The Next New Thing

If I was to create some a new type of "new media", it would be to expand the Internet into the MTA system. We all know that riding the MTA can be very boring especially when some of us have to travel from home to school/work that can take over an hour. With Internet access, we are able to occupy ourselves with more important things other than listening to music, playing games, etc while we are riding the trains below ground level; we can save time by doing things we normally aren't able to do underground and use our free time to do something more important. For example, since I am a student, I can do some work that requires Internet access such as this CIS class. I believe that with Internet in the MTA system, people will be able to utilize their time more efficiently.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

For our class wiki, the first thing we had to do was to create our biography with our personal information on it. Out of the lists of topics that was posted I've decided to edit the page about cyber bullying in new media. With cyber bullying, it doesn't matter where it can occur because it can occur anywhere. And there are several side effects which can be poor grades, change of moods, withdrawal from friends/family, and many more. I feel that people who cyber bully are just cowards that hides behind a monitor to feel superior against others to boost their egos. The next topic I plan to edit is the new media and MMORPG's.

P2P File Sharing

File Sharing allows us users to gain access to digitally stored information such as programs, audios, videos, documents, electronic books, and more. With P2P file sharing, users can connect to a peer-to-peer network to get access to files from other computers. These files can be downloaded through this network and then transferred directly to your computer. An example of P2P file sharing is the use of a program called Bit-torrent. According to the article, "the BitTorrent Effect" by Clive Thompson , BitTorrent lets users to upload and download many gigabytes of data. Many people use it to watch movies or TV shows or to play games. But the issue here is legality. It is definitely illegal if this program is used to copy a movie or song, which is called piracy. This is why the movie and music industry are suffering because they are not generating as much revenue as they want because of BitTorrent. Sure, people are getting sued for piracy but in the end, theres no way to spread the illegal downloads through BitTorrent.

Privacy and Confidentiality

             Although new media has brought about a new means of communication in society today, there is an issue concerning privacy. Take Facebook as an example. People are allowed to see another person's profile without them knowing about it although it can be fixed by changing some privacy settings. Twitter is another example because people tend to tweet whatever is on their mind such as their location, what they are up to at the moment, and how they're feeling. Everyone gets caught up in these things and forget about privacy; some people want publicity in their lives so they can feel "good" about it. Even though technology has constantly been improving every year, more programs should be created to protect our personal information. Sharing information may be okay in the short run but in the long run, we should keep it confidential because the person reading your information behind his/her monitor may use it to their own personal benefit, in a good/bad way.

Advice to Baruch

         If Baruch hired me to improve the college by using new media, I would utilize the use of wikis. Professors are still able to use blackboard but wikis are easy to access and you are able to share documents and lectures that is available to anyone. It is a better way to communicate the information that you get for class. Another way to improve college is by using twitter during class sessions. I feel by using twitter, students can ask questions and that way, there will be a two way conversation in every class instead of it being a one sided conversation where the professor talks for over one hour straight without the students saying anything.  Students will have a better learning experience and will enjoy the classes that they took without enduring the boredom students have in class nowadays. In conclusion, new media will allow to communicate more efficiently, giving us a better future.

About My Term Research Paper

      My paper was about how new media has an impact on sports today. It basically goes into depth on how sports organizations are able to utilize the new media to give us consumers what we want, which is entertainment.  And it talks about how the sports consumers are using this new media to communicate with sport organizations giving them opinions and ideas on how to improve.
      So how did I do my research? For the most part, I search through the Baruch databases for any scholarly articles and any other articles related to my topic. I also use sites that I found through Google for additional information for my paper. With these articles, I learned that new media can send information at the rate that we have never seen before. Sports were once only known at the local level and today it has become popular worldwide.
       Why did I choose this topic? One reason is because I like to play sports, mainly basketball. And another reason is because it gives me an insight on what is going on between the fans and the business organizations and how it has continue to grow even at this point in time.My paper contributes to the field of "new media" because it is medium between the sport organizations and the fans and I find that without new media, we wouldn't be where we are today, sport players wouldn't be making as much money, and business organizations wouldn't be as successful.
        

