I think there are many great ideas out there for the next type of new media. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat are in their prime right now, but I think the world is ready for something new. I think there are a lot of interesting new media platforms that exist right now, but one that hasn’t become quite popular yet is a platform where you can video chat multiple people at once. FaceTime is very popular among iPhone users, and even Snapchat has added a feature where you can video chat with one other person, but I have yet to see an app where you can video chat with more than one person at a time using your smartphone. I think once a company masters that, they will have a popular new media platform on their hands.
Our Class Wiki – So Far
For our class wiki, I have been thinking about a number of things to contribute. I haven’t contributed to a wiki yet, but I have been thinking about what page I should create. One wiki page that caught my eye was the “New Media In Advertising” page, as I think advertising companies use new media in interesting ways to promote their product.
P2P File Sharing
File sharing is the practice of or ability to transmit files from one computer to another over a network or the Internet. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program that searches for other connected computers on a P2P network to locate the desired content. The nodes (peers) of such networks are end-user computers and distribution servers (not required). Peer to peer sharing makes it very easy to pass along information on the internet. Some popular P2P services include Napster and Spotify. In the article Content Producers Should Take Advantage of P2P, Not Fear It by NMA Staff, they describe how Pirate Bay, a P2P site for sharing films, could increase the popularity of their film simply because it is distributed to millions of users. This shows that film-making companies should not be afraid of P2P sharing, as it can be used as a platform to reach millions of people.
Privacy
The issues of privacy and confidentiality are directly related to new media. New media is an outlet for people to express themselves to the internet. This ability to express yourself to everyone can be both a good and bad thing. It is good because you have a platform to say how you feel, but it is bad because everything you say is now documented and put forward to the world. New media has diminished the privacy factor in our lives, as we post our location and what we are doing at all times of the day. Word travels faster than ever because of new media, making it difficult to have any privacy. I think the people who suffer maintaining privacy the most are the ones who need it the most, celebrities. Celebrities try to keep their location under wraps most of the time, but with these tabloids using new media to keep up with celebrities every day, it can be difficult for them to find privacy. Also, they must maintain a balance of expressing their personal opinions on the internet all while trying not to offend anyone.
Advice to Baruch College
I think new media can help improve many different aspects of college life. I think a wiki for students to update different events would be extremely helpful. You could organize student body events and keep it updated on the wiki in case any sudden changes occur. Also, I think something that would be extremely helpful for new students would be a virtual tour of the school. I think this would attract incoming freshman, making them more familiar with the campus before the first day of classes. Also, besides organizing events, new media can contribute to the culture of your classroom. If classwork includes interactions with classmates on new media websites, that creates a friendlier culture among your class. In a regular class setting, students walk into the classroom, sit through class, and walk out without saying a word to anyone. New media encourages interaction between classmates, making class a more comfortable place.
Creativity and New Media
I created an avatar in Second Life. There are a bunch of different places you can go and worlds you can explore, and I think that part is very interesting. There are also tons of people you can interact with, and that is really weird to me. Not knowing who you were interacting with was creepy and uncomfortable for me. Despite this, I thought the fact that there were so many places to explore was pretty cool.
Creativity
In my opinion, the reason new media is on the rise is because it fosters creativity. It gives individuals a chance to express themselves in a bunch of different ways. New media has established resources for people to create and display what they make to the world. As a basketball coach, new media has given me a platform to both share and retain information that is helpful to basketball players on apps like FastDraw. Here is where you can share plays with other coaches to help your team and other teams improve.
This idea of sharing creativity has helped companies like Twitter build their website to be bigger and better. In the article Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers by Claire Cain Miller, she addresses how a company like Twitter listens to their consumers when it comes to ideas on how to expand the website. They sit back and let the consumer talk about what would make the website better, and then they build upon that. Technology companies have become very reliable on innovation via outsourcing simply because sharing ideas on the internet is so simple. This just goes to show how new media has given people a platform to be creative, expand, and help companies improve.
Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds
Mainly, in the media, you see blogs talk about virtual reality for recreational use. The reason virtual worlds are being used for recreational purposes is because you get to escape your reality and explore a world you may never get to experience otherwise. But businesses are also starting to take advantage of virtual worlds. In the article Going to the Virtual Office in the Second Life by Mark Tutton, he talks about how businesses are starting to hold conferences and meetings using virtual reality. The only issue I see with this is that it can take away from human in-person interactions.
There are tons of other uses for virtual worlds such as creating battle scenarios for soldiers to prepare for war as described in the After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot? by Jacki Morie. Other than that, virtual worlds can be used for therapy purposes, such as creating worlds that veterans can walk through to help them get over disorders like PTSD. With the technology that we have in this day and age, virtual worlds can grow to become a staple in different areas of our every day lives.
Blog About Twitter
Discussions on Twitter and Blackboard have a couple of similarities and differences. To hold a discussion on Twitter you use hashtags to group tweets together. You can also reply to other people’s tweets and view conversations on Twitter. The one thing that makes Twitter discussions difficult is that it is limited to 140 characters for each tweet. This can cause misunderstandings between people during discussions.
In my opinion, Blackboard discussions are easier to navigate through than Twitter discussions. There is no character limit which means you can type as much as you want. Blackboard discussions are driven by threads. You create a thread and people post entries onto that thread.
The issue with online discussions is that people don’t always read what everyone else says, causing a lot of repetition in responses. I feel like in-class discussion is the most effective way to communicate. Everyone is face to face and gets a chance to hear what every other person is saying, causing the conversation to progress in a way that is difficult to achieve during online discussions. Although online discussions are becoming popular, nothing can replace the authenticity of in-class discussions.
Social Networking Sites
The four social networking sites I visited were Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The first website, Facebook, is somewhere I surf around when I’m bored to find funny or interesting content such as videos and pictures. Your news feed is constantly updating with content that your friends post. It is also a website where you can contact a friend using Facebook Messenger. In comparison, LinkedIn is basically like Facebook for professionals. You have a profile, a news feed, and a messenger where you can contact people you connect with. There isn’t much entertaining material on LinkedIn, as it is used to gain connections with others and expand your network.
Twitter and Instagram are also very similar to each other. On Twitter, your timeline is constantly refreshing with tweets from the people you follow. You have a profile that shows all the things you’ve tweeted. Instagram is the same thing, but with pictures. On Instagram, your feed is constantly refreshing with pictures from the people you follow. You have a profile that shows all the pictures you’ve posted.
My impressions of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are very similar in that they can be used for interesting content to look through to be entertained. My impression of LinkedIn is that it can be used to expand your network and connect with others in pursuit of a job.
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