The Next New Thing

I think the next "new media" that currently doesn't exist is using augmented reality to learn how to cook and interact with other cooks.  This could be done by using special data goggles similar to the ones that BMW uses for its research projects.  (More information about the BMW special data goggles can be found here.  If special data goggles were used and wirelessly connected to the Internet, then someone would be able to virtually "connect" with other people who are learning and teaching to cook one another.  This would also be a great way for individuals to meet new people and socialize with people who have the common interest of cooking and such.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is defined as the distribution and sharing of digital content by through peer-to-peer file sharing or file hosting services.  P2P file sharing is also known as Peer-to-Peer file sharing.  Peer-to-Peer file sharing is done through a software that  connects users to a network.  Through this network, users can search for and download the share files that are available by other users. The shared files can be downloaded by multiple users who are on the same network.  According to the article "Take Advantage of P2P - not fear it" by Jamie King, examples of P2P file sharing are: The Pirate Bay and BitTorrent.

Our Class: Wiki So Far

I am contributing to the New Media in Food, Beverage & Hospitality Industry.  I am the editor and Jessica Ibanez is a contributor.  I am contributing to the wiki by adding content about food trucks and how people can follow them via Twitter and Zagat.  I have also provided a list of food trucks that people can follow.  I will also be adding more food related mobile applications used on Smartphones and I will discuss food bloggers who use new media.  Furthermore, I will also be trying to edit the layout of the page since some images (contributed by previous semesters) are not aligned properly.

Privacy & Confidentiality

There are issues of privacy and confidentiality that are related to new media today.  More and more people are concerned about how their personal information is utilized by websites that collect their information, whether or not consumers are aware of this.  If consumers are actively providing websites with personal information (i.e., when shopping online, using social networking websites), they should read the privacy policies of websites carefully before providing personal information.  In addition, if a consumer wants to be extremely cautious of their privacy when using new media today, then they should turn-off and block cookies in their web browsers so that they may surf the web without being tracked and having their personal information taken and shared without their knowledge.

Advice to Baruch College

If I were hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the College, I would suggest the use of Facebook, Twitter, and Wiki.  Even though Baruch College already has an existing Facebook and Twitter page, it would also be a good idea for the Baruch Computing and Technology Center (BCTC) to have Facebook Twitter pages too so that students are kept up to date on which computer labs are currently open.  The current webpage that the BCTC posted online shows a list of the hours of the computing labs for the Spring 2011 semester, but the hours are not accurate.  In addition, Baruch College could use their Facebook and Twitter page to update students and faculty on daily events going on at school.  The Baruch College Undergraduate Student Government (USG) already has a Facebook and Twitter page, which is utilized well.

About My Term Research Paper

My research paper was about the topic of Analysis of the Effects of New Media on Society.  I did my research by searching for articles and publications that related to the positive and negative effects of new media on society.  I also provided examples of real world events that have are effected by the new media on society.  I chose this topic because new media is prevalent and a significant part of the lives of many people today.  It has both pros and cons and has effected society economically, politically, and culturally.  My paper contributes to the field of new media because I discuss forms of new media that are used today that have a significant impact on society, especially with recent global events.

Creativity and New Media

New media fosters creativity because individuals can now play virtual reality games.  For example, I play Restaurant City and FarmVille on Facebook with my friends and I have my own virtual restaurant and virtual farm.  These virtual reality games are interactive and fun.  Users can be creative in terms of how they want to layout their virtual reality items and they can level up when they have earned a certain number of points.  Below are snapshots from Restaurant City and FarmVille.  Users can also invite their friends to be "neighbors" and add new "neighbors".

