Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The Formation of Virtual Environments
Many places that we interact online that were not already built into the Internet when we first started to explore the newly created World Wide web. These websites that have forums and chat functions built in were created after the need for them. Everything created has always come as a result of someone demanding it. As in Webb's article, our website is built as a result of the need and academic value of the Georgia Tech community.
In Webb's article, "Avatar Culture", Webb describes a place of cultural value with the creation of virtual environments. "...issues of cultural value and its formation within virtual worlds. It is noticeable in a variety of critical commentaries how digital technologies are often cut by the knife of value,"(Webb 2) describes the fact that the websites that are out there today are the product of people understanding that there needed to be a place where people can meet and interact virtually, which is the basis of our final project. By combining a site like T-Square, OSCAR, Buzzport, and other Tech-related sites, we are drawing in more and more of the Tech community together in a place where they can interact on a level that is both easy and convenient for all. A lot of people in the Tech community, myself and many others in the group as well, felt that there were no places online for there to conduct meetings effectively in groups or other places easily. Thus, the creation of our final project will fulfill that need. Websites like these, like Webb said, fulfill a need and have a cultural value that is needed and used to create a virtual environment. Yes, there are a lot of sites that are part of the Tech community that provide this kind of service. However, this service is like an aggregate piece of technology that takes all of the fragmented pieces of the community and effectively attaches them to one another to form one large conglomerate of a community.
In Webb's article, "Avatar Culture", Webb describes a place of cultural value with the creation of virtual environments. "...issues of cultural value and its formation within virtual worlds. It is noticeable in a variety of critical commentaries how digital technologies are often cut by the knife of value,"(Webb 2) describes the fact that the websites that are out there today are the product of people understanding that there needed to be a place where people can meet and interact virtually, which is the basis of our final project. By combining a site like T-Square, OSCAR, Buzzport, and other Tech-related sites, we are drawing in more and more of the Tech community together in a place where they can interact on a level that is both easy and convenient for all. A lot of people in the Tech community, myself and many others in the group as well, felt that there were no places online for there to conduct meetings effectively in groups or other places easily. Thus, the creation of our final project will fulfill that need. Websites like these, like Webb said, fulfill a need and have a cultural value that is needed and used to create a virtual environment. Yes, there are a lot of sites that are part of the Tech community that provide this kind of service. However, this service is like an aggregate piece of technology that takes all of the fragmented pieces of the community and effectively attaches them to one another to form one large conglomerate of a community.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Integration of Technology into Society
Technology has always had a part in shaping community. Everything from cars to telephones, to now the internet and computers have changed how society has functioned, form the individuals to the communities they act as. A proposed new technology that would have an immediate impact on the community it would be introduced it to is massive free public wi-fi internet.
In urban environments, many of the ways that divide social classes is the amount of wealth that each individual has. Now the almost everything is on the internet, there is one thing that is barring you from accessing the internet, a stable connection. The only place that anyone can access the internet is either at a public wi-fi spot, namely the library, or at home, where the other wi-fi spots are pay-as-you-go. By providing free public internet, everyone in the community, even those who may or may not have a home address or enough money to afford the skyrocketing prices of internet access by the large phone companies. This will encourage more people to use the internet for job hunting, and e-commerce, by the fact that they no longer have to spend a sizeable chunk of their paycheck on the internet access. The bar to access the internet will be much lower, and make it easier to move everything from physical media to digital media, therefore making all records online and more secure. In addition, the new introduction to the low cost netbooks, cut down versions of notebooks specifically designed for internet access, will make it even easier to integrate the internet into the community.
Free public wi-fi will make the internet seem just like the library, a wealth of knowledge easily, and basically free, to access at our own will. This will encourage many in the community to use the internet not only as a way to research, but also to communicate, because everyone will be online.
In urban environments, many of the ways that divide social classes is the amount of wealth that each individual has. Now the almost everything is on the internet, there is one thing that is barring you from accessing the internet, a stable connection. The only place that anyone can access the internet is either at a public wi-fi spot, namely the library, or at home, where the other wi-fi spots are pay-as-you-go. By providing free public internet, everyone in the community, even those who may or may not have a home address or enough money to afford the skyrocketing prices of internet access by the large phone companies. This will encourage more people to use the internet for job hunting, and e-commerce, by the fact that they no longer have to spend a sizeable chunk of their paycheck on the internet access. The bar to access the internet will be much lower, and make it easier to move everything from physical media to digital media, therefore making all records online and more secure. In addition, the new introduction to the low cost netbooks, cut down versions of notebooks specifically designed for internet access, will make it even easier to integrate the internet into the community.
Free public wi-fi will make the internet seem just like the library, a wealth of knowledge easily, and basically free, to access at our own will. This will encourage many in the community to use the internet not only as a way to research, but also to communicate, because everyone will be online.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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