The Rise of Virtual Reality, The Future is Here

Have you ever wonder what is Virtual Reality? 

Oculus Virtual Reality Gear

It is very exciting for me to explain the latest technology of Virtual Reality (VR). 

First of all, allow me introduce what is Virtual Reality, it is use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. It allow you to experiences by looking screen in front of you, you will be able to immersed and able to interact with simulated environment (3D World).

Virtual Reality Back Then (Late 1980's & 1990's)

Back then in late 1980's and 1990's VR equipment is very expensive and it is lack in color graphics[1]. A lot of attempts have been done before and many of them is failure, but it doesn't make researcher to give up on VR expectation. 

Nintendo Virtual Boy

EyePhone 1, EyePhone HRX and Gloves

Virtual Reality Game

Now VR become more recognizable by lot of people especially in video games industry. Many of company such as HTC, Sony, Oculus, Steam and etc. is put their money into this VR project and create VR Gear Headset. People can immerse and interact with their 3D world with VR equipment. 

In one of The New York Time news, where it is write about where VR will lure Video Game Developer. Phil Fish the one who make big hit game called FEZ in 2014 come back after burning out in gaming industry's. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was 10 years old,” Mr. Fish, 31, said from his office in Austin, Tex. “I just got really excited about the realization of the dream of V.R.” [2]

Virtual Reality Games (Euro Truck Simulator)

Virtual Reality in Military

VR is not limited to gaming industry, but it also use in Military where they used it to simulate war. It also let soldier to prepare the war.  Traditionally they would construct hulk cabins where new recruit could try in a simulated environment, or the theory in classroom how they bandage a wound from enemy firearm, etc. now it can be simulate using VR and from millions of pound to build it now it become more cheaper in term of cost, flexible and easy to develop environment [3].

Soldier with Virtual Reality Equipment

Virtual Reality in Education

In Education, VR is use to help students learning through experience, students retain between 10% and 30% to what they see and hear. The situation and outcome depending on the student input and this will keep student more active and engaged through 3D world. Student who learn in this way will experience more, rather than traditional learning where many of students are feel bored and not excited to what they hear or see.

Here is the Cone of Learning by Edgar Dale [4]

Cone of Learning

Virtual Reality in My Opinion

Virtual Reality is where the imagination, creation and creativity is come. People can build anything in VR through computer language and as user we can enjoy new experience of story, learning, gaming, imagination, relaxing and many more as long as researcher or developer keep invent new way to experience VR.

But VR still a new medium in growing state, the popularity itself might be fall if the researcher fail to live up user expectation to what they want. Many of them also confuse to VR and sci-fi such as Matrix movie, where the main character go to virtual world. At least for now we can experience part of movie itself, even it still far away from what we actually want.

And the VR will continue its journey to give us excitement and new experience in future.

Reference:

[1] Virtual Reality. (2015). History Of Virtual Reality - Virtual Reality. [online] Available at: http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html [Accessed 29 Sep. 2016].

[2] Hudson, L. (2016). Virtual Reality’s Possibilities Lure Video Game Developers. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/technology/personaltech/virtual-realitys-possibilities-lure-video-game-developers.html?_r=0 [Accessed 30 Sep. 2016].

[3] Parkin, S. (2016). ​How VR is training the perfect soldier. [online] Wareable. Available at: http://www.wareable.com/vr/how-vr-is-training-the-perfect-soldier-1757 [Accessed 30 Sep. 2016].

[4] Immersivevreducation.com. (2016). Virtual Reality Educational Benefits | Immersive VR Education. [online] Available at: http://immersivevreducation.com/virtual-reality-educational-benefits/ [Accessed 30 Sep. 2016].

#3 Social Media Change People and The Consequences

New form of media especially social media now have change us and the way we socialize. How do we know this social media change us? This will explain it, people nowadays more easily to deliver the news, sharing ideas and express their opinion as long as that person have access to the internet and no longer blocked by any organization [1]. We now can share anything we want by using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others kind of social media that exist in internet. If we see in the past, individual or organization are barely recognized by people and now with help of new media especially social media the individual or organization has a better chance to gain the fame or popularity.

Now we have smartphone and it is more entertaining. It is convenient we can bring it anywhere and we can check or social media from it. It already change us, we often to get distracted to our smartphone, give more time to devices rather than try to engage with people in real life. In college many students are checking their smartphone when their professor teach them and people get bored in class they check Facebook, Instagram and other kinds of social media they have in their devices.

In Victoria Wicks and Sasha Boutilier article, their professor told them that he need to dumb down course material and shorten essays test because students began to struggle with the requisite depth of though [2]. This happen because they are to dependent on technology or devices.