Restaurant City

FarmVille

Creativity

New media fosters creativity because of the way it can be used in social media.  The use of media can evolve from one original purpose into multiple uses.  The originators of an idea can foster the creativity or the users of a medium of social media can direct and foster the creativity.  For example, as written in the New York Times article "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" by Claire Cain Miller, Twitter initially started as a service that offered users the ability to post 140 character messages.  Over the past two years, as Twitter evolved and its user base grew, it observed how users Tweeted and utilized Twitter.  For example, Twitter users used symbols such as @ or # to refer to someone or a topic.  Today, Twitter has over 200 million users and the number continues to grow.  As technology advances and people become more involved in social media, individuals are collaborating together to create new innovations.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be used to motivate individuals with autism to communicate and socialize with people online.  For example, in the CNN article "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction" written by Nicole Saidi, David Savill has Asperger's syndrome says that visitors of the virtual world "can practice social interaction and find information about the condition. The graphical representations of real people create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others".  Virtual worlds can also be used for fun and entertainment by using online games such as FarmVille and Restaurant City where users can create their own virtual farm or restaurant.  Virtual worlds can also be used for individuals to be virtually present at an event rather than physically attending an event.  For example, in Mike Musgrove's article in the Washington Post "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide", he discusses how a congressional subcommittee hearing was "broadcast simultaneously in the company's own virtual world, Second Life".  Outsiders were able to watch the hearing live and chat with each other through the virtual world.

There are pros and cons of virtual worlds.  A pro of virtual worlds is that it motivates autistic individuals to try to be more socially active.  In addition, people can "attend" and  watch events live through the use of virtual worlds such as Second Life.  However, a con of virtual worlds is that if individuals play online virtual games, they may become addicted to the game, which can result in a lack of productivity, physical exercise, and real social interaction with people.

Virtual worlds foster creativity because they can be designed to be very much like real worlds, but in a virtual dimension.  Things that people do in real-world experience can be now be done virtually, whether it's for fun or for serious activity.

I think that the future of virtual worlds will also involve the use of 3D such that people can appear to be 3D (rather than 2D) in a virtual world so that it may seem as if a virtual room is full of people in motion.  In addition, I think that virtual worlds may be used for activities such as sporting events, conferences, and education in the future.

Twitter

Compared to a Blackboard discussion, a Twitter discussion can be shared with anyone who is following the Tweeter.  In addition, in a Twitter discussion, Tweets may only be up to 140 characters long.  In a Blackboard discussion, there is no limit (at least I don't think there is) to the length of writing and the discussion can only be viewed by the professor and classmates in the same course section.  Twitter and Blackboard discussions are both similar because discussions are not in real-time like an in-class discussion.  In in-class discussions, everyone is physically sitting together in a classroom communicating in real-time so the discussions are more (pro)active.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook 
Facebook is a social networking site that individuals use to (re)connect with friends and family.  Users create their own profiles and they can also add photos.  They can also "Like" pages about almost anything and play interactive games on Facebook created by companies such as Playfish, Zynga, and Playdom.  There are privacy settings that users can change to limit the amount of information that specific "Friends" may view.


Myspace
Myspace is a social networking site that individuals can also use to (re)connect with friends and family.  However, it is not as popular as Facebook since it is an older social networking site.  In addition, the website loads very slow in comparison to other social networking sites.  I think MySpace is primarily used by music artists to build a fan base and to upload their music for MySpace users to listen to.

Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site that individuals use to write short tweets.  Tweets are short updates that can only be up 140 characters long.  An individual's tweets can be public or private.  In addition, Twitter users can follow other Tweeters whether its friends, family, classmates, businesses, athletes, celebrities, etc.  Twitter is also a great way for food trucks to update their daily locations to their followers.

Foursquare
Foursquare is a location-based social networking site that individuals can use to check into their current locations.  They can check-in to locations by using their mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, iPhone Touch's, Android Phones, and Blackberries.  Users earn user points and badges when they check-in to venues.  However, users do not have to check-in at real-time.  They can check-in to a location even if they are no longer there, so users may "cheat" to earn user points and badges.  Therefore, Foursquare's check-in is not a secure as Yelp's check-in.

Social Networking

Social networking is utilized in many ways.  For example, it is used by recruiters to hunt for job candidates and post job listings.  An example of a professional (social) networking website is LinkedIn.  According to Frank Langfitt's NPR article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting", users can setup a profile, list work history, and specific skills on LinkedIn.  In addition, users may reconnect with friends and family as well as current and former co-workers.  Recruiters hunt for job candidates and post job listings on LinkedIn, which users may apply to.  Social networking is also used for individuals to reconnect with old friends and distant family as well as meeting new people who share similar interests.  Social networking is also used to "follow" people such as celebrities, athletes, politicians, etc.  Social networking websites are also used by businesses to advertise and market themselves to consumers.