Creativity and New Media

So I've decided to make a Second Life account and it is pretty amazing since you can practically go anywhere in this virtual world by teleportation. I created my own avatar (3rd picture) and here are some of the places that I went to:
 
                   Glimmer Island - one of the most beautiful places you can go to in Second Life

Mayan Stone ruins - one of the most famous creations humans will ever create in history

And your very own pet world where you can see all the pets you can possible want

These are just 3 of many places you can go in this online virtual world. Not only you can travel, you can create your very own avatar (see 3rd picture) and communicate with other people through their avatars. Anyone over 13 yrs of age can join and people can get creative with their avatars by buying new clothes with Linden Dollars which can be obtained using real currency. I find it really interesting because you can go to locations in this virtual world that you probably can't go in real life.

Creativity

According to the article, "Twitter Serve Up Ideas from its followers", by Claire Cain Miller, companies use new media such as twitter to try their best to satisfy their customers. Technology companies are the most active when communicating with the community to get ideas for future products. Even though the community has these ideas, they don't have the resources to implement them so they turn to the companies to test them out. And then customers give the companies feedback to continue improving on these products. That's what makes new media so important; it allows us people with creative minds to express our ideas through new media. This is how new media fosters creativity which is why the world is in the position it is in now.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

          Virtual worlds created today can be used for entertainment or they can be used for jobs. For example, in the article "Avatar II: The Hospital" by Stephanie Simon, health care facilities are utilizing the virtual worlds to practice real life simulation of emergency situations that can possible happen. It became more and more popular and universities began to pick up this method of training. They prefer this method of training rather than the traditional training where a real life trainer helps future employees with hospital practices because it costs less. It only costs about 1000 dollars to purchase the virtual land and only 300 per month to maintain it. Another reason that professors can be creative about what kind of real life situations can occur and add them into the virtual, improving the training experience over two times. But like we all know real world isn't perfect, the online virtual world isn't perfect either. For example, if a professor wanted to train the students to a particular patient with some sort of disease, the students would need computers that can support the Second Life virtual world system and a good internet connection; not all of us have that. But in the long run, it'll make the health care facilities more efficient.
             According to the article, "Going to the virtual office in Second Life", another creative way of using the virtual world is by using these virtual worlds to have meetings at their computers without having to travel from country to country. This is rather convenient because travel budgets are tight in our recession now and by using the virtual worlds, it saves businesses time and money to create more innovative products. But sometimes there is a downside to it because a lack of human contact leads to isolation and lack of bonds forming. And it is also difficult to see a person's reaction to a statement if you can't see the person in real life. But virtual worlds, overall, can be more efficient when it comes to saving money and time.
              In the future I would expect the virtual worlds to include something that is unrealistic. For example, we can experience the entertainments we have in real life such as movies, books and video games. I'm not sure if they have it or not, but they should create something that transports our mind into the virtual world to give us a full experience of it. There are other creative ideas but many people are out there creating ways to make virtual worlds foster a good experience for all of us.

          
        

Blog about Twitter

         Twitter discussions are very different from the discussions you can have on blackboard. One reason is the you can only enter a maximum of 140 characters which is not enough for an in depth discussion about a certain topic. This forces us to manipulate our vocabulary to fit the 140 character requirement. And in a way, it is more informal then blackboard.
         Blackboard on the other gives more freedom to express your own opinions. You can write as much as you want to about a certain topic without worrying about character limits, unless it is mentioned by the professor. If i would to choose between Twitter discussions and blackboard discussions, it would be blackboard only because of freedom to write as much as I want. I don't think I can handle the restrictions Twitter imposes on me.
         An in-class discussion is also very different from a Twitter discussion because in class discussions are only restricted to how long class is. And it is verbal communication between students and the professor while Twitter discussions are through texts via the Internet. These are the comparisons between Twitter discussions, Blackboard discussions, and in-class discussions.
        

