Creativity and New Media

I made a Second Life avatar with the limited clothing options available that did not require real money. The avatar customization is rather extensive so this is what I could come up with. I'm still trying to get used to the whole system. I've seen other users with fabulous looking avatars but I am not sure if they paid for it or not.
This avatar suits my username "tabbycat05" more:

Creativity

New media fosters creativity because more user-generated content is allowed and encouraged to be uploaded to sites like Youtube. Companies like Disney for example, according to the article "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?" by Brook Barnes, are not cracking down on videos made by regular people that use Disney characters to make fun of songs. By not removing this type of content, Disney is encouraging more people to freely depict Disney characters through humor and parodies. Creativity is able to flourish in this kind of open environment. Others can enjoy user-generated original content and appreciate it more. New media allows users to combine sound and video clips, images, etc. to create a new product. The Internet is the ultimate vehicle of creativity and users should be free to make new things to share with netizens around the globe. However, there is a gray area when taking content from a copyrighted source. Where is the line drawn? Should Youtube even be regulated for copyrighted content?

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can generally be used to communicate to other people with similar interests while still completely remaining geographically in one's own comfort zone. Because of the fact that users of virtual worlds are sitting in front of their computers, they can avoid awkward social situations that would normally arise in face to face meetings. Many people feel more open to communicate in a virtual world because they are shy in real life. They will say things that they would not dare in real life, like proposing to someone upon meeting them. In the article, "In Room 100, It’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again," by Saki Knafo, Second Life was used to recreate a piece of history, a famous murder to be exact. Art can also be recreated and shared with the world as long as there are people who want to do so. Virtual worlds produce virtual communities. In some cases, people will meet up with each other in real life after meeting someone through Second Life.

One of the setbacks of virtual worlds is that you only know other users through a computer. The interactions are artificial and, in my opinion, will never be the same or as satisfying as face to face communication. However, there are countless opportunities for virtual worlds from a health and business perspective. The article, "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction," by Nicole Saidi talks about virtual worlds being capable of helping people with autism and to learn more about the conditions. People with autism can form a support group, learning about the things they have in common and giving advice to each other.

I think virtual worlds have the potential to become more mainstream as the Digital Age that we are in reinforces to the younger generations that digital interaction is more comfortable and convenient than traditional meetings. In this sense, there will probably be a great divide between the people who prefer face to face meetings and the people who prefer to be behind their computer screens. The best thing, in my opinion, is to be comfortable with both methods.