Where have I been?! :-/

It is official; I have been living under a rock! Over the weekend, myself and other members of the Black Student Union on campus traveled to Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio for a conference. The conference was entitled “Not another Statistic: Putting Stereotypes and Perceptions to Shame.” Some of the workshops offered dealt with, of course, stereotypes, relationships, financing, spirituality, leadership, and fashion sense.

In my last workshop of the day, which was at 3:15 p.m. when I had been up since 6:00 a.m., not trying to gain sympathy or anything, was the fashion sense workshop; “Pieces of my Reflection.” I was exhausted. I can honestly say, I truly think I was sleep walking on the way to the room it was held in. But then something woke me up! It was a little clicker, a remote, if you will. I was extremely interested; gadgets always do it for me! I sat in the room toying with it until the workshop began.

The facilitator explained that the gadget was used to vote on the various choices provided during the now interactive workshop. I had never seen anything like this before so I was pumped! The workshop began as simple questions were projected on the PowerPoint for us to answer. There would be a few different outfits to chose from, determining if it was business-professional or not, we’d vote, and immediately our results would show up on the screen.

Though I am almost positive I am the only person who this is new to, others who may not have seen this new technology would be very enthusiastic of the added element it adds to presentations. It’s one thing to talk at your audience but to discuss with them and have feedback is always the better way to go. Most of the workshops at the conference involved a speaker who would talk some, then ask questions towards the end but with this interactive tool, comments and questions were addressed during the entire presentation.

I believe this is one of the answers to some of the lack of communication errors some classes have. I’m sure the remote can advance and become much more than an “A, B, C, D” voting style and even become a device where short responses can be typed into. There are endless possibilities with all the technology that we have today.

Holy Hologram!

First things first, GOBAMA ’08! I’m ecstatic with the results of Tuesday’s election, change has come and we are now moving forward. And when I say this, I’m not only talking about the president-elect; technology is still advancing and becoming quite flashy. During CNN’s news coverage on Election night, they used holography to conduct an interview between Jessica Yellin and Wolf Blitzer.

I am not too sure whether or not people enjoyed the new technology but regardless, I decided to read an article about why they used it and how it worked. The hologram was beamed on live TV when Jessica Yellin, who was stationed at the Obama Headquarters in Chicago, was in correspondence with Wolf Blitzer, who was in CNN’s studio. CNN was able to do this by setting up 35 high definition cameras in a ring while Yellin stood inside of this ring. The cameras picked up her every move and transmitted the image in 3-D to the studio, which is in New York.

Technically, while CNN has been calling this newly used technology holography, it is not. Holography, according to the article is, “a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that it appears as if the object is in the same position relative to the recording medium as it was when recorded. The image changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way as if the object was still present, thus making the recorded image or hologram appear three-dimensional.” What CNN actually did was merely create Yellin’s image with overlay images and a green screen!

Though the technology was cool, I wonder if it was really necessary. Did they REALLY have to beam her in?! Blitzer said it made the interview more intimate but along with what the article said, the main point of corresponding with reporters in different areas is to catch the true essence of what is going on in different locations. With Yellin being “in” CNN’s studio, what was really happening at the Obama Headquarters? We may never know… :~)

Second Life, what an experience!

In being a part of an Electronic Communications class, as an assignment we were told to create Second Life accounts, our avatars, and explore the Website in order to get a feel for this fairly new virtual world. After completing this first step, in only scraping the slightest of the surface, I have found this world to be bazaar, yet extremely interesting.

The registration process for Second Life was easy to complete. They asked for the usual e-mail and password but in difference with other social networking sites, they did not ask for a full name. I was prompted to create a first name and then select a last name from a list. In doing this, it provides better security for the members of Second Life. Also during the registration process, I was able to pick from about 6-8 avatars with the ability to change them later as needed. Once my name and avatar was chosen, I waited for the confirmation e-mail and then I started my fun in Second Life.

The first thing I wanted to do when I entered the world was to change the appearance of my avatar. My ready-made avatar did not suit my liking so I attempted to change EVERYTHING I could about her! Her outfit was hideous but since I had no Linden Dollars (Second Life’s currency); there wasn’t much I could do about it. I was though, able to change her eyes, nose, ears, lips, cheeks, hair, weight, height, and a few other physical details. I believe Fierce Firanelli was as close as she was going to get to Evangelina Figueroa.
During my short time in Second Life, after Fierce was made over, I noticed avatars that were non-human-like, eeriness, and things that just didn’t seem to be normal but of course, everyone is entitled to how they want their avatar to be in Second Life! I found that members of Second Life are very bold, and this world is of importance to them. They either embrace new members or shield them from entering too much into what they’ve established. It almost feels cliquey.

Overall, the Second Life experience was one that I needed to understand how people use this particular world and how they could potentially be used for more than networking. I can’t say that I feel comfortable in continuing my exploration but I’m satisfying in the exploring I’ve done.