Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The Next New Thing
With technology rapidly growing I think if there was a way that we could live inside a movie/gaming environment it would be awesome. I am not talking about having an avatar but our physical body in there. We can do this by creating holograms in a very big open space and pretend that what is happening in the movie or game is happening right in front of you. This will surely cost a lot but if someone comes up with this idea it will progress technology and how people will not only watch movies or play games but experience them. People already made the Oculus Rift, which is a goggle like equipment that you wear and what you will see through it is what is displayed in the game. However, this will only fulfill your sensory and hearing perceptions and will not fulfill your other 3 senses. If we do this in an open environment without wearing a goggle like equipment this will maximize the experience.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Our Class Wiki - So Far
Honestly, I have not posted anything on the class wiki yet. I would like to make a page on some of the famous apps that many people use such as Instagram, Snapchat, Flappy bird (and how it became a trend for a while), etc affects people. I have tried these apps before so I know how they work. I started doing research and will add onto these wiki if it has already been created. It will be interesting to see what I will come up with and I will try my best to contribute to the wiki as soon as possible.
P2P File Sharing
File sharing is when someone gives access to online information such as videos, images, documents, and audio. File sharing has become very big and almost everyone that uses the internet uses file sharing. A type of file sharing is P2P or peer to peer file sharing. An example of peer to peer file sharing is Bit-torrent, 4shared, Pirate Bay, etc. There are no limits on how much information you are able to download. However, the information you download are not reviewed by anyone and can be "illegal." It would usually take hours to download a movie but on Bit-Torrent you would be able to download it in 20 minutes. Many people began noticing this and began to use Bit-Torrent and that is why there are over 20 million downloads as of 2005, 4 years after the first version was available. Companies such as Motion Picture Association of America began to start suing people that download the movies and this is why people began to be more careful of the content they download. It is the information that is illegal, not the program itself.
Source:
1. The BitTorrent Effect by Clive Thompson, Wired, January 2005. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/bittorrent.html
Source:
1. The BitTorrent Effect by Clive Thompson, Wired, January 2005. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/bittorrent.html
Monday, April 7, 2014
Privacy & Confidentiality
With new media this opens a whole new ballpark to Privacy and Confidentiality. It is much harder to protect the things you post onto your new media. Unless you block your profile from people, your page will be shown to everyone. People will be able to see your name, birthday, phone number, address if you post it up. There is a lot someone can be able to do with these information. For example, on this YouTube video, Sam who has 1.8 million subscribers, got access to females Instagram profile and pretended to tell them that he knew them. He then asked the females to give him their number and this was a way that people can pick up females. The females actually gave him more information by giving him his number and this can be very dangerous. They can take their identity and this is called identity theft. With 1.8 million subscribers people will now know that they will be able to do this and might even try it themselves. This just goes to show that your information is not safe unless you make it safe. However even if you block your profile, it will secure your account a little bit but hackers has found ways to bypass this and steal your information. With new social media sites occurring rapidly the new social media sites will have flaws within their system and hackers will figure it out ways to get through them.
Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZXzpiQ_ME
Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZXzpiQ_ME
Advice to Baruch College
You are hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the College. What are some suggestions you would make using new media?
There are so many people at Baruch that uses social media which includes students and faculty members. It will be easy for the college to engage in social media. If we do plan on engaging in social media we must first tell the students and faculty members. We can do this by posting fliers around the school, like they did with CUNY first just to gain followers or subscribers. Then by using social media we can tell everyone future events that are happening around the school. We can make some events exclusive by posting a RSVP link and the only way you can RSVP is by following Baruch on their social media website. This makes people follow Baruch and create more awareness. Baruch can also post official announcements on their social media sites if school closes or something happens in the school. They can also post summary of articles in the Ticker and tell people if they want to read the details of the story to pick up a Ticker at Baruch. There is a lot of things Baruch can do with social media and these are just a few examples.
