Blog about a vlog

Hey, everyone. Back to the blog. This will probably be my last blog on this but I will continue to vlog on my YouTube channel. For my final project I made a video and uploaded it on YouTube about how YT can be used for business, education, and entertainment. It was a fun process recording and slightly editing the video. I did not do too much, most of it is raw footage. I definitely think I will continue using YT as a source for vlogging and would love to immerse myself in the community.

It is almost 13 minutes so I understand if you don’t want to watch the whole thing. I basically talk about how people make money off YT, what I have learned, and how it is entertaining. I also talk about YT Red and how that is does not really appeal to me but some people may love it. There are also some limitations to YT (it isn’t all rainbows and butterflies) that I discuss. Give it a watch if you have time. 🙂

This is just one small part of our “virtual identities”. There is Facebook, Twitter, YT, MMORPGs, Reddit, and many more where we have an online community and separate identities. I can tell you right now, the stuff I tweet, I would not post on Facebook. This is due to the fact that I have a lot of family on FB and not many on Twitter. I have to watch what I say on FB but Twitter is an open playing field. I obviously hold back a little bit because I have morals and such, but I also watch what I say because schools and potential employers look at that stuff.

While I think that is a little ridiculous, that is how the world is working right now. “You can judge someone based by their Facebook posts”. I disagree because I goof around on social media like it’s my job. I also plan to goof off on YouTube. It may become a career. That would be amazing. It would take tons of time and dedication but it is possible. It could simply turn into a hobby that I do on Friday nights when I am bored. I may just stop making videos after this one and forget about. Who knows?

This Honor’s Colloquium taught me to embrace the Internet and these virtual settings. It is 2015 and we all use them. They are a part of our lives and we cannot ignore them. They help and they cause problems, but what doesn’t?

To wrap things up, I really enjoyed this course. I got out of my comfort zone and started doing something that has been on my “to do” list for quite some time. I hope you all learned something from this class as well. Thanks!

Not really me, but still me

This week’s topic is about how we can express ourselves virtually without it being “us”. This is interesting because when we do something, why wouldn’t we want people to know it was us? Some things just don’t need to have our faces or personal information in them, for example. This brings us to a website called Voki! Voki allows you to customize an avatar and have it speak for you through text or use of your actual voice. I took 10 minutes or so and made my own. It was neat, but part of me just questioned the purpose for it. I felt like typing a blog or making a video of myself talking would be more beneficial and quicker. But then I thought about being on a business trip and having limited hardware. I thought about people who wanted a custom greeting on their website. Some people may not want someone knowing their face right off the bat but want something a little more than text explaining their website and what it has to offer. As long as someone is not creeped out by the automated voice, it should work pretty well.

I tried GoAnimate and it is really cool! (My girlfriend was using my computer so when I went to sign up, it used her google account. I swear I made this.) GoAnimate is a good time sink but it is super fun and easy. If I got paid to make these, I would do it all day long. It is easy and very user friendly. They do have options where you can pay and I think it is worth them money if you use put it to good use. It is just different than your traditional video. This one took me about 15 minutes and I enjoyed making it. I hope you enjoy it. This is just another way we can be virtual without really exposing who we are. It is very easy to stay anonymous on the Internet. It has its pros and cons. Just don’t do anything stupid because someone will find out it is you if they really want to.

YouTube’s Role Today

When someone mentions YouTube, many people jump straight into thinking about music videos, game commentary, or funny videos of cats. It’s sole purpose in one word: entertainment. However, this social platform has done much more than entertain. The video sharing site created a little over 10 years ago has grown exponentially. While there is a plethora of music videos, gaming commentaries, and cats, there are people who have made a life out of it. My favorite YoutTuber, Boogie2988, has made a living from it. With almost 3 million subscribers, Steve “Boogie” Williams has been making videos since April 5, 2006. When you go to his channel, it shows a video of his “Draw My Life” which was a big movement for YouTubers to tell their stories while they drew it out. A very cool concept to see some very artistic and powerful stories. It truly showed how we are all different but we all face battles every day. This man also met his wife and proposed to her via YouTube. It is now his full time job and he consistently puts content out for us to view as we please.