A benefit of social networking to society is that it has been used to search for missing victims in the recent earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22, 2011.  Google apps and Twitter were being used to track and find victim of the earthquake.  Another benefit of social networking to society is that it is being used by traffic police in New Delhi, India to track down aggressive drivers in the city according to the New York Times article "Delhi Police Use Facebook to Track Scofflaw Drivers" written by Heather Timmons.

However, there is also a "dark side" to social networking.  It can become a "drug" when individuals are addicted to social networking sites such as Facebook.  In addition, if individuals do not read the privacy policies of social networking websites, they may not know if their personal information is being sold to third-parties.  Furthermore, if an individual posts too much information about their whereabouts on Facebook, Twitter, or Foursquare, they may become vulnerable to being stalked or having someone break into and rob their homes.

Although there are pros and cons of social networking, users should always be cautious of what information they are posting on social networks and they should read the privacy policies.  In the future, I think social networking technology may evolve by being utilized as a medium to search for clues to resolve crimes.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs are personalized in the sense that a blogger (an individual who writes an online journal) (a.k.a. publisher) writes about his or her own thoughts using words or visuals (photos, videos).  A blogger can select whether to make his or her blog open to the public for anyone to read or to make it private for a selected few people to read.  In addition, viewers of a blog may comment on entries written by the blogger.  However, viewers may not post entries on a blog unless it belongs to them.  The layout of a blog can also be personalized and designed by the blogger by utilizing different colors, images, and coding for the blog.  Blog entries are also typically written in chronological order from the most recent entry to the oldest entry with time-stamps.  Kathy E. Gill's article, "How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere?" discusses the characteristics of blogs in addition to the influence and effect that it has on politics and the mass media.

Wikis are public websites that anyone may create, access, and edit.  It uses simplified markup language to create and edit.  Wikis may be used to search for information about something or as a collaborative work.  It is also like a online community portal and information database.  Wikis are also easy to use and edit.  Whenever someone edits a Wiki site, the history of edits is available for view on the Wiki.

Both blogs have become integrated into today's networked world because individuals like to express their thoughts and ideas through blogs, which other people may read.  Wikis have become integrated into today's networked world too because schools use Wikis in the school setting (for example:  CIS 3810 online class at Baruch College) and the government uses Wikis too as it is mentioned in the Wikipedia article about Wiki.

Blogs can be used for collaboration by encouraging individuals with similar interests to form a "community", in which there may be multiple bloggers on one web blog site.

Wikis can be used to update the status of a project.  i.e.,  If there are 10 phases to a project, there can be updates about each phase and information provided about each phase.  This Wiki update information can then be shared with other people who are working on the project to discuss what has been done and what needs to be done as well as progress.  I think Wikis can also be used like dictionaries to show the definitions of words as well as thesaurus (all on one page), which would be easier than flipping through a hard copy of a dictionary to find out dictionary definitions and thesauruses.

CIS 3810 Project: Analysis of New Media in Entertainment

The new media in entertainment has both positive and negative effects on society. I will be researching the positive and negative effects of new media in entertainment by using scholarly sources and online articles about new media. I will analyze my research and determine how new media effects society as a whole and how it effects individuals within society. I may also survey a random sample of individuals to ask them how they think new media in entertainment has both positive and negative effects in society. Below is a list of examples of the positive and negative effects that new media in entertainment has on society:

Positive Effects on Society:

• People can get instant access to world news through the Internet from online news websites
• People can reconnect with old friends/elementary school classmates through social networks
• The new media in entertainment is convenient for people to access
• People can watch television shows and movies by paying and downloading online or by watching for free on a television network's website (with advertisements)
• It is easier to communicate with people via e-mail and VOIP (i.e., Skype, Google Voice)

Negative Effects on Society:

• Children are spending more time on the Internet and spending less time outdoors
• The new media in entertainment may be addictive and disruptive to daily activities
• People's personal information may be sold to others without their approval/knowledge
• People become lazy
• Government and politics may make relations between foreign countries fragile