There are so many people at Baruch that uses social media which includes students and faculty members. It will be easy for the college to engage in social media. If we do plan on engaging in social media we must first tell the students and faculty members. We can do this by posting fliers around the school, like they did with CUNY first just to gain followers or subscribers. Then by using social media we can tell everyone future events that are happening around the school. We can make some events exclusive by posting a RSVP link and the only way you can RSVP is by following Baruch on their social media website. This makes people follow Baruch and create more awareness. Baruch can also post official announcements on their social media sites if school closes or something happens in the school. They can also post summary of articles in the Ticker and tell people if they want to read the details of the story to pick up a Ticker at Baruch. There is a lot of things Baruch can do with social media and these are just a few examples.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Creativity and New Media
Growing up I loved playing the game Sims. It is a game where you basically create as many avatars as you want, buy a house or create your own, and begin to live your life. In the first snapshot, I just finished creating my avatar. I tried to make it resemble me as much as I could. I then moved my avatar into a house and bought a guitar. I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar but never had the chance. However, as you can see in my 2nd snapshot I am able to make my avatar learn to play the guitar as if that is me learning. This is why I enjoy playing this game; you can do anything you wish you were able to in real life and convert it into a second life in Sims.
Creativity
When Twitter first started in 2007 many people began to become engaged in it. We call this new media. It was another way people used to share information and have conversation. What is really amazing about new media is that it fosters creativity.With just 140 characters people had to think about what they were going to say and their true feelings. Companies looked at what the trends will be in their customers and give them what they want. People on twitter became the one creating ideas for products and there will always be new ideas because people are creative with their imaginations.
Twitter also has hash-tags. You put a hash tag in front of your post and it groups it up with other people that used the same hash tag. An example given in Twitter Serves Up Idea From Its Followers by Claire Cain Miller "man conferences announce the so-called hash tag at the start of the event so attendees can mark all their posts the same way and people can search Twitter for everything written on the conference." Sometimes people like to create a new hash tag and other people may copy that hash tag and all of the sudden it becomes a trend and everyone uses the word. This also counts as creativity because a lot of people are trying to do this and some of them actually do become a trend.
In the future, more and more new media will be created. Creators of these new media will find new ways to foster creativity. It is interesting to see what people come up with and it is only a matter of time before we see it. This can happen tomorrow, in a week, in a year, in 5 years, etc. We will have to wait and see.
Sources:
1. Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers by CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, the New York Times, October 26, 2009. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html
Twitter also has hash-tags. You put a hash tag in front of your post and it groups it up with other people that used the same hash tag. An example given in Twitter Serves Up Idea From Its Followers by Claire Cain Miller "man conferences announce the so-called hash tag at the start of the event so attendees can mark all their posts the same way and people can search Twitter for everything written on the conference." Sometimes people like to create a new hash tag and other people may copy that hash tag and all of the sudden it becomes a trend and everyone uses the word. This also counts as creativity because a lot of people are trying to do this and some of them actually do become a trend.
In the future, more and more new media will be created. Creators of these new media will find new ways to foster creativity. It is interesting to see what people come up with and it is only a matter of time before we see it. This can happen tomorrow, in a week, in a year, in 5 years, etc. We will have to wait and see.
Sources:
1. Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers by CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, the New York Times, October 26, 2009. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
Virtual Worlds is a place where one can create an avatar in a computer simulated environment to do anything you'd like and meet other people who created their own avatar. As time passes by people are using the virtual world for many purposes, whether it is to recreate something in real life, or just to play games. It is becoming more acceptable and I think this will change our future.
