The Next New Thing

A new media that doesn’t currently exist is an app that can find parking spaces for cars. This ideal app should notify a driver whenever someone leaves a parking spot and the space is free. Showing other drivers in the area who may be looking for parking as well would be helpful. How this app would work is by detecting cars that are parked in the neighborhood and store its location information for others to view. Then when the car leaves, the app would let users nearby know that someone has left that spot. This would probably need help from the satellite for such information. This app would be helpful for people who spend hours looking for parking spots especially in busy cities such as Manhattan. Help with finding parking would also save time, gas and money. People won’t have to circle around neighborhoods to find parking. They can instead wait in their cars by a hydrant and be notified when a parking spot opens so they can turn on the car and drive to that spot.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

What I have done so far:

- I have added to the New Media and Transportation page. I wrote about an app called Embark NYC that shows the train schedules for every train even when you’re underground without service. 

- I have added information about the iPhone 6s camera and its new features.

- I plan to add information on Education in New Media. I plan to talk about how Chegg helps students learn and also how they can save a lot of money on books.

- I plan to add to the New Media in Entertainment page. I want to talk about how TV channels have their own app and how anyone can watch their favorite shows anytime and anywhere on his or her phone.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is when people share media such as music, movies, games, or books with other people online. P2P file sharing is when people share their content on a network for others to download. Some examples of P2P file sharing programs include BitTorrent, Naptser and Freenet. This way of sharing and exchanging media results in millions of losses to companies that produce these content. In the article “Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access? by Eric Pfanner, Pfanner states “The United States Congress held hearings last week on the growing problem of piracy, which the American entertainment industry says accounts for the loss of $20 billion a year in sales." Many people use file sharing because it’s free. If they want to watch a movie, they can just download it or stream it on the Internet. They don’t have to spend money buying the DVD or spend money buying a ticket to watch it in theaters.

Privacy & Confidentiality

With the rise of new media comes the question of security. Whenever someone posts something online, it will be on the Internet forever. People have the option to save or screenshot what you posted and repost them again. Once it spreads, everyone may have a copy of the saved file.

Also, it is very hard for a person to private their Facebook page because it is complicated to learn about Facebook’s privacy settings. Even if someone customized their privacy settings to the most private, there are still ways to work around the privacy settings. Some people may create fake profiles to befriend the person’s profile that they want to see. Others may know friends of that person that have access to that person’s profile information. In addition, Facebook’s privacy policy and settings often change. People may think they have set their settings to their preference but Facebook reserves the right to make privacy policy and setting changes, which means a user’s settings could be changed without being notified first. Moreover, having access to someone’s profile can lead to identity theft. Someone can steal one’s identity by using the person’s name and birthday.

Advice to Baruch College

I would create an app for Baruch that allows students to keep track of their classes. The app would include any class announcements, files/content needed for class, and reminders. Some students don't check their emails as often and sometimes miss out emails about canceled classes. Having an app that notifies students whenever a professor cancels class may be helpful. Instead of finding out there is no class being held at the time of class, students could find out earlier with the app's notifications. Also, it would be convenient to access any articles, slides or other files that the professor posted up from a phone. This way students wouldn't have any excuse as to why they don't have it with them in class. Reminders would also let students know when papers are due or when there is a quiz or test. It would be especially helpful to those who were absent in class. 

I would also create a Snapchat account for Baruch to keep students updated about events and activities. Although Twitter may already provide these updates, students may not necessarily buy into them unless they actually see the fun. Snapchat allows pictures and videos to be posted for 24 hours. Other students may also upload their pictures and videos to Baruch's Snapchat and I could review them before posting them. This would show students how fun activities could be and may encourage them to attend in the future. Creating a Snapchat account may provide updates for those who have Snapchat but not Twitter.

Creativity and New Media

I created an avatar in Second Life to explore its features. There were many activities to do. I could fly around and teleport to different places, play games, go to clubs and talk to different people. During my session, I visited Spain and Moscow. I also visited the University of Kentucky. It made me wonder how accurate the virtual Kentucky is but it is still pretty cool to visit another school so easily. There was also a chat feature that can be used to communicate with different users from around the world.Virtual worlds such as Second Life are fun and interesting because its users have access to a wide range of activities, different universities and a whole network of people around the world.

