About Someone Else's Term Project

Rich's presentation about twitter especially caught my attention because of my dislike for twitter. He explained its many uses for businesses and marketing. His examples of specific companies use of twitter to respond to their customers was very helpful. I think the part of his presentation that affected me most was his suggestion to use twitter to follow people that may be of interest to you in the business or career world. I had never thought how useful twitter could be in learning about others. As I near the end of my college career, I must begin interviewing at companies to get a job. Knowing about the company and its people, such as CEOs, is important during the interview. Any little extra bit of information you have may be used as an "in" and potentially get you the job. Rich's suggestion to follow the CEOs may come in very useful when I being interviewing and I will definitely take it to heart and put my twitter account to use.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

As editor of the Marketing and Advertising using New Media section our class wiki, I go through the material that has been posted and edit its formatting taking away unnecessary things and adding things that will make the section easier to read and more informative with pictures and better formatting. While the past contributions have been great, they were just put on with no formatting. Going through the material was hard to follow and new topics and sections were unclear. A lot of the topics could also use pictures to make them more eye catching. Those with pictures and formatting already done needed a little tweaking as well. I believe that when I'm done with editing at the end of this semester, the whole second will read more smoothly and be much more appealing to the reader.

The Next New Thing

I think the next new thing in terms of new media is further portability and incorporation of the technology we already have. While we already have all in one devices, I see a future where these devices are better integrated. They will get smaller and smaller and perhaps one day we'll have ear buds implanted into our ears and a transparent screen in our eyes like contacts. That way we can have tv and computer anywhere with us at all times. We'll all be able to communicate through these integrated devices no matter where we are. I think we will have technology that will better cater to each persons needs, remembering their preferences and settings and always working for them where ever they go.

About My Term Project

In my term project I will discuss the issue of Peer to Peer file sharing and its being moral or immoral. I will first explain the technology to the class as well as what material is being transferred so they will have a complete understanding of the issue. It is also important to understand the motivations behind the use of P2P. I will then describe the cases of both sides to the dilemma and share my personal view on the subject matter. I will also discuss how it ties in with our New Media class.

Privacy & Confidentiality

New Media, and the internet more specifically, has brought people together into a virtual public world. It is important to understand that the internet is a public forum. Almost anything can be put on the internet. Just like in the real world, some people do not realize the importance of privacy and confidentiality online. Its actually more important on the internet, yet negligence to such things seems to be increased. Because the internet is easy to access and is so easily searchable, one must use discretion when posting information online. One must also remember that since everyone can see what you post, including people of all ages, races, genders, nationalities, etc, you have to be careful what you put on. Children especially are very easily influenced by what they see online. And with parents' ignorance when it comes to their children accessing whatever they want, it is up to the rest of society to make sure nothing damaging is accessed easily. I think more measures should be put in to prevent children from accessing websites that aren't appropriate. What they see online can be harmful to their minds. Social networking sites are only further pushing such material to them as people promote some very inappropriate content. This is a problem within our society as a whole, and it will only progress to get worse as we venture into the future. The internet is becoming a bigger part of life and children younger and younger and getting on it and accessing all of it.

Advice to Baruch College

New Media can improve the college infrastructure and classes in so many ways. Although an initial investment might have to be made to implement the technology, it will pay off in the long run for both the college and more importantly its students and staff. One way in which New Media can be used for classes is to create classes that are done within a "Virtual World" online, such as second life. This way teachers and students can partake from anywhere, and can also record the classes for later reviewing. This is can cut down on costs for the school in needing classrooms and all that goes in to keeping a building running. This is also easier for the students of Baruch that commute long ways to get to school. Professors should also start having all class material on Wikis so that everybody can easily get to it and work on it. Just like our New Media course, it would really make things easier for both professor and student. Text books that are expensive and cumbersome can be replaced by ebooks. Instead of printing assignments out and wasting paper, everything can be electronic. Classes can be recorded as podcasts so that anybody that missed class or didn't get all the notes down can listen later. Class projects can move from powerpoints in front of the class to youtube videos or presentations over VOIP. Updates from teachers about them coming to class and assignments can be made through Twitter or Facebook status updates so everyone will easily get the message. Students should be able to contact their professors over IM so that they can get instant answers to their questions. Much of registering for classes and paying is already online but the systems aren't very refinded. With a move to Web 2.0, the college infrastructure could be more streamlined. Moving everything from registering to advisement online can make things easier, faster, and less costly. It will benefit everyone in the equation.

