Com 125 Assignment 12- Net neutrality debate: It's all about the $$$

Here's a question: did you know that the United States is only 16th in the world in broadband use for capita? In Japan, internet users get a connection that is 16 times faster than the typical DSL line in America and for only $22 a month. It's the same story in other parts of the world. DSL service in France is 10 times faster than that of the United States. Also, places as diverse as South Korea, Finland, Canada and Hong Kong have much faster internet connections at a lower price than what we pay here in the US. So what happened? How did the United States start off ahead of the game when it came to internet service at the internet's inception and fall far behind in the successive years?

The answer to this question lies in the concept of net neutrality. Net neutrality is a principle applied to residential broadband networks that allows for equal distribution of content over the internet and keeps the internet safe from control of any kind. The US’s adherence to net neutrality is quite the opposite from other countries that have a national broadband policy which actively encourages competition among telecommunications companies. As you can imagine, there are several Americans who are jealous of the other countries’ access to a lightening fast broadband connection for much lower price. These people seek to change the US's current policy on net neutrality to become more like these other countries, who have found that competition among telecommunications companies leads to better service and lower prices for their customers. However, net neutrality proponents actively discourage this proposal and want to preserve the original purpose of the internet as being "an information highway where anybody--no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional--has equal access (Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google).”

Not surprisingly, the net neutrality debate is more about money than about anything else. As Steve Effros, former president of the Cable Television Association put it, "This is about who pays." On one end, you have the software and internet companies who actively support net neutrality. Companies such as Google and Yahoo have prospered greatly with the free distribution of their content over the internet. For example in 2006, Google's profits increased by 267 percent, Yahoo's increased by 126 percent, and Ebay saw a 39 percent increase. On the other hand, telecommunications companies, the ones that provide the internet connection, have not been so successful. The three largest companies, Verizon, AT&T and Bell South (which has since been bought by AT&T) all have seen their profits drop. Because of the huge costs involved in building and expanding their broadband networks, the telecommunications companies don’t see why the content providers don’t have to pay a portion of the cost. Ed Whitacre, CEO of AT&T, told Business Week what he thought of the companies who publish content over their network. He said, “They don’t have any fiber out there. They don’t have any wires. They don’t have anything. For a Google or a Yahoo or a Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts!”

Personally, I tend to lean towards the side of the telecommunications companies and oppose net neutrality. I don’t believe it’s fair that Google or Yahoo can make billions yet they don’t have to pay a single penny to the telecommunications companies who are just as much responsible for their profits as they are. I understand the position that with more control, the big phone and cable companies can serve as gatekeepers and decide which web sites they want to bring to the forefront versus which ones they want to fade into the background. However, I don’t believe that it would be in their best interest to block anyone’s access to content. After all, they want to make money and having unhappy customers will not make them rich. Instead, their attention is better focused on developing a higher capacity and faster broadband network to compete with the rest of the world.

The competition for customers is what will drive telecommunication companies to lower fees for Americans to connect to the internet. To assure their customer’s satisfaction, these companies will be compelled to develop better virus security, and also protection from worms and spam. The result is a faster, more protected broadband network for Americans for a lower price than they are paying now. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t appreciate that. I believe the success seen in other countries serves as an example of how with a reasonable amount of control, telecommunications companies can vastly improve our broadband networks, while still granting the freedom for us to access and view the content we wish.

Sources

(13 April 2006). The Net Neutrality Debate: You Pay, You Play? Retrieved 10 November, 2008, from CIO Web site: http://www.cio.com/article/20239/The_Net_Neutrality_Debate%20You_Pay_You_Play_?page=1

(September 2006). A Battle for Control of the Web. Retrieved 10 November, 2008, from WSJ Classroom Web site: http://classroomedition.com/archive/06sep/htop_netneutrality.htm

Turner, S. (18 October 2005). Free American boradband! Retrieved 10 November, 2008, from Salon Web site: http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2005/10/18/broadband/

Various. (2 November 2008). Network Neutrality. Retrieved 10 November, 2008, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality

Com 125 Assignment 11- Virtual Economies, Real or Fake?