Creativity

Today, anything on the Internet is accessible to anyone. This allows new media to foster creativity. People can use existing media in combination with their own to create even newer media. For example, open source software is opened to the public and people who are using open source software can incorporate that software into their own applications. Therefore, new media encourages people to generate ideas from other people’s work.

People have demonstrated their creativity in the use of media by creating mashups. A mashup is the combination of two pieces of media into one. The article “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?” by Brook Barnes published in the New York Times discusses an example of a mashup. It explains that a YouTube user had combined a rap song “Crank That” by Soulja Boy with Disney characters to create a parody. This is creative because people do not usually associate rap songs with Disney characters. When they are combined together in a video, it creates a funny visual. The article also stated that there is another version that uses SpongeBob SquarePants characters that has been viewed more than seven million times. This speaks about how popular these mashups can be. Anyone can create a mashup using any media and if they are funny or interesting enough, it can go viral on the Internet.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds have changed the way people live their lives positively as well as negatively. A virtual world is a separate, second world life that someone has created for himself or herself on the Internet. People usually create characters and profiles that resemble their real identities.

The pros of virtual worlds allow people to do things that they can't do in real life. A video on Youtube titled “A Second Life on Second Life” shows a person that isn’t able to walk and is disabled. A virtual world, however, allows her to be able to virtually visit places that she can't in real life such as museums. Her virtual world even gives her the opportunity to dance. A virtual world is also a great place for people with similar struggles to come together and speak to one another. An article “iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction” from CNN written by Nicole Saidi states "one benefit is that visitors can practice social interaction and find information about the condition. The graphical representations of real people create a ‘comfort zone’ that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others.” In other words, victual worlds allow people with disorders, such as autism, to speak with one another. People who with disorders usually struggle with interacting with others because of their condition. Virtual worlds allow these people to experience or practice things first in their second lives that would later help them in real life. People with autism can visit these virtual worlds and find others who can relate to their stories and understand them.

Despite virtual worlds being a great place for people to interact with others and learning, there are some cons about this kind of interaction. We can't base our life solely on what’s happening virtually. We need real human relationships and interactions in life in order to not feel lonely. When someone logs out of the virtual world, that person may still feel a sense of loneliness. The online interactions only last for a limited time when using the computer. Even though virtual worlds allow people to socialize, it is not the same feeling or experience people get when they socialize with real people. Even if they are able to visit bars and clubs in this second world, they can't physically drink and dance with someone. This world lacks real, genuine feelings and emotions. In addition, virtual worlds are also a place where cyber bullying or theft/scams may occur. One may never know who is on the other side of the computer. Some people may bully others and some may use it as a place to scam and launder money from people who are too trusting.

Nevertheless, the virtual world isn’t limited to interactions with others; it can also be used creatively. In the article “Avatar II: The Hospital” by Stephanie Simon from the Wall Street Journal states that “In addition to the disaster drills, Second Life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills.” Virtual world simulation can help nurses prepare for real life emergencies and also help them prepare for their jobs in a real hospital. This gives them a head-start and practice on actually nursing patients. So when they are on the hospital floor caring for their patients, they have an idea of what they’re doing and isn’t totally new to it. Another way virtual worlds can be creative is with business press conferences. Instead of having everyone in the same room during a conference, people can be in the comforts of their own home while attending conferences with their coworkers and executives. It gets the same work done but more efficiently. Virtual worlds can also take it to another level by having virtual school campuses. People with disabilities who find it difficult to commute and/or walking from class to class or even people who don’t have to time to attend actual school may join a virtual campus to pursue their education. This world when used creatively for these and other purposes can make people’s lives easier.

Even though there are some concerns when using virtual worlds, I still think that virtual worlds would grow in the future and maybe even improve and find ways to address these concerns. The virtual world is more cost-effective than real life training. Virtual worlds can help police officers, firefighters and EMS workers train for emergency situations. It’s a good source for practicing these drills without arranging an actual time and place for people to meet. Also, people with disorders are always looking to connect with others and virtual worlds allow them to find people similar to them and form friendships and relationships. Virtual world will always be a place where people can interact with one another. It’s likely that more and more people will start using virtual worlds. It is like a 3-D Facebook or real life SIMS where people can talk to their friends and do activities with them on-line.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook - Facebook, in my opinion, used to be the most popular social networking site. Everyone used to update their statuses and post pictures of themselves and where they went on vacation. People used to also post on each other walls all the time. I don’t see much of that anymore. I only use Facebook to check my newsfeed for videos that went viral or for its Messenger app.

