The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: News

Media Credit: JULIA NORMAN Allison Weiss

Media Credit: JULIA NORMAN Ross Miller

Media Credit: JULIA NORMAN Zlatko Unger

Media Credit: JULIA NORMAN Cody Boisclair

Media Credit: JULIA NORMAN

Allison Weiss' fingers fly across the keyboard.

She's memorized the Web addresses of each of her social networking profiles and is not ashamed of showing them off. Weiss is a University sophomore, an established singer and an Internet junkie.

There's http://www.myspace.com/allisonweiss, standard enough.
And, http://youtube.com/amlingisrad.
And, http://www.last.fm/user/amling.
And, http://garageband.com/artist/allisonweiss.
And, http://www.purevolume.com/allisonweiss.
Not to mention, www.allisonw.com.

"If a new one comes out, I'm like 'ooo, I've got to make one,'" she said. "I think I have an account on AmericanIdol.com."

Weiss is hip. Her brown bangs hang slightly above her amber-colored glasses. She's dressed in a short cream-colored floral print dress, which hangs over a pair of tattered jean shorts. And on her feet, she sports blue, grey and pink Nike Air Force Ones.

She's representative of a growing number of computer-savvy college students. They're cool nerds, students just as capable of computer programming as they are at succeeding socially.

"I definitely would not deny the fact that I'm a big nerd," Weiss said. "But I like to think I'm cool, too."

They are students whose lives online are as significant as their lives in the real world.

University students such as Ross Miller, who flies the world to blog about video games; Zlatko Unger, who runs a part-time photography business through networking online; or Cody Boisclair, a different type of story.

Dr. Craig Piercy has studied the changing face of the Internet and is familiar with the culture surrounding early adopters. Piercy is the director of Terry College's master's of Internet technology department

Early adopters are those who use these new technologies first.

"Many times, they're usually more the risk takers," Piercy said. "Many times, what they're adopting becomes trendy."

Early adopters are at the center of Web 2.0. Internet. Experts coined the term Web 2.0 to describe the most progressive portions of the Internet - parts of the Internet driven by sharing and user-generated content.

Wikipedia is perhaps the most well-known Web site associated with Web 2.0.

According to data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in August 2004 Wikipedia accounted for about 3 percent of all hits to education or reference Web sites. Encarta, a digital encyclopedia published by Microsoft, accounted for about 2 percent of hits in the same category.

By August 2006, Wikipedia received 20 percent of all hits to education or reference Web sites. Encarta took in only .71 percent of hits to reference Web sites.

Social networking sites are changing also. Many niche interest social networking sites were created Facebook and MySpace.

For example, Hamsterster.com unites hamster lovers and Dailystrength.org brings together patients and caretakers.

Like any trend, some Web sites have longer lives than others. Early adopters carry a decent bit of influence in determining what's successful and what isn't, Piercy said.

"By marketing to them," he said, "you're also bringing along the other people."

Weiss performs concert in 'Second Life' virtual venue

Add Allison Weiss as a Facebook friend and you get promotional messages:

It's that time again. Time for you to get your hopes up when you see that "Inbox (1)." Did that hottie from the SLC finally message you??

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a stock message from ME, but it's still packed with all the love/lust that could've come from an admirer.

And I'm reminding you that tonight I'm playing at Tasty World, and for the first time EVER I'll be backed by a three-piece band (The Bandits). That means ROCK…

Love,

Allison Weiss

Weiss shamelessly self promotes, and if you have a problem with it don't be her friend (at least on Facebook).

"If someone's on my friend list, they should want to know what's going on," she said.

Weiss is using her tech knowledge to gain notoriety across the world without leaving Athens.

"That's where my main fan base comes from," she said. "I post my songs online. I always post videos on YouTube. I keep people up-to-date on what's going on (with me)."

But wait, if you're an early adopter, there's more to using the Internet than Facebook and YouTube. On Sunday she performed for the first time in a growing online virtual world known as Second Life.

Residents of Second Life create an avatar (an online persona) and explore a detailed online world. The avatar can socialize with other residents, create and purchase property and participate in group activities such as going to concerts. Second Life also has its own currency, the Linden dollar, which is exchangeable for U.S. dollars.

"People will pay $300 per month for fake beach-front property," Weiss said.

Weiss said she made 20 real U.S. dollars in tips and 40 people were at the show, including her mother.

Weiss's avatar has brown hair and glasses. She chose to make it similar to how she looks in real life, even though other users often don't do the same. The avatar wears a blue shirt with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath and oversized red tennis shoes.

She said she paid four U.S. dollars for her hair, shirt, glasses, shoes and guitar.

To play online, Weiss connects her real world microphone and a guitar into a streaming server.

"The main reason I joined Second Life was for the live music," she said.

Performers Regina Specter, Chamillionaire and Ben Folds Five all have performed in Second Life, Weiss said.

