A new type of media that will drastically change society in my opinion is holographic video chatting. This third person video chatting will entail a real time holographic version of those involved in the video group. The application supporting this will designate a leader of the party to create a real time interaction with immense visuals. For instance, a CEO wants to have a meeting with other important figures but can not make the time to travel. The holographic video chatting will have a device that will scan and transmit a hologram replica of yourself to everyone in the chat. The device will only scan the individual and not the entire room though. Essentially, meetings and conferences could be internationally available on the touch of a palm and be cost efficient.
Our Class Wiki – So Far
At the moment, I have added and edited information on the New Media and Social Networking page. I inputted information on the Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn portion of the page (http://newmedia.shoutwiki.com/wiki/New_Media_and_social_networking). Additionally, I intend to add a page about Friendster down the line. Friendster is the root of social social media and how one of their functions pioneered social media. Friendster’s “Circle of Friends” function created what we know today as common interest groups and connections which is shown on other social media sites. By creating a page on Friendster, users can learn the history of social media. The history of social media and public privacy will the main focus on the pages I create. Public Privacy will be my highlighted point because it is a current and controversial topic today. Public Privacy is social media platforms exploiting users personal information as a means of data mining. The expectation of privacy is further opened as the personal details aren’t as intimate as it seems.
P2P
P2P is an Internet function that allows “Peer to Peer” file sharing. File sharing allows different users to download a variety of files whether it’ll be a music file, photo, movie, etc off a website. P2P file sharing included users who upload content that can be available for download through websites such as MegaDownload, 4share, and Hulkshare. Many individual partake in P2P daily, myself included. P2P has even extended into lending money! According to NPR’s article “Peers Find Less Pressure Borrowing From Each Other,” Chanda Lugere turned to online funding to pay off a credit card debit. In fact, Chanda had a great experience with the loan received online because the borrowers interest rate was only 6%. This is lower than the standard bank loans. The pace of which P2P sharing has increased to include monetary lending is incredible.
Privacy
Social media networks has dramatically impacted personal and professional privacy. In the modern era, people can easily reform or create close connections through social network sites. A persons profile discloses many details about their profile. A traditional job application process is quickly becoming replaced with an online process that is more time and cost efficient. The employers and past friends can look into your profile that is publicly available. My research has called this phenomenon public privacy
Advice to Baruch College
I would advise CUNY Baruch to improve their WiFi for mobile devices. Many students experience difficulties when accessing the WiFi. The students are either disconnected after a certain time or slow downs on certain devices. As paying students, WiFi should be a secure and consistent network for students. Another main point would be creating a more efficient security check. Students and professors alike swipe in and there are times when the machine does not register the ID. Perhaps, Baruch could include a log in system that would be tap to access. Additionally if students, professors or professionals need access, the security guards could provide another means of identification aside from a social security number. They could have guest codes as opposed to a memo that states a professional is coming. Another means is to type in your student log in.
Creativity and New Media
This is the avatar I have created in phone application, BitStrip. BitStrip is an application where you can fully customize your avatar from head to toe to clothing. You can insert your avatar into strips similar to those of comics and share it with friends. There are many funny and fun strips that you can utilize. Another one of its main features is adding a friend’s avatar in the strips to highlight activities.
Creativity
New Media has brought forth new methods of creativity. Many artists have sprung to specialize in “mash-ups.” According to the NYT article “The New Math of Mash Ups,” mash-ups is when vocals from one song are laid over from the music of another, which can include a differing genre. Danger Mouse is an example of an sound engineer who specializes in mash-ups after his published album The Grey Album became popular. Mixes like this were often limited and rare in the past but these days mixes are available and easy to learn but difficult to master. Additionally, these mash-ups have melded musical genre compared to the past. Artists from different spectrums have come together and produced creative sound that is extremely enjoyable such as rapper Jay Z and rockband Linkin Park.
Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds
This is a very interesting topic I have researched in prior. For my CIS 2200 class, my team had to research Second Life and other various virtual reality websites. I did not expect there to be a large following and other platforms. Through my research, Virtual Worlds serve a great purpose for those who want to escape the harsh society or for those who suffer from extreme social anxiety. Virtual Reality serves a way for individuals to “start over” and recreate a profile of their choosing. In the Forbes article “After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot?,” there are valid points I agree with which discusses the purpose if Second Life’s development. The purpose to help aid soldiers who return from war is a great way to slowly develop interaction properly. The original purpose to recreate a virtual training environment drastically changed as Jacki Morie, designer for Second Life, raised further questions. I see this as one of the positive foundations Virtual Reality can lay their groundwork on.
