The Next New Thing

I had written my term paper on the new medium of streaming, and it's many uses since its introduction into our new age of technology. The CEO if Netflix had proclaimed that in 16 or so years, broadcast TV will be dead. And I wholeheartedly agree with him. The fact of that matter is, we've come into a new dawn of capabilities, where our internet speeds are fast enough to stream not only shows, but giant, HD movies, as well.I feel like Netflix will be the first to use that expansive ability to create a service that not only provides shows, but Live TV, as well. Maybe, JUST maybe, cable companies will come to realize that cable and satellite services are the last generations "new toy", and the "new toy" of this generation is the convenient use of watching anything and everything on laptops, tablets, and phones- wirelessly, and affordably. And because some of the bigger giants, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, have already created a niche within this target segment, it would be ahrder for cable providers, such as TWC and Comcast, to create a monopoly of sorts and extort money from their customers.

It would be a beautiful thing, and something that I hope would happen soon.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

Although I did not yet start on the Wiki-Blog for our New Media class, my intention is to create a wiki blog that expands on the use of New Media in journalism, and how it's changed over the years. I'll get into more detail of blogs, editorials on tablets, images and videos being released, etc. My research so far has included these details and more. 

P2P File Sharing

1. What is file sharing?
2. What is P2P file sharing?
3. What are some examples of P2P file sharing?

The idea of file sharing is very simple. It's the ability to distribute/provide documents, programs, multimedia, and other digital multimedia, and do so through a third party program or removable storage options. This sharing capacity gives new meaning to exchanging of ideas, since the actual involvement of sharing is relatively easy and convenient.

P2P, or peer-to-peer file sharing, is sending and accepting files that are usually through a third party network, allowing users from anywhere in the world to download any item that other users have uploaded to this third party intermediary. An example of this party is BitTorrent, which allows "users to quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data..." from books, to TV shows, to HD movies, to video games, and even to files most people wouldn't truly consider legal. Now, what is interesting is that, in most cases, the distributing of these items is usually never accepted as a means to view by the company who created the item. However, with how expansive a network P2P file sharing is, it's almost impossible to completely stop. Many companies have even accepted that this is a form of viewing their content (HBO on Game of Thrones).

An example of P2P file sharing is, myself, going to a site such as thepiratebay, and searching for a movie or show that another user has uploaded. In some cases, there are "fake" links, but, in most cases, the links are real, and can be put up as soon as the episode or movie has been released. I then would download said item and easily unzip and view. It's a very simple, easy task, involving very little outside download (other than the file itself). Although technically illegal, networks are starting to take notice, and as The Wire article states, "If enough people start getting their TV online, it will drastically change the nature of the medium. Normally, the buzz for a show builds gradually; it takes a few weeks or even a whole season for a loyal viewership to lock in. But in a BitTorrented broadcast world, things are more volatile. Once a show becomes slightly popular - or once it has a handful of well-connected proselytizers - multiplier effects will take over, and it could become insanely popular overnight."

http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/bittorrent.html?pg=3&topic=bittorrent&topic_set=

Privacy & Confidentiality

In this post, discuss how the issues of privacy and confidentiality are related to new media.

Let's face it- without new media, our lives would be definitely different. The fact of that matter is, these are our assets in this technologically advanced world, and allows us to become inherently more connected to the world. We get news and articles within an instant, able to see videos and images on the go, and capable of sending out important information to anyone who needs it. However, for every positive, there is a negative.

Privacy and confidentiality issues remain the biggest drawback to new media. Users get affected by some sort of privacy issue every day; users who are uneducated become victims more so. You would think that such a vast problem would have a solution- and it does. Antivirus software, firewall, phishing disablers, ad blockers, and many more help us roam the internet with relative ease. But, these annoyances and dangers are still out there, and hackers and thiefs find new ways to attack the general public every day. However, sometimes these issues may not be truly issues at all, and are aimed at help the general public. Wikileaks is a great example of this. Every now and then, the company releases confidential documents that shed light on horrible practices done by the government; in most cases these things are kept secret. Wikileaks changes that. Obviously, the government believes this is an act of terror- yet the general public believe that they have a right to know what the government is doing. At the end of the day, there will always be good and bad with new media. The power is brings is awesome, but the negatives can be frightening.