Today, virtual gaming has reached an entirely new level of existence. With "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, or MMOs," virtual worlds like World of Warcraft, Ultima Online, EverQuest and Second Life have expanded to now having a significant presence in our real-lives. Particularly, the economies of the games are finding ways to become prevalent in our own real life economy.


In his article, Julian Dibbell contrasts the virtual economy’s original intention to solely exist in the virtual world compared to its actual evolution into something more significant. The proposed virtual economy was meant to be "a realm of atomless digital products traded in frictionless digital environments for paperless digital cash." According to this proposal, money and wealth in the virtual world would have no real value in the real-world. However, as Dibbell explains, our modern economy is actually a breeding ground for "paperless digital cash" to have actual worth. He says, "For years, the world's economy has drifted further and further from the solid ground of tangible: Industry has given way to postindustry, the selling of products has given way to the selling of brands, gold bricks in steel vaults have given way to financial derivatives half a dozen levels of abstraction removed from physical reality." He argues that people are now more comfortable with the idea of money being in a nontangible form. Therefore, the presence of physical money and wealth is no different from that of digital wealth.


MMOs differ in their acceptance of real money playing into financial gain in their games. On two ends of the spectrum are Second Life and World of Warcraft. Second Life has a very open approach to the virtual economy and encourages the buying and selling of property with real money. Conversely, World of Warcraft is a game that actively discourages this practice. With the open economy, a variety of digital goods are sold for real money. They include houses, swords, suits of armor, iron ingots, lumber, piles of hay, tables, chairs, potted plants, and magic scrolls to name a few. In fact, it has been estimated that the sum of transactions for these items has reached $3 million of real money per year. Ebay is an active player involving the transaction of digital goods. There are people who have actually made a full-time job out of being a seller of digital products for virtual games on ebay. For example, a 43-year-old delivery man named John Dugger bought himself a house in the fiction world of Britannia for $750 in real money to feed into his Ultima Online addiction.


There are a few major issues with putting actual money into virtual worlds: problems both for the sellers and buyers of virtual goods. For the buyers, it's the concern that the goods they're buying aren't in a tangible form. These goods only exist in a fake world and go away when the computer is turned off. When it comes to reality, these buyers are losing actual money and gaining no physical goods for their loss. On the other hand, the issue for sellers is that their profits depend on the virtual games so therefore, the owners of these games have ultimate control over their profits. Bob Kiblinger, someone who trades Ultima items for a living says, "It's scary to have that much cash tied up in the business, when Ultima could just say, 'We deem this outside the rules. You're done.'" As soon as these companies make the decision that they don’t want people to profit from their digital goods, these sellers are subject to losing everything, and this is something that companies actually do. For example, Sony announced a ban on the EverQuest auction market and got ebay to enforce the ban.


In my opinion, World of Warcraft’s closed economy is the best approach to the virtual economy of online gaming. This is because it gives the best of both worlds by allowing for an economy without players having to give up any of their own real money. In the World of Warcraft, one can virtually work for and earn virtual money, much like one works for and earns real money in the real world. Therefore, people have the opportunity to advance in the game and generate wealth, without the loss of real money. I believe it is very important to keep virtual and real-life money separate. If money is circulated in and out of “reality,” this blurs the line between the virtual and physical world, which can have many psychological repercussions for avid gamers.



Sources

Dibbell, J. (January 2oo3). The Unreal Estate Boom. Retrieved 4 November, 2008, from Wired Web site: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/gaming.html


Levy, S. (2008). World of Warcraft: Is It a Game? Retrieved 4 November, 2008, from MSNBC Web site: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098

Com 125 Assignment 10- News At Your Fingertips

This week in class, we were asked to look at a news story from the position of both a print and an online news source. A story that has been all over the media this week is the brutal slaying of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew. For those of you not familiar with this current story, while promoting her first album and new movie "The Secret Life of Bees," the singer/actress received news that her mother, 57-year-old Darnell Donerson, and brother, 29-year-old Jason Hudson, were found dead in their Chicago home due to gunshot wounds. Hudson also got the news on Sunday that her 7-year-old nephew Julian was missing. Hudson offered a $100,000 reward for his safe return, but the boy's body was later discovered in an abandoned car parked nearby the house. The person in question is William Balfour, the 27-year-old stepfather of Hudson's nephew. Balfour swears his innocence; however, he refused a lie detector test. Today (10/30/2008), the weapon used in the murder was discovered in bushes nearby the abandoned car.


