The Next New Thing

It is like Facebook. It is like Tumblr. It is kind of like Youtube, too. What is it? It is an artistic people oriented social media app that allows audio and video comments and let you edit your audio and videos with free high tech software. It provides you with both like and dislike buttons just like Youtube. If you see someone posting a selfie every 4 hours, you can dislike the post to show your annoyance. Of course, it will be anonymous dislike! I wouldn’t want anyone to kill each other over my innovation. You will get two different lists once you join. One list is for your friends who add you and who you accept, and another is for fans, whose requests you don’t accept. You have control over anything you post.

As it allows people to post different videos and photos, it is crucial to set age restrictions and give warnings to sensitive audience. Once you sign up, you will be asked questions like “What is your age?”, “Do you mind seeing bloody stuffs in your newsfeed?” and “Check this box if you wish NOT to see horror posts and videos”. All publishers should be honest when they upload videos. If they don’t categorize the videos truthfully, they will be banned from the site and their account will be deleted.

Will it bring people together? It will because it encourages honesty and applauds creativity. You can be honest and critical about everyone’s creations while respecting them. You can give advice to amateur video editors and photographers. It is not only for professionals but also for amateurs to grow and expand our community. Unlike Facebook, it will also allow background layout so everyone can be unique. You can insert background music along with layout so your friends and fans will be entertained when they stalk your profile for long minutes.

The only term and condition you have to accept is to be honest. After all, the app’s name is O-Nex! It will be the birth of Nex technology era.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is the sharing of a piece or a whole computer data or space on a network. P2P file sharing is peer-to-peer file sharing, which means network users share files among one another without the control of a central server. It is also more resistant to lawsuits as no central server is involved in such act. Some examples for old P2P file sharing networks include BitTorrent and Gnutella. The famous file sharing sites that I have heard of are Piolet, FrostWire, uTorrent and iMesh. Although P2P is good for sharing files, it can also be risky as people can spread viruses and malwares through these apps. This is undeniably the source of pirate files.

In the example of "Digital Pirates Winning  Battles With Studios" by NYtimes.com , Warner Brothers tried to protect "The Dark Knight" from piracy but failed miserably. There are always anonymous pirates who put the files online so million of people can view it illegally. Because of new technology, it is very easy to stream pirate movies. The very first attack on pirated videos started on Youtube.com , where people can make fake accounts to upload videos for the whole world to access. It hurt the entertainment industry severely. Although the industry somewhat succeeded in taking down illegal movies from YouTube, the movies are still easily accessible to general public. You will be amazed how many sites you can find by just typing " *insert movie name* " and "watch online free". However, as they say "nothing is free", there are certain risks to watch pirate movies. Even if you don't get caught, you can lose all your files and your information can be leaked from viruses through such unregulated files.

More reference:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/media/05piracy.html?_r=0

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I have been working on New Media and Fashion for my wiki assignment and I find it extremely interesting. Both new media and fashion are my favorite topics to research about so I have been editing about social media related to fashion. It is interesting to learn how many people have been using social media these days to keep up-to-date with fashion, find inspiration and wear appropriately for certain occasions.

I also added a new content under the title about teen fashion and how new media encourages it. Sites and apps from Seventeen and Teen Vogue offer teens to be prepared for their prom or first day of college. Also, you can read fashion advices from fashionistas on these sites. They blog about deals and steals, latest fashion news and even career fashion advice. It makes fashion affordable and accessible for everyone. Because of interview fashion advice, teens can get a sense of professional fashion for corporate internships. I believe teen fashion blogs not only add sparkles to social life but also help with career path.

I will be working on more research about how much fashion industry has grown with the help of new media. I will also be adding more visuals to make the wiki more appealing and helpful.