My New Media Class - So Far

New Media is comprised of many different technologies and mediums. These include blogs, wikis, social networking, mash ups, web 2.0, flickr, twitter, facebook, myspace, email, instant messaging, virtual worlds, p2p, podcasts, ezines, VOIP, youtube, and more. The internet is an essential part of new media because it allows for the collaboration and interaction between people as well as the access to the new media for everyone no matter where they are. A big part of new media is communication and sharing which is able to happen through the internet. Many of the mediums of new media would be almost impossible without the internet. Flickr for example allows for sharing of tons of photos, no other medium could do this as well and as efficiently as the internet. Blogs also work on the net because anybody can contribute from anywhere and an accumulation of posts can be made easily. In the article "Publisher Rethinks the Daily: It’s Free and Printed and Has Blogs All Over" one man tried to take the blog technology and put it in the old media form of paper. But this didn't work out due to the costs and it was nowhere near as efficient as posting online. Online blogs can be updated real time, so news is out there almost instantly, or as fast as someone gets on their computer or cell phone and types it up. That article is also a great example of how new media is replacing old media. Newpapers and magazines are being replaced with blogs. Now anybody can be a writer and everybody has access to more creativity online. Networking in person is replaced by facebook and other social networking sites that can bring people of similar interests together. Television is being replaced by youtube where anybody can be the star and even the normal tv shows are going online with websites like hulu. Even something as simple as talking on the phone is enhanced with VOIP and video conferancing with skype. New media allows for the world to be a smaller place because anybody can interact with anybody else anywhere in the world. New media is for everyone and has limitless uses that are great for our society.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

The "Virtual Worlds" that have emerged online have many different uses. They are used for fun and games as well as practical things in business. First and foremost, these "Virtual Worlds" emerged as a fun escape from reality. Sites like Second Life allow a user to create a virtual self within this online world in any form they wish. They can be who they want and do what they want in this world, including things that would otherwise be limited within our reality. There is no space, time, or physical limits as there are within reality. One can look like a superhero and fly and interact with other users all from behind ones computer. Because there is no space in the "Virtual Worlds" can also be used for meetings by people on opposite sides of the world. This is where they are useful for businesses. A whole group of people can meet no matter where they are. People can be trained from home, as IBM does, read in the article "IBM Learning Programs Get a ‘Second Life’". This allows IBMs trainees to interact in the online environment and learn, while cutting costs for everyone as they don't need to physically go into a class. It makes it much easier for both parties.
While the "Virtual Worlds" allow for interactivity from anywhere and make communication easier, there are some cons to them as well. Most importantly, when one spends all his/her time behind a computer in a "Virtual World", one might lose sight of reality and the real world which is important. Also, one no longer has real human interaction and may not develop the social skills needed to live and work in the real world. Some may take these worlds seriously, but in the end they are fake, and the only world worth focusing on is the real one, because that is the one with real prosperity as well as consequences.
The "Virtual Worlds" do foster creativity as they are limitless. The human imagination is only hindered in reality due to physical limitations, but the "Virtual Worlds" have no such limitations, which would allow ones imagination to flourish.
With both pros and cons to "Virtual Worlds", I am certain that they will only further develop and integrate into our technological society. The future will hold greater uses for these worlds online, and as the "Virtual Worlds" are limitless, so is its potential in the future. I think in the future the worlds will be a better copy of our reality and maybe integrate more with the real world so they become less of a fake game, and more of a real tool in our lives. I think they will become more useful in education and training for people, so such things will be more accessible by everyone all over the world, no matter their status.

Social Networking

Social networking can be used in a number of way in the business world. First, and most important, is basic networking. We can easily connect and communicate with others with so little as a name to search for. We can see resumes and all kinds of information about a person with just a click, and find people through them as well. We can create groups that pertain to a certain subject matter and invite people so we can meet them. The possibilities are endless. Online virtual worlds can also be used for many things. IBM's Virtual World for its Employees: IBM Learning Programs Get a 'Second Life' by Ed Frauenheim talks about how IBM trains employees using "second life" so that they don't have to come in for training. This way they can train tons of people no matter where they are in the world. This can allow for virtual meetings where one person can be in the U.S. and the other as far as China. IBM trains a bunch of people easily and cheaply. Another advantage of this technology is that the users can replay what they have learned, as many times as they want until they have learned it.
There does remain one "dark side" to this technology, which is the lack of real human interaction. Everything becomes virtual in the online world. We no longer have the regular social practices of seeing eachother and shaking hands, small talking, courtesy. Many will see this as a bad thing for society. We cannot lose the most basic of interactions between eachother or we will become a lifeless society.
I think the future will only bring more things to the internet world. Everything will be online from virtual shopping to eating to maybe even going clubbing and dating. It will be a very different but interesting world to live in.

