Second Life

Today I finished flying around in Second Life and trying to manage the tutorials. I'm not the most patient man in the world, so I started experimenting with the tools and options before the tutorials were complete. It is so strange, because I find myself interacting with people in the virtual world similar to the way that I interact with people in the real world. I am not one to go up and strike a conversation with anybody, and I often avoid it at times with strangers. I find myself trying not to bump into people, and not "stair" at them if they have on odd attire lol. I was reading my classmate Sarah's blog and she had a lot of frustration with getting to know the software. I had similar problems, but I like the trial and error methods so I just kept testing tools out. Sarah was saying that through her frustrations she can see the value that the software can have on the educational and training fields and I agree. If I'm interacting the way that I would in the real world in this virtual world, I think that learning can also be just as effective. I have some more flying around to do, so I'll be posting on additional findings again soon. In the meantime you can take a look at Sarah's blog and give her some feedback about what you think: Sarah Rad

Google Body?

Students at the University of Stanford and NASA have teamed up to build a virtual tour and look inside of the human body. The way that this procedure works is looking at the body from a 3-dimensional perspective, it was originally designed for medical students to become more comfortable with working on "virtual" patients before they start working on actual people. The project has developed an interest with merging with Google (as if google doesn't already run the virtual world), but the merger would be similar to Google Maps only a look inside the human form. Take a look at the link to read up on the procedure. The date listed is from June of 2007, but I caught this story on the Channel 7 news on Friday night. I decided to "Google" the title of the story and this was one of the first hits that came back lol. It is the same program, so review and let me know what you think if interested. Click here to view the article.

Facebook eases college anxiety for Freshman

I know I just posted about MySpace and Facebook, but I thought that this was an interesting article to review. CNN did an article on how freshman can connect with eachother before they meet during the first week of school. By doing so, they can set ground rules and get an understanding of each others personality without ever having to meet. Getting to know someone online can help break the ice of getting to know them in person. I thought that it was a relevant article to review, click here to view the article.




It would be interesting to see what your thoughts might be on this, especially if you read my previous blog on MySpace and Facebook. I was also reviewing Lois' blog on the importance of social networking in the new millennial age, and how Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter have been used as positive networking applications. I can see the benefits from her standpoint, and if you are online for business purposes, then you should definitely realize that. My opinion is that these applications can be used as social tools in a positive manner, but they can definitely be negative if abused. As this is the truth with about anything that consists of online interaction.

Yesterday we had a discussion on the issues of blogging, such as MySpace and the conflict that can occur with your employer. I agree that you can find some pretty KrAzY things that people will post about themselves when it comes to MySpace, and I can see how an employer would not want their organization associated with unprofessional behavior, or even not wanting to be associated with someone who is professional but has friends who are very unprofessional. It's even tougher working in the education field, I realized this when reading my classmates blog postings about the warnings administration gives faculty and staff on their web use habits. Children who have a lot of time on their hands, would love to play with the copy and paste tool on your photos and create some strange images that could be detrimental to your career, but only fun and games to them.
I do not have any of my images or personal information listed to be seen by people who are not a personal friend or safe acquaintance. I'm really debating if I want to keep the information that I've had up about myself currently, or take it down all together. I enjoy being able to keep in touch with old friends, but sometimes people you were only to have met for a season where not suppose to be an acquaintance for life. That is really what pages like MySpace and Facebook allow. Think about this...do you really want to be associated with people you hung out with as an unruly adolescent, when you are a professional in your 30's? What if those acquaintances are still unruly? They're your friends that you wouldn't mind grabbing lunch or having a drink with at sometime in your later life, but would you want to be associated with their unruly behavior online when you are professional? It should be a good rule of thumb, only post information about yourself online that you don't mind the world seeing and knowing. Because nothing is totally confidential when it comes to the use of technology, even with the right settings on your account manager!

Nanotechnology in Atoms?!?!

This caught my eye, storing energy in atoms. As if the computer chips today aren't already becoming smaller AND more efficient. If this theory is put in the works, space will no longer be an issue when it comes storage on your hard drive. Wires will not be internally damaged and need repair, and less energy will be required to run your computer systems. The technology is not expected to be around for about 10 years, but there is evidence of the theory being put into works. This is a theory that could really revolutionize the world (but as though we don't say that about all new technology lol, but seriously this can). Check out the link below.

http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,136665/printable.html

Banking With Your Phone

This is interesting emerging technology, using your mobile phone for banking and locating ATM's. The concept is to give your phone navigational sense to direct you to the nearest ATM or bank of your choice. Not only do you get the directions, but you can make withdraws with your phone too. The concept is perceived as rather simple by the designer, and predictions are made for it's availibility in the next 3 to 5 years. The technology is already being used in Denmark and Singapore, it's intriguing when I see technology used regularly in other countries and then not explored at all in others. Especially in the industrial powerhouse of the US. I think it's just an example of the fascination the world has for these gizmos. Click the link below for more info.

http://www.physorg.com/news108191300.html

Teachers & Technology Networking

Technology has come such a long way within the last 20 years. In fact, technology makes leaps and bounds with it's capabilities every year. I worked in retail sales for Sprint about a year ago, one thing that I caught onto is that the phones would be outdated and "old" in a matter of 6 months. When a new phone would come out, it was the newest and hottest thing on the market for a total of 3 months. After 6 months the phone was usually no longer exciting, because several other new phones have over shadowed it's capabilities. When I was in college my second year, I thought it was amazing that my parents got a cell phone for me. Now, it is common for middle school students to have mobile phones. My professor Dr. Zeitz, informed my emerging technology class that there are schools that now require all students to have mobile phones in order to enroll in classes.

http://www.mobile-weblog.com/ Demonstrates and gives examples of new mobile technology for users. It is updated by users on a regular basis, interesting examples are:
Being able to translate languages from your smart phone.
Being able to watch surveillance footage from your phone.
Being able to unlock your keybox from your phone (for realastate).
All of there examples don't have to do with education, but I thought they were interesting.

Rough and Fun Weekend

It's been a rough and fun Labor Day weekend for me. I thought that I was going to get a lot of work done and a number of things accomplished for class this weekend, but that did not happen as planned. Asthma has caused me to not feel very well for the last few days, so I didn't get around to do a lot of things. The weekend has been fun because I had family visit and hang out for labor day, that's always nice. I think this week I will be feeling better and will be more productive.