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Last Blog Post (16)

Virtual communication and virtual communities are in place to help people create identities and learn more about each other. While being behind a computer screen can seem exhausting there are benefits. I've learned throughout this course that virtual communities can be a positive and negative resource depending on how you use them. There are spaces were individuals can abuse their freedom of speech but also use it to create conversations that are educational. In the course, we studied different virtual communities and communication outlets and immersed ourselves into these realms. We started by joining servers in applications such as Second Life and IMVU which opened the door for our learning. Second Life was presented as the first big virtual community where people communicate and join different worlds. The application was hard to use at first but over time it became easier to be in the world. My experiences were nothing but joyful as I had my trials and tribulations, I enjoyed being in this virtual world. I've met different people that I connected with by learning about our similar hobbies/interest. I love being in the world of art in Second Life which provided tools to visit different museums to look at artwork. While communicating through CMC was difficult and was different. The use of chat tools in virtual communities help make your experience easy. I do hope that virtual worlds were more accessible when learning how to indulge in them. But, over time they become easier and second nature. I recommend using virtual worlds to enhance communication skills virtually because you learn how to connect with different individuals and make connections outside of the real world. Networking is huge in these spaces and if used properly can be very beneficial. 

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Different Identities (Blog Post 14)

The difference between my virutal world and real world identity is that my virtual world identity is more extroverted. My personality on a day to day basis is fairly introverted, I tend not to speak up and just go with flow. However, my virutal world identity is the opposite. I'm active and use my voice to project my opinons and what I have to say. I don't like to be in th center of attention so I create opinions that people neccesrily won't agree with but in the virutal world, my identity is safe. On Twitter, there are troll accounts where people speak on issues that they wouldn't like their personal relationships to see. I like to create sport agruements and be able to tell my whole truth. Introverted people can hide beind a keyboard and say what they're truly feeling without the reprecussions of damaging these relationships. This is one reaosn why I enjoy having virtual world identities. You can be your true self without thinking, "Whats going to happen after I say this?". 

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Experiences in Virtual Worlds (Blog Post #13)

In a virtual world, my experiences have been great. I've indulged in virtual worlds since middle school when a few friends would play on servers such as Minecraft, WeeWorld, and Call of Duty. These games were basically my introduction into virtual worlds until I started to play Grand Theft Auto. We didn't really have cell phones at that age so we would pick a time after school where everyone could play. I've meet a lot of people using WeeWorld, which was cool but slowly gravitated other worlds. When I got off WeeWorld, Minecraft became was huge for me.. I would watch YouTube videos on creators and play the game with friends almost everyday of the week. It was my life and I loved it. I was able to play with people and compete in game modes such as Hunger Games, Survival Island, and Pixelmon. 

Virtual worlds have their pros and cons because there would be days when the server would either have an update or be down. But besides having these issues, virtual worlds will be something that I'll continue to immerse myself in when playing games. They have expanded to a game I play regularly (NBA 2K). This has been huge for my friend group especially during the quarantine period. I'm a gamer and will continue to play games that include virtual worlds.

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Second Life Experiences (Blog Post #12)

When first using Second Life I was quite confused on how to use the mechanics of the game. I started out on the welcome island where they gave tutorials on how to use the game (controls) and access different map points. I totally disregard this as I thought it was going to be like any other game. I decided to jump right into it and walk around but shortly I regretted my decision. Professor Scovell said that they're is normally a lot of other users on the welcome island but I failed to find them. I was walking around until I noticed a boat off the shore. I figured that if I got on the boat a menu would allow me to travel. I ended up walking straight into the water was unable to use my character until I closed the application.

I gave the game a break and waited for our next class to discuss our experiences. Luckily in class we went over how to access different parts of the map and utilize the game to the fullest extent. After this, I've been able to enjoy Second Life somewhat. I still believe the game needs to update their graphics because it is very foggy but this could be my laptop. A gaming laptop would be more beneficial for using a server like this.

I have entered different realms within the game and noticed I like the more artistic value it has to offer. I visited different museums/art-worlds where I was able to view paintings and sculptures. I communicated with some other users in these rooms and the game became a lot easier to use. I wouldn't say this is a virtual community I'll find myself using often but for the class I immersed myself into the world. I customized my character more to my liking and have explored the world. For the game to be one of the best virtual communities, I believe it needs more work done to their servers to support other laptops.

