Second Life Assignment

Our group has met several times to get acquainted with SL and the sim we are to use for our assignment report.
You get more of a sense of who your group members are from the way they choose to appear as their avatar.  One group member is really creative in the appearance department!

We explored most of the sites that were listed in the assignment.  We thought we would also search for our own sim we could use and we narrowed it down to two.  One of my group members alma mater, University of Washington site was really nice...it had lots of different and creative games and areas to hang out.  Another site we're deciding on is really nice and organized as well and utilizes SL's 3-D environment quite adequately for learning.

Social Media in Times of Crisis

In the wake of the worlds disasters, most recently being the crisis in Japan, social media has really become the forefront of communication and community.  Twitter is being used to raise charity money from the twitter community and celebrity followers; it's also being used as the source for "just in" information from news sites.  It's also a place where survivors can connect with each other and the world.  Skype is being used for video correspondents to CNN and other news sites in hard hit areas when phone lines fail.  Smartphone Apps are being downloaded to keep a user updated instantly with news bites.  Google has put up People Finder to help people search for their loved ones or to add missing persons like a digital bulletin board for the world.
When we used to rely on tv, phone, and radio connections in times of crisis, the net and social media has quickly and effectively taken over as the worlds communication operator.

A drawback is that social media allows disgruntled users or haters to use all the good assets of the social media stage to spew their hatred and fear.  Some insensitive comments about the disasters in Japan flow freely from people who otherwise would not have such an easy platform (i.e. girl from UCLA rant on youtube).  There have also been reports of bad journalism about both Libya and Japan, which only results in distrust, fear, and disillusion.  Also, maybe too much information and visual images shown instantly and repeatedly are not good overall for the psyche and the younger generation without adult supervision.  As with anything in life, good judgement, a healthy and diverse handle on knowledge and morals is essential with social media.

On a personal note, I was raised in Japan in an international community, (my family is from the US), so the crisis really hit home.  It's still rather surrealistic - my uncle was an hour away from landing in Japan when the earthquake hit and had to be diverted to Hokkaido.  I use my CNN app to keep up with the news, and also sometimes stream Japan's NHK station to my iphone for Japan's perspective.  My thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people as well as the world.  What affects one of us, affects all of us on Earth.

Intercultural Collaboration

1. There is no question that emerging technologies are useful and should be used for intercultural collaboration.   Social media is all about connectivity whether it'd be friends, family, community, interests, states, and countries.  Intercultural collaboration using technology is all about opening the world to the mind. It is a meeting place and a virtual port made easier, quicker, faster.
   
   
   There is an example of a site (http://www.aec.asef.org/) that connects students from Asia and Europe by having students work together on the same projects.  I think that is a brilliant idea.  Different perspectives, environments, knowledge, ideas, and thought processes would come into play and these can be shared and understood by all parties.  In the past, we would have to physically travel to different countries, read about them in books, or passively watch videos to learn about them.  Now, with emerging technologies, students can actively engage with other students from other cultures, ask questions, collaborate, and form their own opinions rather than being fed information from a third party.
   
   
   As I have mentioned in class, there is a brilliant language translator that is being developed by Google for smartphones.  The speaker doesn't have to learn a new language or be limited by language issues to connect with a person of another language.  The technology would automatically and in real time, translate the speakers' language into a language the other person can understand.  This is not your usual translation technology that is already available out there.  This translator uses more AI, where the program will translate whole phrases and nuances in a language rather than translate word by word which results in higher accuracy.  If they can apply this technology with Skype voice and other voice chats and classroom chatrooms such as Eluminate, a huge barrier will be opened and there would be less limitations on how and who we collaborate with.
   
   
   Aside from admonishing my colleague for being very archaic about not willing to put the desire or effort into intercultural collaborations and that time and money is an issue to not pursue that avenue, I would advise them that the whole purpose for emerging technologies is to make things faster and easier for a busy society, as well as free for a money strapped society.  The amount of free and really well done emerging technologies continues to astound me as I learn about them in this ETEC class.   I would provide a list of free and easy tools and websites that would show my colleague examples of intercultural collaboration and the benefits of it.  As a bonus, we can sit down, review my colleague's class schedule, and plug in technologies that can be substituted in the schedule and ways intercultural collaboration using emerging technologies can benefit his/her class' subject matter.