One way a virtual world can be used it for gaming purposes. A big game today is Minecraft. This is a virtual world where you get together with your friends to create or destroy anything of your imagination like a building or a cave. A lot of kids enjoy playing this game because it is simple and fun. They are able to do anything they want and there are no adults to tell them their limits. This will foster creativity because the kids are learning to create things at a young age. I have a nephew that loves playing Minecraft and he has ended up building ships, buildings, etc. He even told me that he would want to become an architect and he's only 7 years old. I would have never expected someone at a young age to find their life passion through a minecraft. According to After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot "there are about 2 billion accounts registered for the 100 or so virtual worlds and children age 5-15 own about half of them. This goes to show that the newer generation are using these worlds to find other children that enjoys playing the same games. Another way the virtual world can be used is to host meetings, or conduct training for a job. According to Linden Lab more than 1400 organizations are doing this.
There are many benefits for using Virtual Worlds. One, you'll never feel alone ever again if you have access to it. Lets take Minecraft as an example. Since so many people play it all over the world, if you were feeling lonely you can log into Minecraft at 4am in the morning and you would still find people to play with. This helps us meet people around the world and learn how to socialize with people. Two, it will save people money. Many companies would fly to another country and host a meeting for a job. However, with virtual worlds you can just do it from the office and don't have to pay for the traveling fee.
The negative effects of virtual worlds is that people will end up forgetting what human interactions would feel like. If so many kids are using virtual worlds, they are probably at home on their computer. Their way of "hanging out" would probably be in the virtual worlds and only go out when they have to go to school. Another negative effect is learning what you are able to do in the virtual world but not in a face-to-face conversation. There are other factors like culture in the real world that people will need to account for, but not account for in the virtual world.
I think the future of virtual worlds will change greatly. If kids are getting use to virtual worlds at such a young age, when they grow up they will think of new ways to make it better. Universities may also end up using virtual worlds as an online course. The professor gives a set time to come to class, and you log on your avatar and sit in a virtual classroom. I think this idea will be very interesting and I might even try it.
Sources:
Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life, CNN.com: Nov 5, 2009 http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html
After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot. April 30, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/
One way a virtual world can be used it for gaming purposes. A big game today is Minecraft. This is a virtual world where you get together with your friends to create or destroy anything of your imagination like a building or a cave. A lot of kids enjoy playing this game because it is simple and fun. They are able to do anything they want and there are no adults to tell them their limits. This will foster creativity because the kids are learning to create things at a young age. I have a nephew that loves playing Minecraft and he has ended up building ships, buildings, etc. He even told me that he would want to become an architect and he's only 7 years old. I would have never expected someone at a young age to find their life passion through a minecraft. According to After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot "there are about 2 billion accounts registered for the 100 or so virtual worlds and children age 5-15 own about half of them. This goes to show that the newer generation are using these worlds to find other children that enjoys playing the same games. Another way the virtual world can be used is to host meetings, or conduct training for a job. According to Linden Lab more than 1400 organizations are doing this.
There are many benefits for using Virtual Worlds. One, you'll never feel alone ever again if you have access to it. Lets take Minecraft as an example. Since so many people play it all over the world, if you were feeling lonely you can log into Minecraft at 4am in the morning and you would still find people to play with. This helps us meet people around the world and learn how to socialize with people. Two, it will save people money. Many companies would fly to another country and host a meeting for a job. However, with virtual worlds you can just do it from the office and don't have to pay for the traveling fee.
The negative effects of virtual worlds is that people will end up forgetting what human interactions would feel like. If so many kids are using virtual worlds, they are probably at home on their computer. Their way of "hanging out" would probably be in the virtual worlds and only go out when they have to go to school. Another negative effect is learning what you are able to do in the virtual world but not in a face-to-face conversation. There are other factors like culture in the real world that people will need to account for, but not account for in the virtual world.
I think the future of virtual worlds will change greatly. If kids are getting use to virtual worlds at such a young age, when they grow up they will think of new ways to make it better. Universities may also end up using virtual worlds as an online course. The professor gives a set time to come to class, and you log on your avatar and sit in a virtual classroom. I think this idea will be very interesting and I might even try it.
