Reaction to: Next New Thing

     After much thought and having read a lot of my fellow classmates responses to the topic of "Next New Thing," I have a very dark outlook for the long run. I see where technology is taking us, we are becoming ever so dependent on technology and what it does for us. Our need to be connected with one another is becoming a more and more distant long shot if not for the use of technology. Our dependence will someday become a crutch; one fellow classmate referenced the movie "iRobot" when speaking about our future outlook, I would refute this and counter with a more bleak outlook as is the case in the Pixar movie, "WALL-E," where we become so dependent on machines and tech doing things for us. In the movie, even menial tasks were undertaken by machines; things like walking were no longer necessary, this caused humans to gain vast amounts of weight and their bones to weaken and become smaller.

     I know that this is a rather grim outlook, but it falls back on our inability to do things the hard way, always looking to make things more simpler. We have to find the very fine balance between innovation and practicality. Sometimes you have to ask, "Sure we can make a better mouse trap, the question is why?"

The Next New Media

     Well, if Samsung commercials are any indication of where we are going, its the consolidation of items that will be able to control all things in our lives. Whether its a Galaxy Gear that controls your phone or a TV + Tablet + Computer that control each other; with that being said, one of this week's articles opens the door to a much more advanced opportunity. It is possible that we could have a small sensor implanted in our head that we could control our TV/Computer with a single thought. Maybe we can eliminate the phone all together and with the technology in something like Google Glass, the sensor can allow us to connect to the Internet to search for information or even make and receive calls. It is conceivable that if that is possible, you could also consider it possible for the sensor to allow you to update your social media accounts and link to your friends in real-time, like mental telepathy.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

     Up to this point in the class semester, I haven't made any contributions to the class Wiki page.  I'll be the first to admit that reviewing the actions required to post on a wiki seem daunting, but I'm sure that like riding a bike, once I begin, it will come easy. I have been pouring over our class assignments so far and thinking of relevant content that will add value to the Wiki. As discussed in my paper, I'm very interested in the safety of our information on Social Networking sites. Therefore, I am very wary of what information I make available on such sites and try to examine the fine balance between a full social networking experience and the pitfalls that we fall into through the Illusion of privacy.

P2P File Sharing

     File sharing is the act of sharing a file from one computer to another. Moreover, Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing is the distribution and sharing of electronic files to other peers on a specially designed P2P file sharing network. P2P networks, such as Bittorrent sites, allow users to search for desired files on other user's computers. Some examples of P2P file sharing is downloading or uploading files to a site such as KickAss Torrents (Kickass.to) Although this is also becoming a problem as stated in the NY Times article by Brian Stelter and Brad Stone, "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios," where the growing concern is over the legality of the file sharing because (in many cases, it is violating the copyrights of the owner of the digital media. The Motion Picture Association is trying to deal with this matter delicately since it is trying to avoid the same fate that befell the Music Industry with Napster.

Advice to Baruch College

     I would recommend that the school get a Facebook page so that people can like it and receive informational posts that they might see on their page. They should also link their other media outlets to it, such as a Twitter account. Baruch can open a MySpace page and promote its music program. I would suggest an online social media management tool such as Engagor, which would allow you to look at all your social media outlets and schedule posts in advance.  Any event going on at the school would be showcased on the media page and any upcoming events would also be highlighted. I would recommend a strong recruiting campaign done through social media to maximize their exposure.

Privacy & Confidentiality

     In this ever evolving world, the quickening of the speed at which information moves is extraordinary. These days something happening half way around the world, in China, will make it to our news feeds in a matter of minutes. With information moving so fast, it is hard to perceive the implications that new media has on privacy and confidentiality. Privacy, virtually, goes out the window, the privacy policies are written so that the respective site can do what they want with whatever information you provide them. Our culture is all about sharing, for instance, we witness a fight on the street, all you see are other witnesses recording it and eventually posting it online. So the idea that confidentiality is highly regarded would be hard to prove. I believe that the idea behind new Media is more "open-sourced" or "collaboration" making confidentiality hard to maintain.

Creativity and New Media

     Last semester, I had a Marketing class and had a assignment to come up with a commercial for a new product that was on the market. My team and I researched and hand picked this product because we thought that we could make an effective commercial that would assure us a good grade.
     My team and I took our Nikon camera and shot everything in one afternoon. We used my (old) apartment and neighborhood as locations for the shoot. Once we shot all our footage, we were able to use free open software we were able to create a You Tube video. In post production, we cut the scenes and put them in order, laid a soundtrack and even added effects. All of this would have to have been produced by a company with a lot of technology at a great cost to my team and I. We were able to produce this for free and in only one weekend.

