Whither The Individual?

Lets face it; social networking websites such as eHarmoney or Facebook are getting more popular every singe day. You begin to realize that we are starting to live in a very technologically advanced world when: one out of every five new relationships are founded off of an online dating service, and over fifty percent of all internet users, world-wide, are on Facebook. In fact, there are approximately seven billion people in the world, two million of which are Internet users, and 517,760,460 of them are Facebook users. That’s a bone chilling number. It’s a digital age and social networks are racking up numbers to an unbelievable amount. I don’t necessarily think that this is a bad thing because the younger generations are getting much more technological than any other existing or non-existing generation. Just because the world is changing doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad thing. I would personally rather use the word ‘advancing’ because we are abandoning old ways and making life much faster and easier by discovering new ways to communicate, have fun, conduct business, and even live a life.

Teachers seem to question the idea that advancing technology is putting a slight burden on the current educational system. Children today have a much shorter attention span and they require a different way to be taught. It is not the students who should be criticized; it’s the aging educational system that has been around for centuries. Books and paper, pencils and pens; these have been the same tools for a “proper” education since these things were invented. This just basically goes to show that if something remains concrete then it will die. Being born into a wireless society amplifies the theory that we need to make changes in order to keep up with the changes. Of course, it is not only the educational system that needs to, or has started to, make the necessary changes that adapt to the short attention spanned children now a days. Obviously online dating services are revolutionary ideas that greatly help the singles community. If one-fifth of all couples are brought together via eHarmony or Chemistry.com than these advances are making quite the positive impact.

As we become new users of different social networking sites, or even online video games, we re extending and expanding our identities. When someone creates a character in World of War craft I don’t believe that they are creating an alter ego. It is understood that the character that is created by someone is not really they as a person. The character is simply an avatar or a representation of the gamer. Therefore, it is an extension and expansion on an identity. Second Life is another example of creating avatar beings through game. Though, some users would not even call it a game, per se. Second Life is commonly used for business meetings or transactions. Some professionals have never even met each other in person because of distance or the lack of need to. This is a perfect example of how we are making changes to make certain situations easier and even cost efficient.

Despite the possibility of gaming addictions, the option of creating an avatar in World of War craft, or Second Life may be very appealing. When something gives you the options of being a king when you’re a peasant, who wouldn’t pass that opportunity up? Some may consider this a loss of personal space and is a surrender of ego. The way I see it, there is no such thing as personal space anymore. If someone wants to find out information about you then they are going to. The socially norm in our society is to be a user on some sort of social networking website so others can find out your relationship status, check out pictures of you, communicate via the particular website, and the list goes on and on. So maybe we are sacrificing our personal space but I feel that that would have been inevitable at some point in the near future.

I understand how people feel that all of these technological advances may seem unnatural or not right because it affects the way we’ve been doing things for such a long time. Change is difficult to cope with for those are who are unwilling to change. Pretty soon words like “collective organism” and “hyper-people”, referring to those more technologically advanced than others, will be obsolete. We, as human beings, are simply evolving. The same way monkeys evolve to use tools (of course, this comparison is exponentially less then the adaption to social networking. Like everything else, consumption in excess is a bad. So the moderate use of technology is not harmful and quite extraordinary. I look forward to see what the next revolutionary advancement will be and how we are going to be able to adapt.

Sources:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/10/three-stats-that-reveal-much-about-our-digital-culture/1

http://www.scribd.com/doc/26734456/‘ial-Media-Web-2•O

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/the-illusion-of-transparency-in-social-media.html

Social Media and Web 2.0/Transparency in Social Media

1. Like different periods in art history, the style of professional production value will continue to vary throughout the years. We are living in a very technologically advance age that suggests that the majority is somehow involved in social media. As far as whether or not professional production value will drop or advance depends on what the viewers enjoy watching. If it is more appealing to watch a commercial that looks like someone made a homemade video at their computer desk then it makes more sense to create campaigns that aim in that direction. It seems to be a very abstract way of producing pieces to catch people's attention. I think that the professional production value turned into an amateur-like way of creating advertisements because, like art, the style had adapted into something different than what was expected for so many years

2. I personally never considered myself to use that many different types of social media websites. Though, when making a list I find that I am, in fact, an avid user. I mostly use Facebook, as any other normal college student, on top of Youtube, and Blogger.com (obviously). Facebook is significantly more popular than Myspace. I started using Facebook instead of Myspace because all of my friends began using it more often. It seemed much more appealing to use after I signed up as well.

