The Next New Thing

What is the next new thing to come to new media. A very difficult election, having one of the least predictable worlds ever as can be seen by the recent presidential election. However, the next big thing is new media will be social and world shrinking. Each step of technology in some way either increased the social aspect of something or shrank the world. No I don't literally mean make earth smaller like an evil villain from a cartoon show (although that would be pretty cool). What I mean is that it made it matter less where you lived. One example is the internet itself. It doesn't matter where you live as long as you have internet connection you can connect to any website in world. That means somebody in the United States has the same opportunity to information as somebody in India or Portugal. Thus shrinking the world and making the world a more fair place.
The new media that will develop next will hopefully make the world smaller for minorities and woman. Although we have made great strides over the years, the world is still not flat for these groups of people. An example for a shrinking technology could be a website that helps find out if you are making as much as your male counter parts. This is an awkward question in the workplace and thus rarely gets asked an discussed. A woman can be making hundreds or even thousands of dollars less then what their male counterparts doing the same job and have no idea. With this website we will gather data from many different jobs and locations to make sure you are being paid a fair salary. This will force companies to pay equal for equal work or be put into a category of sexism or racism. With companies not wishing to have these labels they will pay equally and thus make the world more flat for everybody.

Our Class Wiki So Far

My main contribution to the class wiki so far is the addition of information of advertising. In the advertising category I discussed about Google Ad words and the advantages that the mega advertising system supplies. I went over how it is a keyword based industry and even went over an example of how this would work in the paint industry.
I just recently got access to the wiki so in the coming weeks I plan on adding several other paragraphs to pages.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is simply the ability to send one file from one computer to another. A computer isn't limited to a desktop but ranges to tablets and cell phones as well. P2P file sharing however is a different animal. PSP file sharing essentially connecting multiple computers into a single system. This allows seamless sharing of files between peers. At my summer internship we had P2P file sharing, this allowed me to create a powerpoint on one computer and my boss be able to access his computer with no issue. However file sharing is not without it's faults. File sharing is an opportunity for hackers to get into your system. With P2P file sharing this allows one break in the information chain to affect multiple systems.  According to the article from the New York Times "Digital Pirates Winning Battle with Studios" by Brian Stelter, these types of groups are affecting the income of studios. For example experts feel that the movie industry can be experiencing the same drop the music industry received after Napster started pirating their material.

Privacy

Privacy is a major issue that new media has reveled to us. New media allows us to connect with millions of people all at once and yet people are surprised that they lose some privacy. I mean were talking about things such as "Social Media" which lets you write anytime you cook a meal, go on vacation, state your political views (for good or for bad), family pictures, fun times at bars, 10 different ways to cook hotdogs and these are just to name a few. These are things you are sharing with anybody with an internet connection can see these things. In order to enjoy new media you need to be willing to sacrifice privacy, take this as that old saying that nothing in life is free. While you can sign up for free for facebook or twitter, you allow them to advertise product down your throat catered towards the last thing you may have Googled or allow them to sell your information you provide upon set up to the highest bidder.
To live in a more interconnected and modern world privacy is going to go down. The democrat and republican parties saw this first hand after we just went through one of the least popular elections in years. Both Hilary and Donald weren't able to keep their private lives private, so why do you think you will be able to.

Advice

         If I was hired by the college to infuse new media to create a better college environment, I would pursue and social media movement. Colleges in the United States are currently ran under bureaucratic nightmare and this causes much of the stress college students face now of days. Whether it's not signing a certain box on your FASFA or not knowing why your date to sign up for classes is different from your friends ( both statements I heard today while sitting in class) the bureaucratic structure causes students to become frustrated not only about Brooklyn College  but around the country.
         This is the problem and social media is the answer. I'm not saying to tweet about how "this school sucks" but rather tweet to a problem solving account dedicated to helping take down the structures that bureaucratic ways create. Creating a dedicated social help desk can create and environment of questions and answers which confusing college environment desperately needs. This can be taken to Facebook as well. We currently have several pages on Facebook the address questions to, however these pages are inconsistent on answering and could offer incorrect information. Incorrect information could cause major problems not only for the student that asked the question but for anybody in the group who read it and believed it .
       With these new systems in place the college can get back to educating rather then jus problem solving. Twitter and Facebook are going to be a major part of students lives while they are in college, targeting where students are will resolve the issues students face.

