Well the semester is over and I have done all the work so now its all awaiting game.
It is time to really get down to learning all the ways you can alter and modify a blog. I see some blogs out there and they are wonderfully modified and customized. I will still focus on new media and technology although I have no real focus yet. Odds are I'll spew my wonder and awe endlessly into cyberspace and nobody will ever know. To take a quote from a professor of mine Nick Jankowski I will "allow the seeds of creativity to grow."

I have tackled a little to much this semester. New Media is a new found passion and I had no idea the time involved with building a web site. Audience analysis, coding , and planning is only half the battle. Producing an effective site takes major amounts of time. That is only one class. The capstone project in 495 involves collaboration with Italian students from the University of Trieste in Italy. This is a translation project on an article and brochure I have created for the travel magazine Conde Nast. Ad to that 306 a technical writing class and 418, I hope I have what it takes to get three reports, four presentations, and a ton of course work done effectively and on time. New Media is more than I bargained for, I love the challenge. The most important thing I have learned is BUDGET YOUR TIME wisely!!!!

Distant Communication

We have been finally meeting on a weekly basis in 418-518, New Media Theory, through the use of the Elluminate software. This software allows distant on line collaboration woth real time feed back and response. Like Skype you have many options to communicate over long distances. Both use audio, visual, and text applications to communicate. Elluminate ads a white board for file sharing. Any member involved in the session has the ability to edit, highlight, and design a presentation or document. There are many other advantages of Elluminate such as a simple microphone shut off to eliminate any background noise, a raise hand button to organize a meeting and keep users from speaking over each other. A clapping hands icon is used along with a thumbs down icon to show you agree or disagree with any changes or suggestions. I would say Skype is an excellent communication platform providing the ability to have a face to face conversation with a loved one, or colleague over a long distance. Elluminate is more of a collaboration platform that supports long distant file sharing. While Skype is a favorite of mine for distant communication, Elluminate it is far more productive in a learning environment.

While I was thinking about the effects virtual environments have on society I began thinking about marketing. I was researching second life and noticed they have companies buying up virtual space for this purpose. Who do they advertize to the persona in the virtual world or the person behind the persona. I was thinking that if a person spends more time in virtual life could that be a more accurate depiction of who the person really is. Take a teen with acne for example. If a teen has massive acne and becomes withdrawn and reserved (out of embarrassment) doesn't that affect who they are? In reality the teen may not reveal there true personality because of what they consider to be a flaw, they would rather keep to themselves than be harassed by there peers. In this case when they go on line they become who they want to be as an avatar; however when they spend a majority of there time there would the teens "real" personality show through? It is true people live vicariously through an avatar in virtual life, and some think it is mere role playing. Yet in the case of the teen (or anyone else who may shy away from the public) is a virtual environment the place where, because of anaminity their true personality show through. I only think this would be the case for those that spen 30-40+ hours in virtual life. If so I think I would advertise to the online persona as the primary target audience.

The more I read through all of this new media theory the more I am beginning to understand what I am reading. I realize more and more everyday how new media is intertwined into our daily lives. It is complex and their are many components that make up new media. It is mindbogglingly how prevalent new media has become in todays society. Every application on the famous I phone owes its existence to digital technology. You can tune your guitar, play spectacular 3-D video games, conduct a conference call, play music, surf the web, blog, and search your favorite social networking site FROM YOUR PHONE!!!! This has gone beyond the technology of Kirk's communicator, that at one time was considered science fiction.