Next New

One type of new media I would like to create is one for nightlife.  It would be similar to yelp but have its niche in the club, bar, lounge, and concert scene.  Basically what you would do go on this media vehicle and search the type of places you would like to go and it will give you recommendations based on your location.  There will be user ratings, comments, pictures, video, and check ins.  The check in will be a big part of this idea.  It works the same way as a check in on Facebook.  Once you get to the club your going to you can check in and it will show on whichever social media site you have synched to.  Eventually celebrities will use this and check in which will make people desire to go to those locations.  The venues can have post certain deals or ticket prices through the site as well.

Wiki So Far

Unfortunately I have yet to add or edit to the class wiki but I do have a couple of ideas.  I was thinking I can talk about how difficult the job market is and how important it is to get internships.  I have orientation for my new internship today so I guess its on my mind.  Internships and building the resume are super important to starting a career with a company of your choosing.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is basically the exchange of a file or document from one computer to another.  This can be done offline using USB sticks or online through the use of our very good friend, the internet.  P2P file sharing, or peer to peer file sharing is done through the use of similar software makeup on the devices being used.  As long as the software is compatible and the memory space is sufficient anything can be transferred.  One example is how people download music.  Torrents files that contain music, audio, pictures, or documents that can be downloaded by anyone as long as they have to correct application.  I download my music by searching for the album torrent and downloading it through a peer who already has downloaded it onto their computer.  "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios," explains how digital piracy is effecting the revenues of the film industry.  It wasn't explained in the article but they're many more industries being effected by digital piracy.

Works Cited:

Stelter, Brian and Brad Stone. “Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios.” The New York Times.4 February 2009. Web. 18 November 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/media/05piracy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1415832821-AnzqWzqbKtRqjkOUh1GSSQ >

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy and confidentiality are things that some people tend to forget about on social media.  Just because you're not specifically saying it to someone doesn't mean they can't find out through the vehicles online.  For example say you're going on an interview for a big company and you think it went very well.  That company is going to go online Google your name and see what comes up.  To find pictures of you blackout wasted or doing other things you're not supposed to is a huge turn off for that company and they don't want to be represented in such a way.  The employee is a constant representation of the company so they are looking for a more conservative candidate.  Its not about how well you can do the job before you get it its about how well you seem like you have your "stuff" together.  Even if its not about applying for a job your peers are judging you through these sites as well.  This could effect interactions in group projects or seeking help in class.  Its a tough concept to grasp but in the case of social media sometimes less is more.

Advice

If Baruch College began to hire me to handle some forms of improving new media there are a couple of changes I would make.  One thing I would create is a wiki for each class.  This wiki will provide every note or document the professor hands out in class.  I would also try to encourage students to ask questions and help each other through this wiki.  By adding input from individual students, more questions could be answered and more questions could be given than in the classroom.  This is especially useful when the professor is difficult to understand or the topic is unclear.  Come test day everyone should have done similar questions in similar ways making the class as a whole better.  Another new media I would integrate are blogs.  It would be similar to rate my professor but to comment or contribute to this blog you need to be signed in with a Baruch student email address.  That way professors can't get on and write amazing untrue comments about themselves, sullying the site.  As you can see I'm all about helping the students because frankly I feel they do not receive enough help or attention in this school.

Creativity in New Media

So I wasn't sure what to do so this is what I came up with.

Creativity

New media fosters creativity in so many ways.  With technology moving faster than we can keep up it seems like the sky is the limit.  Youtube is one of the more special places on the web.  There are videos of everything you can possibly imagine.  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to combine hip hop and child cartoons? Me either, but good ol Youtube has got that too.  The New York Times article "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of its Critters, but why?" shows Spongebob dancing with Soulja Boy's song in the background.  Some may think how its a disgrace to combine the two but it just shows how creative New Media is allowing us to be.  By the way they are tolerating it because its just generally entertaining.

Barnes, Brooks. "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2007. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

   <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html?_r=0>

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds grow everyday and just as fast as technology does.  There are so many vehicles out there that make this possible and accessible.  There have been games like The Sims or Roller Coaster Tycoon in which the child (or whoever is playing this game) get to manage and create every aspect of the amusement park or city.  This teaches children about all the different things that go into constructing such an entity.  Obviously these technologies have limitations just because it is meant for children but technology in its general sense does not have any limits.

Creativity is oozing out of the Virtual World.  this is the birthplace to a visual composition without limitations.  One can make a city, amusement park, a car, a shirt, whatever the user desires.  Imagine playing with legos but there was an unlimited supply and of all shapes, sizes, and colors.  Its every kids dream and its only a click away.  Diane Mehta speaks of the lego metaphor regarding the game MineCraft in "After a Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot."

The Virtual World has grown from gaming to teaching and learning for adults.  Stephanie Simon's "Avatar II: The Hospital" describes how nurses get certain types of training at a computer screen that they would never get a chance to in person.  If they did get this training in person it would of taken more time and had to pay actors to act out the session.  These training's are specific such as a disaster recovery session or quarantining a diseased patient.

