Modeling reality with virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds are computer based online community environments  which are designed and shared by individuals so that they can interact in a custom built simulated world using avatars.

Virtual worlds is are really cool and can be used for many things like education, gaming, health care, socializing etc. According to the Forbes article by Jacki Morie virtual worlds are especially good for children because the "roaming radius" we grant them has shrunk to less that a block. Years ago children were able to play freely with everyone on the street. Today virtual worlds give them that access to connect, learn and explore.

Many large companies also use virtual worlds. In a CNN article by Mark Tutton he talks about how because of  travel budgets companies are seeking cost efficient ways to bring employees together and virtual community second life is seeking to tap into that market by allowing business to have virtual meetings on their own computer networks.

Virtual worlds have many pros but also do have cons. In the CNN article by Mark Tutton according to Surinder Kahai a university professor at Binghampton university he explains that he has seen people mess up completely because they think that what works in person will work in the virtual world and says that one problem is that virtual teams may not share national and  organizational cultures.

As technology is being improved over the years I would say that we can expect and increase in the use of virtual wolrds in the near future.

Morie.J, "after second life, can virtual worlds get a reboot?" NY times, april 2013.
Tutton. M "going to the virtual office in second life" CNN.com, November 2009.

about twitter

I think a twitter discussion  is similar to a blackboard discussion. you can comment on blackboard and your classmates are able to reply to that comment. when a tweet is posted followers are also able to reply to those tweets. one difference is that twitter allows a limited amount of characters for each post. Also notifications can be sent directly to your phone from twitter. in class discussions are different from both twitter and black board because they are face to face so different expressions can be seen.

social networking sites

Facebook: I use this site the most and have been on it for many years. im very familiar and comfortable with the site. I can connect with friends all over the world, view their status updates and see pictures. also facebook has instant messaging and calling. I also use facebook for news as I follow CNN on it.

Instagram: I recently joined this site and don't use it as much as facebook. its more for just watching pictures rather than interacting with your friends.

Twitter. This is a site I am still feeling out and trying to get used to because I just recently signed up for it but I am enjoying reading everyone's tweets and opinions on different topics.

Linkedin: unlike facebook and instagram this social networking site is business oriented and mainly used for professional networking.

social networking

Social networking is used by millions of people all over the planet. It is one of the easiest and instant ways to connect with other people. Corporations know this and they all use social networking to advertise their products and to connect with potential customers from all over the world. corporations can also use social media when looking for new employees and potential employees can find jobs using social media. there is a down side to this and the main issue is privacy. Many corporations can be at risk because of what their employees do on social media, they may look the company look bad. Also when hiring new employees corporations also often look at the employees Facebook or twitter profile to get an idea of what type of person they are potentially hiring. This means that while using social media is a good thing it can also be bad because of privacy issues.