Miller combines interest in video games and writing

Ross Miller sits at his kitchen table, clicking through 10 tabs on his Internet browser. He's keeping an eye on the mainstream media's coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. He's most interested in whether or not they scapegoat the video game industry.

Miller is paid to provide content for joystiq.com. Joystiq is an America Online-owned video game blog, one of the most popular video game blogs on the Internet.

"It's a gray area. But I think (video games) take a bad rap," Miller says. "It's overblown."

Miller is a junior majoring in telecommunications and mathematics. His living room doubles as an office and fits his dual identity of student/video game blogger well.

The room contains a kitchen table, several pieces of furniture and shelves of video games and DVDs. A wireless router rests below the table in a nest of cables and chords. Above the table on the kitchen counter is a wall of empty liquor bottles - vodka, rum, Jagermeister.

Against one wall is a baker's rack, with an Xbox on the top shelf and a Playstation on the bottom shelf; video games are stacked in between the two. Next to the baker's rack is a sleek black flat-screen television, and next to it is a six-foot tower of DVDs.

He says he spends two or three hours each day working on material.

He isn't bound to any schedule, and often works throughout the day.

"I like video games, and I enjoy writing," he said. "So, no it doesn't feel like work most of the time." Miller said.

Miller takes his Mac Powerbook with him to campus each day. He sifts through 100 daily e-mails from industry PR officials and blog readers. It's a chore, he says, but his Samsung Blackjack helps. The Blackjack, a smart phone that runs a mobile version of Windows, allows him to stay online in situations when he can't use his laptop.

But a flexible schedule isn't the job's only perk.

"The most fun I get out of this stuff is going to the trade shows," he said. "AOL has flown me to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo."

Not a bad way to earn a few dollars.

Unger views and shares artwork in online community

Zlatko Unger laughs at the idea that he's setting trends.

For him, being an early adopter simply comes from being curious.

"I'm embracing new things," he said. "I'm not a static, old school type of person."

Unger registers for groups when he's interested in learning about a topic. He remains active in some
and loses interest in others.

"You'll find a loner, a cheerleader and average joe who just got home from work," said Unger, a Management Information Systems major, who will work with accounting firm KPMG in Atlanta when he graduates.

The one sight he's remained most active on is DeviantArt. DeviantArt is an art community that allows artists to post their work and view others'. Users put each other on their "Deviant Watch" lists and are notified when a person adds content. Art prints then can be purchased through the Web site.

Unger is a photographer who's been active in the community since high school. He's slightly edgy. His hair is buzzed, and his facial hair isn't kept neat. He wears black Nikes, green cargo shorts and black fitted t-shirts.

He treats photography as a part-time job, and DeviantArt supplies the clients. He meets people online, and they pay him to shoot a portrait or a head shot. He also makes sales through the Web site.

He said he has 700 people who are watching him for updates.

Unger has experienced the seedier side of social networking as well.

"You will find yourself in situations where you feel creepy or weird," he said.

One of those situations occurred when a 16-year-old girl in Athens messaged him, volunteering to "model" for him.

"I draw the line somewhere," he said.

Unger, originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia, said he expects his online time to decrease when he begins working with KPMG. It's a leisure activity, such as working out or watching television.

"(The Internet's) more like an extension of the first life," Unger said.

LiveJournal provides friendship for 'socially awkward'

Cody Boisclair sits in a second floor SLC study room.

He's not shy about discussing his preoccupation with the Internet.

His speech is slurred slightly and he repetitively highlights and un-highlights text on his Mac laptop.

He speaks of being diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of Autism. He talks about never finding friends he could connect with and being socially awkward in group situations. He reflects on never really having a true social circle until attending Mercer as an undergraduate.

But he's perfectly comfortable with who he is.

"I would honestly say I have more of a social life online than in the real world," Boisclair says. "I've always been kind of shy and socially inept, so it allows me to play on a level playing field."

Boisclair's attracted to the Internet for a different reason than most students. He's not Weiss, Miller or Unger.

He'd probably be the first to say he's more nerd than cool. For him, the Internet is the most convenient way to communicate with others.

Boisclar is a computer science graduate student and ideally would like to work for a company such as Google when he graduates. He said he's interested in natural language processing - using computer programs to find meaning in how sentences are structured.

He said he's representative of what he believes is a large number of Autistic Internet users who have problems with face-to-face interaction.

"It gives us a place where we can be accepted," he said. "And be who we are."

He seeks out communities that match his interests. He's active in Autistic communities on LiveJournal, his social networking site of choice. LiveJournal allows users to create a profile and then create communities other like-minded users can join.

Boisclair said that for a disability that greatly effects communication, the Autistic communities are "actually very active."

LiveJournal users express themselves through writing, more so than Facebook or MySpace.

"I tend to come off a bit more eloquent in writing," he said.

He met his best friend at the University on LiveJournal after seeing her profile on Facebook. He saw her interests were similar to his own and replied to one of her LiveJournal posts.

"These communities are where I thrive," he said.

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