Muyun Yang (Stella)

Embedded in the digital era, we are under huge influences of the virtual world: social media connect the public and change the way we think, new technological firms appear and try to get consumers’ attention, traditional media also start to develop their online platforms to increase its media power. But it is still difficult for traditional corporations to find a right strategy on social media. The honeycomb framework presented in article“Understanding the functional building blocks of social media” is useful  for the transmission from off-line to online models for traditional companies. Along with convenience and colorful online life, problems like assault and online violence also appear in the online community. However, the obligation of virtual world problems is always a controversial issue. Platforms or producers always deny their obligation to solve problems due to its likely negative influence to its profit. Second Life is a special case since some of universities ...

In general, these three articles holds neutral position between technology determinism and cultural determinism although small divergences exist. “ Cyberspace and the American Dream ”  encodes technology in social construction and highlights government ’ s roles in the process of adapting the society to the Knowledge era. “ Critical Question for Big Data ”  is more inclined to the technological side, presenting 6 provocations due to the advent of new technology. In contrast, “ The Reader-to-Leader Framework ”  emphasizes more on the subjective initiative of Internet users. All of the articles are enlightening and some of viewpoints catch my mind. The first one is about our roles of treating big data. To be more specific, it is related to our information safety. As the words in “ Critical questions for big data ” : Raw data is both an oxymoron and a bad idea and it should be cooked with care. Our current decisions would definitely shape the future. Nowadays, b...

1.Interpersonal relationship From the video shown in class, the newly emerging machine is changing our way of thinking and interacting with others constantly and it exerts great influence on our daily life. People start to focus on their mobile phones at any time. Meanwhile, social media makes it more convenient for people to interact with friends. Does social media alienate interpersonal relationship or strengthen it? How do you think about it?  This question matters to me because  my best friend tells me that she find it is more difficult to have a conversation with an old friend face to face than chatting online, however, I hold opposite opinion. So I am curious about others perspectives of this question. 2.Way of thinking When it comes to an information explosion era, people seem to suffer from problems such as information filter bubble and fragmented reading. Do we need to adapt to this new way of receiving information and develop new skills to integrate ...