Enjoy
Shake Weight Video

CREATIVTY

     New media coupled with new technology has fostered creativity all over the Internet. A great example of this is the New Yorker article by Sasha Frere-Jones "1+1+1=1: The new math of mashups," where the creation of the "Grey Album" was discussed. DJ Danger Mouse took instrumentals from the Beatles' White Album and remixed them and laid Jay-Z a capella verses from his Black Album to create the Grey Album. This was only possible because of the technology available to him, the data that was so readily available online.
     New Media has allowed one's creativity to be easily molded and formed into a finished product that is able to be consumed by the masses. Blogs allow anyone with an interest in writing to become and author/writer. YouTube allows us all to become video producers/directors/stars. New media hasn't given us any new abilities, it has just allowed the masses to do all the things that a select few had to go to school for years for. It has broken down (old) hard technologies and made them easier for all of us to use. Simplified things. With so many people able to create anything they can think of, it makes it easier to share thoughts and ideas with others, who in turn, can share your idea and help foster growth allowing your idea to flourish.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

    Virtual worlds have been around for a while mainly in the realm of Role Playing Games (RPGs) where your allowed to roam around and complete several tasks to accomplish missions. We have seen a lot of success with these games such as World of Warcraft (WOW). With the progression of technology, so goes virtual 3D worlds. One such online platform is Second Life, where users can log on and create space and interact with their environment and other users through the use of Avatars. As one of the videos we saw as part of this weeks lesson, where Dwight (from the Office) spoke about his time on Second Life and he has an avatar of himself and he goes to work just like in real life, the only difference is that he can FLY!!!
     Now aside from a way to kill time and see the limits of your creativity, new applications of this tech is being used with great results. As noted in the article, "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction", David Savill, who has Asperger's syndrome, created a spot within Second Life where users afflicted by autism spectrum disorders and their friends and family. The spot allows them to practice social interactions and find information about the conditions. So this is one great benefit of virtual 3D worlds, it allows a form of social interaction which is important to people that have problems with that.
     Another advantage is that your only limited by your mind, so for instance, we saw another video as part of this week's lesson plan that showed a spot on Second Life where Avatars interacted with each other and did simple things like go for walks and be very mobile. To you and me this may seem simple, but to the users of these avatars, it was critical because in real life, they were confined to wheelchairs because they were paralyzed. To someone like this (paralyzed) this allowed them freedoms that they don't have in their real lives.
     But, as the Washington Post article by Mike Musgrove, "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Colide", shows us that it can have negative applications as well. The article brought up concerns about security on online worlds, "...can money be laundered? Are children safe in online worlds? Are there churches? Are you [Second Life] making any money?" These are legitimate concerns since there will always be someone to take advantage of something good.
     Online worlds allow for a place to collaborate which can foster creativity. Its just like working on a virtual wiki?!?!? People meet without being in the same room, this can also be likened to video conferencing. As long as people are allowed more ways of coming together more easily, creativity will always thrive.  Now as I was growing up, I didn't have the capability to take advantage of these such technologies. I have always been more inclined to traditional methods of socializing. Although, I find that as a tool for collaboration, it has a lot of upside. Not having to physically be there or even be in the same vicinity, does make it easier to meet up. As a benefit to mankind, I love to see people with disabilities have the opportunity to break the shackles of their disabilities.

Blog About Twitter

     For most of my collegiate career I have had to post for discussions conducted on Blackboard for various classes. The discussions were not so easy to follow but they were good enough for the classroom setting. Twitter presents a much cleaner version of Blackboard. It is also a lot faster, since each post can only be 140 characters, posts are a lot more concise and to-the-point. It is also a lot easier to post because Blackboard requires more authentication and without a mobile app, no one is going to sit on their laptops waiting for a response to their post. Both of these modes of media are more private than In-Class discussions, since there usually tends to be more shy or quiet people than talkers, you tend to get a discussion that is led by the professor and carried by a few students. Blackboard and Twitter allow people to respond without having to speak in class allowing them to speak more freely from the confines of their home or on a mobile device. Therefore, you would probably get a more spirited conversation on Blackboard or Twitter but it could take a while to develop as responses would depend on when everyone checks their accounts.

Social Networking Sites

I visited Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn to get a good picture of how these social networking sites compared to each other. Out of the four sites, I would say that the way Facebook is setup, it lends to being more social, you get to see a live stream of your friend's posts and anything else you are interested in, it is easy to follow what is going on since it is all on your page. MySpace seems to be more geared to artists. I remember when MySpace was new, I was on it and even had music on my page and I thought it was the coolest thing, I hated waiting for people's pages to load which depended on how much stuff they had on their page. I registered again just for this post and it seems like a hangout for musicians, so I wasn't very into it. Initially, I would not have been very impressed by Twitter, but after reading some of this week's readings, I must say that I am very intrigued by its potential. I like that Twitter can be that first raw impression of an event, 1st hand details stream out before a reporter even arrives on the scene. LinkedIn would be the most professional of the four sites, connecting professionals to other professionals; LinkedIn provides a platform for mature adults to connect and network.