3. Transparency is a prevalent concept in social media because it implies openness, communication, and accountability. The openness allows individuals to meet people and/or view other's work. Whether it is a video or blog or even an artistic piece, there are many ways people can share things through social media sites. Communication is a basic characteristic of these sites. Everyones loves to keep up with 'what is going on' and it has come to the point where we start to feel 'out of the loop' when we are not in reach of a device that informs us what is going on. Accountability refers to the reliance and safety that social media can provide for us. Most people have an illusion that their identity or safety is at stake, but anyone who is careful isn't likely to run into problems. In today's society it appears that social media is more important than an offline world. With everyone constantly attached to their phones or consistently using social networking websites, it appears that the online sensation is far more interesting that an offline experience.

McLuhan Photoshop Final Post

The purpose of this project was to choose a medium from my previous blog and channel it into a Photoshop image. I have chosen to expand on the medium known as, "Blackberry Messaging", or "BBM". I feel that this is a good example of what McLuhan was talking about because this is a very exclusive way of communicating but it is also convenient.
BBMing is basically text messages between two Blackberry's. The difference is that it is basically faster, you are able to tell if the receiver actually read your message or not, and it deals with pin numbers instead of phone numbers which enabled a contact list to become more personal.
The message that i was trying to incorporate into this image was that Blackberry messaging is exclusive. By doing this I made it seem like Blackberry is an exclusive club that everybody wants to be apart of. I focused on both the city life and the business world, hence the business man walking with a cell phone on the left.
I put a picture of London (at night) in the background to represent night life because BBMing is a youthful form of communication and any city is the place to be after dark.

***I finished this project over the weekend and did not post a "progressing image". Both postings would have looked exactly the same. I apologize for your inconvenience.***

Three Mediums

The first medium that I would like to talk about is BBM, or Blackberry Messaging. BBM's are basically text messages between people who have Blackberry's. There are not many differences between the two means of communication except for the fact that BBM's may be a little more instant and the sender is able to tell if the reader actually read the message or not. Also, you can send as many messages as you want without it affecting your text message limit. The content BBM's is basically anything a text message has. That includes language, symbols, digital photographs, digital audio, and digital film. BBM's can also send files that are stored onto your Blackberry or saved in your email account. This form of communication is very similar to AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) because of it's features and setup. You are able to tell if the reader is typing a message to your Blackberry. In the end, Blackberry Messenger is a step above text messaging, but second to the next easy way to communicate.

Blogger.com is a website owned by Google that allows people to create their own accounts and post blogs, or a journal entry that is written and shared online. Once an account is created, you can post as many blogs as you want and share them amongst your friends or whomever you wish. Over the past decade blogs have become very popular. Some even make a living off of what they publish on blogs. Blogger.com is a free service that gives you the possibility to post anything you want; including pictures, videos, links, and text. Blogger.com is the quickest and easiest way to create a blog or blogs. Its free, it can be used at one's own leisure, and for instances such as these one can use it for school assignments. I personally have used Blogspot for three of the six semesters I have been at Marist.

One can go on and on about the iPad. What seemed to be a useless waste of technology turned out to be a very interesting tool. It's basically a mix between an iPod and a MacBook. The great thing about it is that its so easy to carry around and became a lot more useful than anyone ever anticipated. The message that Apple tried to promote about the iPad is that it can do anything a MacBook can do... and more. There are over 300,000 applications one can buy from the App Store that are compatible with the iPad. An unbelievable new feature with this product is that you are able to purchase whole books on the iPad and turn each page with just a simple touch of the screen. At first, it doesn't seem like anyone really needs the iPad, but after purchase it's hard to let go.