Blog #9 Virtual Reality and Diffusion Theory

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is a ferly recent addiction to modern technology that is quickly gaining traction. Though once though of as something that might take years and years of learning to do so, it came much sooner than expected and is now reality. Though as of right now it is slowly becoming more prominent in the world in different ways, diffusion theory will slowly kick in after a few decades or more and it will stop growing in popularity. 

Though virtual reality is quite impressive, it is still being developed and used in many different industries. In the gaming industries, companies are starting to develop games in virtual reality in which people can experience games in a whole new way. With this, virtual reality can evolve in a way that it can be similar to Ready Player One where they can fully implement people into a virtual world where all their senses are connected to it and not just what they see. Though that hasn't happened yet, there are currently tech companies trying to evolve virtual reality to include senses other than sight. 

Outside of video games, virtual reality is being used by companies such as NASA to help simulate space travel and other space related testing. With that testing, people can easily get use to space travel while the technology develops for that. FaceBook also is starting to develop virtual reality technology by creating the metaverse. Due to the social platform declining due to it reaching many people and no more people wanting to get it, it had to think of something new to publish. Though FaceBook has been affected by the diffusion theory and must figure out how to get more customers, it will take a while for that to happen to virtual reality. More and more people through out the years are getting virtual reality gear but it is still in the process of being extremely expensive so not many people are buying it. But as time goes on, more people will get virtual reality. I personally predict that in the next 5 to 10 years it will hit its peak of people buying virtual reality for personal use before sales start to decrease and it be affected by the diffusion theory. 

Blog#8 Cord Cutting

 Cord Cutting

Cord cutting is the act of getting rid of cable television and going towards smart TV and streaming services. With the evolution of how modern television has developed through the years, it is no surprise that people started moving towards streaming services and getting rid of cable TV.  Cable television, an innovation in entertainment and news, was something that greatly effected the world. It came out in the late 1940's to early 1950's as something people could finally get into their own house. As something that improved upon the radio, and movie theaters, cable television was able to impact many people in the world. Though at first when it came out, it had very few channels. One for news, and one to two for entertainment. 

Effects of cord cutting are quite interesting but also shows where the world is heading towards. One the one hand, instead of having local news at certain times, it is all over the place on different news sources. Not only that, each news source has their own opinion that they have to make on the news whether it be local or world news. As well as that, instead of it being a few channels apart, to access news from one side or the other, you have to look into different streaming services that have them which makes people not want to get both or get a smart TV which not everyone can get. Another impact of it is different sources of media will get quite polarized and have their own agenda when publishing shows or news stories. 

Along side all the polarization and entertainment being spread out, people are able to watch old shows that might have got canceled or stopped airing but are now on streaming services. People are able to see shows that they might not normally be able to see on regular cable and also watch content that shows either canceled or people are able to easily catch up on with their own time. This is good because people have access to all sorts of entertainment that they can get whenever they want as well as news stories when they come out and watch it from Fox or CNN. This can also be bad because depending on shows you want to watch and news you want to see, you would have to pay for multiple different streaming services which can progressively build up and be a lot of money. Also depending on where people live and how much they make, they won't be able to get these streaming services and have to rely on cable or news papers and news sources and entertainment industries are starting to back away from those and moving online or on streaming services. This going forward in society is giving companies more control over how people view entertainment. This can be bad because they can push their own agenda and tell people what to think without people thinking for themselves which can be concerning. 

Blog #7 Online Privacy

 Online Privacy and Our Privacy

Social media being prominent in today's world and has been growing for the past two decades and is continuing to grow. They are used to share our on live and what we want to put out into the world. It is a great place to just socialize and connect with friends and to stay connected with people you might night see every day but while it social media may have stuff private that only you can see it, companies find ways to access that data and distribute it to others. 

These social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok have a trending page that collects data from the user to then put it in front of them so they get the content and interests that they like. But also that data can be collected by these companies to get a profile on you to then share. With this, it strips the privacy that we wanted that we the users wanted, especially when our accounts our "private" and only our friends can see what we post. Companies can get away with this through their terms and conditions that they write out for the user. With phrasing of it making it so the company is able to use your account as an example or use it for what ever they want without having to ask the user. 

Though I feel as though my view is quite apparent, it seems that these companies are using our own information for their own benefit. This issue affects everyone who has put any form of personal information on any social media platform and even google. This means that unless people are completely off the internet, people have some form of personal information being taken from them. I personally think that the government should take more of a stance against these companies taking our private information but I highly doubt that the government will actually do that. One time where the government did get involved wasn't due to a privacy issue but a supposed Monopoly case against FaceBook. 

I would say that a way to avoid this is to create fake accounts that hide ones personal information. For example a false name and address so that they have a harder time accessing your private information. Also being aware of what you are putting out there and the websites you are signing up for because there is no knowing hot they will get your information.  

Blog#6 More Tech of Communication

 Carrier Pigeons

Carrier Pigeons are the first big way people communicated for years. They were used throughout history obviously to share information but also for other interesting ways to communicate to others. Dating back to roughly 3000 BC in Egypt, they were able to find a way to someone domesticate or train them that early on to get messages out there to others though it was for a short distance or at least contained in the main Egyptian territory. 

