Other Blogs, Other Brains

http://diversityoftheweb.blogspot.com/

This week, I am required to find one of my fellow classmates’ blog entries and write a response to it.  After searching a few students’ blog entries, I found one that I thought was pretty interesting.  My classmate Stephen James wrote a blog entry discussing types of people on Facebook and how much information is too much information to share on the Internet.  Stephen made a good point when he said, “I honestly think that everyone should have someone or write about something to whine about whenever they feel like they need to relieve some stress or maybe just to vent.”  He also said that Facebook isn’t necessarily the place to post things that you whine about.

The Internet Is Serious Business

            For this week’s blog, we were instructed to choose between two articles to read.  I chose to read, “Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World.”  This article was greatly insightful to me.  I learned a lot of new things.  I have always wondered if there is a term for online gamers who’s only objective is to frustrate other players.  Examples of this would be killing teammates or purposely dying.  Other ways include hacking and altering the content of a game.  The term that describes these types of people is a griefer.

            To me, griefers pose real threats to online business and organizations.  Like the article says, “The Internet is serious business.”  Power hackers basically hold certain business’s websites fate in their hands.  They have the ability to take down or alter the information on websites.  Anything and everything is on the Internet.  It is not something to be taken lightly.  Sometimes, griefers don’t realize how much harm they are actually doing. 

Social hackers are definitely real-life predators.  There is no such thing as an innocent bully to me.  If someone was a bully, how could they be innocent?  This article has really opened up my eyes towards the subject.  After reading this, I felt more knowledgeable.  Some people don’t realize how serious the Internet can really be and how much damage they can actually cause by doing certain things.  Another thing that people don’t realize is how dangerous the Internet can be.

My Avatar & Me

            This avatar is used for my Xbox Live account.  I have made a few avatars representing myself using different sources.  Out of all the ones I have made in the past, I’d say this one represents me the best.  The avatar I use for Xbox Live has a number of specific traits designated towards me.  One thing that I think is cool is the outfit my avatar is wearing.  The outfit my avatar is wearing is similar to a lot of the clothes that I own.

            My avatar is wearing a collared shirt with a vest over it.  It is also wearing tight jeans and black pointy boots.  My favorite clothing item is a vest.  I had to make my avatar wear it because I wear vests with a lot of outfits.  It isn’t only the clothes on my avatar that represent me though.

            My avatar also has long blonde hair, like me.  I had to choose a hair type out of the girls’ section to match my actual hair length and hairstyle.  An interesting feature for avatars on Xbox Live is that there are certain games that you can play as your custom avatar.  Rock Band is a game that allows me to use my own personal avatar during the gameplay.

            There is an avatar marketplace that allows people to change features on their avatar.  The marketplace is constantly updated with new clothing items, accessories, and more.  It has many choices so it is pretty simple to make an avatar that looks like you.

            Avatars are a fun way to represent you in different ways.  Some people make avatars that don’t look like them at all.  What they might be doing is making an avatar that they hope to look like one day or simply just because they liked the look of the avatar.

Netvibes Link

http://www.netvibes.com/ryanhiggins#Shopping

This is the link to my infosphere. Each tab is categorized by different things that I use the Internet for.

MindMap

My MindMap was used for Essay 2 to show which websites I visit and for what reasons.

Myself (Through Google's Eyes)

This week, we are supposed to do a search on ourselves on Google.  I was not surprised when I did not find anything related to me when searching my name. My name is pretty common in other places because none of the results were pertaining to me.  I’m sure it would be different if I were to type in, “Ryan Higgins Tulsa.”  One of the first results that were shown on the screen was a Twitter account for a man that is also named Ryan Higgins.  The description said that he is the owner of a company called Comics Conspiracy.  I found that result quite interesting.

Another result was for a LinkedIn account for another man named Ryan Higgins.  I was required earlier in the year to make a LinkedIn account for my Hotel/Restaurant class.  Before clicking on the link to this LinkedIn profile, I actually thought it was going to be my profile.  After clicking the link, I realized that it was for a man who lives in Los Angeles.

If someone were to look for information on me off the Internet, I believe that they would have a pretty good impression.  I consider myself a nice guy.  I don’t have any pictures on Facebook that would be considered offensive and I don’t write hateful comments to anyone on social networking sites.  These are only two reasons why I believe that someone would have a good impression of me if they were looking me up online.

I wish that one of the first results when typing in; “Ryan Higgins” was the Facebook link for my band.  It would make us more known to people and I think it would be pretty cool.  There is nothing that I wish wouldn’t come up that did.  I would probably be saying differently if I had offensive pictures or language on a social networking site that I use.