Creativity

Many people in the media industry feel that new media offers a door to more creative and meaningful advertisements then the old medias of the past. This can be seen by marketing companies no longer buying advertisement in bulk and posting advertisements wherever and whenever. It has led to the emergence of strategy based advertisement companies using less money to operative in more creative avenues that are more accessible to the companies desired target market.
Just one of the new media options to do this type of advertisement is through the use of social media such as Facebook or Twitter. These platforms have become virtually essential to everyday life and have even spilled over to old media forms in which during newscasts anchors will read tweets of viewers or celebrities. The advantage that social media offers is that it is a two way street of communication rather then the one way streets of the past. This means that companies can now communicate with its customers on all aspects of their product. Rather then telling them what they want they can be told by customers what to design. This offers more of a connection to the product by potential customers and thus will lead to bigger sales. According to Claire Cain Miller of the New York Times in her article "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" "Twitter struck an interesting balance of flexibility and malleability that allowed users to invent uses for it that weren't anticipated". This means that Twitter doesn't need to be something they aren't, they can be told by their fans what to be and mold to fit this desire. A smart company listens to its customers and through the use of social media this is easier then ever before.

Modeling Relatiy off of Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds 

Virtual worlds have become more and more used as the years go by. Virtual worlds can be used as a getaway from a life full of stress and replace it with one in which you can control most aspects. It has become so popular that has been made as a pop culture reference in many movies and television shows. One example of this is from the popular show the office when a character on the show named Dwight takes on a virtual world, however since Dwight thinks he is a perfect specimen he makes his character in the game known as "Second Life" the same as the first. He is the assistant to the regional manager of a paper supply company in Scranton Pennsylvania. The only change Dwight makes is that he ca now fly.

Not only are virtual worlds are popular they can actually have a positive affect on society. For example the extremely popular virtual world of Minecraft while in beta was actually made for children with autism. Other virtual worlds have since taken this approach . For example according to Nicole Saidi of CNN .com "Naughty Auties" was a virtual world made for people with mental disabilities to create a character in a 3D world and use this character to interact with other people who may have the same issues as them. This makes them feel connected with one another. As a person who has a cousin with a mental disability you know that this disability can make them feel alone in the world. This virtual world can give them more of a feeling of fitting in while also sharpening their creative and interactive skills. 

Virtual worlds can also be used in the education of children. The beginning years of the education system are some of the most important and some kids instantly try to reject this system. This is because they are either bored or uninterested in what is going on in the classroom. This is why introducing virtual worlds into the classroom could help steer these children that may go off in the wrong direction education wise back on the path of success. According to a research appear based on the advantages of virtual world classrooms, in the future 50% of learning can be done on the internet which offers not only a low cost but also could lead to more cognitive learning then traditional methods.

There is of course draw backs to virtual worlds. Kids and adults for that matter can be dragged into these worlds and in some cases become more important to them then their real life loves. However I think this can be stopped and the positives far out way the costs in this scenario.  

Blog about Twitter

Twitter Discussions 

A twitter discussion allows peers to talk about an issue in a short and 140 character or less way. Twitter discussions allow for the joining in of multiple parties who feel they can add to the subject matter. Hashtags can lead to a greater volume of people seeing your tweets and giving their opinions. Also and probably most importantly Twitter now allows you to add gifs to the discussion. There is few better feelings then having a drop the microphone like comment on a Twitter conversation and being able to add a gif of a microphone dropping. 

Blackboard discussions allow fora more extensive conversation about a topic however the people able to add to this conversation is limited to the people in a specific class. What blackboard lacks however is the ability to use the gif to emphasize your point you must purely rely on your wits alone to get across your point. 

Finally is the in class discussion. since this class is completely online this class lacks the ability to do this. In life discussions are much easier to remember and you can get your point across more clearly. Class discussions like this allow for immediate back and forth, not allowing for people to really deeply think about their reply. Although this is my preferred form of discussion it does lack one thing, and that thing is GIFs. 

In conclusion each type of discussions offers some pros and cons. A mix of all these discussions would make for a productive class. 

Social Network Sites

Social Network Sites

Social networking is simply a way of life in todays day and age. Some of these sites include Twitter, Facebook, Linked in and myspace. There are hundreds of social media sites so I sought out to see why many different ones are needed. My first stop on the social media train led me to Twitter.

Twitter, personally my most used social media, is a site that allows you to post your thoughts as long as they are 140 characters or less. At the beginning of the site many thought that this limit would be it downfall however it allowed for a less clunky appearance then what Facebook offered. With relativity short posts you can look through hundreds of tweets in a matter of moments and follow up with tweets or twitter accounts that interested you very quickly. The major advantage twitter offers compared to other social media sites is it is the most personal of the forums. Want to see what a celebrity is thinking read their tweets, want to have a conversation  with one send him or her a tweet and maybe you will be lucky enough to have a reply. Twitter offers an intimate relationship with the people of your choosing. Next in my research led me to the big boy, Facebook.

