The Next New Thing

A new type of new media could be a collaborative site that will allow users to create projects together. It would be a sort of google docs but based on a site. Unlike google docs, other people would be able to comment on the project. They would have to prove that they know something about the subject so it wouldn't be completely random people, but knowledgeable perspectives.

This could be used for professional projects as well. Just because you might not personally know someone, doesn't mean that they don't have anything positive to contribute. If a businessman was working on some presentation, another businessman from some could comment and add pictures, idea, etc.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

So far I have not posted anything besides the bio. My topic is new media and ethics. I have been doing research; reading several articles and other blog posts. This topic is connected with my minor of IT and social responsibility so it should have a good beginning for that. I think that copyrights are also connected because if you are copying something that is copyrighted, it would most likely be unethical, at least in the eyes of the owner.

About My Term Research Paper

My project was about the digital divide and how it effects different people. I chose to write about this because I remember reading several articles in another CIS class about the divide. To do my research, I used google scholar and the ebooks that google scanned into their system. This is probably the first time that I really used their ebooks and I found it to be very useful.

The topic relates to new media because without the ability for people to be online, much of new media is unavailable to them. How can you read a blog or a wiki if you don't have internet or even a computer. In many areas of the world, it is not really a problem since everyone is still accustomed to getting information from newspapers, radio, maybe tv, and word of mouth.

Some interesting things that I have learned are that 3% of Africans have internet access, compared to 50% of developed countries. 76% of Africa's phone users use mobile phones. The US has 55% mobile phone of total phone users. Most European countries have more mobile users than landlines.

Privacy & Confidentiality

People are creative, even if they don't think so. Given the chance, they will create something new and interesting. However, what they create is usually based on something that already exists, and chances are that it is copyrighted or protected in some other way. Youtube was huge is spreading people's creations around the world. The Soulja Boy song that used Disney characters for the artists was clearly based on protected material, but the makers of the video still used it. While there are positive (appearance of Disney characters in new, interesting way) and negetive (Disney characters associated with un-family friendly material) effects, Disney didn't take any clear actions.

If people use mediums such as twitter of facebook, they need to accept that everything that they type when using the services, will not be private. Facebook recently updated their terms of use to say exactly that; user's pictures, updates, comments, etc, can be used by Facebook and sold to third parties. Although I don't know Twitters terms of use, I expect them to be similar. These services are only private and confidential for the people who run them.

Advice to Baruch College

One of the things I think Baruch should do is create more online classes. This makes it much easier for working students and students who otherwise don't have time to physically go to classes on a predetermined schedule. New media would be incorporated because it is mostly online. Blogs, wikis, twitter, etc would be the main means of communication between the professor and students. I think that this would require a professor who is very familiar with these technologies and students who have some basic experiences with them.
One of the ideas that Fix Baruch (USG candidates) is exactly this. I think that online classes would free up some space around campus (less people walking around), and would encourage the creation of new classes.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are something that have yet to be fully utilized. But there are already many creative uses. Some companies use virtual settings for meetings. "Parmar told CNN that he recently held a meeting with 12 technical leaders from across Europe and Asia. While that would typically involve flying everyone to a central location, he said the meeting was held using the new Sametime 3D." Unless the meeting is very important, participants can log on instead of traveling around the world.

Virtual worlds can be used so ordinary people can get in on the action. A hearing about about online virtual worlds was shown on SecondLife. People were able to see and hear what was going on, and could participate themselves.

It is up to the user how they want their world to look like. So anything is possible. Even flying pigs.

From what I have seen, virtual worlds do not look very nice. They look like a video game from 2003. This is probably because so much programming and graphic editing is required to make it look better, but I think that should be the future; a real looking virtual world.

Twitter Discussion

I found that twitter discussions can be easy, but not without understanding how twitter works. If there is a keyword like #3810NET1B, it becomes very easy; all you need to do is click on it and you will see all posts with that keyword. But I'm sure that a lot of keywords are used by people who don't even know each other. So once you want to search using that keyword, you see your discussion and the discussion of whoever else used that keyword. It can be interesting to read other people's discussions.

Blackboard discussions are more similar to blog comments. There is an initial post and then all the replies/comments are in chronological order. Twitter discussions are newest tweet first, so you have to read down.

Overall it was interesting since I had not used twitter that much before.

Social Networking

Sites such as Linkedin greatly expedite the recruiting process. Employers just search for keywords and find many possible candidates. They no longer need to call someone to find if they know any possible job matches. "Using Linkedin, Steckerl says he can scout a group of job candidates in just half an hour. But if he wants to develop a relationship with any of them, he says there is no substitute for a much older social networking tool: the telephone." So there are still things that such social networking sites don't replace. But for users of more social sites like Facebook, people don't really need to talk on the phone, they can have whole conversation on walls, comment sections, or through messages.

These technologies can change the way that we look for things online. Facebook wants to be the future of the internet. It has a different way of thinking than Google. If either wins, people will get used to their way of thinking and searching. Social networks make accessing people easy. Someone can find out a lot of things about someone on sites like Pipl.com. Everything a person has online; pictures, history, thoughts, etc, is accessed and brought together.

