Next New

When thinking about what kind of new media is essential yet doesn't exist is pretty hard. In the last century we have come so far in regards to new media sites and platforms and it seems that every idea is already out there. I looked into what I would enjoy doing online and the only thing that came to mind was doing what I enjoy now; reading books. I adore reading books, just imagining my own world and the book's characters in it.  I believe the next new media platform should be an E-bookclub. It will work just like personal bookclub. The members will be assigned a book to read and will discuss it throughout their progress once a week. There will be an online interactive debate and everyone will get the chance to voice their opinions.
And the best part is- it will in in the comfort of one's home.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

So far I have contributed to our class wiki under the following areas:

1.       Contributor: 

·         Education page- I have contributed to the education page by adding on a paragraph about new media as an educational platform.

·         Social networking page- I have added a paragraph about Facebook depression in the social networking page. In addition, I contributed to the already existing identity theft sub-topic in the social networking page.

2.       Page editor:

·         Religion page- I have contributed to the sub- topic Jews in the New Media. I have added some information about the app Waze.

3.       Graphic editor:

·         I have added a photo of the founder of Waze under the sub-topic Jews in the New Media in the Religion page. 

4.       Content auditor- 

·         Media in Politics- I have corrected some grammar mistakes and changed the layout a bit in the sub-topic New media influence during the Arab Spring under the Media in Politics page.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is the act of distributing and or providing access to digital media such as audio, videos, images, books, games, movies and computer programs.

Peer- to- Peer (P2P) file sharing is one of the most common methods of file sharing. P2P allows users to access media files, games, computer programs and such by searching for them on other connected computers on the P2P network. Essentially, it is obtaining  another user's files and programs. Some examples of P2P will be: Lending Club, BitTorrent, DistriBrute, Tribler, Freecast, Babelgum, BBC iPlayer, JAMAN, GridNetworks, Mashboxx and much more. 

P2P has become such an integral part of accessing media files, that even Google joined in; in 2013 Google invested $125 million in Lending Club, a very successful P2P lender. Google's investment and other actions by big companies truly reflect the growing interest and demand in the P2P lending market.

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/05/10/182651552/peers-find-less-pressure-borrowing-from-each-other

Advice

I believe that Baruch College should be active on social media and social networking sites.

Nowadays, students get notifications about events and seminars through their Baruch email account. In order to reach more people in a faster way, I think Baruch should have a Facebook page or a Twitter page, or both. It should have its own hashtag so it will be easier to locate the page's posts. In addition, I believe that creating a website with instant messaging will go a long way; there can be a page for each department. Students can consult with advisors and department personnel through the site instead of sending out emails, it will be easier and quicker. 

Privacy

In this post, discuss how the issues of privacy and confidentiality are related to new media.

In the age of new media, the terms privacy and confidentiality have gotten a new meaning and are a big concern among the devoted users of social media and social networking sites. Nowadays, in order to create a user profile one is requested to upload a photo of himself and additional background information. Exposing such info can lead to identity theft and personal fraud; it seems as if social networking sites have become the perfect platform to stock people and find out private information about them.

Due to the fact that new media is taking our identities to a new level, we must be aware of the privacy settings that each websites/ apps provide. In those setting, a user can control who sees his profile picture, basic information, posts and images. It is critical that we keep our information only available to our family, friends and people we know in order to keep ourselves safe and enjoy some privacy.

CREATIVITY

Nowadays, creativity is more important than ever. Many companies use their users and fans in order to generate ideas for a new product or on order to upgrade an existing product or appearance of one. Many companies like “outsourcing” those tasks to the user since they know first hand what they would like a products to look like and what they would like it do. Twitter has gained a lot from its user’s creativity. Hyperlinks are a great example of how Twitter used one of its user’s creativity; back in 2007, Chris Messina, an early Twitter user first used the hashtag feature of his Tweets. He contacted the company and ask them to make it an official feature, but they let him down and said that it would not stick. However, the hashtag feature became more popular as the time went by and many users started using it often. Nowadays, Twitter uses the hashtag in order to provide its users with an hyperlink to see all the stories and updates that contains the hashtaged word. 

Another example will be the word ’Tweets”. The term was actually first used by users and not the company itself. Once Twitter noticed that many people started using the term, it applied to make Tweets an official  trademark.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html

Creativity and New Media

I decided to create my own avatar on Second Life. To get started, I first created my online profile and downloaded the app to my computer. There re several avatars to choose from, although I was looking forward to designing my avatar from scratch. I chose the below avatar because I felt that it is the one that looks the most like me. I was very fascinated by the Second Life app, it was my first time using it and I was very impressed.