Allot has been said about Facebook, in fact they even made a movie on it's creation by CEO Mark Zuckerburg. This forum is the most popular social media allowing you to connect with friends and family from all over the world. I know personally Facebook allows me to communicate with family in England I have that I would otherwise probably not talk with. What Facebook does better then any other social site is adapt. The site started for college connections and developed into a social media empire for all. When faced by competition Facebook can choose to takeover its competition, use Instagram as an example, or add something to it software to compete with the rival. Facebook will be around for a long time because of its ability to adapt. Next my research led me to Linked in.

Linkedin is essentially the facebook for professionals. I know personally this is a website I have been using much more often as I make my steps into becoming a full blown adult. Linked in allows for users to talk about business or look for job opportunities which is its most unique factor. Expect even bigger things from this site in the coming years as Microsoft bought the company and plans to ramp up the site. Finally the grandfather of them all myspace.

Myspace was the first social media site I used, even though I was probably to young to be doing so. Myspace allowed for the ultimate customization of social media sites. In fact I am surprised that Twitter and Facebook have little to no customization compared to what Myspace did. You would spend hours changing your background,  music and top friends. By the time you were done you felt like you could be a pro web site designer. 

In conclusion each major social media sites needs to have its own calling card. Twitter had a slim youthful look, Facebook has its ability to adapt, linked in offers a more professional experience and myspace offered unique customization. These websites are all virtually copies of each other just with a twist. 

Social Network Sites

Social Network Sites

Social networking is simply a way of life in todays day and age. Some of these sites include Twitter, Facebook, Linked in and myspace. There are hundreds of social media sites so I sought out to see why many different ones are needed. My first stop on the social media train led me to Twitter.

Twitter, personally my most used social media, is a site that allows you to post your thoughts as long as they are 140 characters or less. At the beginning of the site many thought that this limit would be it downfall however it allowed for a less clunky appearance then what Facebook offered. With relativity short posts you can look through hundreds of tweets in a matter of moments and follow up with tweets or twitter accounts that interested you very quickly. The major advantage twitter offers compared to other social media sites is it is the most personal of the forums. Want to see what a celebrity is thinking read their tweets, want to have a conversation  with one send him or her a tweet and maybe you will be lucky enough to have a reply. Twitter offers an intimate relationship with the people of your choosing. Next in my research led me to the big boy, Facebook.

Allot has been said about Facebook, in fact they even made a movie on it's creation by CEO Mark Zuckerburg. This forum is the most popular social media allowing you to connect with friends and family from all over the world. I know personally Facebook allows me to communicate with family in England I have that I would otherwise probably not talk with. What Facebook does better then any other social site is adapt. The site started for college connections and developed into a social media empire for all. When faced by competition Facebook can choose to takeover its competition, use Instagram as an example, or add something to it software to compete with the rival. Facebook will be around for a long time because of its ability to adapt. Next my research led me to Linked in.

Linkedin is essentially the facebook for professionals. I know personally this is a website I have been using much more often as I make my steps into becoming a full blown adult. Linked in allows for users to talk about business or look for job opportunities which is its most unique factor. Expect even bigger things from this site in the coming years as Microsoft bought the company and plans to ramp up the site. Finally the grandfather of them all myspace.

Myspace was the first social media site I used, even though I was probably to young to be doing so. Myspace allowed for the ultimate customization of social media sites. In fact I am surprised that Twitter and Facebook have little to no customization compared to what Myspace did. You would spend hours changing your background,  music and top friends. By the time you were done you felt like you could be a pro web site designer. 

In conclusion each major social media sites needs to have its own calling card. Twitter had a slim youthful look, Facebook has its ability to adapt, linked in offers a more professional experience and myspace offered unique customization. These websites are all virtually copies of each other just with a twist. 

Social Net'g

Social Networking

            Social Networking is one of the most impactful inventions (for better or for worse) of the 21^st century. These sites allow a large world to shrink and even the playing field for all. Want top talk to your aunt who lives in Bangladesh? No Problem! Want to connect with business professionals in your field about the opportunity to shadow them? Easy! However, to quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman “with great power comes responsibility” and it seems for the most part the responsibility hasn’t come for most people yet.

            Social networking has an almost limitless amount of applications. One of these applications is the use of social media in corporate hiring decisions. According to the article “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting” by Frank Langfitt, it does just that. The article was specifically referencing the social media site linked in, which has been compared to a Facebook of professionals. This website allows you to create a profile to show people in your industry as well as recruiters in the hopes of landing a job opportunity in the future. Having a strong Linkedin profile has been stressed on me by many people from my brother to a recruiting expert I was able to meet through my internship this Summer. Linkedin is the future and since it was just recently bought by Microsoft for a ton of money, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

            Although there are many positives of social media there is defiantly many negatives as well. One major memory I have from middle school was the emergence of the social media site Formspirng. Basically what Formspring does is allows you to ask anonymous or not anonymous questions to somebody who set up the account, On surface, harmless. However, in the twisted and evil minds of middle schoolers this became a large cyber bullying website. This became such a problem that an assembly was called urging students to be nicer on social media. Luckily I never feel into the trap known as Formspring but I do remember it causing many major problems in my graduating class. According to an article I read “They’re back and They’re Bad; Campus Gossip Websites”, this faceless social media idea has died but instead has evolved. This has become a government issue since cyber bullying is now a crime (which it should be) According to the Maryland Attorney General these websites “home almost exclusively to abusive, harmful, and embarrassing personal attacks…”. Having seen this situation, myself in the past I cant disagree with this attorney. Educating the youth about cyber bullying and social media safety isn’t only necessary but vital to are youth to protect them from the evils of the internet.

