Creativity and New Media

I decided to utilize new media tools and venture into the use of virtual worlds through the creative use of communication in an alternate digital world and social platform called Second Life. As a child, I had enjoyed playing The Sims series to create entire communities of fictional people. As a young adult, I pondered how Second Life could be used to foster creativity in myself when meeting new people. Although I have a small circle of close friends in the real world and tend to be more of an introvert, I wanted to expand my horizons and meet people from other places on virtual media.

In Second Life, I chose an avatar that best represented my everyday sense of style. I occasionally wear cardigans and have hair that I style like this avatar which really captured the essence of my features pretty accurately. The only fantasy part of this is that I could never look this cool while sitting in an armchair.

I could never look this suave on a chair in real life.

After picking my avatar, I completed the tutorial and meandered around Social Island. I toyed around with teleporting to different places and maneuvering my avatar on screen. Then I was ready to visit a few interesting places.

First, I went to Miami Beach. I saw other users in swimwear, walked under water for a few minutes (which was fun and completely unrealistic), met a few people who were partying, and also got a virtual drink from the nearby Starbucks.

At Miami Beach along with another beach goer

Time for a Starbucks break.

Next, I traveled to New York City. I went to the Hotel Chelsea, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall. I explored the lavish hotel rooms, chatted with the owner of the hotel, and even walked around the iconic music venue. It was fascinating to see how other users around the world visualize landmarks around Manhattan in the virtual world. I wish more users were present in the New York areas because it was pretty fun to digitally sight see what I can travel to in real life.

 

At Rockefeller Center with Radio City Music Hall in the background

By this time, I was engrossed in Second Life and wandered around aimlessly for a few hours. However, I wanted to socialize more before writing a blog about my experience. Being a frequent listener of music, I decided to wrap up my day on Second Life by heading to a music club. I teleported to The Velvet. It is a music club that plays all types of music, and users can even DJ and promote their own tracks, whether it be from professional musicians or those who are active on SoundCloud. I engaged with the current DJ, followed the SoundCloud accounts of those who I enjoyed, and honestly had a great night of listening to alternative music as well as popular tracks.

I also met a user from New Zealand who offered some guidance on how to navigate through Second Life. She had noticed that I was walking around quite unsteadily and literally bumped into her more than once and wanted to reach out and help me. She sent me tutorials from YouTube and online guides from the web to make my Second Life experience more fun. She even talked about how she initially joined Second Life to listen to her friends do their music sets in music clubs in the platform. I also listened to a few of her friends’ music, and may go back to the platform next weekend to listen her friends’ sets at another club in the game. We even connected over our shared interests in soft electronic and acoustic instrumental music and 80s and 90s soft rock, pop, and R&B music in particular. I believe that this is the essence of Second Life, which is to connect people from around the world through their shared interests.

At The Velvet dancing to some pretty interesting sounding SoundCloud music

My new acquaintance from New Zealand sitting on the couch in front of my avatar

Second Life is obviously not a replacement for real-life interaction with others, but I think that it is a great supplement to our social lives in this digitally connected world. I was able to meet someone who I would have had an extremely low chance of ever connecting to in person. I may continue to use Second Life in the future if I have free time and want to unwind from the stress of school, work, and life. I am pleased that I was able to use Second Life in a creative way to join new people in their music creation journey and give feedback for the tracks that were played at the clubs.

As I end my account of my positive experience in Second Life, here is a final shot of me chilling at the animal adoption park where one can adopt dogs and cats as pets. I may have spent a little too much time petting all of the dogs there but it was a great way to relax.

Me attempting to pet all of the dogs.

Creativity

Creativity and new media go hand in hand. As the world has slowly become more digitally connected, collaboration and unique ways of utilizing related technologies have evolved with time. Whether the purpose is for one’s personal amusement or professional workplace, new media has changed and advanced the way that we engage with the web as well as with others around the world. For instance, as explained in the article “Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers” by The New York Times, Twitter gains immense feedback from its users through the internet just like technology companies do in order to improve their services and products. For instance, Flickr was created after it was discovered that users wanted to quickly share photos with one another. In a similar way, Twitter noted that users wanted to see all of the posts linked to one specific event in a hashtag and decided to hyperlink hashtags. Furthermore, the desire to show others a specific person’s tweet by retweeting it is now easier to do and is shortened to “RT” on the social media platform. Twitter has creatively and successfully collaborated with its user base to create the popular and simple to use social media app it has become today. Companies even use Twitter and other social media sites to gain feedback and insight on consumer preferences on its products and services from consumers’ engagement and responses to posted questions and online campaigns. These methods of customer communication can help in driving up interest in the company as well as its sales.

