Week 4: Question 3

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/02/18/will.wright/index.html

I found this article to be really interesting especially after reading The Medium IS the Message. Will Wright, the creator of The Sims and Sims City was quoted saying that games are not the right medium to tell stories and he went on to explain how video games are about story possibilities are should be left open-ended like the games he creates. When someone is playing games like Sim City they are able create their own little virtual reality in different settings like cities, farms, or suburban neighborhoods. I never really thought about this before, but video games are not exactly the best way to get a message across because many of them are designed to allow the gamer to do what they want. Even controversial video games like Grant Theft Auto, which was also mentioned in this article, are designed to let the gamer experience many different situations throughout the game. This had me thinking a lot thought about how games are still created and designed by people who ultimately have the power to limit or extend what occurs in the game. Once the game is written there may seem to be endless possibilities for the user, but there are still limits within the game structure that will not change simply because the input devices are being controlled by the user. It reminds me of the movie TRON legacy where fiction makes anything possible. In this movie the user is able to break into the game system and live within that world. I do agree that messages will not likely be sent through video games simply because the users are more likely to be concerned with winning and/or the simulation that the game provides rather than interpreting hidden meanings or messages.

Week Four: The Medium IS the Message

I found this article be very challenging to read, but very enlightening once I read it the second time around after reading Professor Carol's thoughts on it. I could not agree more with the medium being the message because there would be no music on the radio without the radio, no script on the paper without the paper that can then make a letter, and a movie would not be playing before our eyes without the television or picture screen displaying these images to our eyes. All of these different form or media are what enable us to receive and interpret the message. Regardless of how small these forms of media seem, they are still the messages. Like the reference McLuhan made about the electric light making night baseball and brain surgery possible. Before reading this article I never really thought about how each and every thing around us is sending a message, and I am perceiving these messages differently depending on what medium is sending the message. I have a vase on my table that has pink and turquoise butterflies on it, and now when I look at it I see the vase as a form of media that is sending this message to me, "Hey look at me, I am beauty. I am art. I am pleasing to your eye." This is how I perceive the message. McLuhan brings up the idea that the medium should be focused on rather than the message that the medium is transmitting. An example of this would be to focus on television itself rather than television programs. I think that we can relate to it especially when we think about modern technology that we are using to communicate with others. We use computers and cell phones to get our messages across, and through this media we send different messages that can be interpreted differently. I still have different emotions when reading a hand-written card from someone I care about as opposed to a typed email, and this is because of the medium used. The medium is the message, and in this case I still prefer hand-written messages because I have attached deeper meanings to these.

Week Four: Question One-Consequences of Online Social Networking

I found this article very interesting because the study aimed to provide useful information regarding online social networks and real life social networks in correlation to self-esteem, body image, extroversion, and anxiety levels. When I read the results of the study I was not very surprised because I already thought that there would be a correlation between people with higher self-esteem and the amount of people they add on their OSNS. The study indicated that the size of people's OSNS are 1.5 times larger than their real social networks, and that people with higher self-esteem were less likely to add people they did not know. I found this very interesting because I have noticed that many people that I remember from high school as introverted people with lower self-esteem levels are adding everyone they possible can from high school on their OSNS (regardless of if they were ever friends with these people). This indicates to me that these people might be more confident on OSNS than they were in real life social networks. This was a great article.

Nokia and Microsoft smart phone plan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_finland_nokia;_ylt=Avr0mRwMI2pC0ifzU7jq2HgjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJoZ2Y2bWNoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjExL2V1X2ZpbmxhbmRfbm9raWEEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg--
I think this article was very interesting because it is discussing the future plans for Nokia and Microsoft joining together to work on a smart phone that can compete with the iphone. I have never owned a smart phone before and this is partly because I like the way I communicate now, and I have noticed that many family members and friends are very addicted to their smart phones. They are constantly using Facebook and other applications through their phone, and it is similar to having a tiny computer attached to the palms of your hands all day long. These two companies are very well known and Nokia is still the world's largest maker of cell phones so I am very curious to see the outcome of two big companies like this coming together. Technology is constantly progressing and even now I have heard iphone users make comments about HTC EVOs being better than their iphone. Nokia was actually the first brand of mobile phone I ever used and the phone lasted years with no problems at all. This is not to say that when they come out with a smart phone that it is going to be better than the smart phones that are currently out, but I am sure they will put some hard effort into making a phone that will impress many people.

Quality of Online Social Relationships.

This study found evidence that suggests that face to face relationships are still weaker than those that are formed and maintained through online social networks. I can relate to this study because I have two brothers who have both had online gaming addictions in the past. They met "friends" online who I can only assume had similar addictions the game as my brothers because they were always on the internet when my brothers were. My brothers would call these people their friends, and one of my brothers even planned to meet up with one of the guys in LA when he was on vacation with his girlfriend. He never ended up meeting the guy and has never spoke of these people again because he no longer plays the game. When he was online these "online friendships" seemed important and valid because they were constantly instant messaging each other with game cheats, hints, etc. He has friends that he has met from school that play the game as well and they have stayed in contact. The study did state that this evidence did not conclude that online social relationships were not valued. I can relate to this as well because there are a few friends I made back when I was 21 years old I created a myspace for the first time. I added a few of these people depending on if I felt that their profile displayed common interests to myself. I actually ended up meeting my girlfriend who I have been with for over four years now on myspace. In the beginning we would message each other a lot through our myspace pages, but then it quickly lead to us texting, talking on the phone, and then eventually getting dinner together. I am now quite grateful for online social networks like myspace because I really did meet an amazing person that I am very connected with in my life now. The funny thing is now I do not use any online social networks aside from FB for school. As far as my relationship goes we now live together so we obviously don't have to use the Internet anymore to communicate. I don't think our relationship is of any less value or quality than if I were to have met her at work or at the gym.

Man-Computer Symboisis

In the article Man Computer Symboisis, I learned that at the time (1960) there was an interesting outlook on the future for computers (the article clarified computer as calculating, data-processing, and information storage-and-retrieval machines).
The article begins with some information about the fig tree and the insect Blastophaga grossorum that pollinates this tree. The tree and insect are interdependent. During that time there were no man-computer symbioses. This article was written to help with the future development of man-computer symbioses which would mean that computers and humans could work together by the computers ability to respond to input by the human. I find this article to be very interesting because it was ahead of it's time. Computer science has come so far since then and this article brought about a great idea for the future of humans and computers. The internet as we know it today has it's roots in this idea. There was a lot of research going on, but there was no internet at that time. Now that we have the internet like this at our fingertips we are able to do many things that we could not do at that time. Although there are still communication errors and internet problems that we have to solve on occasion, we still have an incredible amount of information and knowledge available through the use of computers. We can also store this information easily as well as input data and receive important information back. I was not aware of Licklider before, but after reading this article I have a better understanding of the ideas of how the internet was once foreseen.

Facebook pictures stolen

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/04/report-dating-site-swipes-k-facebook-profiles-permission/

The spokesperson for Facebook is currently looking into the thefts of 250K Facebook profiles that two people the article is referring to as "cyber pranksters" swiped. This article was very interesting because it proves that even when we think we are in control of our profile security there is always someone who can hack into it and take away the privacy we all think we have a right to. I only recently created a FB for school, but I still never feel like there is not an opportunity for others to see my information even when I choose to keep it only available for friends to see. I have seen ads before of people's pictures that look like they might have been stolen off of another website and used for dating websites, and other sites without the person's permission. On one side Facebook is a great place for people to stay connected with friends and family members, and on the other Facebook is an opportunity for internet trolls to go to town stealing people's photos to use however they choose.