Next New

There's so many types of new media that have made their debut and have gained reputation but there's one I haven't heard of. What if there was an app that was built specifically for the use of learning, where you can talk to anyone around the world who was educated about the history and culture about the place they are in. You wouldn't have to know anyone or need any other reason to use the app but to want to learn and becoming multiculturally educated. It would be an app where people who are certified or proven to be educated about the country they are located in can make themselves available for those who want to learn. It's almost like having a history teacher or tour guide but you can be located anywhere. Obviously, physically traveling to the country is a much better experience, not everyone can afford it and not always can we travel as easy as it sounds. The app would have subscription options that include monthly or annually. This money would be used to pay those that are sharing their knowledge and teaching others. This app is almost like having a zoom meeting but for specific reasons. You can also learn about places to visit, ones that are popular and those that are only known by locals. This includes sites, restaurants, beaches, and other attractions that one might be interested if they ever decide to actually visit the country. Once you purchase either subscription, you can talk to any person for any country as many times as you would like. There's so much to learn about the world and what it has to offer. With this app, you are able to become knowledgable and have more experience than anyone who knows absolutely nothing about a country.

Wiki So Far

To contribute to the class wiki, I have been adding new information to topics that haven't been updated in a minute. I have been reading the topics that are interesting to me and researching more about them so I can add new information that wasn't included. Some pages that I have edited and added new information on are new media in traveling, New Media in Food, Beverage & Hospitality Industry,  Love, and Banking. For traveling, I added to the airbnb section about it's dangers and problem with privacy. In the food page I included to the DoorDash section the feature of the DoorDash pass and how it can make food delivery for you cheaper in the long-run. The love page had almost all the dating sites/apps that existed but recently Facebook come out with its dating feature so I added this as an update for the dating world. Lastly, on the banking page, I noticed one of my favorite and most used apps was not included so I did and it was cashapp.

P2P

File sharing is the practice of sharing or giving access to one or more files such as audios, videos, pictures, documents and other files of that sort. This can be done publicly or privately. There are many ways to file share including devices like USB's, hyperlinked documents and peer-to-peer networks. P2P file sharing is more intertwined because it requires multiple users in the same network sharing the same files. There is no main server meaning all servers are equal. Files are going from one to another quickly the more users that are involved. With more users, files are distributed faster and more efficiently. Some examples of P2P file sharing are gnutella, limewire, putlocker, 123movies, and many more. A popular example is P2P for movie streaming or sharing. In New York Times article Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios, gives one out of many examples on how piracy and streaming sites are affecting the movie industry negatively. "A wave of streaming sites, which allow people to start watching video immediately without transferring a full copy of the movie or show to their hard drive, are making it easier than ever to watch free Hollywood content online." said Brian and Brad explaining how this is happening. With more and more people having access to streaming sites and downloading movies online for free, movie theaters are becoming less of a move. On one end, people are able to watch new movies for free and in the comfort of their own home although it's illegal.

Privacy

We all know that people have been scammed, stalked, robbed, even killed because of new media. New media is like a whole new world. Matter of fact, it is. Privacy and confidentiality is one out of many problems that occur in this world. As we become more and more digitally evolved, the amount of information on the web increases. The amount of information that is on the internet is astronomical. All this information is exposed and no longer is just yours. Once you put something on the internet, it'll never go away. This is why you need to be careful with what you post because you never know if or when it can be used against you. With so much information roaming around on the web, privacy is not really something that exists in the new media world. Every time you create a social media account, you agree to privacy terms & agreements. I know for sure majority of us don't read these things because they are too long. This is how they get you. Once you click agree, you basically have given up your right for privacy. Companies use your information to help their businesses in areas like marketing and products to make. Your data gets shared and passes through many people. This is one issue with privacy and new media. Facebook doesn't keep your information confidential, nor' does instagram, or twitter, or any other new media platform. For this reason, we have to be more aware about what we are agreeing to as well as what we are putting on the internet.

