Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Although virtual worlds are having its biggest advancements in the gaming world, it is also improving efficiency and production in other fields as well. Some of the these where VR is being implemented are health care, education, museums and the automotive world. Learning through virtual reality has gone a far way, employers are now expecting workers to come into the field already knowing how to learn online (Posey). With the internet being such a resource, many opportunities are offered in various way that appeal to students and their learning styles. One of the biggest advantages of VR in the education world, is that it is increasing organization for the students along with the instructor of the course. The instructors` are able to efficiently update content for all students and have it accessible for anyone at their convenient timing. Along with organization, VR also complements education breaking a social barrier that is sometimes present in the physical classroom (Bakshy). Technology has increased group cohesion and mutual support. VR has many advantages to education, but it also comes with it disadvantages. One the most important is that there is no pace to the lecture. In a traditional setting a professor might adjust the pace at which they are teaching and even skip topics when they see that different classmates are not comprehending all material. This also leads to less contact and connection between students groups and teachers.

One of the most impressive points of VR is that it opens a world of creativity that is unbelievable. For example, in the auto world, VR allows you to build different models to adjust on a prototype before building a defective model. The biggest bonus of the virtual world is that it brings efficiency to all areas of It application, along with opening a creative and interesting world. The bad part about this is that although it come with all of these benefits to all individuals, not everyone can afford it. Those who are not able to afford these technologies will be left out. In the future as more companies see their competitor moving towards VR, they will also make the same move so that their competition will not get too far ahead of them in a business world. For educators, as more students are able to afford this virtual technology, they will move to the virtual world because the efficiency of learning they now have access to.

 

Bakshy, Eytan. “Social Influence and the Diffusion of User-Created Content.” Scoail Influence, Social Influence , 6 July 2009, docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDoyYTc5NWYwZjQ5MmRkY2Yw.

Posey, Guy. “The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Virtual Classroom and the Role of the Teacher.” VIrtual Classroom, docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxiYXJ1Y2huZXdtZWRpYXxneDo2ZTg5MGFiMmRkMzA4NjZm.

Twitter

Twitter discussions and blackboard discussion are similar in many ways but also has its differences. For example, both gives the opportunity for collaboration with the class as a whole. On twitter someone write a thread creating a topic, where their following are able to see it on their timeline and can comment and give feedback on the original post. Although blackboard discussion does not exactly feature, it is very similar because you can see all post from your classmates and have the ability to give inputs and feedback. The difference is that blackboard discussion does not have the same easy view and timeline system.

Twitter discussions are also similar to in class discussions because there is a stated topic either given by the teacher or the post, then students and followers have their opportunities for inputs and feedback. The biggest difference with twitter from in class discussions along with blackboard discussions is that twitter limits that amount that you are able to write, so that everything is brief.

Social networking sites

Looking through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, all four sites have many similarities but at the same time are so different. For example, on all sites they have this thing called adding to your story or timeline, where you’re able to upload things like questions, what you’re doing at the moment, boomerangs, and polls. Another similarity would be that you’re able to start something called a live video. Which is basically where your followers are able to see your live stream of any activities that you’re doing. Also on all platforms, companies are able to take advantages of the marketing and advertisements that can be done. Many companies have job posting on their site to show up depending on your searches and profile matchings.

When it comes to the differences, all of these platforms are very unique in their own ways. Twitter over the years has become more popular for political updates, but also for funny jokes and updates from you followers that you have. There are so many different uses for twitter that are more enhanced than other platforms. Instagram and snapchat are very similar because Instagram almost has a version of snapchat installed where you can post on your story for 24 hours along with the chat feature and ability to comment on stories. The difference is that Instagram also has the feature where you can post pictures of your art, sports, or even yourself which stays until you delete or archive to be posted later again. Facebook allows you to post written post along with picture post. Facebook also allows you to share videos that post on your page and stay there until you delete them. Facebook also gives a community feeling being that you’re able to share these videos and comment on them. It’s also a good platform for businesses because they’re able to post advertisements under their business page. This allows for their friends to like the advertisement and if they have mutual friends they’re also able to see it which eventually just travel’s around all of Facebook and allows for more and more people to view it.