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy and confidentiality come into our mind when we talk about internet-related things such as online transactions or social media. Especially with new media, there are rising concerns about privacy. A lot of older people think social media is a way of giving access to our daily lives. I really don’t think posting a picture of your Starbucks every morning on Instagram can get you murdered unless the followers hate Starbucks. But, sometimes people post too much on these social media sites. One of my favorite YouTubers said that no one should ever do their collection videos because that can get you robbed or broken in. I agree because a lot of people post about expensive materials on sites that public can access and doing so is not safe at all.

Aside from that, there are other concerns related to new media such as identity theft, sexual predators and stalkers. We can lose privacy only if we put out so much information out there. We can be discreet with the way we use our social media. No one needs to know what time we leave school and what route we take to get to school. We shouldn’t post stuffs that can harm us physically and mentally. Copyright issues can also arise on social networks. But, Youtube prevents it by making put in the song and artist name on our description box and agree that the song is third party material.

 Among the social media concerns, Facebook concern is probably the biggest issue. Due to the functions provided, people can make fake accounts and send messages to other people. I received a lot of messages from fake profiles in the past but once I changed my privacy setting to “Only friends can send message”, I don’t receive any more of strange messages. Recently, one of my close friends typed in her own name and she saw 2 accounts with the same name, both using her face as the profile picture. She was alarmed and she asked me what she should do. I found out that the fake account was made to advertise things and had about 300 friends. I clicked on “report” button and reported that that profile is a fake profile. And, we shared fake profile link on our timeline and asked help from our friends to report that person. Within 2 days, the other profile was taken down. This is just an example of how we can lose privacy but there are ways to prevent it before it occurs and after it occurs.

Advice : Advice to Baruch College

I was hired by Baruch College to improve the college. The following is how I plan to improve the media at Baruch.  First, I want to expand the media outlets and second, I want to upgrade our social media sites.

I remember those old Freshman 101 days. Freshman seminar was boring but I always looked forward to writing blogs about my first days at Baruch. I think it would be better if our blogs don’t get deleted after a certain amount of time. I would want to look back at what were my problems and how I overcame them over the years. Another thing is we should start Baruch online newspapers, where students can send in about their daily life at school or their conflicts. No offense to Ticker, but online newspaper would be more efficient and more attractive to tech savvy students. Moreover, no use of paper means greener environment also.

As a potential freshman, I wanted to see what my school looked like and what student body at Baruch was like. However, there weren’t many videos on YouTube about Baruch college. Of course, there were some but they didn’t really make me excited about going to Baruch College. I think if we interview current students from different year of Baruch College about school culture, I think it will increase school enrollment.

We have a lot of Baruch groups on Facebook. I think having potential student group or sport buddy group can bring our student body closer. I believe new media is making our students into one community.

Creativity & New Media

For virtual world, I decided to do my assignment on an iPhone app called “Episode Interactive”.

This is me. 

In a virtual world of “Episode Interactive”, my name is Naomi. I am a college girl who dorms with a spy friend named Angie and tries to solve the mystery at her school. This is my exciting second life away from my mundane college life.

In “Episode Interactive”, I can write the story or play a part in someone else’s story. Either way, there are options that I can choose such as what I want to wear or what I want to do next. 

Just like in real life, I can choose different paths in life. Depending on which path I choose, my future changes. Thus, writing a story for this application is very time consuming. Besides, I can’t use my phone to write the story. I can only play written stories on my phone.I have to use my laptop for writing new stories. I have to use certain formats to create the scenes and dialogues or else, it will keep showing errors. For example, if I want to use the blue bed for my background, I have to type in "INT. ANGIE BED - DAY”, and for red bed, "INT. ANGIE BED RED - DAY”. For more advanced story writers, there are options for the characters to do certain animations or movements such as blinking, turning around, walking in/out the room. I love how I can also invite friends to play in my story or let strangers play in my story. Because of new media especially virtual worlds, I can be creative and write stories of my own with animation.