The print article that I read about this story in was from today's issue of USA Today in the "Life" section. It was titled "Hudson's tragic loss will take time to heal," and was written by Kelley L. Carter. The article mainly focused on Jennifer Hudson and how she was expected to cope with this tragedy. Hudson has not publicly commented on it, so therefore the article focused on speculation of when and where it will happen. The author seems to think Hudson will go on Oprah to discuss the tragedy. It says, "Oprah is the logical place to go. It's safe to cry on the sofa. Talking to Oprah is like talking to your best friend who’s also a therapist. And everyone watches it. It will be couched as a tribute to her family and not a rehash of the murder."


The online article pertaining to this story had noticeably different content from the print source. The article titled, "Gun 'used to murder Jennifer Hudson's family' found" was also written today, and I found it on the UK Telegraph's website. Instead of speculating about Jennifer's reaction to the murder, it's author Sarah Brealey takes a more objective approach, stating the known facts in the case and the latest developments. I preferred this article because I had only recently heard of the news of a murder in Jennifer Hudson's family, but I didn't know much about it. I read the print article first and still didn't know anything about the case, not even who was murdered. It was through the online article that I became familiar with the details of the case.


Online news differs from print in that it gives the public the benefit of many, diverse news sources, making it easy to find the information you're looking for. In print, your options are limited unless you are willing to spend the money to buy a number of different newspapers. Using this current example, I was not very interested in finding out Jennifer's reaction to the murder because I had yet to even know who was murdered. Online, it was really easy to look up the information that I was interested in, and I found a relevant article in a matter of seconds (and it was free).


Another advantage to online new sources is they have the ability to release the latest news as it unfolds, compared to print where they have to wait to release it until the next day. In this example, when the print article was written, news had not yet broken that the gun was found and therefore, this information was not included in the article. It was, however, included in the online article. Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post says, "News happens every second of the day -- it doesn't stop after the next day's newspaper is put to bed -- and blogs and Internet news sites are clearly better equipped to keep up with this never-ending news cycle."


Due to its many benefits, online news has seen a great increase in recent years. According to the Pew Internet survey on online news published in 2006, "By the end of 2005, 50 million Americans got news online on a typical day, a sizable increase since 2002." It is because of this increase that print sources are taking a hit. The Washington Post is a prime example of this. Donald Graham, CEO of the company said that the Washington post "lost 3% of its paid readers, 4% of its ad revenue and 14% of its classified recruitment revenues; both ad revenue measures fell almost twice as steeply in the fourth quarter, indicating more losses are on the way. 2006 has been a poor year for every newspaper I know of.” On the other hand, the company’s website, Washingtonpost.com, has shown great success probably because it offers much more than just current news. "A quick visit to washigntonpost.com can lead to hours of clicking. Viewers can read all the articles from the print edition, of course, but that's just a start. You can chat online with reporters, watch award-winning documentaries or see the cherry blossoms bloom with time-elapsed photography (Web vs. Print)."


The Washington Post is not alone, many other news sources are facing the problem of how will they keep their print sources alive. The answer to this question is uncertain, but it seems that print sources will have to change the way they market themselves in order to compete with the exciting new world of the internet. Although in the past, people were content receiving their news from a simple black and white paper sent to their house each morning, today people need much more than that. Print sources will have a hard time in the future meeting the task of accommodating to people’s ever shrinking attention spans.




