Summer Wars

Although our class is spring semester, but spring have not come until these two days. This Spring semester was practically in winter. Yet, how at last spring is coming to Syracuse is a big relief for (a tropical person like) me. I just can't wait for summer.

Talking about summer, I wanted to share one of my favorite movie, Summer Wars (2009), an anime directed by Mamoru Hosoda. The setting of the movie is modern imaginative Japan world, where social media (named OZ) have become the center of every day life. The account is representing real people. OZ account is used authorizing bank account, used in work place and other aspects of life. The movie is about a virtual intelligence that steal people's identity, causing great problems in real life, plus a drama around it. Just watch the movie, you'll love it.

This movie is interesting because of it's setting. When I imagine what is ideal social media life like in the near future, I might will imagine it this way. The situation is like when social media and e-government unite. In that situation your virtual live is also your real life. I think this is what we are also trying to see in this social media class. How we can use the ease of communication and networking in informal social media can be taken into public administration level. Although this movie is showing how fragile life when we are more dependent to the internet, but we must also see how efficient life will be when that happened. If today we still see the network as a supporting infrastructure, I believe that in no time, it will be considered as important as other infrastructure like roads and buildings.

However, in my opinion, the setting will not happen in near future. Current development where social media development that tends to become more corporate orientated, I think will prevent the development. More over, e-government development that was left far behind social media will make these two entities harder to met. The development like this will need both parties, public administrator and social media to work together. and its a hard, because it is not the most optimal situation for each (Nash game theory).
 
This movie was made more than three years ago. Those three years is already old in computer and Internet. several features and development, like avatar was not as important today as it was four years ago. I remember it again because the current issues of virtual wars. Last month there is a report that JP Morgan Chase bank was hacked, I was worried about what happened (as I have an account in the bank). I hope the current (what media call) Virtual War is not really a war. I hope it was just hackers who tried to impress their friends. But who knows.