Wiki So Far

So far on the Wiki, I have been doing my own research before creating/ editing the pages. I've been doing research on New Media on Transportation and how it has changed the way people travel around the world. Just from visiting another state for the weekend, these services became much more effective and efficient than regular taxi cabs. Social media has had its influence on the methods of transportations by allowing users to pay online instead of scrambling for cash, having a concrete solid path to the destination without much error, being able to share with other people and cutting costs by half, and by being able to know who your driver was in case of anything that went wrong, it is an easier way of reporting them. Another page that I have been doing research on is Advertising through Social Media. Celebrities generate most of their income simply by taking photos with products advertising them to their users. For an example, Kim Kardashian can take a photo with vitamins telling her followers that these vitamins have aided her hair growth and made it become stronger. Thus, the company have a target set audience and both parties can benefit from the ease of free social media advertising. Another page has been the Fashion and Social Media page, in which clothing brands such as H&M and Forever21 can create accounts using social media networking sites to share their products with society whether it be on a model or on a celebrity. These networking platforms can really benefit companies in the ease of appearing constantly on the audience's phones. Along with users who truly want to buy from these companies can follow their social media accounts. Thus, these companies can benefit from the target audience. Lastly, the influence of new media on love, in which multiple sites have been created to help users find people that are very compatible.

P2P

File sharing is the public or private sharing of computer data in a network with various levels of access privilege. File sharing basically means sharing files in a network, even if it is in a small local area network. This allows for a number of users to access the same file to read, view, modify, copy, or print it. P2P file sharing stands for peer to peer sharing. It is the process of sharing digital content like electronic books, multimedia through a direct connection between two peers or nodes over the P2P network. This helps of a P2P client software which allows a computer to get connected to a P2P network. The peer that hosts the connection is called a "seed" and the one that downloads it is called a "leech". There are several examples of P2P file sharing such as FileScope, LimeWire, and BitTorrent. LimeWire allowed for users to download their favorite music onto their devices to listen to at anytime they wanted. Another P2P sharing network is BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file transfer protocol for sharing large amounts of data over the internet. BitTorrent has become one of the most actively used file sharing networks. For an example, "If any one of them misses their favorite TV show, no worries. Surely someone has posted it as a "torrent." As for movies, if you can find it at Blockbuster, you can probably find it online somewhere - and use BitTorrent to suck it down," (The Bittorrent Effect). Overall, there are several advantages when using P-2-P file sharing is the incredible speed of downloading files and the free access in doing so. 


The BitTorrent Effect by Clive Thompson, Wired, January 2005.

Privacy

There are a lot of issues that can arise when becoming a user of new media such as privacy and confidentiality scares. Nowadays, social media sites ask for private information such as full name, day of birth, address, school location, work place and position, and so much more. The more users open up their world to their followers they are also opening up to unwanted followers and possibly too much information. From a simple Instagram post, of an individual standing in front of their house for a background photo, a hacker could figure out the location of the post and use the picture as help to figure which house is the right house. In other terms, hackers can hack into an individual's private data and steal their identity! They can use their identity for their own malicious desires. For an example, a hacker can use their credit card information to furnish their home, and rack the individual into debt. Users must realize the environment of which they are posting these materials on and understand that no matter what, it is public and can be accessed by anyone. 

Advice

If I were hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the college I would try to implement social media sites such as twitter to create short (yet effective) discussions and even update students on when assignments are due. For an example, an English Professor can tweet out "Final Papers due tomorrow @ 5pm #GoodLuck" It is short and concise but gets the major point across. Twitter could also be used to alert students of when a teacher will miss class, instead of having to find out once they are already at school. Baruch College needs to utilize the real-time sharing factor new media has to offer its customers. Another possible suggestion is for Baruch College to allow the usage of new media such as Skype to enhance class discussions. With connectivity around the world, Baruch College students can discuss materials with a student or professor around the world and engage in an authentic conversation that can not be duplicated in a textbook.

Creativity and New Media

This semester at Baruch I registered for MUSIC 1003, although a very simple class at first it does have its challenges. In this class, obviously the tests are based upon the music that we listen to. The students are expected to be able to listen to a song and recite who is the composer and title of the track. With this new media technology, Spotify, I am able to listen to the music whether I am on my morning commute, taking a walk, running errands, or just trying to do some homework. This app allows me to familiarize myself with the songs and be able to ace the tests! Besides using this for academic reasons, I listen to music daily to unwind especially during my commutes. This innovation of listening to music through your laptops or phones is great and has impacted my life greatly. 

Creativity

In recent years, new media has become one of the most important and influential aspects of the internet world. New media technologies enable users to broadcast their creativity to their followers. Users of different social media platforms are able to share various personal content with others, friends, family, etc. One of the major social media platforms that caught hidden talent was Youtube. It allowed users to post their own content such as videos that they had created and tailored towards a specific audience. For an example, Justin Bieber was found by an agent on Youtube. His mother use to share videos of him signing covers of songs so his family could easily access it. Sooner or later, these videos were getting more views than just family and an agent came to the conclusion that he would be a star! "Mashup artists like Vidler, Kerr, and Brown have found a way of bringing pop music to a formal richness that it only rarely reaches. See mashups as piracy if you insist, but it is more useful, viewing them through the lens of the market, to see them as an expression of consumer dissatisfaction. Armed with free time and the right software, people are rifling through the lesser songs of pop music and, in frustration, choosing to make some of them as good as the great ones," ("The New Math of Mashups", 4). The article shows yet another example of how new media fostered creativity in music. Mashups are basically a collaboration of the music that has entered the internet and made into one beautiful piece. This shows how efficient the internet for taking raw materials and forming it into one finished publication; in this case a music track. Citations: The New Math of Mashups from The New Yorker Magazine 2005.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

To begin, virtual worlds merge two spheres together, creativity and community. These virtual worlds literally model reality, providing an alternate reality to the users. In this world, users can create their own identity. Another chance at life, whether they want to be exactly the same or completely different. There are numerous advantages that come with virtual worlds. This realistic environment allows users to emerge themselves to effectively and efficiently learn without the detrimental consequences. Virtual reality is used in many areas of healthcare. This can range from diagnosis, treatment, methods of rehab. It also can be used to teach incoming students in the medical field. "Immersive technologies provide alternative environments for situated learning, because an almost endless variety of virtual contexts are available, or can be created, that give users a sense of "being there," ... and thus, the ability to apply learning in a plausible, unique context," (Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations". However, there are disadvantages in which it is very time consuming. According to "Virtual World May Impact Real-world Behaviour," users of the virtual world may implement their characters persona onto their owns. Whether the user decides to play as a hero or a villain will dictate if they reward or punish strangers. These virtual worlds foster creativity by allowing the user endless capabilities of creating their own realm, expressing their feelings, and sharing information with others. The future of technology can never be properly guessed, as it improves by the minute. However, I believe with how virtual worlds work now that the VRs could probably improve even more. One way it could improve is with the focus. The human eye is designed to focus especially at different distances and the VR is not capable of doing so yet. 

Citations:

Dawley, Lisa, and Chris Dede. "Situated Learning in Virtual Worlds and Immersive Simulations." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Virtual World May Impact Real-world Behaviour." Health24. N.p., 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.