Facebook brings people together, but it also separates them. Some people live in social networks and do not use regular means of communication. Phone conversations might eventually cease to exist as all communication will be via computers or whatever new device comes out.

Check Out Social Networking Sites

Facebook has been getting more complicated all the time. Once you get used to the new format, something changes and the process begins again. The current format allows users to post updates which can include link or pictures. The feed is now a major aspect. It is a cumulative display of your friends' updates which are organized by either popularity or chronology.

Myspace has elements similar to Facebook such as the updates section. Although it does not seam to be a major part of the site experience. User's pages are customizable with codes. Many artists use myspace to advertise themselves.

Friendster is similar to Facebook but the layout is different. People have home, profile, pics, friends, classified (facebook marketplace), and fun tabs. I don't know how everything works since I have never used the service prior to now.

Twitter used the updates ability from Facebook and made it the whole concept of their service. People can post short bursts of thought and others can read them. Following people is similar to friending them, but you have the choice of the communication only going one way. Many famous people have Twitter account, such as Ashon Kutcher, and anyone can follow their twitter feeds.

Depending if people just want to know a little bit about a person or really get to know them, they could use either Facebook or Twitter. Ironically, it seems that facebook provides less personal info while Twitter is more personal.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Wikis are meant to be organized while blogs are chronological posts. A wiki is a somewhat like a table of contents; there is usually a list of topics and you can go to one you want without necessarily seeing the others. Blogs require you to browse through them, or use a search function via a keyword, to find what you want. But both allow people to come together and express their views. Wikis allow people to edit previous posts and add new things. Blogs have posts and comment sections so that the original poster know what others think. Whole conversations can be had in the comments sections in blogs, but cannot occur in wikis.

The article on corporate wikis said "obviously people are finding them useful, so that means there’s some need to collaborate that’s not being satisfied well enough by other tools." Wikis provide a more organized source of information than blogs. While blogs may be helpful for company stress relief, wikis can give the employees a sense of belonging if they contribute and are able to edit their co-worker's and boss's posts.

Blogs can be used to collaborate mainly by each person posting a new thing. Or they can comment on previous posts. But this may get confusing and sometimes may not be effective.

A wiki can be used for all kinds of things. Perhaps the medical field doesn't utilize wikis too much yet. They would be able to present their findings and data on specific research projects and experiments.

Old vs. New

I think that we distinguish new from old media by looking at the ways it is distributed.
-Old media is mostly printed and delivered to consumers. While new media is online and accessible to anyone who wants it.
-Old media did not have a way of people collaborating. They would get some information, be able to reply by mailing back something, and if lucky, would receive an answer published or also my mail. New media allows people to instantly post something and see someone else reply.
-With new media, people are able to find a place (blog, forum, etc) they are interested in, and always be connected to it (through rss feeds or setting up updates). Old media required you to schedule your time so you could catch the tv program or read the paper. This old media did not update as fast as new media.

Description

Why do we get this tech and they dont?

Their are several aspects to the digital divide; geographical, economical, social, and political. I will go into some depth on each of these areas and more explaining how they are some of the ways to look at the digital divide. What makes it ok for one nation of people to have all kinds of new tech while their neighbors get different variations or even non at all? Many times it is because of the countries standards, or lack of. As we saw during the recent disaster is Haiti, there is very limited infrastructure and thus very limited cell phone communication is possible. I would imagine that internet is also rare and if it does exist, it would be a form of dial-up. Are these conditions enough for the citizens to be able to participate in new media? Sometime yes and sometimes no.

What is New Media?

New media is the internet. Everything that happens on the internet can be a source of information. One of the biggest methods of sharing information is through blogs. Anyone can open an account and start blogging; all they need is a computer and an internet connection. Blogs can be a means of simply saying what you have to say, or it can be to communicate with others. In the article about the blog-encouraged drug bust, the pet shop owner "said a core group of seven people who met through the blog brought the case to the attention of the community board and met with the authorities." People from the streets came together to achieve a common goal-to get rid of annoying and dangerous people from their neighborhood.

Most blogs are probably started to let others know about something. Perez Hilton's blog led to the conclusion that "blogs about celebrities are becoming the new rage among celebrity gossip lovers." A blog can be about anything at all. Since you have a interest, it is likely that someone else will find it interesting as well.

Negative aspect of blogging is that bloggers don't always find proof that what they are talking about it true. People think that since it's "published" on the internet, it is true. However, professional bloggers most likely don't just make stuff up, they get proof to support whatever claim they are making. Since the medium is the internet, it is a lot easier to edit posts immediately and not have to print a retraction or edit on paper.

New media is using the good aspects of previous media and trying to not have any bad aspects itself. However that is not possible. Someone will still think that some blogs are too adult and should be blocked to kids, but kids will find a way around it if they want. With previous methods of media, parental control was more absolute (kids had to go out of their way to get access to things they weren't supposed to have). So I think that newspapers, magazines, and other hardcopy forms of media will remain in our lives until a new new media is developed.

4th post a no show

Minutes ago, the 4th post of the Olympic cauldron did not rise to the occasion. After some moments of sure insanity behind the scenes, only 3 posts rose to create the Olympic cauldron of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.