Creativity and new media have also made its way into the music industry. The rise of sampling and remixing songs in the 1990s brought iconic individuals in pop and hip hop together in collaboration. One of the best examples is Mariah Carey’s remix of “Fantasy” featuring ODB in 1995. Real remixes in music has given real acceptance to mashups that have also risen in notoriety. Mashups are generally two or more songs that are put together after adjusting factors such as the key, bpm, and the beats to create a new tune. As stated in the article “1 + 1 + 1 = 1” by The New Yorker, the most widely recognized mashup is an album entitled “The Grey Album” by Danger Mouse released in 2004. The vocals come from Jay-Z’s 2003 album “The Black Album” and the music comes from the Beatles’ “White Album.” This unlikely combination demonstrated that with the right edits, anyone has the ability to create a unique remix of sorts in an unofficial “collaboration” between artists. Finally, new memes can come from these mashups. This is seen in the creative mashup of the Kirby theme song and Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” The internet expedited the spread of this meme back in the mid-2000s.

It can be concluded that anything that is web based can be used in unique ways. The growth of Twitter, Flickr, and musical mashups both in the music industry and as a funny internet joke are just a few of the numerous ways that creativity has been encouraged in this digitally intertwined world. The possibilities of what can be produced, used, or shared are endless when new media tools are used as well.

References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/01/10/1-1-1-1

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be used in a variety of fields such as business, medicine, the military, in the classroom, in our social lives, by handicapped individuals, and by politicians. Through the use of virtual reality (VR), a simulated version of the world (either real or fictional) is rendered for users to interact with at any time to carry out a specific purpose or just for simple amusement. This technology can give individuals a sense of happiness and excitement over being able to control a virtual representation of themselves with the use of an avatar.

The ways that the virtual world can be used are numerous and far reaching. As explained in the Washington Post article “At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide,” politicians were able to use Second Life to live stream and hold a congressional subcommittee hearing regarding online virtual worlds. This open channel of communication between outside participants and politicians can help to convey ideas and suggestions to those in power. In the business world, companies can now bring different groups of workers together for meetings and conferences. In the CNN article “Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life,” Second Life as well as IBM’s virtual meeting platform called Sametime 3D is utilized in order for employees to conduct meetings with individuals from around the world. In a school setting, VR is used as a supplement to normal teaching tactics in order to enrich the learning experiences of students during relevant lectures and lessons. In the Reporter Newspapers article “The virtual world moves into the classroom,” students being taught about King Louis XIV were treated to a virtual walkthrough of Versailles. This saves thousands of dollars in actually traveling to France as students experience the palace virtually. In one’s social life, virtually experiencing big cities such as New York City may help to determine if one wants to commit to actual travel to that desired city. In addition, those who are unfamiliar with the city can benefit from walking around in this virtual world without endangering themselves. As demonstrated in The New York Times article “I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life,” the author was able to navigate through a 3D rendered version of Manhattan’s Lower East Side as a virtual representation of himself. Landmarks such as specific notable restaurants, streets, and bars also enrich the on-screen experience. Finally, handicapped individuals are free to communicate with people in these virtual worlds and develop a sense of connection from conversations with others.

There are both pros and cons in the ways that these virtual worlds are used by real people. The pros of the virtual world are that it establishes open communication and easy collaboration between fellow users in all of the applications discussed above. This discussion and collaborative effort between members of these platforms are generally less expensive than meeting in real life since there is no travel cost. Finally, positive socialization as well as a sense of belonging, inclusion, and contentment develops if the technology is used properly. However, there are drawbacks to the use of this technology in the virtual world. There is still a stigma that this technology is mainly for entertainment purposes only. Any problems or disruptions in the underlying software can lead to disruptions in user functionality, and productivity can quickly plummet to a low level in business related environments. In a learning environment, the overreliance on VR in teaching students can become distracting or detract from a lesson if used incorrectly. Finally, when individuals at business meetings disagree with one another’s viewpoint, impromptu or informal conversations cannot occur because they are not physically in the same location.

Creativity regarding virtual worlds is fostered through being able to apply virtual worlds to whatever one wants to do in their lives whether it be for personal or professional uses. In addition, one is able to select and personalize their individual avatar that can range from being accurate to taking liberties and making a fun but nonrealistic caricature of oneself. In the future, virtual worlds will become a bigger part of everyone’s lives. One specific application is through this technology being revitalized by younger and more tech savvy politicians for use in political campaigns and through the gathering of individuals who want to rally support for one specific candidate or in support of certain political issues. Both virtual and similar real-world campaigns can be conducted at any specific place and time. Another application of the virtual world can be done through the use of VR by technologically literate teachers and professors as a supplement for specific lessons in schools to help students visualize what is being taught in class. Personally, I would like for grade school and high school students to be able to experience VR as it is a relatively inexpensive technology that is fun to use and does not take much time to set up in a school.

References:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/01/ST2008040103032.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html

https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2018/09/14/the-virtual-world-moves-into-the-classroom/

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html