Advice to Baruch College

You are hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the College. What are some suggestions you would make using new media?

The main success new mediums have over any any other type of technology is its ease of use and its convenient accessibility. This blog, for example, can be viewed by almost anyone, and can be commented to those who are allowed. And it is this type of freedom of expression that truly is missing from Baruch College. For all the weekly newsletters and meetings the student body has, how much does it truly represent the school as a whole? One thing to improve the accessibility of students to be more outspoken about our college is to use an open blog, available to only Baruch students, and monitored by another group of students so that those who spam the blog can be removed. It is the best way to share ideas and be more hands on to the goings on of our college. 

Another great implementation we could use is a Twitter handle that is more used. I believe Baruch has a Twitter handle- but the majority of students do not know about it. We  need to get our student body more involved, and the best way of going about that is to use the new, advanced new mediums that allow interchanges of ideas and opinions. Currently, from what I can tell, there is no medium that does that, and allowing this to happen will make a huge step into making the college a more involved place. 

Creativity and New Media

I recorded the Eagles-Cardinals game on my DVR and uploaded snippets of it to create .gifs, including this hilarious moment by one of the Eagles wide receivers.

Don't worry- he's okay.

Creativity

One of the most important functions to come out of new media is the ability to create original content. Blogs, videos, games, avatars, and entire virtual worlds came be created instantaneously (or within a specific time frame). We've reached an era where original ideas can be conceived and accessed easily, and the users have taken this to their advantage. A perfect example of this is the game Minecraft. This open world game is simple- you create a character, and "mine" the world of coal, iron, gold, silver, etc and create buildings, obstacle courses, murals, and even entire planets. It's the very definition of creating original content.

Original content is not just excluded to creating tangible worlds and construction of buildings and items in a virtual reality game. Blogs and social media sites, like Twitter, attract all sorts of original content. Nowadays, tagging a person's name (using the @ key) and creating trends (using the # key) is a norm for Twitter. But, Twitter and its creators were not the ones to come up with this ingenuity- it was the users. As the NY Times article "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" explains, the idea of hyperlinking another user's Twitter handle and creating hashtags to make following important news and information easy took the creators of Twitter by surprise. Original content, as you can see, can not only benefit the user and his/her friend- but entire companies as well!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html?_r=0

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used? What are the pros and cons? Be specific. How do virtual worlds foster creativity? What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?

Virtual worlds are online "worlds" where users create a character/identity (called an "avatar", in some cases) and roam throughout- meeting new people, exchanging ideas (and virtual or even real items), creating stories, and contributing/altering to the world's landscape. 

There are many different ways a virtual world can be used. In most cases, it's a virtual reality to get away from the real world, and a way for many people to create an identity not like theirs. They can create a life that they always wanted, but could not have in this world. So, they go to the virtual world. It's a great way of meeting new people as well. They then form groups and go out to alter the virtual world in many ways, changing and forming it to their desires. In fact, one virtual world was recreated to an exact replica of the Lower East Side, in New York, based on the NY Times article, "I've Been in That Club, Just Not In Real Life." It goes to show just how deep rooted creators become in investing time and energy into these hobbies. It's a powerful thing, but it's also truly terrifying how sucked into many people get.

Thousands of dollars are spent every day for virtual items through virtual worlds. From Second Life, to video game items on Xbox Live, they usually mean nothing. But, they either add to the persona, give the avatar a more personable quality, or continue to add to the world. But, as stated, it comes at a cost. The question is, why would people do this? It could be to gain notoriety or acceptance in these virtual worlds, to stand out, or just flat out addiction, which is a serious problem. People need to find that right balance between our world, and theirs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22Avatar.html?_r=0 

Blog about Twitter

How does a Twitter discussion compare to a BlackBoard Discussion? To an in-class discussion?

To say that Twitter and a BlackBoard discussion are on two complete different ends on a spectrum would be an understatement. 