In previous paragraph we already discuss a little bit of how social media changes us, the technology we use to access it and effect if we are to dependent on technology,

We are going to discuss how social media change us and what is the consequences

1. Information source

We can get information in any of social media we can found in internet without go to specific news website, for example Facebook allow us to share news or information from other website to our timelines. It give information to our friends what is happening. But many people forget to filter the news they share, it can give negative impact because it can mislead people after they read the news.

source: https://www.cabq.gov/culturalservices/biopark/images/share-on-facebook.png

2. Meet and Stay in touch with people

We can meet people from social media easily, and we can communicate with them anytime you access social media that allow you chatting, voice call, video call and etc. It also make us stay connected to people we know such as friends, family and groups. Pretty much we got everything we need to socialize with people from social media but it also give negative impact to us. Social media can be addictive, we can forget about our daily lives or responsible when use it too much. It is like being absorbed to virtual world.

source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/youth-facebook-pokes-life-get_a_life-social_networking-rbon657_low.jpg

source: http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SmartPhone35.jpg

3. What we show to world

We can share everything we want to social media, we show to world about how this story news is interesting or entertaining, share photos, opinion, critic and etc. We are more freely to create the content today, nobody can stop you to create it. We can show to people what have we create or share the story. But people all in the world is not always on your side, if you post some hate speech, criticism or opinion people might attack you indirectly to your comment or even take screenshot about it and humiliate you to others people about what you say to them. Even cyber bullying is hard to evade able if you make mistake in social media.

Source: https://tryinteract-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/cake-tweets.jpg

We already see three point of how social media change us and the consequences, in this video it talk about how 5-10% of internet user are hardly to control how much they spend online because addicted to social media, People are multi tasking when switching devices is actually it reduce brain filter and make your brain harder to remember the information. For further information you can check video below:

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HffWFd_6bJ0

Now our socialization is become online socializing where we depend on our gadget to do socialization with people in the world. The changes has positive and negative impact. Where is the positive we can stay connected to people, easy to get information and freely to share our thought, in other hand we become less socialization in real conversation, our daily routines and some people tend to forget to filter their news sources and stay stay in front of their devices without trying to engage people in real life. We shouldn't forget to do reality check when we almost "disappear" into our virtual world.

Reference:
[1] O'Keefe, K. (2014). We're still social, technology just changes how we socialize - Real Lawyers Have Blogs. [online] Real Lawyers Have Blogs. Available at: http://kevin.lexblog.com/2014/08/11/were-still-social-technology-just-changes-how-we-socialize/ [Accessed 11 Aug. 2016].
[2]Wicks, V. and Boutilier, S. (2014). Are students too dependent on technology?. [online] The Varsity. Available at: http://thevarsity.ca/2014/10/05/are-students-too-dependent-on-technology/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2016].
[3]Gordhamer, S. (2009). 5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2009/10/16/social-media-changing-lives/#HvBei2J6_sqm [Accessed 11 Aug. 2016].

#2 New Media & Business: A Bane or A Boon

New media now not only use to gain entertainment but also business involved in it. New media capable to extending advertising function more than traditional media can do. Traditional media advertising have TV Commercial, newspaper and radio commercial, in new media advertising can be found at most of website can be found in internet, online streaming (Youtube, Twitch), video game (pepsi man, FIFA). If you are asking how they can put advertising in website, online streaming and video game, here is the example:

1. Website Advertisement

Lets take a look Yahoo! Website, it is a online news reading website where people can read interesting and up to date news around the world.

Yahoo!

As you can see image above, Yahoo! put their advertisement in between their headlines, people who want to search or read article will see and some might interested and can click the ad. This is how Yahoo! get their revenue from their ad. 

Advantages of Website Advertisement

- Advertiser can reach significantly more people using new media rather than traditional media

Disadvantages of Website Advertisement

- People may ignore some ad and only click on relevant one

- Consumer rejection, people that come to website may have extension on their web which allow them to ignore all any kind of ad.

2. YouTube Advertisement

YouTuber or people who use YouTube to entertain people in the world use YouTube as one of way to gain money while they entertain people by uploading their video content to watch by millions of people.

YouTube Ad

Image above taken from PewDiePie video, the ad will play every time people click the video and will play at least for 15 sec ad time. This is how most of YouTuber get their money, for example famous YouTuber PewDiePie get estimated earning $86K - $1.4M/Month from his ad revenue[1].

Advantages of Online Streaming Advertisement

- People willing to spend their time on short ad before they watch the content they want

- People spend more time on online streaming

- In between video advertiser put advertisement which is put for 5-15 second in small banner at bottom or top middle of video

Disadvantages of Online Streaming Advertisement

- Many people are using extension to disable any kind of advertisement in online streaming

- Some cases, people want to watch the video but bombarded by 10 or more ad even the pop up, and leave the online streaming site.

3. Video Game Advertisement

Video game has its own way to do their business by putting advertisement in their game and gain some extra revenue from each ad they put in game.

Video Game Ad

Image above is from FIFA game made by EA company, you can see Adidas advertisement from image above or in-game. The EA company get their ad revenue from each game of they sold.

As example of how the advertisement above and short description, we now know it is a boon. Where the individual or company not only give entertainment but also involve in business where they put advertisement in their content.

Advantages of Video Game Advertisement

- Online game become more popular to put advertisement (free mobile app is mostly contain ads).