Social Networking Sites

The emergence of New Media has brought with it a new type of social communication in the form of Social Networking Sites, such as Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster. I personally only use Facebook as it covers all my needs and almost all the people I associate with are on it. I have looked at the other websites too. They are all pretty similar in essence with the basics such as creating a profile page with ones picture and interests and allowing people to communicate in different ways. The differences between the different pages are the layouts, some added uses, and the fact that depending on who your associate with your friends might be on a certain one only. Facebook has made its way to become most popular among highschool and college students and is slowly to take over the whole population from big to small. Myspace is more for teens and has a more teenage touch to it like customizing your page with different colors and layouts. I prefer facebooks uniform look as it is easy on the eyes and makes use of it much easier. Friendster is similar to facebook but also includes some of the blogs and entertainment features that are seen in Myspace. My problem with Friendster is that I don't know anybody who uses it so it does nothing for me, and Myspace is slowly joining it as my friends get older and stop using it. The most important things to consider when joning a social networking site is 1: Where most of your friends are registered 2: the layout of the pages and 3: any additional apps the sites provide that may be of use for you. Facebook and Myspace both have applications for Blackberrys and iPhones that are useful on the go. I use the facebook app on my blackberry daily since I'm not always near a computer. Nowadays everybody is a member to a few of the sites, that way they cover all the people they know no matter where they are members. So, ultimately comes down to personal preferance.

Blogs vs. Wikis

A blog is a webpage where one user, the blogger, posts articles, news, or any media and other users then read and comment on the different posts. A wiki on the other hand is a created and edited by many different people. Both blogs and wikis can be created to write about the same things such as a hobby, news, people, etc. Wikis just allow for more interaction by different people on the same thing. Blogs only allow for responses to the main posts.
Convergance is extremely important in our society today. Much of technology and new media is based on interaction between everyone, no matter where they are in the world. Blogs and wikis are the perfect medium for such interaction. Blogs can be used to post news about things going on in one area of the world, with the readers offering their opinions in the comments. Wikis can be used by businesses and schools to create and edit a single write up on an issue or assignment. Email used to be the main form of sending a document around to different people, but wikis make it easier for each person to add their own input from whereever they are. Wikis are all about easy collaboration. Margaret Locher's article "Wiki While You Work" speaks of how a team at EMC used wikis to post all of their information on a project. Having all the information available to them in such a timely manner allowed them get the project done faster and better.
New uses for wikis can be in businesses like restaurants and stores with more than one location. They can use wikis to post inventory information between locations and headquarters. Another use can be for restaurant reviews by consumers. A wiki can be created for each restaurant and all kinds of information and opinions can be posted by the users.

Old vs. New

How do we distinguish “new media” from “old” media?

New media is 21st century. It makes great use of technology, computers, and the internet. New media allows for collaboration by the masses. Its more advanced than Old media and offers many ways for the user to interact. Old media is news papers, radio, television, film, photography; while New media switches to blogs, podcasts, webisodes, youtube, flickr. We can distinguish between the two by examining what makes greater use of new technology and gives the user more involvement.

P2P File Sharing: Moral or Immoral?

In recent years, technology, and more specifically the internet, has brought media into every home, easier than ever before. But it has also brought with it much conflict and debate. Peer-to-Peer, or P2P, file sharing allows for free and easy sharing of large file types over the internet between computers anywhere in the world. It makes big files available to anybody who cares to search for them and allows anybody to upload them online to be found. The conflict comes in where people upload content that then becomes illegal to download, such as music and movies. There now lies an issue of morality; can we download content that we would otherwise be required to pay for? And in the process possibly take down a whole industry? Its a debate that will not be easily answered and will probably go on until one side, either the media industry or the consumers, give in. In my project I plan to lay out the facts and stances of each side as well as give my own opinion of the matter, along with an explanation of the actual technology that provokes all this debate.

What is "New Media"?

New Media is a very broad term used to describe technology and its use in society in the 20th and 21st Century. New Media is computers, blogs, social networking, television, youtube, web 2.0, etc. So many different things fall under the term "New Media". A lot of New Media has just been transformed from Old Media, such has news that has become blogs, photo albums that are websites like Flickr and Picasa, TV and Films that we can watch online using Hulu and Youtube. Then there are things that have emerged as a result of New Media, such as social networking on Youtube and Myspace, Virtual Worlds in Second Life, and the bizzare use of telling everyone what you're doing at any given time using Twitter. New Media has come about because of advances in technology as well as our societys need to be able to interact with others, without actually interacting with them in person as well as better ways to do everyday things such as getting the news. New Media has made things easier and allowed for many types of creativty such as short videos on youtube, as seen in Clive Thompson's article in Wired, "Clive Thompson on How YouTube Changes the Way We Think," and mashups of different songs. All of this is able to happen because of the internet. The internet helps because it allows for communication as well as development by many different people all over the world. Overall New Media has been a huge asset to society and will only further evolve as we need it to. We can only begin to imagine what the New Media of the future will be like.