Sources:
Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life, CNN.com: Nov 5, 2009 http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html
After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot. April 30, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dianemehta/2013/04/30/after-second-life-can-virtual-worlds-get-a-reboot/
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Blog about Twitter
As students we have many ways of communicating. This can be through Twitter, Blackboard, or an in class discussion. I have recently began using Twitter for my class and it is very interesting. However other students may probably be more familiar with Blackboard and an in class discussion.
Since Twitter has an 140 maximum of characters someone can post, it makes it difficult for someone to explain themselves. This makes people get straight to the point. They would have to think about the main points of what they want to say and tweet it. To keep everything together as a class every tweet we make we put a #(class). If we need to look back at what other classmates said or even the professor we just search up the # and see what everyone wrote. We can then reply to someones post by putting a @(username) and type what you want to say and putting the # after.
Blackboard is much different. A thread has to be created first and other people can reply to it. Since blackboard does not have a maximum of characters someone can post, people will generally explain themselves. It usually takes longer to post on blackboard than Twitter. The bad thing about Blackboard is, if someone was replying at the same time they may say the same thing. You will not be able to edit your post or delete it and it would be there forever. Also if you were to ask a question, someone may not reply until a week later when another student feels or sees your post.
An in class disscussion is what most people are use to. Everyone will be in a class to discuss about a topic and people would take turns talking. This makes it better for everyone because if someone was confused about the topic they can ask for clarification and they would usually get the answer right away. Just being there physically in the conversation, people tend to remember what was said. However, if you were to forget what was said in the discussion there will be no place for you to remember what was said and may cause future confusion.
Since Twitter has an 140 maximum of characters someone can post, it makes it difficult for someone to explain themselves. This makes people get straight to the point. They would have to think about the main points of what they want to say and tweet it. To keep everything together as a class every tweet we make we put a #(class). If we need to look back at what other classmates said or even the professor we just search up the # and see what everyone wrote. We can then reply to someones post by putting a @(username) and type what you want to say and putting the # after.
Blackboard is much different. A thread has to be created first and other people can reply to it. Since blackboard does not have a maximum of characters someone can post, people will generally explain themselves. It usually takes longer to post on blackboard than Twitter. The bad thing about Blackboard is, if someone was replying at the same time they may say the same thing. You will not be able to edit your post or delete it and it would be there forever. Also if you were to ask a question, someone may not reply until a week later when another student feels or sees your post.
An in class disscussion is what most people are use to. Everyone will be in a class to discuss about a topic and people would take turns talking. This makes it better for everyone because if someone was confused about the topic they can ask for clarification and they would usually get the answer right away. Just being there physically in the conversation, people tend to remember what was said. However, if you were to forget what was said in the discussion there will be no place for you to remember what was said and may cause future confusion.
Social Networking Sites
More and more people are using social networking sites such as: Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Some people may even list this as a "necessity" in their life. People use these sites to stay in touch with friends and/or family, or get the latest news about a celebrity, or even to get the latest news; there are endless possibilities one can use a social networking site for.
I think the first big social networking site was Myspace, at least in my life it was. I was probably in middle school and everyone was beginning to create a profile on Myspace. So I said to myself "hey, why not." When I created a Myspace everything seemed a little complicated. But after a while I slowly learned and got use to the site. I found out that Myspace is mostly for music. If you were to visit the site today, they will show featured singles and songs. You would be able to put music on your personal profile and share songs that you like. However, looking back what I really learned from Myspace was to create a background for my profile. You were able to customize your own profile and create your own background by using HTML.
The next big thing was Facebook. Facebook was much more easier to navigate than Myspace. People slowly began to shift towards Facebook and leaving Myspace. You are now able to play games, create groups to invite your friends in, see upcoming events, and see your news feed. People began to use Facebook more personally and tell everyone they were at the mall with 10 of their friends and their friends will know instantly. Instead of posting on a specific person's page like Myspace, you can just tell everyone through the news feed. I think Facebook is more engaging than myspace. If there is nothing interesting on your news feed there are other things to do such as play games to waste time.
