E-communities

I am turning the curve and I am gradually believing the gospel of social media tools and the internet. Chris Anderson's talk on the effects of web video and other tools was spot on- I have so many personal anecdotes on how youtube has literally changed lives and given people the push they needed to succeed or effect the changes they want-. I especially like his example of video and the effects it could have on science. Video may indeed be the future. His talk also ties in with Goldhaber's attention shoppers article
The videos and assigned articles were very for emotional for me. Actually I got emotional from Jamie Heywood's video. However, this reading and this video assigned really touched me. This video because I kind of agree with Jeremy and the article because it just hit me! (can't think of a word that can capture what I felt). In the last year, I have lost school mates that we "met again" thanks to Facebook and after they passed Facebook provided an avenue to celebrate their lives and know that they live on somehow. Sharing with other people who knew them, learning about the lives they lived and getting answers to questions about their death - questions that you cannot ask if for instance you went to commiserate with their family- gives me closure.  I am sure this is one of the unintended uses of Facebook. Jamie's video was quite poignant and innovations like have profound uses and dangers as mentioned in this research for everyone especially patients and their family.  I agree that one of the blessings of the internet is that you can empathize and process your emotions when friends and family face health challenges and one can be there for them when you can't be there physically.

On to happier things. Joining meet up was fun, (I was surprised to see Nigerian events on the site). I joined this meet-up, hopefully my spanish speaking skills would improve. Joining second life and world of warcraft was tough because i did not know what to expect. Wikipedia provided an overview of what the two worlds were about so I joined with a friend. Second life was not user friendly or interactive for a first time user. I kept bumping into people at first and the people around me were speaking in German (I think second life should look into "eavesdropping on people's conversations), I became friends with some strangers who advised me to get a mouse if i really want to enjoy the second life experience. I also had to change my settings from "basic"  to "advanced" on second life before I could really participate. One thing I found amusing was that you could link your "real life" to your second life. My question is why would I want to do that? World of Warcraft was more user friendly and I got the hang of it pretty quickly and was welcomed by other users i met on the site.
It was eye opening to see groups that addressed societal issues such as rape and those who promoted vices  public administration issues that can be addressed in the virtual world. I would like to explore how this tool can be used to tackle the incidence of bullying in schools.