Thomas Qiu's CIS 3810 Blog

New Media is a great resource for people because it can foster creativity. Companies can collaborate with people all over the world instantaneously through social media. These collaborations can lead to new ideas which can see the light if picked up by the right people. According to the article "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers", an example of a company using adapting to their consumers is when Twitter saw that their users were using the @ symbol to refer to other people. They have adopted that action and used it as the official way to refer to another Twitter user. Twitter understood that their user experience would be a process of trial and error. If people were excited about a Twitter feature, they would react positively. If people did not like a Twitter feature, they would make Twitter aware that they did not like the feature. In addition to the @ symbol, Twitter users also popularized the # symbol to refer to things that users were refering to. In the beginning

New media can bring out the creativity in almost anybody. If somebody like me can become inspired and enlightened by new media, anybody can. An example of using new media to foster creativity is Second Life. Second Life is a simulation game that can be played for free. It allows the player to create an avatar that is similar to the player or completely different from the player. A person can essentially have a "second life". They can get jobs, explore, communicate with other players, and much more. I downloaded and played for the first time and my experience was very positive. My Second Life character was a DJ with a wife and three kids. I lived in a house and even had a dog. It allowed me to simulate a different life with the ability to fly without any real repercussions. I can understand how simulation games like Second Life can foster imagination and creativity in young kids because of how vast the world is. Kids see the world much bigger than adults. They would have a muc

We live in a digital world where almost everything exists through technology. The need for real life interaction has declined and it has been replaced with virtual reality. Virtual reality is exactly what you think it is. It is a reality within the virtual world where you can interact   with people all over the world and do many activities without ever leaving your room. Whether it be playing games with others or just hanging out with friends, there is a virtual world for almost everyone in the world. Just like any other technological advancement, there are always positives and negatives when it comes to virtual worlds.  Virtual worlds can have many applications in the real world. According to the article " After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?", virtual worlds can be used in education, delivery services, or even healthcare through videoconferences. It can help people all over the world and would prevent people from being alone ever again. Whether it is a po

Social Networking has been in control of our world for years. Almost everybody has some sort of social media, even if they don't use it. Different social networking sites have different uses. Four different social networking sites are Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram. Each of these sites have a different purpose. Twitter is used when I want to connect and show support for celebrities. It is also a good source of finding out what is happening around the world. In a way, Twitter has replaced the news. Instead of people telling me what is happening around the world, I can just search through Twitter and see what's trending. It is interesting to see how big the world is through the lense of Twitter. Facebook is a place where people connect with friends and family. While it is also a good way to keep up with what is happing around the world, a lot of the new aspects of Facebook have a similarity with Twitter. The use for Facebooks is mostly playing facebook games, watchi

In this age of techonlogy, our world is seeing more and more online presence than ever. For many, life does not exist solely in person anymore. Classes such as my CIS 3810 class are being taken online. This means no in-class discussions. Instead, our class discussion occurs through blackboard, twitter, blogger, etc. When discussing through blackboard, we are free to type as much as we want to because we aren't limited to the 280 charaacters of a tweet. However, since tweeting requires less characters, each word or phrase have to mean something of significance. Blackboard discussions are often long but Twitter discussions tend to have more meaning. The paragraphs typed on Blackboard often have a lot of filler sentences to reach an acceptable post length. Discussions through twitter posts have more impact because every word has to matter or else we wouldn't be able to get our message across. Discussions through Blackboard and Twitter are both very helpful tools that enrich our le

Technology and social networking can be a great resource for many people. It can help people connect to friends and family from all over the world. The distance gap no longer exists and that is thanks to the advancement in technology. While technological advances have its advantages, it can also be deemed detrimental especially for the youth. Since the dawn of social media, there has been a concern of cyberbullying and now that social media is as large as it ever was, more kids are suffering from cyberbullying which can lead to depression and other mental illnesses. According to the New York Times article "Antisocial Networking?", children no longer spend time with each other in real life. Instead, they chat online through social media and text messages which can be troubling because the lack of human interaction can have drastic effects on the mental state of children. The convenience factor of technology has caused people to become very closeted because almost anything ca