New Media Blog: Eric Jiang

Virtual worlds can be used for education, business, therapy for returning soldiers, rehabilitating patients, gaming, the list goes on and on. For education, students can don VR goggles to take virtual field trips to faraway places, learn about refugees, or explore the inner workings of a volcano. (Earle) It has received mix reception from teachers. Some don’t believe virtual worlds add much while others are enthusiastic. One history teacher, Elias Thomas of the St. Pius X Catholic School, said that virtual worlds are more of a supplement to the actual learning process but also noted that VR fields trips can give students a sense of “being there” and seeing everything to scale. (Earle) Virtual worlds give people the opportunity to experiment with virtual reality and seeing what creations and design they can build. For example, virtual world designer, Jackie Morie, can experiment with building an Iraqi village for veteran therapy or building a similar Iraqi village for military trainin...

Starting a Twitter discussion with a post is similar to starting a BlackBoard thread. You post something of interest and people will reply. People can add links, reference other people, and respond to others. Exactly the same as starting an in-class discussion. The only difference is that Twitter is limited to 280 characters per tweet whereas there is no limit on BlackBoard posts or a limit on that amount of words a person can say.

Ahh, social networking sites. Finally, I can write about something I am proficient in. In this blog post, I will be comparing my impressions of four social networking sites: 1) Facebook, 2) Instagram, 3) Twitter, and 4) LinkedIn.     Facebook. I made a Facebook account at the end of 7th grade in middle school. Facebook then seemed so simple, friends posting statuses and pictures, playing Facebook games, and occasionally chatted through messenger. However, Facebook lost its touch and meaning throughout the years. It could be that I used it much less than I did before. Or it could be all the updates the company made to the social networking site that made it feel less personal. Today, I mainly use Facebook for its messenger app. However, there are some interesting posts and videos that I see from time to time when scrolling, so it's not too bad.     Instagram. This is the app in which I clock the most thumb miles on. There are many features I l...

Social Networking has expanded tremendously over the past decade. Social networks bring users "closer" to their friends, family, and colleagues while also acting as a medium for spreading messages, entertainment, and building fame. Users might use a social network such as Instagram and Facebook to share updates about their lives through the stories feature or post photos on a recent trip. A company might use social media to connect with their stakeholders and share any new updates a company is looking to pursue. Although social networking brings the world closer together, there is also a "dark side." In a podcast published by the National Public Radio, Frank Langfitt reports on how social networking technology has revolutionized the job recruiting process for both corporate recruiters and job hunters. The professional network, LinkedIn, allows users to list their work experiences, skills, and certifications. This allows them to highlight their professional caree...

As a person who rarely relies on blogs and wikis for information, I find this blog post to be a fresh new perspective of these two types of media. One major similarity I find between the two media is that users can edit, post, and comment without having much-credited knowledge on the topic at hand. This can usually lead to biases and the spread of false or opinion-based information that might not reflect the truth. It can blur the lines between what is true and what is not, creating a divide in the information the public receives. But, blogs and wikis do have their differences. Wikis are a knowledge-sharing page consistently updated by a group of people. Blogs are often opinion-based pages run by one or two contributors who update the blog sporadically. Both blogs and wikis allow user collaboration in the forms of discussion forums, comment sections, etc. Another key difference is that the content of blogs are usually protected from unauthorized editing by outside people while conten...

Technology has revolutionized the methods we communicate with one another. The rise of social media networks (e.g. Facebook, Instagram) allows us to see what is going on in the lives of our friends and influencers. Telecommunication software (e.g. Skype, Zoom) allows individuals and businesses to communicate with one another over a video call. New media technology has certainly made our lives much more convenient. However, some experts have argued that technology has made us too reliant on our mobile devices and has reduced the capacity of us to be human. I will look at recent studies conducted on new media technology and how it has affected the different demographics of the United States. I will be documenting the major positive trends and the major negative trends from my analysis and will draw a conclusion on whether or not new media and technology had a benefit to society or a negative impact. As a bonus... I will also hone in on the demographic group of students and examine how...