Firstly, the idea of even having a BlackBoard discussion is a cumbersome task, with very little functionality besides its main purpose- to send a message to another group of people. The act of doing it- whether it be with pictures or any form of media- is very complicated. Half the time it may not even work, but that's a story for another day. Twitter, on the other hand, maintains a quicker pace in terms of  messaging between people. It's simpler, looks much more streamlined, and has a better capability to send not just text posts- pictures, videos, external links, etc. 

An in-class discussion, in my opinion, is better than a Twitter discussion. The eye-contact, speaking ability, and the the very idea of having everyone present and exchanging ideas in real time is much better than a Twitter conversation. Sure, a more personal conversation may not have the quickness of sharing pictures and other media. But, people have been connected for far too long these days. Human interaction is always a plus.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Tumblr. The "Big 4" of social media. I bet most people on this planet use at least 2 out of those 4 sites religiously, and it's understandable why- they are as addicting as they are useful. Meeting old/new friends? Facebook. Releasing new content? Myspace. Quick text post? Twitter. Meaningful personal pictures and quites? Tumblr. These sites have it all.

When we think of a social network, the first thing to pop into our heads is Facebook. In most cases, it's not because of the movie "The Social Network", which is about the creators of Facebook. It' just so happens to be the epitome of social media. From having a contact list that allows you to phone, video call, and message to both your people you know and don't know, Facebook is the face of social network. Face3book allows its users the freedom to do all those, plus put up/send pictures, outside websites, original content, and created the "status update." Facebook reigns king.

Myspace is a little different. Lost and but not forgotten, Myspace has gone back to its roots of combining it's user friendly format with the capability of sharing original content, such as artwork, writing, and, most notably, music. Prior to becoming the Myspace of today, (when we were in middle school and early high school) before the rise of Facebook, Myspace was, in essence, a  blog that allowed a user to be as personal as possible. The blog had many new features at the time, which included ability to add widgets, customizable themes and colors, and adding music to your home page. It died down, and for good reason- it was difficult to use, not user friendly, clunky, and just an ugly site in general. Although Myspace has fixed its ways, the users are lopsided in favor of Facebook.

Twitter is it's own entity entirely. Sure, we could call it a social network site. But it's more than that. It's as social media as a site can get- tweets, as they're called, have little nuggets of important information regarding our local areas, links that are both informative and entertaining, breaking news, statistics, pictures, quotes, and a vast array of outside content that blows everything else out of the park. And it does it very easily- 140 characters, and "tweet." That's it. Twitter stresses efficiency, quickness, and its use of hashtags- which allows users to filter through particular tweets to get to what they want. Twitter also has the ability for users to gain "Followers", which adds a new dimension to it. It is a host of information, and does so in an effective manner.

Tumblr is less of a "social" media, and more of a "personal" media. Tumblr is a blog with the ability to share news and personal opinions on particular manners. It's also a great site for amateur photographers, because Tumblr makes use of it's huge blog capabilities by allowing pictures to blow up and look fantastic. Themes are here, as well as music, quotes, and a certain following that thrives on user created content. The site is up and coming, and becoming a very useful tool in finding new friends from states away, and showing your personal side.

Social Networking

The idea of networking has always been relatively simple- meet new people in a particular gathering and exchange ideas and contact information to, in most cases, go further in life- either in terms of a career or education. With the advent of Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn, forums, messengers, and so many more mediums, networking has moved away from tangible places, and have become more instantaneous- thus the beginnings of social networking. It truly is a remarkable, but extremely terrifying, thing.

We, as students, use social network sites like Facebook to meet new and old people, to exchange ideas of particular topics, create meet ups and events to see each other or an entire group of people, and help one another learn more about school, jobs, and life. We use Instagram and SnapChat to send each other photos, we use LinkedIn to meet potential employers (and employees)- we are ALL connected to these social mediums. As a recruiter states, "Social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting — ever." Social media even won a presidency- "...the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them...". Social media has become a substantial norm in our every day lives. 