Social Networking Sites

        Facebook is often compared to MySpace nowadays. The difference between them is the way people are able to customized their page. I realized that MySpace allows user to to customize their page by using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets but on the other hand Facebook users can only use plain text. Facebook has other features that make them unique such as each user having their own "Wall", virtual pokes, photo albums, and an updated status. And Facebook has way more applications than MySpace. But both of them have similar privacy settings in which it can limit a person from seeing another person's full profile.
        Twitter is another social networking site but it is much different from Facebook and MySpace. Facebook and MySpace are good sites to reconnect with old friends and family members while Twitter is just a good way to let others know what you're up to any given moment. It feels like it can be an addicting site to go to once you a hang of Tweeting since you can get responses in an instant but it is a good way to communication to people around the Internet.
        And the other social networking site is Bebo. It is similar to Facebook in which you can stay in touch with friends and share photos and update your status, etc. The privacy settings are also similar since you have the option of making your profile completely public or just for your friends to see. But the layout is different since Facebook color scheme is blue/grey/white while Bebo is red and white. I feel that Facebook gives a more professional look than Bebo although you can't customize your page.
        These are my impressions of these social networking sites.

Social Networking

                Social Networks such as Facebook, MySpace, etc all have their ups and downs. For example, corporations that are looking for future employees can use Facebook as a source to determine whether or not he/she qualifies for the job. This forces people to have a formal Facebook layout so nothing can jeopardize the job opportunity.  They can tell who you are just by looking at your Facebook account.  But there is a downside to this and that is the invasion of privacy. According to the article “Who Cares About Facebook Privacy? Students Do” by Marc Parry, young adults are actively engaged when managing their privacy settings. They don’t want their information to be leaked to the public so they restrict it where only friends can see the information. But corporations always find a way around it so privacy is a big issue in social networking; this is considered as the “dark side” of technology.

                According to another article “Carnegie Mellon students to exploit social networks to predict success of Internet startups” by Alpha Doggs, students are using the Delphi Method (a forecasting technique which involves panels and questionnaires to find a consensus of opinion) to innovate the next Google or Facebook.  For example, it can help decide where you want to place your investments in. This can benefit us in a way such that we can make our moves depending on certain scenarios that can happen in the near future.

                So what do I think about the future of these technologies? I think it will make social networking more reliable and convenient for us but at the same time it can hurt us. One reason is that we would talk a majority of the time through these mediums. I think real life meetings can speed the establishment of personal connections. But in the long run, the community will be able to talk to each other more efficiently. 

Blogs vs. Wikis

        According to the article "How to use Wikis for Business" by Ezra Goodnoe, wikis are simply online Web pages that anyone can create or edit. One of the most common examples of a wiki is Wikipedia which is an online encyclopedia composed by the community itself. One would think that it is unorganized, but in reality, the information is well-informed and the source of information is reliable. And if theres an error in the encyclopedia, one can fix the errors with just a click of the edit button.
        On the other hand, a blog is similar to a wiki in that it is a website but they are maintained by just one individual that post personal information about events that are going on in his/her life, videos, commentaries, and anything else that is personally related to him/her. Blogs are meant for interacting with others, allowing people to leave comments and messages. According to the article "Celebrity Blogs: The Impact of New Media" by Melissa Gerry, blogs have a huge effect in the world of celebrity and entertainment. Blogs allow people to discuss celebrity news, photographs, and other topics in the entertainment industry. And through the use of blogs, celebrities can gain popularity by through positive word of mouth.
         A new use for wiki is to use them in colleges for a better learning experience. Students can review the wikis and express their own opinions about them. They can also have debates on what is in the wiki articles. And wiki is a convenient source because with so much information, you don't need to bring in your textbooks to school; you can leave them at home. And while wiki is a good source of information, blogs can be used for collaboration. According to the article, "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid" by Michael Wilson, a neighborhood in Brooklyn united together by using a blog to get rid of drug dealers.
         With blogs and wikis in our hands, anything can be possible.
      

New Media On Sports

           Hello, my topic for my project is the impact of new media on sports today and its association with sports. We all know media affects everything (how we obtain information, how we react to it, etc). In this paper, I would like to explain the impact of new media on the players, the organization teams, and the fans themselves. By learning each of these perspectives, we can understand and appreciate why media is so important to us.