Sources


(4 April 2007). Web vs. Print: Online Successes at One Newspaper Raise More Questions Than They Answer. Retrieved 30 October, 2008, from the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania Web site: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1699


Brealey, S. (30 October 2008). Gun 'used to murder Jennifer Hudson's family' found. Retrieved 30 October, 2008, from UK's Telegraph Web site: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3284853/Gun-used-to-murder-Jennifer-Hudsons-family-found.html


Carter, K. (30 October 2008). Hudson's tragic loss will take time to heal. USA Today. p. 3D


Horrigan, J. (22 March 2006). Online News: For many home broadband users, the internet is a primary news source. Retrieved 30 October, 2008, from Pew Internet Web site:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/178/report_display.asp


Huffington, A. (7 July 2005). Online vs. Print: A Front Page Pic Tells the Whole Story. Retrieved 30 October, 2008, from The Huffington Post Web site: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/online-vs-print-a-fron_b_3797.html

Com 125 Assignment 9- Bloggin' with a Purpose

Back at the end of August when COM 125 class began, I was first introduced to the world of the blogosphere. Prior to then, I had already formed an opinion on blogs; you could even call it a stereotype. I imagined that the majority of people who were blogging were preteens or teens using it to update their friends about their lives, complain about adults, school, and other teen drama- basically giving their peers insight to their own inner thoughts and feelings. However, when I became an active participant in the blogosphere, my eyes were opened to the fact that it is not just one particular kind of individual who blogs, but in fact, bloggers come from all walks of life, contributing their various forms of knowledge to a very diverse pool of information that is the blogosphere.

Today with the presidential election right around the corner, some of the most popular types of blogs you will find are political blogs. A local political blog that I have recently come across is The Buffalo Pundit (URL: http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/the-buffalo-pundit-faq-10). The blogger behind it is Alan Bedenko, a lawyer working in Buffalo, New York. The blog began in September, 2003 under the name, "WNY for Wesley Clark." When Clark left the campaign in 2004, it became The Buffalo Pundit and focused more on local issues, rather than national ones. The blog's Technorati rank is 112,530.


The Buffalo Pundit is very reader-friendly and filled with images and video clips for the politically-challenged person like myself who rarely gets around to watching the news. It's very up-to-date, with several posts a day that discuss the various political topics almost immediately after they arise. The posts are very well written and researched, containing many direct quotes. However, the most appealing aspect to me because the political jargon can get pretty boring, is that the blog is full of sarcastic remarks, strategically placed to get a rise out of you. I like The Buffalo Pundit’s "tell-it-like-it-is" attitude, with Bedenko definitely not shying away from stating his opinion. In reading the posts, it's obvious that he is a Democrat for Obama, and doesn't think much about Palin, calling her an "ignorant culture warrior."

What's great about The Buffalo Pundit is it encompasses not only national, but local politics as well. For instance, today (10/23/08) there are posts about Kryzan, Delano, Lee, and Stachowski. Bedenko’s posts on the candidates are a lot like his ones for the national candidates: ruthless. His strong opinions has stimulated a lot of thinking on the part of blog readers, with each post receiving numerous comments from people with opinions just as strong as Bedenko’s.

After all, the buzz generated in blogs like The Buffalo Pundit may be what it takes for local politicians to win their elections. As Kari Chisholm, (a blogger for Politics and Technology) writes, "It seems that everyone is talking about blogs these days, but much of the coverage is all about the big national blogs that get millions of hits. But for most political campaigns, it's the local blogs that can make a big difference - generating buzz, finding donors and volunteers, and driving media coverage." Because local politicians often don't have the financial resources to reach as many people they would like, blogs are ways for them to get their message across without spending any money at all. Blogs can also give the everyday person like Bedenko the opportunity to spread their opinions about the candidates: all it takes is access to the internet.


However, now not only are bloggers opinions’ being heard, they are making a difference. Kristen Searer (the Nevada Democrats spokesperson) makes the point, "The beauty of bloggers is they have an audience of the right people. If they break news, then insiders in politics and mainstream media are likely to pick it up." In order to get ahead, many local politicians are not only creating their own blogs for their campaign, but also watching key blogs like The Buffalo Pundit that have great influence in the local area, to see what's being said about them. Greg Speed (former spokesperson for the DCCC) says, "Speed added that in battleground areas, keeping an eye on what the blogging community is saying can be an important part of running a campaign”. Finding and correcting rumors being spread about them is a great way for a local politician to maintain a favorable image of their self. Their own blog is the perfect place for them to do this and make sure people know all the facts before they begin to form an opinion on the candidate.

