I grew up with this technology and have embraced it into my life, be it work or social. To me, this is one of the best revolutions men have made, after the invention of light!
It has taken over every aspect of our daily lives from businesses to leisure and even culture. People are so dependent on it that companies are furiously innovating new ways to make Internet accessible anytime,anywhere. It has been infused into our computers, mobile phones, hand held devices so that people can easily access their email or social networking site. ICT has made us a global society, where people can interact and communicate swiftly and efficiently. Moreover, ICT has contributed towards the elimination of language barriers. Example of such tools are emails, instant messaging, chat rooms and social networking websites (Facebook and Twitter).
Another revolutionary technology that caught my eye in class this week is KINECT. I get very excited every time someone talks about Kinect mainly because of its fascinating technology, how the sensor is able to capture all your body movements which is then reflected on the avatar and because I am a Kinect Ambassador for Microsoft. As the ambassador for Kinect, I get to demonstrate all their games at events and teach others how to play. Just watching the reactions of the public after my demonstration is fulfilling because it would always result in a crowd gathering in amazement and people eagerly jumping in to test it out themselves. This is revolutionary because this is the first time people can just jump in in the middle of a game and play anytime they want with their friends and family without a console. You are able to control your avatar with your body as the small sensor has facial and voice recognitions. In one of the games, Kinectimals, a child can raise her own virtual tiger where she plays, feed and talks to it as if it were real. Amazing right?
That is just the tip of the ice berg. Kinect was originally named Project Natal. After watching the video Prof showed us in class this week, it totally blew my mind away. Imagine being able to establish a relationship and hold a conversation with a virtual guy in your computer! Imagine if we could use this technology for our future meetings? Not needing to physically meet up but through this virtual space we could "throw" objects to one another or edit a report virtually?
Perhaps one day, people would be able to develop the technology to the extent whereby we scan ourselves and live inside the virtual world. With the survival of Earth being threatened, people often talk about life on another planet or on a space ship. Why not in the virtual world?
While technology continuously develops and amaze us, I do think that it is damaging our lives too. We have become too dependent on the internet that people are continuously surfing the net, checking their mails, Facebook friends and shout-outs on Tweeter. While our social interactions on a personal level is affected significantly. The other day, I saw a group of boys (aged about 15-18) hanging out at Cineleisure. What shocked me was that instead of them conversing with one another, they were all on their phones either listening to their music, playing games or texting each other. At the end of my 2 hour long movie, I saw them sitting at the same spot, still on their phones. I find this rather disturbing as it seems like people are only able to communicate behind a screen. This is a cause of concern as I believe that face to face communication is still the best way to get our thoughts across. It is personal and you are able to see the other party's emotions. Also, to be able to speak comfortably to others, one must be confident which is one of the characteristic that many young people lack these days.
Overall, I would rate this class a 9 out of 10 as I enjoyed the discussions we had in class and the video on Project Natal!
Can't wait for next week!
Selene
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