Twitter - Twitter is new to me but I have an idea of how it works. I can get real time updates on what my favorite basketball team, the Knicks, is doing. Also, I can get updates on what new shoes Nike is releasing. Another feature that’s cool on Twitter is its trends. Twitter has a section that displays what is trending at the moment, which really means what is the hot-topic that everyone is talking about. This is a great way to learn about any kind of information about politics, celebrities, the Middle East, or etc.

Instagram - Instagram is a network where people post pictures or videos of themselves or things that they are passionate about. Although people have the option to post any kind of pictures or videos they’d like, some people have a certain criteria for the pictures they post. They select pictures that are “Instagram-worthy” to post and therefore controlling how they present themselves and what they allow people to see or learn about them. Many celebrities are also active on Instagram. I tend to follow NBA stars to keep up with their activities.

Snapchat - Snapchat is an app where people send each other short videos or pictures of themselves or anything they want to show. It is similar to a combined Instagram and Twitter as people can post pictures throughout the day and caption their activities. Their pictures or videos are more casual than the other social media because it is meant to have people share what they do day-to-day. Anything they post is only available for 24 hours and it deletes on its own. People can send each other direct snaps if they don’t want to share them on their stories. Snapchat is actually fun to use and a great way to see what my friends are doing throughout different times of the day.

Blog About Twitter

Twitter, Blackboard discussion and in-class discussions are similar in that they allow users and people to express their opinions and elaborate on a topic or issue. However, the amount of information shared on Twitter, Blackboard and in-class vary.

A “tweet” or post on Twitter is short and contains 140 characters. This limits what the user wants to say in one post. In order to create an ongoing discussion on Twitter, others or the author can comment on the same post to elaborate. People also use hashtags to filter discussions about the same topic into a page, which makes it easier to follow all of the topic’s posts, videos or news. Unless the user’s Twitter profile is private, anyone can view the user’s tweets. Therefore, anyone from around the world who finds that post can comment on it.

On the contrary, Blackboard and in-class discussions only include students and the professor of the class. Blackboard allows users to create multiple forums and threads within forums. A forum is the topic of discussion and a thread is a sub-topic. Professors usually create a topic of discussion and have students create threads about the topic. While students publish their thoughts on the topic, they can also comment on their peers’ posts and agree, disagree or elaborate. There is no limit to Blackboard discussions as students can type as much or as little as they would like.

In-class discussions are more interactive in that students meet with everyone in the classroom to talk, not by sitting behind their computers. Professors usually ask a question and students would raise their hands and answer the question. The discussion is live and some students may not necessarily have an answer prepared like they could on Blackboard. Some students are shy and feel like they might be judged on what they say. Therefore, some people may not participate as they would on Blackboard. In addition, class discussions may go off-topic at times whereas Blackboard allows students to be focused on just the topic.

Social Networking

Social networking has become an integral part of society. People use it to maintain connections with family and friends no matter where they're geographically and even find job opportunities. Despite social networking technologies being so helpful and useful, there is a dark side to it such as privacy concerns.

Social network sites are great resources for staying in contact with friends and family. Websites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to update their statuses and tag their locations. Online friends can “like” the status updates or posts and even “comment” on them to share their thoughts. Users can share photos publicly or privately with one another. All of these functions are ways of sharing the latest information that people want to share with their friends and family.

In addition, social networking sites give people the opportunity to find jobs and careers. For example, LinkedIn is a website that helps users with finding employment. Professionals can create their profiles, listing their work experience and skills. Recruiters visit sites like these to hire potential employees. They can do this by typing in the job skills that they are looking for in the search bar and results will show people with matching skills and interests. From there employers can read each LinkedIn profile to learn about the candidates and determine who may be a good match to interview for the job. All types of recruiters from any sized companies or agencies use LinkedIn. There are over 8 million LinkedIn users and some of these users are from big companies. An article titled "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" written by Frank Langfitt states “LinkedIn says users include executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies.” This speaks about the popularity of LinkedIn as professionals of top companies also use this online website. It is an easy and convenient way for people to find jobs and employers to recruit.