Pros of virtual worlds are efficiency, effectiveness, safety, and imagination.  The cons are looking at a digital screen instead of a first hand experience.  People remember certain situations because of something small that happened or because of a strange item in the room.  Learning online can mask the individual experience with standardized boredom.



Simon, Stephanie. "Avatar II: The Hospital." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 13 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204?KEYWORDS=avatar+ii+the+hospital&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204.html%3FKEYWORDS%3Davatar%2Bii%2Bthe%2Bhospital>.

Mehta, D. (2013, April 30). After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/

Twitter

Twitter is pretty good with discussions but not the best.  Through hashtags its all linked together with tweets around the world but I find many things get lost over the web.  On blackboard its easier to see the thread and the replies.  On twitter if you don't specifically reply and just compose a tweet it won't necessarily go directly under the replied tweet.  In class, in person, discussion's are the best.  To me nothing can compare to a face to face conversation as opposed to face to phone.  Twitter you can reply to people that you wouldn't even have a chance to speak to in person.  I can have a conversation with a music artist on the west coast while I'm on the computer in my bedroom.  The check on the profile pages lets the users know that is a verified account not a parody or fake.

Social Networking Sites

Myspace
This is the original.  Tom and your top friends ran your Myspace page along with a custom layout and music of your choosing.  It used to be a very popular and customizable site.  Now I see that it has a music niche.  Artists and celebrates can make posts and connect it with record labels or event venues.

Twitter
To me this is the most powerful site out there.  Companies, public figures, icons, celebrities, and the average Joe can speak their mind.  Hash tags connect the entire twitter universe on one specific topic.  When a popular topic is being spoken about it becomes a trending topic based on your location.

Facebook
If you want to develop a profile about yourself keeping your friends and family updated this is the site.  Uploading pictures, posting statuses and links make it a great way to share and view.  This sites niche is definitely messaging.  Countries throughout the world use Facebook to keep in contact.

Instagram
This is comparable to twitter except instead of posting words you post pictures.  Hashtags and celebrities still exist the same.  You can follow whichever account you want and gain followers (within privacy restrictions).

Social Networking

Social Networking is the way of the future.  A technologically driven generation whom knows nothing else.  Facebook is giving us the opportunity to share what is going on with our lives to family and friends that are countries away.  Twitter is giving us constant updates on anything popular going on in the area.  Instagram is giving us a visual on whatever we want to search for.  Linkedin is providing job opportunities for professionals across the country.  It almost seems like the possibilities are endless.  Now with one click of a button a person's life could change.

As great as all that is for the young adult they are not the only ones that have the ability to use social networking.  Teenagers, who are the root of all evil, have taken these platforms in a different direction.  In "They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites" by Jeffrey R. Young, cyber bullying is a topic of discussion.  High school teenagers taking shielded shots on a public forum that has no rules.  Between fake accounts and anonymous comments it is almost impossible to find out how or who are behind specific comments.

There are ways these kids can limit the harm to their own self esteem.  My master advice: GET OFFLINE.  Go outside, be active.  Maybe I'm old school but I never had a problem with cyber bullying.  If that advice isn't taken there are privacy settings that can be put into place.  The privacy settings can be intricate and specific but not always enough.  The Wire reported that Marc Zuckerberg failed in the attempt to make a family photo private on the very same social media site that he created.  If the man that made the monster has no control than I don't know who does.

Young, Jeffery R. "They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites." Chronicle, Web. 05 Oct. 2014

Greenfield, Rebecca. “Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn’t Private.” The Wire. N.p., 26 Dec. 2012.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and Wikis are a new and efficient form of communication.  Although they both serve as communication entities they differ in ultimate purpose. A wiki gives a group of people the opportunity to edit each others work, while a blog gives more people access to view the post but not edit.  

Wiki can be used for any number of topics that any number of people can add, delete, or edit.  It is an online system so any user that is connected to a server can utilize its functions.  Wikipedia is the largest wiki on the web.  It has topics about anything and everything.  The downside to this site is anyone can edit it.  A lot of professors don't like students to use Wikipedia for that reason.  They believe the information is too frequently changed that it is not a credible source.  Diplopedia is a wiki site that an organization can depend on, as Noam Cohen describes.  The site's main use is to keep up to date information about political figures.

Blogs are a new form of a journal or an article for a writer.  It gives billions of people access to view what the blogger posts about.  These posts can vary from a child's first little league game or sketchy actions from a household neighbor.  Wilson spoke about how specific blog posts basically monitored the activity of this neighbor which led to a police investigation and conviction.  Blog links can be carried out by other forms of social media to have even more people view it as well.  No one can edit these posts besides the publisher.

Cited
Cohen, Noam. "An Internal Wiki That's Not Classified." The New York Times. The New York Times, 3 Aug. 2008. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/business/media/04link.html?_r=0>.
Wilson, Michael. "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead To Drug Raid." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 June 2008. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html>.

Social Networking: Better or worse than the real thing?

My topic of "Social Networking: Better or worse than the real thing?" will discuss the pros and cons to both sides of the scenario.  I for one think the real think it is better but you can reach more people using the internet.  They're a lot of different entities and tools that go into this topic and I believe New Media will be a large part of it.  This doesn't just apply to social settings, it can go into many different types of businesses and organizations.