Riding the Wave....

Yes unfortunately our unit may be coming to an end, although, this is defiantly not the case for technology. Its power and abilities in today’s society is nothing less than incredible and the thought of it continuing to increase over time is a somewhat scary concept.

Unman aircraft's in the air force are becoming increasingly popular, Yes who would have thought a pilot can fly his plane from a desk 75,000 km away from his aircraft. Technology has made this possible, along with Bionic hands, digital photo frames and a lot more. With skin put technologies making it possible to use skin as a form to hold information I guess we don’t need to worry about forgetting the iPad .. Oh and the common mum rule of no balls in the house has been abolished with the ability to play tennis in your own home without even needing a racket, just a remote.

Reading and Understanding social media can be greater understood by looking into theories. Whether it be Rheingold’s view of a ‘virtual community’ Jenkins’ views of participatory culture these theories are ways of understanding and explaining the concepts of technology and the online world.

Social media has a major impact on society and communication. Friends no longer hug, kiss each other hello hear each other’s laugh or wipe each other’s tears, friends can be derived from a simple click of a friend request. People can have thousands of friends they have never even met? Are these really friends? Is social media promoting the production of friends in our virtual world leaving us with few in the real one? Yes social media is a way of keeping people connected but the physical connection is lost and I see this as an important aspect to any relationship with another being. Social media is also a major distraction from the real world. People get so caught up in their virtual world they forget about the real one, the real relationships, the real activity, there real lives! After watching an excellent Prezi '712:Digital Media Group Project' created by Virtual Experience it stated that 75% of people who undertook a quiz preferred the real world (Virtual Experience,2011). Do the other 25% prefer the virtual experience or is it this just the start in humanity preferring the virtual world to the real one?

The thought of the future of social media to be totally honest scares me. The past 10 years has already seen a massive change in society with the increase of social media and the possibilities are endless. Social media is forever increasing and will continue to do so. Advertising will become more common as it’s a way of making money and that’s what the worlds about New virtual worlds will be introduced and one day majority will most likely prefer these virtual worlds and the world will live in virtual worlds. The ability to hold multiple identities and knowing you can steal, cheat, kill, lie etc. with no serious consequences for your actions knowing it can all be switched off with the flick of a button is why these worlds are so captivating and appealing to the human being.

http://www.agent-seo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/social-evolution.jpg

I definitely think we are at the beginning of entering the third wave of social media. Social media has now become a dominant part of our everyday lives and it’s now beginning to be difficult to reject cyber culture. Whether it be shopping, banking or communicating we live in a society where almost everything can be done online. Not only can it be done online something’s are now required to be completed online. Most recent example of this was when looking for a new part time job, 70% of modern stores will not accept resumes over the counter you now need to ‘apply online’.

Nothing we do can change the rapid growth of technology and it’s just fate and the modern world taking its cause. Time is inevitable, things change, we grow and different eras are introduced. Social media and technology is a wave in the pool of life, whether the second of third wave, we just have to ride it.

REFERENCE 

Virtual Experience, 2011,’ 712: Digital Media Group Project’, Prezi, viewed 12^th February 2013, http://prezi.com/w1ffotfhpgwe/712-digital-media-group-project

The Shadow behind Sim-ulacra

A virtual world to me is a very scary thought. In this world one holds a simulacrum known to be “a copy of a copy whose relation to the model has become so attenuated that it can no longer properly be said to be a copy”. People become so caught up in this world they live a virtual life, many known to spend more time interested or consumed in the virtual world compared to the one in which we actually live in.

We live in an age where we can totally recreate ourselves and live in a world through avatars, what are avatars? Whatever we want them to be. We have the ability to create our own being and reside in a virtual world being whoever we aspire. One of these worlds that have grown massively since its creation in 2003 is Second Life, a virtual world developed by Linden Lab.  It is a lot more than replicating our consumer society in games like second life through the use of attractive avatars, it’s a whole new world.  Looking at what is available on second life you can see its alot more than Sailing, Surfing or site seeing. Mitch Wagners article ‘12 Things To Do In Second Life That Aren't Embarrassing If Your Priest Or Rabbi Finds Out’ Talk of one’s ability to visit a Virtual Amsterdam, which is told to be a “beautiful re-creation of real-life Amsterdam” (Wagner, 2007), or take part in business ventures “Earlier this month, I attended the O'Reilly ETech Emerging Technology Conference and sat at a lunch table with some of the brightest minds in Web 2.0” (Wagner, 2007). Has this world gone too far? When is enough enough? Which world are we really living in?

We have created a Hyper-reality. There is a boundary between imagination and reality that is lost in these virtual worlds. Consumers love having that ability to be whoever they create, not being judged by where they live or what they look like. They love the idea that anything’s possible and find it easier to achieve in a fake world, with fake money, fake houses, fake people that they forget about the life they are wasting in the real world.  What they love most? If all goes wrong, they can simply turn it off and disconnect or start again. Creating multiple identities and knowing it can all be switched off, there are no serious consequences for your actions is a rewarding and interesting experience that has captivated millions worldwide.  The production of these avatars relate closely to Howard Rhiengold’s views of a virtual community as they are a social network of individuals who interact through the use of social media.  They take themselves to an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect and forget it’s not real. It’s a dangerous and scary concept to think about.

What is also scary is how many people are taking part in these virtual worlds and disconnecting from the real one. It is growing at a rapid rate, Second Life for example was “Launched in 2003 with barley 1000 users, the number of SL users with an account has grown to over 16 million” (Enssllin, A & E Muse, 2011, Pg 99). I believe majority will in fact be forced to take part in these virtual worlds whether for business or pleasure.

REFERENCES

   

Enssllin, A & E Muse, 2011, ‘Creating Second Lives’, EBL Online, viewed 23^rd January 2013, http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/(S(lojfqpsjnhbcgqkojn4tzy2e))/Reader.aspx?p=692388&o=132&u=sqhA8fZJtjoZH3sMc7Qg%2bA%3d%3d&t=1358731236&h=92748C1E84596D812352D7E40209ECB2B2D8CDB2&s=7409437&ut=405&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

 Massumi, B, 1987, ‘Realer Than Real: The Simulacrum According To Deleuze And Guattari’, Viewed 23rd January 2013, http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/first_and_last/works/realer.htm 

Meadows, S, 2008, ‘I, avatar: the culture and consequences of having a second life’, EBL Online, viewed 23^rd January 2013, http://onlineres.swin.edu.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/1738063.pdf

Wagner, M, 2007, ‘12 Things To Do In Second Life That Aren't Embarrassing If Your Priest Or Rabbi Finds Out’, InformationWeek, viewed 23^rd January 2013, http://www.informationweek.com/personal-tech/12-things-to-do-in-second-life-that-aren/229216325