Carrier pigeons were so influential in modern communication that the purpose of them somewhat evolved. From Egypt sending messages to WWI and WWII where they were used in active war to communicate to fellow soldiers or to carry supplies. It got to the point in the war where some of these birds were getting higher ranks than people. But they ended up continuing even after the wars as well. The real mainstream use of them were used in 2006 in India, they are used later on through 2016 as smuggling messages and goods into otherwise restricted areas. 

Blog#5 No Antiwar Voices

 America's No Antiwar Voice

America has always prided itself on its freedom of speech and how people have more of a voice here than in other countries. While that is true in America, sometimes there are viewpoints or sides to an agenda that the government wants to push down or keep people away from seeing. And seeing as Anti-War voices are in the title, that is a viewpoint that the American government might not want people to hear. 

Websites and news articles such as Antiwar.com and American Conservative aren't really shown in todays media. Due to the governments big antiwar outlook on the world as well as in mainstream news, These articles and websites don't get may people looking at them do to it being pushed down and not the narrative the main stream media wants to put out there. And though there have been antiwar statements since the civil war,  

Blog#4 Twitter Media

 Twitter Media

Twitter is a media that is very prominent in today's world. It is all over the news and can find various different information spanning from politics, daily news, games, movies, and anything other type of things people want to post about. It has been growing in popularity since it first got created in 2006 and can be considered one of the biggest social media platforms today. 

  

Twitters does have an expansive history filled with interesting facts in my mind. Before 2006 the creators Jack Dorsey, Even Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass got together to work on creating a social media platform. By the time 2006 came along, they were able to successfully create twitter and the first tweet was made by Dorsey. That tweet said "just setting up my twttr.". The reason why he said twttr is because it was originally going to be spelt that way but it was changed to be twitter. And when thinking of a name they were thinking of a few thoughts that helped them create the name. The light chirping sounding word, A word that's light and tremulous speech or laughter, and Agitation and excitement. Before it was released, Dorsey also thought that twitter should be a platform where people can give status updates with friends and update them on what’s going on in their life. That it would have a similar set up to text messages but at the same time being very different. 

Like I stated earlier, Twitter is very prominent in today's world. I would even say that is one of the most important sources of information in our modern world. People from any background and from all over the world use Twitter. Though usually when it enters into the main stream news, it usually is seen in a political sense. For example when President Trump got banned from Twitter near the end of his presidency, it turned into a huge political problem for a while when that happened. And though Twitter has every right to ban those who break there terms of service due to its community guild lines and how it runs, it doesn't mean that people will have their own opinions on the matter. 

Twitter has changed the way that people can communicate because it can be fast and easy to get simple ideas out there for the world to see. If people want to reach out to someone in specific on the app, they can @ someone. And interesting enough Twitter was the first social media platform to use that along side the # for trends. Though it has had a very prominent way of influencing communication in the world, it can also be used by groups and people that want to spread either false information, hate speech, and also be used to ruin peoples reputation. Twitter, a platform of wide information from many different viewpoints are bound to have speech that degrading and hurtful in nature just like most social media platforms. But despite all the hate that can be on the platform, it can be used for good.  

Blog#3 Values of Free Expression

 The Value of Free Expression

We as a people are able to express ourselves in any way we want. Essentially free to believe, think, and act in ways others can't. The 1st Amendment is something of great value in America because it is the thing letting us experience free expression. Because the government doesn't get to interfere with our freedom to express ourselves, as long as it isn't violent, is something that greatly affects the people in the country.  

In today's modern world with easy access to news with a click of a button, I feel as though some of the values of free expression thought upon by the founding fathers are very important today. These ideas/theories have to be Promote Innovation and Individual Self-Fulfillment. Promote Innovation is essentially promoting free speech in a community that is valued and protected, and is more likely to be more creative and energetic. Individual Self-Fulfillment is essentially a person/individuals that are enabled by free speech to express themselves and are able to create an identity off of it. 

Free Expression in Games

Video games are everywhere in society. So when it comes to the two values, Promote Innovation and Individual Self-Fulfillment, many games implement them. Creativity is important in games as well as being able to say what they want. Since games can be very creative as well as hold a message and reflect on current society, I believe that these values would be good. 

I would say since Promote Innovation leans more to group creativity and expression, there are many games that come to mind when thinking of games made by companies that are creative and hold a message. The game The Outer Worlds that came out in 2019 comes to mind of a creative game with a message. Essentially the game is about going through different worlds exploring and helping others to get materials, information, and potential allies to help people that are stuck in the middle of space, frozen, and stranded with no one to help them. Though this game is quite expansive and creative in idea and message, the overall response wasn't the best. There are some minor graphical problems, the story has problems, and some gameplay mechanics are not the best. Though The Outer Worlds is fun to play, it does come with its flaws. The reason why I think Promote Innovation is important here is because it shows just how a game can show peoples creativity and speech while also experiencing how people can respond to it. 

Self-Fulfillment focusing more on the individual can also happen in games. The game Undertale is a game that comes to mind that is made by someone who worked on it by himself. The game came out in 2015 and had a lot of positive feedback. I have played this game and it has strong moral values in the game revolving around killing monsters or sparing them. The way Toby Fox, the creator, was able to implement a message in a creative way in gameplay lets people have a lasting impact on it. Creativity comes from its graphics and music. It grows the world that the character is in with music and the art style bringing to life the characters. The reason why Self-Fulfillment is applied here is not only because an individual made this but it shows just how someone putting creativity and a powerful message together can impact their work