Creativity

     As globalization allows people to open their minds and challenge the impossible, it is important to be unique and stand out from the rest of the crowd.Creativity is one of the most wanted skills in the market today. New media encourages our mind to explore new ideas and imagine the unimaginable. According to New York Times article from October 25, 2009, companies use social media such as Twitter to find out the customers’ preferences. It is impressive how people came up with ideas such as photo sharing sites, voice-activated system in the car or a software that lets the fans design Lego models and makes money from it.
     Without new media, we wouldn’t be able to extend beyond  old-fashioned ideas. The birth of new media allows younger generation to discover their potential and passion.  From an article about “Disney rappers”, it is interesting to note that Disney tolerated the case because of the creativity of parodies. The world has become an exciting place to live and learn. Nickelodeon spokesperson actually praised the person who used SpongeBob in his mashup as  a “nice editor”. Because of YouTube and editing softwares, people can create and share their creativity with the rest of the world. New media undoubtedly supports creativity and fosters a learning space for innovative mind.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

    Is it better to live in virtual world than real world? To be honest, I think I want to live in virtual world where everything is under my control and in my favor. According nytimes.com, there are sites like there.com, secondlife.com, in which we can create avatars and live in Prada and Rolex world. As a child, I have always had an active imagination and lived in my fantasy world. Just like childhood daydream, virtual worlds on New Media can be escapes from realities. Especially in recession or recovery period, we can live in virtual world as our alter ego who can splurge on $1000 shoes. I believe virtual worlds are necessary to release stress and escape from burdens of everyday life.
     But, the bad comes with the good. Virtual world can also make us feel inadequate and insecure.  Another New York Times article “I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life”  tells us that some people draw back from social life in real time because virtual world has become substitute. The author says he feels more comfortable going to the club on the screen at his home than actually being in the club. Are people going to withdraw from social life because of virtual worlds? No, some people actually enjoy having fun in the real life but people like me enjoy the control and comfort of virtual world. 
      Virtual world also fosters creativity because in gaming virtual worlds, we can create our avatar and change outfits or create the storyline. The future is bright for imaginary world online. The example of Heron Sanctuary proves that virtual world is bringing the community closer. People will use virtual world more as they can be creative and strengthen their imagination or even get a second chance in life and live our dream online.
        In brief, I am really fascinated by the idea of virtual world and I support the concept of getting to know our community by intersecting each other’s path in our second life. I love interactive gaming episodes so I believe virtual worlds will continue to grow and help us overcome real life situations and  learn more about different situations through living another life. If you know any good virtual world that is fun and exciting, please comment below.
     

More details :
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/fashion/22Avatar.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html

Blog about Twitter

Twitter discussion is concise and exciting compared to Blackboard Discussion. Although they are both online discussions, being able to type on my phone than on a computer screen makes it more interesting and fun. Compared to in class discussion, Twitter has more succinct discussion because there are word limits so we have to say something meaningful within certain limit. I really hate how sometimes people digress during discussion in class and talk about something very off-topic or boring, but during Twitter discussion, the whole conversation seems alive and exciting. However, the word limit also throws me off because I can’t say what I want to say all in one tweet. I have to tweet multiple tweets for one argument. In brief, I would rather do twitter discussion than blackboard discussion because it does not seem like a task but rather a casual conversation.

Social Networking Sites

       Today, I would like to compare Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Tumblr and share my impressions. Facebook is the most used social networking site undoubtedly. Facebook has higher privacy compared to Twitter or Myspace, which are more frequently used to make friends with strangers. I love Facebook because it is safe and easy to use. I have the option to filter the securities on everything. If there are photos that I want to share with only 10 friends out of my whole friend list, I can change the setting to “custom”.

         I am not really good with Twitter and Myspace because the functions do not appear as easy as or as attractive as Facebook. However, I really like Twitter’s hashtag, which Facebook recently has updated to attract more users.  From hashtag, we can find the similar topic/ trend to discuss about. Sometimes, we can also learn different perspectives from different people. Myspace is similar to Facebook but it is more focused on music and file sharing. But, not many people use it anymore. I have stopped using it after I started using Facebook.

