Empire of Illusion

I recently read Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges. The book really was a rude awakening to our disillusioned society. He explains that American society become so consumed in pop culture that we have lost sight of reality. This contorted perception is so deep that we, as a whole, do not even realize that it is not in fact reality. I was most struck my his chapter on The Illusion of Love which largely addresses the porn industry. It is not just filed sexual acts, but in fact repetitive enslaved torture. Women are tortured and dehumanized beyond belief. The book tells of a woman who was forced to have sex over 60 times in a row. These women sustain injuries that are shoddily addressed and cared for just enough so they can partake in the next movie. It says that the largest group of porn viewers are from the ages of 12-17. This statistic is frightening and speaks greatly on adolescents in our society. I was really taken by this true illusion of love in our society. This is what young men see as sexual encounters. They are told this is okay. Hence, the vicious cycle begins again...

I found an interview of the author about his book. It's really interesting to hear his take on it.(It comes in two parts)

Mashable

I stumbled upon a really interesting Social Media site. It is actually the world's largest blog focused on Social Media and news in that field. The site has more than 15 million monthly hits. I am going to visit this site a lot now that I found it. It is updated multiple times daily on varying aspects of the social media spectrum. You guys should check it out. It's really interesting.

www.mashable.com

Teamwork

Giving up the individual good to achieve the great

video for presentation

My presentation is on Pregnancy in Second Life. At first this concept seems very foreign to us and any preconceived notions we have regarding pregnancy. I delve deeper into the issue as in my last project with Second Life I found a strong parallel between real life and virtual reality. There is a real demand and interest in this feature and it was in fact added to the program because people wanted it. I learned a lot from women that I interviewed on SL regarding the process for them, but mostly the reasons they feel so strongly about the issue. Their insights and stories really provided me with a new perspective on the issue. If anything is accomplished through this presentation, I hope that it teaches us to remain open to possibilities in the ever-evolving communications world and not close any doors until we fully understand the idea.

Social Media Project Revision

I found my project to be hard to read due to the distracting wall of text. I broke down the overwhelming blocks into more of a paragraph structure. I also added in more insight as to how I came to my conclusions. I concluded that what people value on Second Life is what they value in real life. I added an example of this application to my life. I hope that made it clearer as to how I came to the conclusion that I did.

Image Strategy for my TED talk

I am planning on delving further into Second Life. I was really interested in relationships and how real people perceive them to be. I also want to look into the issue of pregnancy on the virtual reality site as well. I plan on using images/ screenshots to go along with my talk and kind of keep me on track as I talk. I might incorporate some short video clips as well. I think it should be a really interesting topic.

My experiment with Second Life

So I experimented with the virtual world of Second Life to see what it was all about. It was really interesting and I found out it actually can supplement and enrich your real life. It is not a substitute to living your life, but is very interesting. I really learned a lot. Here is the presentation that I put together.



I also made a Wordle Map about actions on SL.
title="Wordle: second life2"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1347595/second_life2"
alt="Wordle: second life2"
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St Louis

This weekend my cross country team and I went to St Louis for the Atlantic 10 Championships. It was a very interesting city and had a lot of culture and a distinct feel to it. We got to visit the Gateway Arch which was so cool. The sightseeing was great and I found the architecture to be fascinating. Here are some pictures that I took...

Social Objects

I watched a really interesting video by Jyri Engestrom on social objects. It discussed the various social networking sites and what social object they were based upon. It is essential to the success of the site for vistitors to relate to and understand the social object. Due to the social networking revolution, we are always connected. I know personally I feel alone if I forget my cell phone. We use mobile social networking which allows us to be always connected. We can't escape this connection and it seems as if we always know what others are doing and vice versa. Sites like twitter and facebook allow us to find out very personal information about others. I am very interested in how much people are willing to share about themselves on these sites.

Here is a link to Jyri Engstrom's blog about social networking and other interesting topics. http://zengestrom.com/

Social Media in My Life

When I first thought about how much social media I use in my life, I could only think of one thing: Facebook. As I read further into Content Nation, I realized that social media is very much a part of my life. I use Facebook to connect with people who I lost touch with and stay updated on my friends' lives. I used LinkedIn for similar reasons, but in the business world. It is a great tool to build a network. Clearly, I use Blogger to talk out my life and experiences in a public forum. I use Wikipedia to gather basic knowledge on various topics. I can upload and watch videos on YouTube. Flickr allows me to the same with photos. Social media allows anyone to share their passions with others throughout the world. I am not as immersed in the social media world as others. People can literally live alternate lives through Second Life. Clearly, social media is the new frontier. It gives us the power to do things we previously thought impossible. It seems that the possibilities are endless. We need to realize that it is a way of life, not just a fad.