However, we see drawbacks to social media as well. We tend to be come TOO connected to these things, oftentimes sacrificing actually meeting new people and going out (and just overall being a normal person), and waste away with our social mediums. Many of these sites require what should be considered pretty personal information. Facebook, for instance, asks us our addresses, phone numbers, full name, religion, etc. And this causes scams to occur ALL the time. Many times they'll get reported, many other times, they won't. And that's scary. According to Legal studies Professor Andrea Matwyshyn, “The way privacy has traditionally been defined is being challenged" - which is completely true. Privacy takes on another level when it comes to social networking sites, and these companies have to be on top of their game, or millions of people's information could be leaked. 

"Leaving 'Friendprints': How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security - Knowledge@Wharton." Web. 4 Oct. 2014. <http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/leaving-friendprints-how-online-social-networks-are-redefining-privacy-and-personal-security>.






Langfitt, Frank. "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting." NPR. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf>.






Carr, David. "Obama's Personal LinkedIn." The New York Times. The New York Times, 9 Nov. 2008. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html>.

 

Blog v Wiki

Blogs and Wikis. Both involve some form of displaying information. Both can be edited, relayed to millions of people, and can be about, literally, anything. Both are part of normal, every day use of the internet. We have personal blogs, such as WordPress and Tumblr. And we have fact finding, useful Wikis, such as the grandaddy of them all- Wikipedia.They're both EXTREMELY easy to set up, and simple to use and continue using. And, as many of us already know, they are, for the most part, permanent fixtures of the Internet. Sure, they can be edited, but both blogs and wikis are usually part of a long lasting section of the Internet, and all easily viewable to readers.

However, there is a substantial difference between the two. Blogs tend to be more personal than Wikis. Although blogs can relay facts, news, and other media stories, they are, for the most part, reflections and opinion pieces. A great example of this was a soldier's blog about being on the front lines. Excellently written, it gives us readers a first person account of what it's like in a situation many of us would never understand. In terms of how their written, blogs are usually only written by one person, and that one person is usually the only person who is capable of editing his/her posts. Lastly, blogs can be commented on from outsiders and form the blogger himself/herself.

Accordingly, Wikis are much more fact-oriented. Unlike Blogs, Wikis contain many links within the content, linking to other Wikis and other outside sources. Wikis are useful in workplaces, like in the article by Noam Cohen, where a company gathers information on their own Wiki page, and use it to relay important content for their meetings. Wikis are written in the third person, and contain massive amounts of sources, to clarify and prove particular statements. What makes a Wiki so interesting is that others can edit Wiki pages. It's a fantastic way to make sure all the information on the page is up to date and true.

Both blogs and Wikis can be used to collaborate and make a project. Wikis, as stated before, can be edited by many individuals, all seeing to find the same answers. Blogs contain the ability to comment, thus giving users the ability to relay anything they deem important to the Blogger.

Although Wikis have been out for many years now, I have yet to see a Wiki that involves the users to put up snippets of videos, and making a collage/movie on a particular topic. The videos can also be edited and cut up by other users who think they can make it better.




Cohen, Noam. "An Internal Wiki That's Not Classified." The New York Times. The New York Times, 3 Aug. 2008. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/business/media/04link.html?_r=0>.

Dao, James. "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog." nytimes.com. The New York Times, 8 September 2009. Web. 30 September. 2014.<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/us/09milblogs.html?ref=politics>.

Description of Project

Hello all (and more specifically, Professor Weisel)!

     For my term paper, the topic I want to delve into is the issue of new media in its current state and society as a whole. New media as a whole has helped our world progress in ways we would never even fathom just a decade ago. We see news in real time, watch TV shows and movies within an instant on our laptops, and buy clothes and accessories with a press of a button on our phones. The older generation may see us as being lazy and spoon-fed every facet of life. I see us as in the middle of a large-scale technological revolution, that may even surpass (or even already surpassed) the technology boom of the Cold War era. But, much like that period of time, there are substantial problems with today's advancements. Privacy issues, becoming completely addicted, outage scares, and corporations trying to put a sort of "toll" for use of these advancements have slowed down the process of this generations progression into a new world. The last facet in particular has been a surprising development within the last few years. Charging for extra use of the internet, putting caps on usage, limited bandwidth, and slowing down, or shutting down completely, the Internet. Our technology is being slowly subsidized, and I want to know why. My paper, for the time being, will try and shed more light on these practices and why, as a society, we should be concerned.