Sources:

Bedenko, A. (2008). Retrieved 23 October, 2008, from Buffalo Pundit Web site: http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/the-buffalo-pundit-faq-10

Chisholm, K. (21 November 2005). 2006: The Rise of Local Politics. Retrieved 23 October, 2008, from Politics and Technology Web site: http://www.politicsandtechnology.com/2005/11/2006_the_rise_o.html

Com 125 Assignment 8- Web Application Review: RefDesk

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." - Samuel Johnson


The above passage is the main focus of a web application that I am a supporter of called Refdesk or refdesk.com. The website is devoted to assisting you in finding information that you do not yet know by showing you the places where you can go to find it. Refdesk started in 1995 by Robert Drudge whose mission was to bring order into the chaos of the Internet, with his end goal of achieving simplicity for the user. Drudge says, "Simplicity is the natural result of profound thought.” Profound thought goes into Drudge’s website as, "Refdesk aims to index, review, and publish quality, credible information-based Web sites and to assist readers in navigating and extracting needed data from these sites (Refdesk.com)."


Visually, when you sign on to the site, you may be a little overwhelmed by the various things that Refdesk has to offer. First, there's a daily calendar with links to updated gasoline prices, the value of the dollar, the price of crude oil, and stock prices for the day. Another thing you will find is a section called "search resources" which has all of the major search engines built into it including Google, MSN, Yahoo, and Wikipedia. The page also displays a “site of the day” (today -10/16/2008-the site is World Subway Maps). There are also sections for a “thought of the day” ("Men are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions than by money." - Robert H. Jackson), “this day in history” ("Chinese Communist Army Begins the Long March" (1934)), an “article of the day” ("Deja Vu"), “today's birthday” (David Ben-Gurion(1886)), and a “word of the day” (today's word is "dissonance"). Other features of the site that are especially useful for students are updated news headlines from every news source imaginable and periodical and literature searches to find relevant articles. Other of the website’s top features include a business search, a people search, weather, driving directions, a language translator, and a facts search desk. There are numerous other resources you can find on Refdesk, far too many to name, so you should check it out for yourself.


To sum it up in their own words, "Refdesk's database is on three levels: quick, studied and deep. For thumbnail snapshots: Fast Facts, Quick Reference / Research, and Facts Subject Index. For a more studied approach: Newspapers - USA & Worldwide, Search Engine Resources, Internet Help, and Writing Web Documents. For an in-depth exploration: Facts Encyclopedia with over seventy volumes of indexed subjects and Facts Subject Index with twenty-four subject categories (refdesk.com)."


Much like I have been doing in this blog, Refdesk functions through the placement of hyperlinks all over its website. The site is social in nature because it utilizes internet users that surf the web and tell Refdesk the best websites to find various pieces of information. The site then analyzes these websites on the basis of authority of the source, accuracy/comprehensiveness of information, its organization and clarity, and several other criteria listed here. If they fit the criteria, a hyperlink to articles and other things from the site is put on Refdesk.


Refdesk keeps advertisements to a minimum and does not charge to access any of their site's content. Instead, they claim, "the spirit of the original, non-commercial Internet guides Refdesk. This spirit envisions a living encyclopedia of information in the public domain, maintained by people who freely share their knowledge of where to find things on the Internet." RefDesk is a website that stays online simply by donations. Many of its users don't mind paying the site because of all of the services it provides to them free of charge. The site receives approximately $50,000 a year in donations, enough for it to pay for its web hosting services, programming, hardware, software, and bandwidth. That's not a whole lot of money you’re your consider the site averages over one million views a day. Refdesk is in now in trouble because as its traffic grows, so does its publishing costs. The future of the site depends on people's donations.


I think that Refdesk needs to remain online because in an age of increasing commoditization, it stays true to the internet's roots of being a gift economy. Refdesk provides its services for free and in exchange, its users contribute their collective knowledge to keep the site up-to-date to the ever changing internet. I think that it speaks volumes in this day in age to not "sell-out” by running a website that’s not for profit, but for the good of the people.