Twitter is another interesting social networking site. I think this site is clever. You are only able to "tweet" or tell your friends something by using a maximum of 140 characters, unlike Facebook or Myspace where you can type a whole paragraph. People get straight to the point and its easier to read. When I first joined twitter, people tweeted things like "Just ate a sandwich, mmm" or "What do you call a deer with no eye... No eyedeer." I found these tweets very funny and enjoyed having a twitter. Another thing I use Twitter for is for the news. News stations will summerize an article in about 140 characters and you would get a basic idea of whats happening.
Instagram is another huge social networking site. This is a place where you would only share photos to your friends. You take a photo and post it on Instagram and people can like it by just double tapping the picture on their phone. When I first joined Instagram people would love to post a picture of their food. I like food and love to try new type of food so I would ask people "Where did you get this?!" and get a reply. I thought this was a smart idea and to this day I still use Instagram.
I think the first big social networking site was Myspace, at least in my life it was. I was probably in middle school and everyone was beginning to create a profile on Myspace. So I said to myself "hey, why not." When I created a Myspace everything seemed a little complicated. But after a while I slowly learned and got use to the site. I found out that Myspace is mostly for music. If you were to visit the site today, they will show featured singles and songs. You would be able to put music on your personal profile and share songs that you like. However, looking back what I really learned from Myspace was to create a background for my profile. You were able to customize your own profile and create your own background by using HTML.
The next big thing was Facebook. Facebook was much more easier to navigate than Myspace. People slowly began to shift towards Facebook and leaving Myspace. You are now able to play games, create groups to invite your friends in, see upcoming events, and see your news feed. People began to use Facebook more personally and tell everyone they were at the mall with 10 of their friends and their friends will know instantly. Instead of posting on a specific person's page like Myspace, you can just tell everyone through the news feed. I think Facebook is more engaging than myspace. If there is nothing interesting on your news feed there are other things to do such as play games to waste time.
Twitter is another interesting social networking site. I think this site is clever. You are only able to "tweet" or tell your friends something by using a maximum of 140 characters, unlike Facebook or Myspace where you can type a whole paragraph. People get straight to the point and its easier to read. When I first joined twitter, people tweeted things like "Just ate a sandwich, mmm" or "What do you call a deer with no eye... No eyedeer." I found these tweets very funny and enjoyed having a twitter. Another thing I use Twitter for is for the news. News stations will summerize an article in about 140 characters and you would get a basic idea of whats happening.
Instagram is another huge social networking site. This is a place where you would only share photos to your friends. You take a photo and post it on Instagram and people can like it by just double tapping the picture on their phone. When I first joined Instagram people would love to post a picture of their food. I like food and love to try new type of food so I would ask people "Where did you get this?!" and get a reply. I thought this was a smart idea and to this day I still use Instagram.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Social Networking
Social Networking has changed all of our lives. Social networks such has Facebook has become societies way of communication. Today, there are over 1.4 billion users on Facebook and 22% of them log on daily. It is not rare that when you meet someone new, you'll get a friend request or send a friend request to that person the day of. I can see this in my personal life. I was recently put into a group in one of my classes and the only way for us to communicate was through a group created on Facebook. Meet, add, communicate.
This leads to one of many benefits of Social Networking. By communicating on Facebook it makes it easier for my group and I to exchange information. This ignores the traveling time that each of us will have to make if we were to meet in person. It is also easier for the group because Facebook is so easily accessible. All phones, laptops, computers, tablets, etc have internet and connecting to Facebook is as easy as one, two, three. Moving on from my personal experience, because Facebook is accessible pretty much everywhere people can post anything they want on it at any time, whether its photos or statuses. Companies can see this as a benefit. According to "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" by Frank Langiftt, Crawford Hentz (a recruiter) thinks Social Networking is the best thing that happened to job recruiting. LinkedIn helps Hentz minimize her time of finding someone she wants to recruit by typing in a keyword and finds the best candidate. After this Hentz may search up the person she wants to recruit on other sites such as Facebook and if their photos are accessible, she may view them. If they have inappropriate photos Hentz may choose not to hire the candidate. This is another benefit for Hentz.