          Tumblr might be my second most favorite place on internet after Facebook. I love reading people’s blogs especially my close friends’. Tumblr keeps me updated with my friends’ feelings and likes. What is really amazing about Tumblr is that we can also make private blogs that are protected by password. Thus, Tumblr can be our online diary where we can write down all our secrets ( from who you don’t like  to who you have a crush on) and keep safe. While physical diary can be accidentally discovered, Tumblr diary can never be found without a password. Besides, the use of hashtag in Tumblr also makes it easy for users to find their interests. My favorite hashtag on Tumblr are #healthyrecipes and #diygifts.

Social Networking

Social networking has become increasingly popular in 21st century. From dating to job search, people use social media as a main tool to discover the future. Social network such as LinkedIn helps your potential employer find you and connects you with friends from educational and professional places. According to an article by Frank Langfitt, the professionals and recruiters hunt job candidates from popular social networking sites. One recruiter says , “ Social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to ever happen to recruiting”. From LinkedIn, the recruiter can easily pick the best fit for the job by simply typing in keywords. Once he/she finds the potential candidate, he/she sends an email to the person to ask for interview. Thus, the use of social media has definitely made our lives easier and our future brighter.

However, these crucial technologies can be misused just as any beneficial products in our lives. According to Chicago Tribune News on January 15, 2013, Facebook announced a new feature that helps people search friends with similar interests in that week. The dark side of this feature is that strangers can easily find and stalk their predators at their favorite restaurants or bars that show on the query. Unless one makes his/her account private, one’s name will show up on Facebook search feature. Everyone deserves freedom but the changes can actually bring dark side to the new technology. Also, cyber bullying and child predators are not to be ignored. A lot of kids all over the world use internet and social media to spend their past time. Kids at such young age don’t really understand the dangers of online networking. If cyber social networking did not exist, there wouldn’t be cyber bullying or cyber harassing either.

If we weigh both the advantages and disadvantages of social networking, there are more benefits to social networking than dangers. The technology will continue to grow and the needs of people in workplace and home will eventually be satisfied. People will date more and make more friends through social networking. They can also search their long lost friends through Facebook. All generations will depend more on social networking sites in the near future. I can see that technology will bring more convenience to our lives and aid release stress.

Blog v Wiki

   The main difference between blog and wiki is that blog can be written by one person and wiki is contributed by a group of people. On blogs, readers can comment on the blogs ; however, bloggers can edit the body of the post. On wikis, team effort can be seen. According to Microsoft Office, wiki team writes wikis as a collective process. Anyone in the group can change or edit the contents. The most well-known example of wiki is Wikipedia, on which people from all around the world can change and edit the information. A person’s knowledge or information can be overridden by another on wiki while a blogger has overall power on blogs.

    Aside the differences, blogs and wikis have become the important part of globalization. We read blogs and wikis to learn about political, economical, environmental, fashion and different lifestyles. They are both significant especially in management. According to an article from Information Week, wikis will finally replace content management tools in business world because it can solve the problems of traditional tools and is simple enough for nontechnical employees to use. In the future, wikis will most likely replace traditional way of executing group projects from office to classroom. I wish I knew more about wiki and used it in high school.Learning how to use wiki can save time and organize team projects more effectively. Also, wikis can be used as a diary of a group of people sharing memories together! Basically, wiki is a simple tool from office to personal life.

   According to NY times article, General Motors, Dell and Boeing have corporate blogs, but Wal-Mart brings the use of blogs to the next level.  They created “checkoutblog.com”  to get authentic feedback from their customers. Simply put, blogs can also be collaboration instead of solo effort. From Wal-Mart example, they utilize real people as their marketing tools on blogs because blogging is a new word-of-mouth marketing. Convergence of blogs and wikis will make lives more convienient in either choosing what products to buy or compiling research information. Thus, blogs and wikis are similar yet different enough to help improve communication.

More Details:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html