Source:
Drudge, R. (2008). Retrived October 16, 2008, from Refdesk Web site: http://www.refdesk.com/

Com 125 Assignment 7-Virtual Social Networking Communites

What is a community? I would describe it as a body of people linked together in some way. This link is created through anything whether it is physical location, similar backgrounds, common interests, etc. A virtual community is one that is linked through the internet. Rheingold defines virtual community as "social aggregations that emerge from the [Internet] when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace (Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? )" While this is generally a respectable definition, I find problems with it, particularly when Rheingold uses the phrase, "with sufficient human feeling." While virtual communities explain a variety of groups interacting over the Internet, this does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among these members.

An example of this is with social networking sites. I am an active participant in Facebook and I used to be in MySpace, and I find that these sites, especially MySpace are not good indicators of strong social ties. While they are both examples of communities, they are communities of weak ties. Because people are "friends" on these sites does not necessarily mean that they have met or even interacted in real life.



MySpace is notorious for users having a number of so called "friends" whom they have never met. Unlike other sites, MySpace is a place for people to promote themselves, whether it is bands, politicians, comedians, movie stars or even porn stars. Danah Boyd explains, "While Friendster was irritated by fake Profiles, MySpace embraced this practice. One of MySpace's early strategies was to provide a place for everyone who was rejected from Friendster." There are also a number of commercial profiles on MySpace that corporations developed to promote their products and brands. People are adding these fake profiles to their friend lists to say something about themselves, what their interests are, and connect with others who have the same interests. The result is that people now have a number of "friends" on MySpace whom they are not really friends with. People can now add as many people as they want to their profile and not have to really be friends with them, so MySpace is now becoming a popularity contest to see who can have the most "friends."



I was an active participant in MySpace in high school. I started out with my friends list containing people whom I actually knew. However, that quickly changed as all of my friends started adding these fake friends to their profiles. Before you knew it, they all had 1,323 friends and I only had like 109. I didn't want to seem like a loser with no friends so I began to add more and more people that I didn't know. My MySpace page quickly was plagued by advertisements, as the people who I became friends with used my page as an opportunity to promote themselves by placing their ads on my wall, messages, etc. I got really annoyed with this and eventually graduated to facebook.



Another problem with MySpace and other social networking sites is that every friend is created equal. As Boyd explains, "Because of how these sites function, there is no distinction between siblings, lovers, schoolmates, and strangers. They are all lumped under one category: Friends." Because people on these sites often have hundreds or even thousands of friends, it's easy for those people who are most important to them to get lost in the crowd. The development of "Top 8" friends was these sites' solution to this problem because people could now pick their most valued friends and have links to them right on their profile where they are easily accessed. I like the "Top Friends" feature because it allows me to easily see the profiles of people that I care the most about. It's also nice because it shows to others who your best friends are and what inner circle you are in.



I would contrast my online community of friends through facebook compared to my real life community of friends as being broad and shallow versus narrow and deep. I know of all my facebook friends but I don't know all of them personally. When I communicate with someone who I would only consider a "facebook friend" it is basically small talk, for example, "How was your weekend?" When I am really friends with someone (in facebook and real life) our communication is on much deeper topics, such as our personal thoughts, feelings, etc. Therefore, I would say that online social networking sites are useful in the regard that you are trying to "network" yourself and develop a community of weak ties that may benefit you in finding a job, advancing your career, etc. But if you are looking to develop a community of true friendship, there is no better way to do this than through face-to-face interpersonal interaction.

Sources

Boyd, D. (December 2006). Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites. Retrieved 13 October, 2008, from First Monday Web site: http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/

Fernback, J., & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved 13 October, 2008, from The Well Web site: http://www.well.com/~hlr/texts/VCcivil.html

Various. (6 October, 2008). Virtual Community. Retrieved 13 October, 2008, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities

Com 125 Assignment 6- Identity In Online Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is defined as a "computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars" (Wikipedia). In virtual worlds, avatars are used as a representation of the self online, where you can basically design how you want to look, dress, and act. Virtual worlds generally have the reputation of involving mainly online gaming, but there are many different types of virtual worlds online such as blogs, wikis, and chat rooms. The main purpose of these worlds is that they provide a means for people to socialize online in a setting that closely resembles real-life.