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Networks (Blog Post #15)

Pertaining to personal networks that I'm apart of social media has been an outlet for me. I've built personal connections using applications such as Twitter and Instagram for networking. Instagram has a function where you're able to transform your account to a professional account. This allows you to check insights and analytics. This allows people to interact with your account who share the same interests and gravitate to the capabilities you're of what you can offer.

Throughout my time using CMC, building connections have been fairly easy. When using social media apps for your benefits, It unlocks a new world of opputunitev. The networks for me have stated on social media for personal reasons but there are times when these connections will make an impact. These connections are strong, they're available at time of need. During a time of need when my great grandmother was sick. I asked a group of people in my network for prayer because personally I was in bad mental head space. They said that I'll be fine and offered me a lending hand when I needed. These connections may've stayed roughly on social media but there are times when people are understanding and want to help. We may only talk about sports but when someone needs help with personal issues, we are responsive. But, you cannot relay on networks for personal endorsements. You have to stay professional when using networks and that's where you have to find a balance.

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Real vs. Virtual Identities(Blog Post 11)

My real and virtual identities don't change much. I tend to keep my identity frequent throughout my social media's. My friends know me as a person who loves sports so most of Instagram story post are relevant to what I like to talk about. This is consistent throughout my Twitter account as well for many reasons. My Twitter page is dedicated to just sports, I only tweet about active sports news and follow accounts that pertain to sports. 

There was a time period where I didn't post much stuff on my page because I didn't want to bore my colleagues with only sports related content. I decided to make a new Twitter account that is only used for this sports content. My main Twitter from a few years ago has been deactivated as I wanted to post and retweet things that other people wanted to see. This has helped me figure out my personal identity and not try to fit into social roles  of other's criteria. 

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Using SIDE Model in Group work           (Blog Post 10)

I'm speaking on my classes with Professor Welch (COMM 310) which was Small Group Discussion. This class was very useful in learning different personality traits and working in realm of a few peers. The course necessarily never went online but for the group I was placed in, we moved our coursework online. We had a regular time period where the class met but on Fridays, class was specifically for meeting with your group. We worked remotely on Zoom while and didn't meet on campus. 

The SIDE model describes identity as an awareness of one's personal self-presentation with social roles. While working with each other, I experienced my personal and social identity throughout this process. While being immersed in a group, social identity came into play. I had to learn how to work with the different personalities within my group so that we could work together efficiently. The group had complications while working together due to personal issues and conflicts but at the end of the class session, we came together to finish our work for our final project. While being on Zoom, I would say there was a lot of personal identities when expressing different view points and how we could tackle the task in front of us. Our demographic was majority male to female which I believed allowed us to work well. We listened to what everyone had to say and valued everyone opinions. The SIDE can be useful when associating different social identity and deindividuation effects when working in groups.

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Impression of My Peers (Blog Post 9)

This semester as a class we've only met a handful of times. I was a late add to the class so I wasn't there for the formal introductions. I've noticed that during our classes that majority of the times the class would be missing a few people. But from what I've seen is that everyone is  very relax and attentive. We have a few classmates who haven't been in school in a while which is intriguing. It's always good to see those who had to step away from their education make a comeback. 

It's the summer, so we all have pretty busy schedules throughout our days. The impressions that've been made are nothing but positive outputs. I see that the class gets their discussion and blog post done relatively quick and before the due date. This could be because of the busy schedules during the summer or maybe we all have personal lives that need attention. In class everyone participates well and answers the professor with good feedback. We all seem to be on the same page as we work towards finishing the semester. Even though we've only met virtually, the work gets done and class time is productive for the little time that we meet. However, I was expecting to be in class for the full time frame but the professor has been lenient with shorter classes because of our busy schedules. So far, I've enjoyed the class and working with my peers as we continue to learn about virtual communities.