As helpful and useful these sites may be, there are privacy concerns that not many users consider. Anything anyone posts may be seen by anyone around the world. Information spreads quickly and once it does it is hard to remove. You can never truly delete anything off the Internet because once it is posted, people can save what you posted without your knowing. In the article “Leaving ‘Friendprints’: How Online Social Networks are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security”, Lance Hoffman, a George Washington University Professor, states "Just a person’s name and birth date — routinely found on a Facebook profile — can be a useful lever for an identity thief.” Some people may think that they are only displaying their names and birthdays to their friends and their friends’ friends but this is not the case. This information can be accessed and shared with anyone especially if the user’s privacy settings enable Facebook to do so. Some people such as identity thieves or hackers are constantly developing advanced technology to steal people’s identities and information.

Privacy settings are not as easy to adjust, as they may be confusing. In the article “Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn’t Private” written by Rebecca Greenfield talks about how a family photo posted by the sister of Facebook founder Randi Zuckerberg was supposed to be private but a stranger was able to see it on her newsfeed and posted it up somewhere else. Greenfield states “And if Facebook’s privacy settings are too confusing for a Zuckerberg, how are the rest of us ever supposed to post anything that’s truly, completely private?” The sister of the founder must have been unaware of her privacy settings or the privacy policy changes. The policies change often enough that users should be updating their settings from time-to-time. If people are not aware of what information they allow to share with the public, their information can spread virally.

Social networking is a huge part of society today that it is hard to avoid. It is a part of everyday life. Even though it has been helpful with maintaining relationships with people and finding jobs, people may become too attached to social networking sites. It is already happening now. Some friends don’t see each other as much anymore because they rather communicate through social networks. They don’t talk on the phone as much anymore either. Some couples can be seen on their phones when they're eating at restaurants. The traditional kind of human interaction has diminished down to interaction through social networking sites, which changes the social behavior and interactions. There needs to be a balance between using social networking sites when necessary and maintaining actual human interactions.

Blogs Vs Wikis

Wikis and blogs may be alike in some ways but they are mostly different. They both share the same purpose of providing information about a topic to readers. However, they are different in terms of their authors. A Wiki page is normally written by a collaboration of people. Therefore, there are multiple authors and anyone can edit the contents of the page. A blog, on the other hand, is usually written by a single author, which is also known as the blogger.

Moreover, these types of websites are very influential in today’s networked world. Companies and organizations get the most work done using Wiki. In the article “How To Use Wikis For Business” published by InformationWeek, “Wikis are designed to facilitate the exchange of information within and between teams.” Wikis’ design aims to make communication faster and easier. In addition, Margaret Locher wrote in her article “More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia” that one team was able to make better decisions and complete the project faster due to having the most updated information. Instead of having to gather everyone in the same place and work on a project together, Wiki allows people to work from anywhere and anytime. They may post information up at their convenience. Wiki has proved to be a convenient and effective resource for big companies and organizations.

Another way people can use Wikis is in the classroom. Every class should have its own Wiki so that classmates can post and share information on what was discussed in class. This will be helpful to the students who were absent and allow them to catch up on anything they missed in class. This will also allow students a chance to elaborate on class material with their classmates.

Although there is usually one author for a blog, groups can also be used for collaboration as well. For example, the arrests of drug dealers were made due to the help of a group of Brooklyn bloggers who kept posting about the drug activities happening near their neighborhood. Michael Wilson wrote about this contribution in the New York Times, stating "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”. This started with one person posting concerns about drug activity in the neighborhood and as more people commented on it, the post received enough attention that led them to meet with the authorities. The comment function on the blog allowed a group of people who shared similar concerns to collaborate together to solve a problem.

Both Wikis and blogs are excellent and effective resources to post and share information quickly and easily.

Assessment of eBay’s Role in the Buying and Selling Community

My research focus is on the impact of eBay on my hobby, more specifically on how eBay can turn buying and selling items into a business. I buy and sell sneakers and phones in my spare time. I want to research and explain how eBay turned my hobby into more of a business-like operation. I also want to explore the impacts of eBay on everyday consumers as well as businesses. I think that eBay has a significant role in the buying and selling world and I want to better my understanding of how sellers make a living using eBay. My research will also explore the effects of how the buying and selling community competes with retailer prices. In a broader picture, I want to research how eBay will impact the buying and selling community in the future. Will the buying and selling community put stores out of business with competitive prices? Will stores lower their prices to compete with private sellers on eBay?