Identity is the main component in a virtual world or community. As Judith S. Donath explains, "In communication, which is the primary activity [in virtual communities], knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction." People want to know who it is that they are interacting with in virtual worlds. This is very difficult because as Donath puts it, "Many of the basic cues about personality and social role we are accustomed to in the physical world are absent." We are not physically with the person with whom we are communicating. Therefore, we cannot pick up on their nonverbal cues such as physical appearance, body language, and also their verbal speech to better understand who they really are. The only way we can get to know someone is through their online identity. That is the person that they portray them self as online.


One of the most interesting examples of an online virtual world that I have heard of is Virtual MTV. It is an online community for teens to young adults where people form their identify via an avatar and interact with others in a variety of ways. What sets it apart from other virtual worlds is that it's setting is based on various MTV shows. Users can live like their favorite MTV stars by pimping their ride, becoming a fashion designer like Lauren from The Hills, going to the best VIP clubs in Los Angeles, getting beautiful at the spa, and shopping for a whole new wardrobe. Another interesting thing about Virtual MTV is that MTV celebrities frequently join in and interact with the people in the virtual world, so basically you can hang out with celebrities without physically being with them.


In Virtual MTV, people establish reputations pretty much the same way they do in real life. They socialize and interact with others by chatting or hanging out with them, which provides a means for the other to form an impression of them. This impression, favorable or unfavorable, then eventually circulates to the other members of the community. These other members then can have an impression of members that they have never interacted with solely based on what they have heard from others.


Virtual worlds like Virtual MTV are unfortunately not all positive, and there are several negative aspects associated with them. One is that the identity that people create for themselves online is often not an accurate depiction of who they really are. If someone is dissatisfied with their own life in some way, they have the ability to live out their fantasy life online. That's great for these deceptive people but not so great for those who are interacting with them and believe that these people are really who they say they are. Another problem with virtual worlds is that for the people who are very involved in them, the distinction between virtual life and real-life tends to fade. They can lose touch with reality and become addicted to a life that doesn't exist. Here is a video of people who claim to be addicted to Virtual MTV:



The above video is actually an advertisement for Virtual MTV and the people in it are most likely acting. However, this video gives a good idea of how people can become addicted and choose to stay in their virtual lives because they are more interesting than their real lives.


A final negative aspect of online virtual communities, such as Virtual MTV is that with them, it’s easy for someone else to assume your identity. Donath calls it "impersonation" and says, "Compared to the physical world, it is relatively easy to pass as someone else online since there are relatively few identity cues." Because in online communities others cannot be sure exactly who you really are, they are easily fooled by someone claiming to be you. It can be as easy as someone making their avatar identical to yours, copying your name, and going around saying that they are you. This can become a problem especially if they are being crude and acting in such a way that can ruin your online reputation.


Personally, I have never participated in a virtual world, but one of my childhood friends is a good example of how they can contribute to a person losing touch with reality. In middle school, my friend bought the game The Sims Online. At the time, The Sims computer game was widely popular and everyone I knew, including myself would play it for hours. However, when they came out with The Sims Online, players could now chat and interact with actual people online. My friend loved this new component and soon formed a number of friends through the game. It got out of hand when my friend met boyfriends through the game. She could virtually kiss, hold hands, and do “other things” with these online boyfriends. The problem was that she never had a boyfriend in real-life and she actually considered these people online to be her real boyfriends. She would stay home every night "spending time" with her online boyfriend of the day instead of going out and doing things in the real world. After middle school, my friend and I went our separate ways so I'm not sure how those "boyfriends" turned out for her. I hope that she has since found a real boyfriend who she can actually kiss, hold hands with and so on.

Sources

Donath, J. (12 November 1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved 2 October 2008, from MIT Media Lab Web site: http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Various. (1 October 2008). Virtual World. Retrieved 2 October 2008, from Wikipedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_worldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world

Virtual MTV (2008). Retrieved 2 October 2008, from MTV Web site: http://www.vmtv.com/