Spread the Word!

Before the age of the internet, it was very difficult to spread the word about a cause to as many people as possible. You ight try to get the story in a newspaper or on the radio perhaps. Some people have also tried to stand in malls, handing out fliers or speaking to anyone who was willing to listen to what you had to say. Now with technology like the internet, challenges like these have become much easier to execute. Instead of trying to get a story into a newspaper, which would involve more than just one person, you can no use social media to spread the word instantly. Sites such as Facebook or Youtube have become perfect tools to use. For example, without social media such as Facebook, the Kony 2012 campaign never would have became so successful. Word of mouth just ins't enough anymore. But through sites like Facebook, it seemed as if everyone had watched the Kony video in just a matter of days. Another way they used social media was through the use of celebrities on sites like Twitter. By getting celebrities to retweet or share stories like Kony 2012, millions of people will see it, in an instant! Another example of a successful campaign was Asmaa Mahfouz and the videos she posted on Youtube about the Egyptian revolution. Even though she was a woman, she was able to attract many followers and was able to hold successful protests with the people that watched her videos. It's truly amazing the possibilities that have emerged from the internet. I don't see how there can be any limit on what you can achieve through the use of social media and the internet.

Transmedia Storytelling Explained

Before the age of the internet, movies did not have a big enough story-line to have to involve outside sources such as comics, sequels, or games to finish telling the story. Movies were able to stand on their own as one. The digital revolution has changed that drastically. And in my opinion it's for the better. Most big name blockbuster hits now involve much more to complete its story. For example, Lord of the Rings is notorious for how creative, imaginative, and big the world its based on is. It's so big that it needed three movies to finish the trilogy, countless of games to continue the story there are a series of books that the franchise is based on, and now developers are in the process of creating a prequel trilogy based on the work. Movies are not the only thing changing, TV shows are as well. For example The Walking Dead, it is on its third season and has multiple games, ways to interact with it through social media, a talk show, and graphic novels that te show is based on. Fans want to immerse themselves into the story if they truly want to become fans. Filmmakers, TV producers, and video game designers now need to collaborate, work together, and adapt to the digital revolution if they want to have a successful franchise. To be a true fan it is not enough to just watch a movie anymore. Hardcore fans keep up with the book, comics, movies, shows, social media, and the video games. Although it seems like a lot to keep up with, fans love the idea of really immersing themselves into the story that producers, directors and developers worked so hard to create. One of my favorite transmedia storytelling franchises is the Marvel series. I love the idea of super heroes and the movies that Marvel creates are marvelous (get it?). Not only are the movies great but the games are too! Also there are a huge amount of comics, if I had the time and the money I would invest it into reading Marvel comics. Overall, I really do love the idea of transmedia storytelling, it helps fans get engaged into the story a lot more than they ever could. 

Addiction

The stereotype of addiction occurring is because of the time investment that is required to be successful in MMORPGs. However, the key factor of addiction is from what motivates players to play the game. These motivations can be split up into three main categories, the first one is achievement. This category refers to things such as in-game rank reputation, mechanics (imminent game structure), and competition. In WoW there are many ways to achieve reputation, for example, by collecting the best armor in the game, defeating final bosses on the hardest difficulty, winning battlegrounds and arenas in PvP, etc. Although there are many ways to achieve success, the investment of time is extremely high compared to other games. The second category is social, this category includes subcategories such as socializing, relationship, and teamwork. During play in WoW, progression requires the collaboration of different players. Whether these other players are friends or not, the only way you can successfully progress is to work together in groups. Dungeons involve a group of five people to complete it, a tank, a healer, and three damage dealing characters. Battlegrounds can involve a different range of players in a group depending on which battleground was chosen. It can get as high as 40 people. These are just a few examples, however there are many different events and objectives that require the teamwork of different individuals. The final category is immersion which involves discovery, such as exploring the environment, role-playing, customization, and escapism. There are plenty ways to satisfy these motivators in World of Warcraft. For example, by just taking on quests, walking through main cities, and completing dungeons, you have explored much of the environment because it requires you to travel around the world. Another example is role-playing, there are even dedicated servers to role-playing, or taking on a different persona. It has been seen in recent studies, between 4 and 11% of gamers are showing signs of problematic or addictive behavior such as withdrawal, tolerance, and negative outcomes. This data seems to point towards video game play negatively impacting psychological well-being. Physical well-being also comes into question, problems such as health and sleep difficulties, personal life problems and academic/professional problems. However some positive impact such as the development of social skills and relationships through play. This information comes from the opportunity to problem solve, communicate with others, and work as a team with shared goals. One of the biggest talked about negatively impacting motivators is immersion. Players find it difficult to stop playing because they prefer to take part in a virtual world rather than real life. Some describe MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft as a way to escape from real-life problems. Other gaming-related problems were found to be associated with motives to compete and master the mechanics of online games. In WoW, it takes a very long time to master the game, merely because there is so much to learn and then so much time to perfect your skills. Those that are in the top rankings among players have spent many hours a week, about as much time as someone might dedicate to a job, to become as good as they are in WoW.