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Blog Post 8: Building Connections Through Media Communities 

I'm starting to immerse myself into media communities such as LinkedIn and Twitter to help build relationships that could further my job search and connections. We use these types of outlets to build profiles to enhance our chances of meeting new people. These networks have been established over time and I use to look right over them. After changing my major and figuring out what LinkedIn is used for. It changed my perception towards the platform. There are ample ways to connect with employers and for general relationship building. To be honest, I haven't used my LinkedIn recently to maintain professional relationships but I've used Twitter to follow people in my profession. This help me gain better knowledge of what to do when I enter my job field. I have met a few people via Twitter who are all working towards a common goal, which is entering sports communication. We've built communities within the application where we may speak freely on topics that are potent in the sports world. We've never met in person but to have built something and continue building it from a distance is nothing but hard work. We used different techniques to generate a following and make sure the communities stay healthy and positive. 

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Blog Post 7: Creating a Topic

For my research paper, I've looked into a few topics that are quite interesting. As a gamer, I want to enter the world of virtual communities and worlds using Sony Products. Sony has transitioned their platforms that now include different aspects of gaming. From gaming as a child, Call of Duty and Minecraft were games that immersed myself into. But technology has advanced so much that other games have now included virtual worlds and avatars. Such as sports games (NBA 2K, Madden, and Fifa), RPOs, and horror. For the assignment, I want to dissect the changes that these particular games went through in the recent years and how I think they could improve. 

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Blog Post 6 "How I maintained interpersonal relationships using Twitter"

Through social media, I've started and maintained  relationships with a numerous amount of people via Twitter. I have used Twitter to build small communities where I can comfortably talk about sports. My Twitter is used to speak with people who are diehard fans such as I am. The connections that have been made have carried throughout the years. I met great people who I continue to talk to at least on a weekly basis where we converse on our favorite organizations and what we would like see changed. Although these relations have stayed primarily on Twitter. We all use it to effectively communicate and create "buzz" around a certain topics. Twitter has been the best way for me to communicate sports because others don't want to generally hear only about one general topic. 

These virtual communities have allowed me to be true self where I can enjoy talking about my passion. Not everyone is open to these conversations and they could seem rather repetitive or redundant to the receiver. I may not use it other platforms often but to be able to talk with others and build relationships based off the same interest has been amazing for me. I haven't ended any interpersonal relationships on social media. I have only grown to love building communities where it's a safe space for people to talk about their personal interest even if its not about sports. These relationships have helped me not talk about sports with friend in my inner circle because I know that this is not what they want to ear 24/7. I will continue to use my Twitter platform to build a healthy environment where I can associate myself true self with

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Blog Post #5

Over the past two years, my communication has taken a dramatic turn. During quarantine, my communication was subpar and I noticed it needed a change. Personally, I'm not an individual who is on there phone a lot so I would either miss messages or forget to respond. I have a tendency to respond to messages in my head to generate a response but without actually responding. I've worked on this because during quarantine, I changed my major to communications and had an epiphany and needed a direct change. There are many factors on why I changed this and the main reason was my internship. My internship taught me the value of critical communication and how to communicate effectively.

I was grateful for the opportunity The Ward Museum of Wildfowl presented to me. I carried this trait throughout the rest of my collegiate studies. I was never a guy to respond or send emails because I didn't see the benefit in them. But to be successful in the work world, changes have to happen. I now have my phone setup to where I receive notifications (with tones) to help me respond to my peers faster and efficiently. I'm still working on my communication to this day but from where I was two years ago, I've taken an one hundred-eighty degree turn. 

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Blog Post #4

Social media and social media richness correlate each other very well. Media richness describes the characteristics of different mediums constraints that help express nonverbal-relational communication. These constraints are identified as nonverbal cues, immediacy of feedback, language, and personal focus. Throughout the chapter reading, I’ve noticed that I compensate media richness by doing general research on what I would like to talk about. I normally use Twitter for more news-worthy post. I find topics such as sports, mental well-being, and general topics about world news fascinating. By doing the general research and proof-reading posts, these are essential before releasing it to the public.

For example, I follow a lot of sports pages and these reporters seem to try put out information as fast as possible. Adam Schefter tweeted about Pittsburgh Steelers QB, Dwayne Haskins death and his statement was insensitive to his family and his peers. I understand that reporters are racing to be the first story. But by being the first doesn’t mean it’s correct. Adam Schefter later deleted the tweet and reposted his remarks and apologized to the family. So, by doing the correct research and wording your posts correctly. It allows people to trust your sources and deem you credible.

6/7/22