The Next New Thing

Suggest a new type of “new media” that doesn’t currently exist. Describe it.

 

The next next new type of “new media” will be an advanced form of Google Glasses. This new type of media will keep you connected at all times; allowing you to Skype with a friend, update your Facebook and even Yelp a restaurant nearby. I imagine that this advanced technology will one day be put into the form of a contact lenses. Recent research has already produced a contact lenses which can read the glucose level of diabetic users so I do not believe this technology is unfeasible. 

Our Class Wiki – So Far

I have not added any content to our class wiki as of yet, but I have been researching content over the past week. Something which interests me is how new media effects the financial world, such as the issue of using Snapchat for insider trading. While I have been reading up on relevant news, I am also interested in assuming a position as a Layout Editor. I will continue to read through the existing Wiki pages to see how I can organize the content in a manner which would be most beneficial for visitors. 

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is an act which allows people to share data in a variety of forms. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) File sharing has become widespread over the past couple of years and allows users to share files over the internet as long as seeders are present. This has become an issue because illegal P2P activity has increased as more and more people become computer savvy. An article published in 2005 reported that BitTorrent, one of the most successful peer-to-peer programs, “account[ed] for more than one-third of all data sent across the Internet.” Torrenting has become one of the major mediums of piracy and has become such as issue that production companies, such as the Motion Picture Association of America “began suing downloaders of movies.”

http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/bittorrent.html

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy has become a huge issue in our modern day and age. Many of our lives revolve around the internet in some way, shape or form which creates concerns about how this information is protected.

In an article in the New York Times, the author talks about copyright infringement which has been plagued sites such as YouTube for quite some time now. YouTube now uses a new algorithm that which must constantly be updated in order to make sure the content on its website is in full compliance of the law.

Besides copyright issues, recent news has exposed flawed privacy concerns of many Americans. There was an issue of Facebook selling personal information to vendors as well as the NSA stockpiling incredible amounts of information on whomever they wanted. As our lives become more and more dependent on technology, we must realize that our personal information may no longer be so personal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/business/media/23warner.html?_r=0

Advice to Baruch College

If I was hired as a person for Baruch College to improve New Media, I would suggest our classes to become more integrated with technology. It would be great if every seat in each classroom had a tablet which they could use to interact with the professor’s lesson plan. I believe that informing students of all aspects of New Media should be a priority as well. In the article in CNN, the author talks about how the use of New Media can benefit our lives in allowing people to share through a new medium. Learning about new media would be beneficial to all students.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2004/05/01/368240/

Creativity and New Media

As a joke on my friend’s Xbox live account, I created this avatar for his profile. All of his online “friends” on Xbox live associate this avatar with his username. This process required me to tinker around with my friend’s Xbox Live Avatar Editor for 10 mins; choosing the hair style, skin color, height and accessories I wanted. This feature of Xbox fosters creativity because it allows users to freely build whatever character they wish to represent them. 

Creativity

The article The New Math of Mashups published in 2005 in The New Yorker talks about how technological innovations has spawned a genre of new music; Mashups. This is just one example of how new media fosters creativity. Modern DJs such as Kapslap have become popular through their production of mashups alone; putting out their music for free on websites such as Soundcloud. While many people dismiss mashup artists as uncreative due to “a lack of originality”, the talent that goes into creating a mashup should not be discounted. Many DJ sets these days are just a mashup of different songs that have been expertly linked together in a fluid manner. New media has allowed DJs to link outros and intros using transitions that could not have been done in previous years.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/10/050110crmu_music

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

In an age characterized by technological innovation, physical interaction is no longer necessary for communication. Virtual worlds are a medium which have been becoming popular and are a great teaching mechanism.

The pros of virtual worlds is that it provides an environment where learning can occur without the fear of any repercussions. Military’s can utilize this as an asset due to the dangerous nature of some of its work. Virtual worlds are for those who seek “to connect with others who also want to build and create things”; from kids to corporations in need of a project building platform. As useful as virtual worlds can sometimes be, there are also cons associated with them. Users may develop a skewed sense of reality if their virtual world promotes an “anything goes” mentality, especially within the virtual world of gaming.

I imagine that future virtual worlds will be nothing short of spectacular. Our modern innovations must have been inconceivable to the majority of people a century ago.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/

Click to access SocialInfluenceEC.pdf

Blog about Twitter

Blackboard Discussion and Twitter operate using a similar concept, but differ in design. I personally am not a big fan of Twitter; at one time I viewed it as a fad that would die out like MySpace… boy, was I wrong. I believe that Blackboard discussion is better for students or professionals that value organization; Twitter seems jumbled and messy. The upside to Twitter is that it can mimic an in-class discussion it the way it is set up. Users can reply and get their ideas across without ever meeting one another.  

Social Networking Sites

Everyone has heard of Facebook. Well, maybe not everyone, but definitely the majority of the world. Facebook has become a force to be reckoned with in our modern day and age; it has over a billion registered users is constantly seeks to expand its market share through acquisitions of companies which pose a potential threat. A Facebook profile can theoretically tell someone everything about you without any physical interaction. Profile pictures, interest sections and status updates are among the few features to Facebook which conveys information.

Instagram is a photo sharing application which was acquired by Facebook in a $1 billion dollar deal which shocked the financial world. Instagram allows users to take pictures using “filters” and has recently incorporated videos in the service they provide users.

Twitter is a blogging platform that allows users to share opinions using a maximum of 140 characters. Myspace used to be the largest social networking site, but has lost its dominance in the past 10 years.

A common trait that all of these social networking sites have in common is the ability to connect people through the internet. All offer a medium where you can share opinions, photos, links or videos in some way. Although each has features which make it unique, Facebook is the star of these four social networks.