- People spend more that 30 hours per month to play the game. 

Disadvantages of Video Game Advertisement

- Only reach certain of people

- Advertising in game more expensive because video game become more popular. 

Video below will show some in game advertisement used by Barack Obama during his election:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzK_WE1IvOw&feature=related

"With the internet, business is the new media. The content that you create is the new media. And so when we're talking about content marketing, we're really focusing on what aspect of what you do makes for a unique story. " said Ross R. Mason in one of his video.

Video Link: http://videoprofile.net/categories/smart-video-secrets/business-is-new-media

New media in business can be either a boon or a bane even can be both (depend on which new media type they choose). It all depend on demand of target audience they choose, if online shoes shop will try to reach females audience, video game target to people who seek entertainment from console (PS4, Xbox, WiiU) and Desktop/PC. To know who like this and who like that, the website will storing your unique number on your web browser [4], if you buy shirt from online shop it will record your interest as "shirt, online shop name" (further information in link) and in future you will see a lot of ad from other online shop in your country from ad banner in website. In other hand, some think this is an act of spying and they don't want their privacy leaked to unauthorized third party. The solution of that problem can be solved by deleting your web browser history (include cookies) or go incognito for better privacy (at least for me) you still see ad but not a relevant one.

New media advertisement in website can give the owner support, that will keep their article alive and up to date. Support them if you think it is necessary, the ad shouldn't forced you but you choose your own ad to show through your web browser.

Reference:

[1] Socialblade.com. (2016). pewdiepie YouTube Stats, Channel Statistics - Socialblade.com. [online] Available at: http://socialblade.com/youtube/user/pewdiepie [Accessed 29 Jul. 2016].

[2]Ingram, D. (2016). The Advantages & Disadvantages of Advertising on the Internet. [online] Smallbusiness.chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-advertising-internet-4029.html [Accessed 29 Jul. 2016].

[3]Cbumarketing.wikispaces.com. (2016). CBUMarketing - Video Game Advertising. [online] Available at: https://cbumarketing.wikispaces.com/Video+Game+Advertising [Accessed 29 Jul. 2016].

[4]Networkadvertising.org. (2016). How does it work? | NAI: Network Advertising Initiative. [online] Available at: http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work [Accessed 29 Jul. 2016].

#1 New Media Has Redefined The World

New media today is now leading the world in this era. We want received our information and knowledge fast enough, so we can keep up to date to the what happen with the world today. Traditional media (Newspaper, Radio, TV) not enough to fulfill our needs and demands, it because traditional media is limited by geographic and time which mean some station only show local news at local time. Therefore new media has been introduce by the world, they create devices (Mobile Phone, Personal Computer, Laptop and any interactive devices) and internet that allow us to search more information and knowledge what we want from our devices. This technology can be described as new media [1]. 

New media also include the social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. New media is connecting people which is great, where people can keep in touch with each other. Communication now more easier with Skype where each other can hear and see face of caller and receiver. Paul Levinson, Ph.D. talk about connection between new media, social media and politic. He said on YouTube video "... back in 2008 the republican completely out to lunch when it come to social media came barely to knew how to use a computer his staff didn't have a clue. On the other reason why Obama did so well is that the democrats back then did understand how to use it (New Media)..." check video below to get more detail information:

                       Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoGymcVEW3E

New media is easier to get information through the website, reduce cost where the company do not need to print more newspaper but they use internet and make e-news, affordable for people to get the devices and internet access, simple to use the new media, communication now easier, fast and reliable. Below picture show the point of new media [2].

                                        Source: New Media



New media can bring great thing to us, but also give negative impact to some people that overused it. New media give freedom of speech for all of us, but some irresponsible people use it to hate other people, by giving that person a hate speech, racism, sexual harassment, cyber bullying and etc. This happen because people of internet hard to catch, since they can use fake account, fake IP or even tell the lie such as "I have been hacked by someone", etc. Privacy no longer safe, some unauthorized person can hack or irresponsible company sell the privacy to third party [3].

New media also give bad influence to this generation, because of advancement of technology most people now give more time to their gadget, less interaction between people and sometimes forget their activity in that day. Less people to go out and meet their real friend and prefer to chill at home with their cyber friend.

Conclusion, New media is a great way to communicate with other people, anytime anywhere in all around world, fast and reliable communication. People easily to understand how to use new media since there is a lot of guide in internet. In other hand if people overused this new media it can give negative impact to that people, and can become anti-social person if they spend most of time in internet not in the real world.

References

[1] New Media. (2016). Boundless. [online] Available at: https://www.boundless.com/political-science/textbooks/boundless-political-science-textbook/the-media-10/news-coverage-75/new-media-410-4896/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2016].

[2] Pridmore, J. (2016). New media and social media - what's the difference v 2.0. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/1122278/New_media_and_social_media_-_whats_the_difference_v_2.0 [Accessed 15 Jul. 2016].

[3] Jung, B. (2016). The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals. [online] Smallbusiness.chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html [Accessed 15 Jul. 2016].