Advice

Baruch, right now, uses new media in some pretty effective ways. Instagram, facebook, twitter, and other new media platforms. New media helps reach Baruch students quicker and more efficiently because majority, if not all, students have at least on of these apps/sites. Students are constantly on these new media sites so it means students will somehow at sometime see what Baruch has to share. As we all know, because of the coronavirus, classes have moved online. This has forced us all to use zoom, blackboard ultra, or google classroom to be able to continue classes. This is one way Baruch had to adapt more to the new media world because of a pandemic. I can also suggest Baruch to use new media to share opportunities. Baruch can also use new media to create one place where all Baruch students as well as alumni and professors to share more about their successes and how they fulfilled their goals. Because this generation is such a technology based era, everyone is stuck to their phones, a lot of the times being unproductive, scrolling through instagram. If there was real-life experiences and advice being shared on new media outside of school, people can actually be learning something useful. It would nicer to be able to read about true stories about how a Baruch student became a successful business owner, for example from a phone. This use of new media would open the minds of those who don't find what is said in school, beneficial.

HW Creativity

New media definitely gives people many ways to be creative. A popular example is the creation of parodies and mashups. This method of creativity allows people to reiterate popular songs or create a music video, or videos in general, that would match and be shown with the songs they choose to create a parody of. The use of different clips from tv shows or other videos is called a mashup. In the article Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why? by Brooks Barnes is an example of how and why these mashups are made. Barnes talks specifically about the use of Disney characters and snippets as well as Disney's corporation response to these mashups. The snippets from Disney movies and tv shows mashed together to make it seem like the characters are singing along to songs that are a whole different genre than Disney songs is humorous. For this reason people create these videos. The entertainment these videos provide is loved by many people which can be concluded by the amount of views these mashups and parodies get.

Creativity and New Media

 For my imagination, I created a model-looking version if myself on IMVU, which stands for Instant Messaging Virtual Universe. If you haven't heard of it, it's very similar to second life. You make your own avatar and roam around the virtual worlds which is composed of many different rooms such as your penthouse, in which you start off in. I have created my avatar to my liking. I first went to the IMVU website online and followed the steps in creating my avatar. I was able to choose my hair color, hair style, eye color, clothing, shoes, and accessories. After I finished, I was redirected to the desktop page of IMVU which shows many options that you can choose to do as you can see. On IMVU, you can shop for clothing and upgrades on rooms, and even purchase marriage packages which allows you to "marry" other IMVU users. You can join live rooms which users host and it is basically scenarios the hosts makes up or chooses to allow other to join and be able to chat in. It's very fun and allows for your creativity to be displayed in the virtual world which seems realistic although it is not.
 
 

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment where many users can create personal avatars and virtually interact with other in different scenarios. One way virtual worlds can be used is for work. In the article Going to the virtual office in Second Life by Mark Tutton, he talks about how companies began using virtual worlds to hold conferences due to the 2008 recession causing cuts in travel budgets. Some pros that were mentioned in the article by a user said virtual worlds saved travel time and because of the engaging environment, more ideas came through. Other tools in virtual worlds also let users collaborate on projects online. On the other hand, some cons are that "...people mess up because they think that what works in a face-to-face environment also works in a virtual environment" said Surinder Kahai. Another con is that virtual teams can't take advantage of the kind of impromptu "water cooler" conservations that occur in a real workplace when, for example, a colleague has forgotten to communicate some things in the meetings. Aside from work use, virtual worlds can also be used for regular socialization with friends or strangers. The article I've Been in That Club Just Not in Real Life by Dave Itzkoff talks about how virtual worlds can also be used to imitate neighborhoods and places such as restaurants and clubs where users can experience it online. Some pros of using virtual worlds for this purpose was that "There were no imperious bouncers or foul odors to contend with, and no fluids of any kind expectorated on my shoes" said Dave. By using virtual worlds to experience outside environments you don't have to undergo the uncomfortable things that come along with it such as over populated areas. Aside from the pros, there are also cons which include not getting the full experience of being in actual location in which you are virtually in. It is not the same being in Katz Delicatessen online and being there in person. Virtual worlds also can't completely copy an environment or neighborhood fully so you might not feel like you are there in person decreasing your experience in virtual worlds. Using virtual worlds foster much creativity by allowing people to choose where they want to be whenever they want just through a computer. By allowing users to create personal avatars, they are given more of an opportunity to be creativity on how they want other users to view them physically. I think the future of virtual worlds will look more and more realistic as well as the inclusion of more tools that allow users to do more than just talk and walk around.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter discussions and blackboard discussions are very different in the way they are accessed as well as the way the content it includes and is displayed. Twitter discussions are a touch of an app away that appear right away on your screen. These discussions are less used for educational purposes than blackboard discussions are. Trends, political topics, comedic content, and other topics besides school related subjects are talked about amongst people. On a similar note, threads exist both on twitter and blackboard just displayed different. Specific topics aren't separated into sections like it is on blackboard making discussions more open on twitter than on blackboard. In-class discussions are a little more harder to keep up on blackboard than on twitter because it's more work to access a discussion. You have to click a few things before actually getting to the discussion. On twitter, you simply search it up and it appears. Twitter, overall, is a more efficient, less complicated way to access information and discussions, for example.

