My Virtual Life

This article, written back in 2006, is about the other's personal experiences in Second Life and gives a lot of information and insight into virtual worlds. No one really knows how these virtual worlds will effect the real world. In Second Life any crime is allowed and there are no consequences. This, I believe could have a harmful effect on the real world. Some people could get so enveloped in Second Life that they do the same things in real life.

There could possibly be some positive things about Second Life though. Second Life has an economy and market of it's own. Participants buy land and do other types of business. This could offer a good teaching tool for those looking for business experience. It could be a good way to learn and if you make a mistake, it's not that big of a deal because it's not real life. Second Life offers a way of testing new ideas.

It's My (Virtual) World and Welcome to It!

This article, written in 2006 in the New york Times, is about a virtual world called Second Life. The author writes about his week-long visit to Second Life. Second Life is, "quite literally, a world unto itself, with three-dimensional mountains, oceans, forests and cities spanning tens of thousands of virtual acres." The author's experiences in Second Life include, attending a Ben Folds concert, taking a nap on a beautiful island, going to the church of Elvis, and more. At the concert Ben Folds pulled out a light saber and started to attack the audience. To avoid him, the author levitated 20 feet and survived. The author drand alcohol at the Bellevue but didn't get a hangover.

It sounds as though everything unpleasant or unwanted in our world doesn't exist in Second Life. It's a place where one can escape the real world and get lost in a make believe world. It sounds fun to me to be able to levitate 20 feet without any effort, or be able to fly on an avatar. It would be hard though to come back to the real world after living in Second Life. This virtual world could have a bad impact on how people interact with each other or live in this world. It would be hard not to keep reality and fantasy separated.

On the internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog

This cartoon from the New Yorker, was created in 1993 and shows a dog on the internet. The dog says to his other dog friend, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." The next picture shows the dog using the internet with a surprised look and the words on the computer screen are, "Welcome canine user 39...Mutt, mostly black lab enjoys pepporoni, fetching, and sniffing other dogs' heinies...updated profile."

I think Peter Steiner, the author of this cartoon, was trying to say that the internet threatens our privacy and if we're not careful our personal information could be floating around online for all the world to see. It amazes me that this cartoon was created in 1993 when the internet was in its beginning stages. I think it's a pretty good description for the internet today. Many people have lost their privacy due to the internet. We need to be careful when we use the internet to stay away from certain sites and invitations that ask for our information. The world wide web can be very fun and helpful, but we need to make sure that we use it wisely.

Journalism Students Need to Develop Their Personal Brand

Alfred Hermida describes the evolution of Journalism going from an institute based field to an individual based field. With the world wide web providing the means for people to express their opinions through blogs and web sites, an individual can by his or herself gain a reputation as a journalist. One does not have to get hired by a newspaper company to start writing and develop a reputation.

I agree with Alfred that buying your domain name on the internet and starting to create your own personal brand is important. In order for you to get your name out there and introduce yourself to the world, it would be helpful to buy your domain name and start a web page. It's important that the writer is knowledgeable and credible but at the same time uses his or hers' own unique style.

I thought it clever that the UBC graduate school has it's students take not only journalism courses, but elective courses that reflet their interests. This allows them to really develop their own personal identity and learn about a lot of different things, making them more capable of writing on numerous subjects.

The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet

Since the beginning of the internet companies such as Google, Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay have recieved equal rights to the internet without much payment to the telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth, Time Warner and Comcast. These telecommunications companies are now wondering how they will support their building of faster, better communication lines. They are considering charging fees to companies such as Google and Yahoo for using their services.

It's hard to blame the provider companies for their desire to charge fees. They provide the servers and they should be re-imbursed for it. But, many believe the extra cost to internet companies could affect the flow of information that makes the internet so amazing. The telephone companies disagree saying that the companies that pay more for their service will get priority and have a better connection.

I don't think the government should step in and create a neutrality law to stop the telephone companies from charging more. Google, Yahoo and others will adapt and maybe with the improved services their business will increase, even though they are paying a little more to the telephone companies.

When Google is not Your Friend

It was surprising for me to learn that search engines record peoples' entire search history. Google had a recent legal spat with the U.S. Department of Justice over this issue. Many wonder if there is a law to protect people's online privacy, but there isn't really. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act was enacted in 1986 before the internet was around and does not contain content regarding search engines.

I believe there are pros and cons to search engine recording. It could help find criminals. For example, although not obtained from Google directly, the words, "neck," snap," "break," and "hold" were fround on the computer of Robert Petrick before his wife was killed. Also, if people knew that what they searched for on the internet was recorded, they would be more responsible and wouldn't view sites that were innapropriate or offensive.

Google's ability to record people's search history does however take away from our privacy and liberty. There is something chilling about the fact that every move you make on a search engine is recorded.

I think it would be a good idea if Google were required to delete their search engine histories every few months.

The Rules of Netiquette

When using the internet it is sometimes easy for us to behave innapropriately, probably because we aren't dealing with people face-to-face. When interacting with people online, we should ask ourselves, "would I say this to the person if he/she were standing in front of me?" If the answer is no, then those words shouldn't be said. We need to remember that although we can't see the people over the internet, they are humans nonetheless.

This article also made points about respecting other people's privacy, sharing your expert knowledge, forgiving other people's mistakes and more. If we lived these rules of ediquette, the many problems on the internet wouldn't exist. The internet can be such a powerful tool. If we abide by these rules of ediquette, the many inconsiderate acts won't happen and it will stay the great asset it is.