            As far as the future of social media goes I think it will become less volatile as the years go on. Think of social media as being in its infancy since it is a relatively knew invention. With time and needed education social media become a place where people can share their thoughts with the world. It would be idiotic to think that all of social media websites will be like this in the future. Of course the Formsprings and other garbage websites like this will always exist, however with an educated youth hopefully the use of these websites will be majorly reduced.

Blog V. Wiki

Blogs and wikis have become a huge part of today's society. If you don't believe it take a look at Yahoos Acquisition of the blogging site Tumblr. According to Stan Schroder the company was bought for "1.1 billion dollars".
 The difference between blogs and wikis are subtle but crucial in order to perform what each forum was designed to do. Some major differences between wikis and blogs include;

• Blogs are posted by a single entity and can't be changed vs wikis which are posted by many people and have the ability to be changed by outside people (this could make the information inaccurate) 
• Since blogs are posted by a single person or group of writers there is no collaboration with the outside world, getting many different views on a subject matter is key in to well written works vs wikis which are all about collaboration, you post something and somebody around the corner or around the world can edit or add to your comment. 
• Blogs have suffered recent backlash over sponsored content. This is content that may or may not be genuine from the blog writer which was paid for by an outside company. For example if you have a home improvement blog and you write an article a bout how good Behr paint is because they paid you money to do so vs Wiki which is completely upfront, since it is a work by many people and frequently edited this leaves little to no room for sponsored content. What you see is what you get (for the good or the bad)

There are many more differences however that was to show some major points. Whether you like it or not wikis and blogs are part of new media and thus part of the future. This future will include allot of working together in teams. However, with any new technology you need to be careful. According to the New York Times "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog".  They keep watch because as soldiers they are suppose to be the voice of the Pentagon however this is a unique opportunity to for soldiers to give their personal insight, which could be potentially dangerous.

Convergences is extremely important in today’s society. When working at my internship this summer we used are worldwide team to get the job done. For example, some information wasn’t available to are Canadian branch so they assigned me to communicate with that branch of the company to find out and deliver the information they needed. This is just a single example of the global workforce working together.

 think communication between branches of are company could have used a wiki in order to enhance are communications systems. Through email communication some information could be lost of double stated. However, in a Wiki its like working on a single piece of paper with a group of people. 

What is New Media?

COLLAPSE

New media is a buzz word that has been thrown around allot in recent years but what is really meant by it? According to scholars in order to be considered new media the medium must have at least 3 of the “5 C’s”. These include communication, collaboration, community, creativity and convergence. Old media, sometimes referred to as web 1.0 lacks the 5 c’s while web 2.0 or new media features these prominently.  The goal of new media is to level the playing field while making a global community.

This can be seen in the article “taking Student Where No School Bus Can Go”. With the power of Skype, a new media, a 5^th grade teacher in Virginia is able to take a “online field trip” to the frozen tundra of Antarctica. There her class has the unique opportunity to speak with and ask questions to scientists based at Palmer Station, Antarctica. An opportunity like this is valuable especially to children and having a scientist you look up to say “get your education so you can come down here and join us” is all the inspiration little 5^th graders need to try and make their dreams reality. Something as simple as a web chatting service effectively shrinks the world and makes it a tighter knit community.

New media has also changed the way we watch television. A new age of cord cutter and cord never young adults is coming and this is making telecommunication companies rethink the business model of television. According to the article “Who Needs a TV I’m Watching on Laptop” 8% of NBC viewers watch network television solely online. This number may not seem incredibly high but if you take in account that this statistic was from 2008 it may spell a different story. I’m no professional statistician but with the growth of companies such as Hulu, HBO go and Netflix this percentage must be much larger. Many people feel that once live sports and live events get a quality streaming service this could be the end to cable or satellite television as we know it. This doesn’t lead to the death of networks however. Many people feel that watching a show online leads to a more intimate experience with the show and makes you more likely to follow along (for those who binge watched Game of Thrones).

The difference between new media and old media is simple, old media relied on feeding information to a mass unknown audience. New media relies on community and connecting to the audience.