YOURS TRULY RAVEN

Just like with anything, virtual worlds can be used for just about whatever the user wants to use it for within that virtual world's constraints. If they want to be mean to other people, they can unfortunately be mean. If they want to say nice things to others within the virtual world, they can say nice things. It really all depends on who the person is behind the screen and who they choose to be within it. One way in which virtual worlds can be used is to help people interact more with others. In the article 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction by Nicole Saidi, "[David] Savill [,the creator of Naughy Auties,] has Asperger's syndrome and said he wanted Naughty Auties to serve those with autism spectrum disorders and their friends and family." This virtual reality serves as a way for those with autism to be more interactive without having to be face to face. You can communicate with others "on your own computer, in your own room, your ow...

In my personal opinion, a Twitter discussion allows people to be themselves more than a Blackboard Discussion does. I feel like what I'm saying sounds a lot more like me when I'm posting on Twitter. On Blackboard I feel like I have to be 100% professional. When someone shares something funny I can't respond with acronyms like 'lol' and I can't include emojis. I personally use emojis to show the faces that I might be making when they can't see me. I feel like emojis adds a lot to the conversation because when you can't see or hear a person, the meaning behind the message can get lost. Emojis give me another way to communicate any meaning lost that might have occurred without them.  In-class discussions, however, allow us to see nonverbal signals that people give us so emojis aren't needed. For example, if we see people nodding their heads along with our comment then we know that we're probably on the right track. If people are giving us weird look...

If I'm not at work, doing school work, sleeping or eating, I will check my social media accounts. I haven't really posted much on them lately just because I have so much to do, but I do notice what type of environment I'm entering every time I log into my accounts. With Facebook I always feel a sense of connection. There isn't anything too complicated about Facebook other than its privacy and posting settings. It allows you to connect with your family and friends that might live a distance away. You are able to see what they're doing and how they're feeling based on what they post and share. Of course they could be putting a fake smile on and posting happy things when they are sad, but that's another story. Also, on Facebook you are able to learn more about people you don't know. It's a networking site that allows us to get to know others. It feels mainly positive.  When I log into Twitter I get a more calm laid back vibe where I can more or less be ...

No one is ever satisfied. We are all looking for a way to improve upon ourselves, improve our business ventures, improve our life, etc. We all just want more. There are sayings like "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but we live in a society where it doesn't have to be broke for us to want to improve it. Even though change is not the easiest thing to adapt to, we still must go through it and therefore we sometimes initiate it to get ahead of the game. Current day technologies have been used in more ways than anyone could have guessed when the technology was invented. For example, LinkedIn has always been a social networking platform that allowed us to connect with one another professionally. Those looking for a job can share their resume and those seeking those looking for a job can search them up. Especially during current times with COVID, this platform has become quite useful for recruiting. In a podcast on NPR, Shally Steckerl said that "with social netwo...

We have so much information at the tip of our fingers. With the tap of a few buttons we could search up anything and find multiple sources of information on it. We could share our thoughts and opinions with others and have immediate feedback from people all over the world. Wikis and Blogs are just some of the platforms that make such things possible. Whether or not the information provided to us is reliable is a completely different story.  One important similarity between wikis and blogs is that they both inspire others to share their thoughts and opinions. It brings people together to work collaboratively. In the article Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid by Michael Wilson (2008) a group of people combined their information in a blog to bust a Drug Raid. One of the contributors to the blog, Mr.Miller stated "a core group of seven people who met through the blog brought the case to the attention of the community board and met with authorities."A group of people who did no...

Quarantine was an unexpected twist in all of our lives. We walked into this year thinking that it would be something amazing, but it was the complete opposite. COVID took a lot away from us including most of our face to face contact with one another. During these times we are looking for any form of contact that we may possibly have and social media is one form of communication that we resort to when we can't (or don't want to) see each other face to face. People have used social media for different reasons throughout the years; to talk to friends and family that live a distance away, online dating, etc.. There are things that are normally done face to face that we now have to try and digitally do due to the pandemic. I want to explore the positive and negative influences that social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.) has had on social networking in both the business world (job interviews, networking events, etc.) and our personal lives. Now more than ever we c...