Week 9: Blog # 1

On this week's Ted Talk we listened to Rhonda Lowry as she discussed our identity and second life with new technologies and social media. This was the first Ted Talk that i did not find particularly interesting, largely due to the fact that i wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about or where she was going with the conversation. I got lost on the idea of a second life. Eventually i caught on with the references to things like Facebook and Timeline where something like a design or page layout was altered and at first there was backlash and an uneasy feeling. However, in almost no time at all most people just accepted and moved on, much like they do with other technologies and life in general.  A new road is opened, and everyone thinks wow a great new shortcut, but after a month they are already complaining again and the new road feels as old as every other road in town. Also i definitely prefer face to face interaction over virtual chats and avatar sit ins.

Rhonda Lowry

Topics in class that relate could be to the idea of a virtual reality and second life are the industrial revolution, collaboration of course, and social media serving a higher purpose. The Industrial Revolution comes to mind because it was a time where many new inventions and resources came about. At the time they were amazing and unlike anything else, yet today much of what evolved in that time is obsolete or forgotten because it has simply become a part of everyday life. Collaboration is an obvious one because it directly relates to what she was talking about. Any form of communication through technology and social media is collaboration. Basically in my mind any form of group communication with a purpose or goal is collaboration so that is pretty broad. Finally, this leads into the idea of social media being an outlet for everything in life, from work to play, business to friends, etc. Social media is continuously evolving and as a result many different functions are coming into play like the use of online meetings and personal avatars for business as well as pleasure.