Maria Gonzalez's Blog

A virtual world is a computer-stimulated environment that is populated by users who create a personal avatar. The users explore, communicate with others, and participate in the activities in the virtual world.  Virtual worlds can be used in many different ways. According to the article "Going to the virtual office in Second Life", Second Lide is a tool that allows companies to have virtual meetings on their own computer networks. Educational institutions, businesses, government agencies, and the U.S military are using Second Life as ways to conduct training, prototype new technologies, and hold meetings. Virtual Worlds can also be used in architecture for viewing the projects and plans.   Some positive effects of virtual worlds include:  Better visuals by giving the user the impression of actually being inside the game/virtual world. It can aid in training individuals for real-world operations. Using virtual worlds can help designers when putting together an interior...

The biggest difference between a Twitter discussion, compared to an in-class discussion and a blackboard discussion, is who sees it. For example, a blackboard discussion is private to only the people in the class and only they can see the discussion responses/comments. Similarly, in a class discussion, the people present in the classroom are the only ones who can be part of the discussion. On the other hand, in a Twitter discussion, anything you say is made accessible to anyone on Twitter, not only your classmates. Anyone outside of the class, can see the discussion and become part of it. Another difference is the length. For example, Twitter is limited to 280 characters, which means that you're responses are limited and need to be shorter than a blackboard and in-class discussion.  In a way, for some people, it might be easier to share their opinions in a blackboard discussion instead of Twitter and in class, because it might be less challenging for people to express themselves wh...

 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are all examples of popular social networks today.  After it being launched in 2004, Facebook has become the world's largest social network. My first impression of Facebook is its wide use and amount of users. It can be used by corporations and businesses for marketing, or by everyday people to stay connected with family and news. Overall Facebook is very user friendly and allows anyone to talk to anyone around the world with the use of Messanger, or stay posted with what friends and family are doing. It is easy to start conversations, create groups, and discussions. On the other hand, the number of targeted ads can be overwhelming. In Twitter, people can post statuses of what they are doing, their opinions, pictures, videos, and links. These are limited to 280 characters, which in a way it's good since most tweets are kept short to allow for faster navigation. Personally, I don't use Twitter but I can see it's entertaining a...

Technology has evolved tremendously over the past years. Social networks are a perfect example of these technologies that have arisen and have transformed our businesses and social lives. Some of the benefits of social networking are advertising, communication, and collaboration. A perfect example is Facebook and Instagram, these platforms have allowed businesses to advertise and reach more people than they could ever do before. Companies use Instagram to sell products and give a more visual representation of their products. It makes it easier for users to shop and buy. This function has helped small merchandise businesses like Dave Klonke (Business: Right Hook Branded Merchandise), he takes pictures of most of the projects his company puts together and posts them on Instagram. He then links the pictures from Instagram on his website. Dave says that he "mainly focuses on Instagram because of the visual nature of promo products. Having a social networking profile allows for more ch...

Blogs and Wikis are two very important tools where information can be shared and receive feedback and comments from others. One of the biggest differences between the two is that Wiki allows for multiple authors who can actively create, edit, delete, and revise the content found there. Wiki applications facilitate collaborative editing supported by revision mechanisms that allow the monitoring of changes (Bakardjieva) . On the other hand, Blogs usually consist of one blogger and it allows other people to comment. Also, Blog entries are usually maintained in reverse chronological format (Bakardjieva). Network convergence in today’s word is very important because it allows for people to connect and share information instantly. According to Dr. Thomas B. Fowler convergence, “convergence has come to mean a moving towards the use of one medium as opposed to many. There are many drivers for convergence, but perhaps the most significant is a vision of the future: a more elegant world where ...

I chose to do my paper on the impacts of social media on education. Over the years social media has become bigger and bigger. With most generations using social media platforms, it can be said that it has affected our daily lives to a great extent. With education being one of the most important aspects of youth, I think it is important to discuss how social networks are impacting students and their education, and how it will continue to do so. My analyses will focus on giving both negative and positive aspects of social networks on students and how this impacts their educational setting. For example, social media has become a great distraction to students, which in some circumstances, causes their performance to decline. I plan to include some studies to support this analysis. On the other hand, social media networks encourage students to engage with each other and share their creativity. In addition, I would also like to touch on the challenges of students using social media such as p...