However, when there is benefits, there are always "dark sides." As I just mentioned, social networking may expose your personal life to the public. Let's say you were the candidate Hentz wanted to hire but oh wait, she just looked at your Facebook photos and saw you drunk passed out on the coach and there goes your potential job. That example may be a little extreme but lets look at Randi Zuckerburg's experience. According to "Facebook Privacy is so Confusing even the Zuckerburg Family Photo Isn't Private" by Rebecca Greenfield, Randi Zuckerburg (sister of the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerburg) posted a photo of her family and wanted to only so her friends. But somehow a random person was able to get their hands on the photo and show everyone. This just goes to show that your personal life is not safe as long as there is Social Networking.
I think as time progresses, everyone will be using Social Networking. People will lose the experience of meeting up with friends and just enjoying life. It will all be about Social Networking, which will lead everyone to be on their phones 24/7. We can even see that today from the newer generations. In the future people will look at more ways to protect their personal life from being exposed but I think that there will be no way of protecting it. There is always a loop hole in the system and if you want to protect your life, do not post things that you will regret later on in life or just not be part of the Social Networking process.
Citations:
1. Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private, The Atlantic Wire, Greenfield, R. December 26, 2012 http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/
2. Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, NPR, March 16, 2008. available from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf
Monday, February 24, 2014
Blog v Wiki
There are a lot of information in the world. It is hard for an individual to collect all the information. However, today there is something called a Wiki. A Wiki is a place for everyone in the world to put information about a topic into one webpage. Anyone can edit the page and add more information at their own will. With that being said, a Wiki is usually full of facts and is not opinion based. Luckily, there are blogs. A Blog is usually ran by one person and they can talk about anything they want. Therefore, a blog usually has a more opinionated view about a subject. Other people may choose to leave comments on things you say but can not edit the information on a blog.
The importance of a Wiki is that there are a lot of information on one topic at one spot and anyone can add new information. If you were to go research on a topic yourself, you can put all the information you find onto the wiki. But, you may miss some information or someone else may discover new information about the same topic and post it on the wiki. This helps you learn more about the topic and anyone else interested in it. This is why it is important to converge information. However, there is a downside to this. According to the article: "A Rorschach Cheat Sheet on Wikipedia?" by Noam Cohan, people are able to put the original 10 Rorschach images (ink blots used for psychological treatment) and what the image are suppose to be. This hurts the importance of the Rorschach test because psychologists uses the same ink blots since they have a lot of normative data on it. Therefore, it is hard to use new ink blots since it will not be as effective.
The importance of a Blog is that an individual can write about anything they want. Bloggers can tell people what is happening around them and this can help their community. For example in the article: "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid" by Micheal Wilson a blogger wrote on his blog "Fighting and drug deals going down in the driveway of this house." Other people that lived around there began to comment on that blog saying that it's a crack house and that there were deaths that occurred around there. This helped cops to be able to raid the house and capture a few criminals.
Citations:
Citations:
"A Rorschach Cheat Sheet on Wikipedia?" by Noam Cohan
"Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid" by Micheal Wilson
Monday, February 10, 2014
Relation between Social Media and Marketing
Almost everyone is affected by social media. It is not rare to see someone turn on their computer and the first site they go to is Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. Since social media connects everyone together this helps benefits companies market their product. Some examples are; companies can put advertisements all over the internet and attract customers, they can see what people want from their product, or just try to get people to tell others about their products. However, social media can also affect companies marketing negatively. The ease of people communicating through social media: if one person was to hate a product they can tell everyone not to buy it or use it. Throughout my blogs, I will tell you how social media has affected marketing.
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