Social Net'g

     Social Networking is here to stay, lets just start by accepting that; the question is: Other than for keeping my friends up to date with my daily meal choices or announcing my mood, what is Social Networking good for? The fact is that with more and more industries realizing the reach that social networking gives them, it is widely becoming an essential tool in any company's marketing, and recruiting hand bag.
    Social Networking is being used everywhere; it is huge on Capital Hill nowadays, with just about every politician having some form of social media. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc., it is all fair game in an effort to reach the most people. So it would only make sense that businesses would also follow suit and join in to gain business. I used to work at a hotel in midtown that had a Twitter and Facebook page where we would post events that took place at the hotel and pictures of the guests having a good time.
     It is an astonishing leap forward in the form of a recruiting tool for companies looking to fill high level positions and down. Cites like LinkedIn, [...grant the user access to a network of over eight million professionals spread throughout the world, including executives from all Fortune 500 companies...,] says Frank Langfitt in the article, Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting,  posted on npr.org. The article quotes a Shally Steckerl who says, "...effectively, I had a thousand contacts that could potentially lead me to 100,000, now I have 8,500 contacts that could potentially lead me to 4.5 million."
    Advertising companies are using social media to target the right people with advertising for maximum effectiveness. They buy big data from sites like Facebook to get user activity as well as interests and likes, they then use the information to tailor custom ads targeted at getting their business. But as Eden Zoller, Ovum research analyst, warns, "Facebook graph search will no doubt leverage member data to provide advertisers with more targeted, personalized advertising opportunities going forward. But Facebook needs to tread very carefully here and be mindful of user privacy,..."
     So how far is to far? Will we see the line in the sand before we go past it? Unfortunately, I don't think so. I believe that we are so engrossed with social networking that while the benefits seem to out way the cons, at the moment, we will hit a tipping point that it will be very hard to turn back from once we realize it.

WIKI VS. BLOG

     Today, we are witness to the decentralization of the way information is decimated. It used to be that information was delivered to the masses by a select few, the media. They observed and reported the news as they saw fit, the draw back...the news was reported from a small faction's point of view. Then, along came the age of the Internet and our vast universe of was reduced to the size of  a planet and by becoming more and more reliant on the globalization of the Internet we were faced with the problem that our information was expiring before it reached its intended target audience.

     Individuals became the reporters on the ground. Their voice became louder, not through some media publication, but through blogs. As stated in Kathy E. Gill's How can we measure the influence of a blogosphere,  "...we have new expectations about both the right to express an opinion and access to information upon which to base that opinion. Blogs have played a role in raising those expectations..." Blogs gave people a unedited voice that came without restrictions and it also allowed others to respond (instantly) which gave a more accurate pulse of the masses.

     Soon after wiki's caught on as a form of collaboration. It allowed users to create there very own web page how they wanted to do it. The business application was very useful since it allowed groups of people, departments or even interdepartmental groups, to work together on a project without the need to send a hundred different emails. The content was as up to minute as possible because the members were updating/uploading their work directly onto the wiki, which made the wiki as up to date as possible. In a article by Margaret Locher, for CIO.com, Margaret points out in speaking about Tony Pagliarulo, VP of application development with information technology vendor EMC, "Because [Tony's] team had the most current information, they were able to make better decisions and get the project done faster."

    Wikis are a great collaborative tool that allows groups of any size to work coherently on a multitude of projects. In comparison, blogs give you the power to express yourself without restrictions. You can post and anyone who sees it can respond and an open dialogue can begin, as others chime in, it becomes an opinion consortium of sorts. The draw back with blogs in comparison to wikis is that blogs are controlled by the blog owner. He/She (alone) has the power to control the posted information because while anyone can post to an initial post by the owner, the owner alone can alter the content by deleting comments and blocking viewers. On the other hand, wikis are controlled by everyone, or at least those who have access to the web page, such that they all have the capabilities to edit or add new content. This distinction between the two makes blogs (generally) more opinion based while wikis are more factual. But this doesn't mean that blogs cannot be used in a collaborative effort. It can be used in the development of an idea, by sharing with your audience and asking them for feedback which you later use to refine your initial idea.

     Both of these medias are possible due to the convergence of networks. This technology is open sourced in the sense that it is, for the most part, free to the public. There are several sites that offer free blog creation and the development of wiki pages. These sites allow you to be your own editor, publisher and distributor. Where before these tasks were done individually, now anyone with access to the web and a decent understanding of computer lingo can open, sustain and manage their very own site without the need of anyone or anything else. This has lead to the drastic way we dissimulate and receive information.
   
     
   

Project Proposal

     For my project, I have chosen the topic: Social Networking: A purposeful loss of privacy. I would like to look into the impact that social media has in our everyday lives and what we have given up in the form of privacy to get here.