Another development in Virtual Reality is one specifically build in NYC. The NYT article, I Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life, elaborates how IT has created a virtual playground based on Manhattans Lower East Side. The design and structure replicates Manhattan buildings and characters that loiter outside restaurants and stores. People can create avatars and explore the Lower East Side free from harm in a way. This enables people to be more adventurous vicariously and be more creative with how their avatars interact. Someone would be a skater turned pop-star in the Virtual World. Eventually, I believe more Virtual Worlds will be created and based on popular regions which people can “experience.”
Citations:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/
Blog About Twitter
Twitter is a social media messaging service. Users can sign up and post their thoughts in 140 characters or less to the whole world to see. Furthermore, they can add a hashtag to categorize their thoughts. Hashtags has evolved to become trending topics which markets can use for data. Twitter has changed the way online interaction has worked. Celebrities or prominent figures can message and converse with ordinary people like no other. Connections are easily made and even job postings can be found on Twitter these days!
Compared to a in-class discussion, Twitter is short in terms of depth. The topic could be proposed and users can easily interact which is similar to the in-class discussion method. However, they allow a fast-paced conversation to go back and forth among the users. The depth could be easily fixed with the overlay of messages sent. A fault of Twitter in relating to an in-class discussion is the Retweeting function. This could lead to a risk of messages having no originality and just a copy of a prior message.
Compared to Blackboard discussion, Twitter is more user friendly. There are very different characteristics though such as Blackboard not having a 140 character limit. Users can post and reply with a more in-depth opinion which provides a thoughtful discussion in Blackboard. Twitter’s advantage over Blackboard is how it is easier to view the responses to your original tweet. Blackboard is more “clunky” in that sense. In my opinion, Blackboard should be used for a longer and deeper discussion that is more likely to span over time as opposed to Twitter’s quick messages back and forth.
Social Networking Sites
Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Tumblr are four various and popular social media sites. Facebook serves as the primary people network for people globally. However, Twitter is on the rise to match and possibly surpass Facebook’s popularity. As technology progresses, these four social media sites are beginning to focus on their core strengths to gather attention. Some are miles ahead of others in one specific areas while the other is excelling in it’s weakness. Facebook specific strength is in their people search engine which provides valuable data for marketers. Myspace, once popular in 2005 as the social media networking site, has switched their strength to focus heavily on music. Twitter’s strength is their fast pace message and status updates which enables individuals to connect at an extraordinary pace. Tumblr’s strength, while also offering status updates and music to listen to, is their globally shared image board.
Facebook has come along way from the hands of Mark Zuckerburg. Zuckerburg as pushed for multiple home template changes for Facebook but users have adjusted reasonably. Facebook allows for individuals, groups, or organizations to connect and share updates on how they’re doing, future events, and even job opportunities. It has even grown to connect people of all age groups, including parents and grand parents. Many youngsters have migrated from Facebook because it is no longer the “in” platform to be on since parents and older people are using it. Some have switched to Twitter or Tumblr instead.
Tumblr is like an all-in-one social media platform. People are able to “follow” others and share statuses, pictures, websites, and even music. The follow function is the method Tumblr has to connect individuals. My experience with Tumblr is the frequency of pictures posted and reposted across individual blogs. Twitter has become the marketing platform for social media. Hashtags create trending topics across the board. Also, the Retweeting function enables for messages to reach further areas. These quick messages (140 characters or less) and comments have become vital to users that have a fast-paced lifestyle. Twitter is very user friendly with few complex functions and widgets but still enjoyable.
Lastly, my experience with Myspace is short but it has drastically changed when I viewed it again. There is no longer a strong customization of blogs but a heavy emphasis on music. Myspace’s popularity was at its popularity peak from 2005-2008. Similar to Facebook, Myspace connected individual’s personal page or blog through friend requests. The uniqueness of Myspace was how individual pages were fully customizable to include a music player and background. Their current emphasis on music is quite different from what I expected but it does seem logical since many artists in the past broke out through Myspace.
My personal selection of social media is Facebook. As a long standing user, Facebook serves its purpose to me by allowing me to stay close to friends even though I may have not seen them for a time.
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