Social Networking

Social media has been one of our most valuable advancements over the past years. People of all ages are on social media sites, even though everyone uses it for different reason. One of the best benefits that is offered on various platforms, is the ability to connect and network with different people. In corporate offices social media play a big role because of the different communities that are built online. For example, for financial advisors to be successful in their work social media sites such as LinkedIn plays a big role because expanding your work comes from your connections and networks. With the ability to tell stories on your social media sites, you are able to get your target audience to see specific content that you would like to be shared with them (Lavenduski).

Although social media has lot of pros, it also comes with a few headaches. One example is the fact that our privacy is not respected by these sites as we thought they are. Although corporate companies use out information to help find ads that are in our best interest, the information we give other companies isn’t expected to be shared. Outside of the corporate world, social media is also starting to have a bad effect on our younger generation. According to Stout in a New York Times article, a lot of our younger generation is taking the way they type online into the way that they are actually typing. Along with the increase in social media use, the children are spending less time outside with their friends compared to the past generations (Stout).

Citations:

Lavenduski, Sara. “How to Build a Community on Social Media.” ASI - Promotional Products

Membership Organization, 26 Sept. 2018, www.asicentral.com/news/how-

to/september-2018/how-to-build-a-community-on-social-media.

 

Stout, Hilary. “Antisocial Networking?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Apr.

2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html.

Blogs vs. Wikis

In our new world, one of the most important things to us is being able to communicate information to each other and come together in a fashionable way. Our technical convergences have taken us very far over the past years. Many forms of new media such as social platforms and blogs allows us to do so. A blog is a site or page that is updated usually in a timely period, only run by one person or group, and also not usually written in the most conventional styles. Although others are not able to edit posts, blog are interactive because it gives viewers the chance to leave comments and feedback. When multiple people see these comments, it gives the opportunity for collaboration to start and sharing knowledge on similar subjects while doing so.  One great example of this was actually in New York about a decade ago when blogs were becoming more popular. According to, “Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid” a New York time article, a blog was started because of worried neighbors who had a problem and needed more collaboration to get it solved. A blog was started about narcotics being dealt around Brooklyn, with lots of comments and feedback, there eventually became a raid with numerous arrests because of this blog post.

Wiki has similar traits to blogs, but it has more of a community style. In comparison, wiki allows multiple users to create, edit, and comment on post at their own ease. Blogs are restricted to one person creating and editing, so many times the information from these blogs might be a little more trusted than what is coming from a wiki which has more of an open environment. The ability for multiple people being able to edit and create wiki’s it always leads to some information being misleading or just false being of anyone being able to add anything. Over the years there has been many efforts to try to make the information of wiki more trustworthy. According to a New York Times article, “Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People,” there will be different efforts, such as monitoring of edits for this to be executed.

One new use of wikis that I think would be very useful is, making a wiki for college classes. Doing this student would be able to add different notes and important information, that way if you are confused on anytime topic in class the professor does not have to be the first option. This would very affective because a lot of times, students are more comfortable communicating with themselves than the professor.

 Citations

Cohen, Noam. “Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People.” The New York Times, The

New York Times, 24 Aug. 2009,

www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html?_r=1.

Wilson, Michael. “Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid.” The New York Times, The New

York Times, 26 June 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html.

The affect of Youtube on Students

Youtube has both pros and cons when it comes to it's impact on students. YouTube provides a free platform for news, sports, and education which is valuable overtime for most students. For example, lots of different news channels have their own Youtube channel. You can access these channels at anytime and anywhere. On the flip side, Youtube isn't always the best place to get your news updates. Because anyone can post, there tends to be a lot of false information which you have to learn how to filter out.