Information society

The information society is a growing and powerful community to be apart of. This society is in constant flux and change because this is a society in which the manipulation of information is a significant activity. The one issue with the information society is that there is not one defintion that can describe the term and make it explainable in a brief statement. Its complex because scientific theories and other reliable texts can be found in the same forums as fallacies and mistakes. Some information found is not useful but harmful. The development of the information society has changed media forever because the interactivity of participants allows communication to take place along with forced changes from contributors.

Wikipedia

Just recently I started using Wikipedia and so far I have found it to be a pretty valuable tool. The information you receive might not always be the most accurate but for the most part it is valuable because the information is a collaboration of thoughts and experiences from a wide variety of people. Thats why forming a class study guide on Wikipedia has its benefits because every member of the class can contribute information to be found in one spot and used by the whole class. This saves a lot of time for every student because less time is spent looking up every term or theory. By collaborating to form a class studyguide we all participate in knowledge distribution and this is a popular emerging technology right now as more and more people look to the web for answers instead of a library.

Geocaching

Just this past week I had my first experience with geocaching. While I have used GPS navigation devices in the past, this was the first time I had used a geocaching device. This handheld navigation system uses specific coordinates in order for its users to pinpoint exact locations. This was quite an interesting experience because we were using our geocaching navigation system in one of my classes in order to complete a scavenger hunt assignment. I was fairly impressed with how effortlessly the geocaching device guided my scavenger hunt group around campus to exact locations with little trouble.

This navigation device, and ones like it, are having a remarkable affect on the lives of many people worldwide. This emerging mobile technology is making life easier by offering people the assurrance that they will never be lost again and that they can personally navigate themselves anywhere. I am very interested in seeing what developments are made to geocaching/navigation systems in the next few years because it seems that this field has unlimited potential.

Second Life: Virtual Reality

Just recently I started a Second Life account as part of an Organizational Leadership and Supervision class. In this class we use Second Life as a meeting room for our class so that we all may have a more concise meeting room than our lecture hall can offer. Our Second Life meeting room is an entire virtual reality world consisting of users who create their own avatars (virtual characters) and also homes, businesses, and restaurants along with other amenities found in real life. The name of this virtual world really does comply with what the creators of this game offer, within this game you truly can lead a Second Life.

In our class we use Second Life in place of a recitation and it really is an interesting educational platform that brings a nice change of pace. Besides being used as a meeting room, our class also uses Second Life to receive assignments, turn-in assignments, and also take part in class related activities. This emerging technology allows people the ability to gather in one central area no matter their location worldwide. This creates a casual new environment for both educational institutions and businesses alike to conduct meetings and share information.

Outside of educational and business use, Second Life is used by the majority of people as a social network to meet and interact with new people globally. Second Life has become quite a large social network that offers its users unlimited possibilities, like in life, that other social networks are unable to offer. For instance, in Second Life the avatar you create to represent yourself can gather money and make purchases such as houses, cars, and clothes. Users of Second Life also form close relationships with other users and in some cases Second Life marriages have taken place.

This emerging technology is quite unique in the various options and uses that it offers its members. Through my experience so far with Second Life I see great potential for this social network and anticipate large growth for this organization if they promote their name better.

Internet deception

Just recently I have realized that online communication technologies can have a large impact on interpersonal relationships in deceiving ways. Through social medium use such as blogging, people can never be sure if what they are reading is true or if they are being deceived. Online identities can be presented in any way a user chooses, so what someone is presenting to the online community could be completely fictious as to who they are in real life. The real lesson to learn whenever getting involved with others online is that you should never fully trust what you read or see because it could just be a false projection of how others want to be seen, not who they really are.