YouTube also has tons of how to videos. Many of which have helped me do things I would never have been able to without someone showing me how to and explaining each step. I recently purchased a Ruger 10/22 long rifle. I figured I should learn how to take it apart before I shoot it. I went to YouTube and within seconds, found a video that shows how to take it apart and put it back together. Without it, I would have been lost trying to put my trigger assembly back together without any help. There are countless videos that show people how to build a computer, which I plan on doing in the future. Not to mention, all of these are free. So not only do you get to pause and start at your own time, but you do not have to pay or wait for specific times to access them. You are actually encouraged to watch these because the uploader can possibly get paid.

YouTube can also be used as an educator. I have learned how to fix headlights, install winches, and put lifts on Jeeps by watching videos. I have watched economics videos to help with homework. I have learned about video games (particularly WoW) via TradeChat, who also raises money for charity very often through her streaming. Lately, I have been watching a lot of Motor Trend videos about four wheeling in different terrains.  Things that I find interesting are at the click of my mouse. I can watch videos of what life is like in Colorado or even another country.

This platform has given us all an opportunity to explore what the world can offer without us leaving our warm blankets. It truly is amazing how far we have come and this is a very good example of how technology is changing our lives. YouTube will continue to grow and help better our lives by means of entertaining, instructional, and educational videos.

Virtual Identity

As I sit at my desk listening to Kanye West and writing my fourth blog, I think hard about this virtual identity that means quite a bit to us. Probably more than we think. I recently applied to Chipotle. Now, I know high school kids with no work experience that work there (not knocking high school kids, that is a great place to work) but I received an email telling me they could not offer me a job, yet they were hiring? I thought to myself “Why couldn’t they offer me a job? I have a year of customer service/sales experience, good grades, and a good work ethic”. Then I thought about the people who work at Chipotle. They usually have facial piercings, tattoos, kind of hipster like style, etc. (You know what I’m talking about, Mr. Double Chicken) I mean that is the only thing that I could think of, “I am too plain for them. But how do they know..?” I don’t know any other Nathan Wises in Cuyahoga Falls/Akron so a simpleGoogle search would bring me up. It probably doesn’t help that my picture is me goofing off during my vacation to Tybee Island. (Go there if you haven’t been. It is AMAZING)
So whether I was unqualified or something else, I am going to guess that was the main reason I was not hired. Luckily, I got a much better paying job with FedEx about a week later.

This virtual identity that we create for ourselves can be positive of negative. Reading an article called “My profile photo is meant to give the impression that I possess a higher degree of gravitas than I actually do” the author mentions that you see a bunch of buys with button down shirts and a blank stare. I think that this is a very accurate statement when looking through social media. I, personally, would rather have a picture of me being myself, than an emotionless robot to please the system. I am 19. I am not a business man and I do not want to go to grad school any time soon. I want to enjoy life, pay my bills, and have fun. My time for being the emotionless man in a button down shirt will come but now, I will be the goofy kid standing next to graffiti. One day, I will have to go through and make those photos private but if someone wants to hold them on me five years from now, that just shows how cruddy they are. I get that we should represent our company and what not, but this is MY Facebook, my Twitter, and my Instagram. I will post what I want and that is a shame if I do not get a job due to my posts. Just because someone has NSFW posts on their personal media, does not mean they do not work hard while on company time. So instead of trying to clean up our virtual identity, why don’t we live for reality? Post stuff you want your friends and family to see. If you wouldn’t say it to them, don’t post it. It works both ways. If I hire you based on your Facebook profile but you come into work looking like a slob, I would be pretty upset. But then again it is my fault for saying “Dang. This guy’s profile picture will really represent us. HIRED!”. It goes both ways in this growing virtual identity. Find a happy medium and have fun. Just like anything in life.

This woman, for example, goofed big time. She made a stupid comment about going to Africa and getting AIDS but then bringing in race. It just didn’t make sense. She proceeded to get fired for her stupidity. Just remember, don’t do anything too stupid because even if you delete it, it never is really gone.