Social Networking Sites

As a daily social networking site user, all platforms are unique in their own although provide similar services. Four sites that are popular today are facebook, twitter, instagram and snapchat.  Starting with facebook, when you first log in, you see a feed with facebook stories that your "friends" post followed by posts that they post on the feed that automatically appear on your news feed page. These include pictures, videos, and writing posts. Facebook also suggests post based on previous videos you have clicked on. Memories are shared as well as trending news or posts pop up on your feed. Other tabs include facebook watch, notifications, marketplace and facebook groups. Facebook has more of an older crowd nowadays compared to other social networking sites. Similarly, when you first open up twitter, tweets and tweets retweeted as wells as replies to tweets made by the people you follow show on your feed. The content on twitter differs from that on facebook in the way that twitter users are more open and, I think, humorous. I think it's because majority of twitter users are of younger age. Tabs on twitter include a search page where you can search for specific topics you want to read about, notifications tab, and direct messages tab where you can communicate with other tweeters. Instagram, on the other hand, focuses more on the use of pictures. All instagram posts are images. People can like and comment on people's post while sharing, in visual representation, what they want instagram users to know. Scrolling on Instagram becomes non-stop because there are an infinite amount of posts. Instagram also has stories where people can post videos and pictures only people who click on it will be able to view. Instagram also introduced instagram live where people can go live and broadcast real-time video of themselves or whatever on the app. A big thing on instagram is followers. People can follow you and you can follow them back making every post of theirs appear on your feed automatically. Last but not least, snapchat is quite different from all these sites. Snapchat is mostly used to send "snaps" which are pictures or videos that go away after the person(s) you sent it to opens it. Snapchat is also like texting because you can also communicate with other through words. Snapchat's big thing is also snapchat stories. All the people you have friended on snapchat and have accepted you post pictures or videos that they want everyone who has added them to see. There are filters you can use that are also popular on snapchat. Snapchat users, majority, are younger than users of other sites.

Blog Social networking

Social networking has become a big part of society today. It is used for communication around the world or across the room, dating, job hunting, and many other things. On example how these technologies can be used is for job hunting, which has become a common way nowadays to find individuals who may fit the position an employer is looking for or, from another perspective, an individual looking for a job. In the article Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, Maureen Crawford-Hentz, a recruiter for Osram Sylvania, says how easy and efficient it was to find a person who fit the requirements for the position she was looking to fill. "Typing keywords into a search engine, Crawford can scrape the entire network to dig out high-quality candidates that she can't find elsewhere." This is a great example of how social networking has made it easier to recruit because you can apply filters, for example, on a website used to look for future employees, to aid in the search for the right individual to join a company.Along with  the many ways social networking can be used, it is also beneficial to society. Social networking, one way, allows for easier and more worldwide networking. Not only can you meet people in your area but also people in other countries that you would have never imagined being able to communicate with. These connections make for great relationships that can benefit you in the future. Aside from the many benefits social networking brings to society, it also has negative affects. One example is a platform for scammers to commit more fraud and steal from people through the web. In NBC'S article on Multi-million dollar scam being used on Facebook, an example is given on how scammers try to lure facebook users on marketplace to buy a vehicle, in this example, by using a known website used to sell and buy such as e-bay. These scammers send fake invoices to the customer's emails and from there attempt to entice them to make online transactions to disguised accounts. These crooks try to convince costumer's that it is safe to make these purchases by disguising as popular websites and emails that will make the costumer believe it is actually the company they are buying from. In the future, the evolvement if social networking I believe will bring even more benefits but also have negative impacts on society. With many daily activities being transformed to the digital world such as the metro-card less subway is making daily living more efficient. On the negative perspective, social networking makes us more vulnerable to crime and less face-to-face interaction.