds can foster creativity because people can adopt personas that’s different from your real life persona. Virtual worlds allow people to express themselves if they can’t express themselves that way in real life. In the New York Times article “In Simulated Worlds Online, Consumption Is Still Conspicuous,” people during the recession of 2009 were able to express themselves by dressing online avatars in designer clothes, clothes that they aren’t able to afford. “ Certainly her real-world occupation as a nurse affords Ms. Cocke scant opportunity “to rock my new leather Gucci messenger bag or Jimmy Choo sandals,” she said. In contrast, “Vixie’s style is a better representation of my true self,” she said, “as it’s hard to be fashionable in hospital scrubs.””

I think the future of virtual worlds will include virtual/augmented reality. Also projected holograms. The quality of computer graphics will also improve so that graphics can look close to real life.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter is similar to BlackBoard discussions because it's interactive: you can communicate with your classmates. BlackBoard is more private because it is only for college students that go to the same school,usually in the same class.  Anyone in the world can join in on a Twitter discussion unless you choose to have a private account.Since BlackBoard is for college discussions are more education focused. Since BlackBoard discussions are usually for a grade these posts are more structured and   developed. BlackBoard discussions have no character limit while Twitter is limited to 140 characters. It's popular to have intellectual discussions on Twitter especially on politics however Twitter  is more suited for a wider array of discussion topics. Twitter basically is un-moderated and you can discuss and post anything no matter how explicit, hate speech and threats to safety are the exception.

Blog Social networking

Social Networking can be used for business to connect to the customer on a level that is more personal than radio,TV or print as exemplified in the article How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power. Unlike past candidates that predominantly used expensive voter lists, phone banks and direct mail to rally voters during their campaigns Obama used the Internet which is significantly less expensive.“But Senator Barack Obama understood that you could use the Web to lower the cost of building a political brand, create a sense of connection and engagement, and dispense with the command and control method of governing to allow people to self-organize to do the work.”  Social networking is good for society because it creates transparency between the consumer and businesses since social networking allows for two-way conversation.    “Special-interest groups and lobbyists will now contend with an environment of transparency and a president who owes them nothing. The news media will now contend with an administration that can take its case directly to its base without even booking time on the networks.”

The “dark side” to social networking is invasion of privacy.Even I’m guilty of posting embarrassing pictures of others on Twitter or Instagram. In the article  They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites college students are able to post content about their peers anonymously. Gossip is natural,but when it takes place on a public, unmoderated forum, it’s easy for things to get really explicit. If you’re on this site, future employers are able to see things that may hurt your chances of getting a job. “"This is the new JuicyCampus," says a note at Campus Gossip, which boasts campus-specific message boards for hundreds of colleges and encourages anonymous and racy barbs such as "These Fellas got herpes," with a list of names attached. Going even further than its predecessor, there's also a photo section where students can post embarrassing pictures and videos of others.” Sites like this contribute to  bullying or harassment which can make the person affected feel depressed or unsafe.

I believe social networking may evolve to include more real-time video streaming.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and Wikis both allow people to self publish information on the Internet. The content is created by amateurs or everyday people.

Wikis are basically web hosted, collaborative encyclopedias or manuals. People collectively add and edit content and it is continually revised and fact-checked.Each topic in the wiki is connected by hyperlinks so the flow of information is nonlinear. Information on wikis tend to be more objective and factual which is why they are often used  in business. In the article How To Use Wikis For Business, wikis are can be used to “need a central location where shared documents can be viewed and revised by a large and/or dispersed team.”

Blogs can have several contributors but each post is usually created by one person and appear on the web page in chronological order and posts get old and lose relevance over time.Blogs are like the editorial portions of newspapers where people write their opinions.Blogs contribute to public thought like Blogs can be used for collaboration because their is a two way response between the author and audience. The audience has the ability to give feedback and comments to the author.In the article Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid the feedback in the comments in a blog created the opportunity to end criminal activity in a neighborhood.  “and blogging turned to action, as neighbors started filing complaints with the 68th Precinct station… ‘ “At the end of the day, it was about putting aside anonymity, putting aside the HTML and physically showing up.”’”

Convergence is important in the networked world because it’s several ways of  communication and media combined into one.