Augmented Reality: What will we do?

For this week’s topic, we talked about Augmented Reality. This is nice because sometimes reality is a little bland, even with all of our current technology. Our instructor told us about an app called Aurasma which allows basic users to associate an image or video with a trigger image. I tried this out and I have a Hyundai logo on my key ring which I made the trigger and I associated a picture of my car (2013 Hyundai Elantra) with it. This is cool because it allows someone to get more information about something by aiming your phone at it. Now I never really paid too much attention to AR except for when I got my 3DS and they came with AR cards. (It never clicked in my mind what AR stood for until I had this class) Here is a brief video of someone using these AR cards with their 3DS https://youtu.be/gucrudbFJzc Aurasma is also used by businesses to add info or web links to logos. This is much more advanced than what I am willing to do with it now but it will definitely be in my mind if I ever want to do anything like this (advertising, for example).

AR is also starting to get more attention by Pokemon lovers with the announcement of Pokemon GO. This allows users to become real trainers as they travel and catch ’em all. Their phone would be used and AR comes into play when someone goes to a certain area for example and a wild Pokemon shows up. This is really interesting because people have been wanting to do this for years. I, personally, jumped for joy when I heard about this and I cannot wait to see what it is actually like.

Findings in Second Life

Quick First Life note: I have just recently left my full time job to pursue a career with a much different company so I will now be able to spend a little bit more time focusing on school.

Back to SL. I got the whole outfit thing down and actually got a really cool one from New Residents Island, Lawst Paradise. I spent most of my time there exploring and getting cool fire fans. I set my settings back to just general and mature because adult was sending me to weird places.. Was not really digging the whole SL sex scene. I was told to find some social places and honestly, I could not find any English speakers. I tried and tried and visited many different locations but nobody spoke English. It could have been the time or people were just busy but I could not really find that many people. I will have to look harder. I did, however, find someone dressed like a horse.  And someone dressed like Snake from Metal Gear Solid  Aside from that, I was rather disappointed in the fact that I could not find many people who were willing to talk. Most people were either AFK or were not English speakers. I went to a couple of bars and they were empty. I will continue my quest for socializing on SL.

Another thing I noticed, this game is very sexual towards women. Even in the mature areas, shops emphasize big breasts and clothes that show cleavage. This may turn some girls off because the sexualization of women is huge in America. I rarely saw skins for men and when I did, they had a variety of body styles. However, the womens’ skins all involved a huge bust and small waist. It was interesting but it is the Internet, so what else would I expect?

Second Life Beginnings

I am usually very good at computers and various tasks performed on them. However, Second Life has presented a barrier which I am having a hard time getting over. I, for some reason, thought it would be a good idea to skip the tutorial because “how hard could Second Life be?”. Pretty dang hard if you go in blind. After watching videos posted by my instructor and some others on YouTube, two hours later, I am still having trouble figuring out how to get dressed. Persistence is key here. There are standard avatars and ones with Mesh. The clothes that I have received so far do not seem to work on mesh characters (or I suck at this thing) so I went with a more basic standard avatar to avoid frustration. Good thing about that is that I can change it at any time. I really just did not want to look like everyone else as I explored. Being an adult, I made sure I got the full experience by making my settings “adult”. With it being 2015 and understanding the internet, I knew I would see nude people and such. Luckily, it is a virtual world so my girlfriend will not yell at me. I went to a place called Basilique. I did not explore too much, but I plan to go back once I figure out this outfit situation. (I work full time so it is hard to get hours and hours in like I want to). I will keep everyone updated as I figure out this Second Life while I figure out my first life as well.

Sitting on a bench in Basilique

About Me

Hello, all! My name is Nate Wise and I am a sophomore at The University of Akron. I am majoring in Psychology and minoring in HR Management. I am making this blog for one of my classes. I am really excited for this semester because I feel like I will be learning a lot of valuable information. I enjoy playing video games and working out. I also like spending time with my girlfriend, Monica and my cat, Tawny. I also work at a gym full time. I love learning new things (especially about cars). I hope everyone enjoys reading my journey throughout my Honors Colloquium. Thank you!