Here is a screenshot of my profile. I stopped playing a couple months ago but I had some of the best PvP gear you could get at the time. It took quite a lot of time to get to this point and I had to learn how to master the gameplay of that character. I admit that I was addicted to WoW, I still have urges to play even now. However, I did not have problematic gaming as it does not interfere with real life situations.

Behance

Many of us in this class are IMS students, and usually when you think of IMS, you think graphic design. Now everyone knows that having a portfolio is a must, how do you get a job without one? But now having a physical portfolio may just not cut it. Online portfolio's are becoming a huge hit with employers. Behance is a great website where you can not only post your own professional online portfolio for anyone to see, but you can also browse other designers portfolio's for either inspiration or to offer a job! If you're interested in a website that offers these capabilities, then check my profile out and see if Behance is the right choice for you!

Cyberbullying. How do we Stop it?

Danah Boyd argues that the quick punishment that follows online bullying is doing more harm than good. Although many schools are legally required to have rules such as "zero tolerance", these rules will not solve the problem, and maybe even enhance it. To get right to the point, Boyd is right! Kids will be kids, when they're told to do something or scolded for doing the wrong thing, they're going to rebel and do the opposite of what adults want them to do. It's stereotypical but most teenagers really are like that. I think that in order to solve this problem of cyberbullying, you need to start at the root of the situation. By the time online bullying has taken place, the damage has already been done. Some kind of immediate punishment might do some good, but again, the emotional and mental damage to the victim has already been done! What I think needs to be focused on more is the prevention of online bullying rather than the punishment afterward. Show kids how much harm can be done by cyberbullying. Amanda Todd is a good example, she did virtually nothing wrong and yet she was tortured by school kids and by people that didn't even know her. Why would someone deserve that? I can't wrap my head around why kids do things like that to other people, their own peers. Was it worth it for them? How could it be, I hope they've realized how much wrong was going on. By preventing these kinds of situations before they start will dramatically decrease, in my opinion, the amount of cyberbullying that could be going on in today's generation of teenagers.

How Bad is Social Media Exactly?

Social media, in my opinion, is actually not bad for us, I believe there is a lot of good that comes out of it. There are many parents, adults, teachers, and even experts that argue that social media is ruining this generation. But why? because we have found a different way to communicate with friends and family? Sure maybe some of us spend too much time on our phones or computers, but really we aren't any different than kids from previous generations, according to Boyd. All we have done is found a different way to communicate. Some arguments also include not socializing with family. And although there are many that spend a lot of time on social media, I believe that it gives them the opportunity to talk to family more often. Being connected via social media sites has its advantages. And it doesn't have to stop at family, keeping in touch with friends has become easier to do. Although 'friending' has become a popularity contest, those so called friends that you might actually know, are just a chat box away from contacting them. Another major argument is the privacy of anyone on social media. I must say, that this is one thing that I would completely agree with. We may have more access to talking with people but we have surely sacrificed almost all of our online privacy. Information about you is available to virtually anyone capable of getting online. It's a scary thought but nearly everyone is willing to take the risk. It's a new generation, with new technology, we have to realize that it doesn't have to be such a bad thing.

Say Goodbye to Net Neutrality..

Who do these bureaucrats think they are? Where do they get off? The internet belonged once to the public, now for some misguided reason, private capitalists are going to be able to take control and dominate the web even more than they do. Their deep pockets will guide them to a successful business while small companies with innovative business plans will not be able to grow, merely because they won't have the money to pay for 'fast lanes'. Slow internet doesn't attract consumers, fast internet does. Net Neutrality is the principle and idea that internet content should be treated equally and that no providers of legal internet content should face discrimination in providing offerings to consumers. As Ralph from San Francisco put it, "surprise, surprise. Our government rules for the corporations and screws the public."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/technology/fcc-new-net-neutrality-rules.html?_r=1