The Next New Thing

The next new thing in new media will be robots. With the introduction of Siri, an iPhone application that listens to voice commands, we have already taken the first step into artificial intelligence and robot technology. Although the concept of robots and some mini-robots have been introduced already, I am confident we will take greater strides now into such development. There are cars that drive themselves in the works, and in a few years these will probably be exclusively available. The first robots to be released will probably be those that help out with chores around the house. If not, I am sure the introduction of Siri will spark many more uses of artificial intelligence in limitless places.

Our Class Wiki – So Far

I plan on adding information about the consequences of using P2P illegally. Since my term paper was similar to this, I will be using the same sources. In particularly, I want to expand on the following section “File Sharing Risks” and add a new section that describes social and ethical issues brought up by P2P.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is distributing content stored on your computer. This can include videos, music, images, and documents. P2P file sharing is sharing files with peers around the world. It makes it easy for multiple computers to share large files and pretty much makes the file publically accessible (http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto101720070502178864). In some cases, this is illegal. Some examples of P2P file sharing is the distribution of music. A mother in Minnesota was charged for 24 songs that she shared over a P2P network. She was fined $62,500 per song, which shows that P2P file sharing can lead to significant consequences (http://baruchnewmedia.com/w/images/3/35/IllegalMusic.pdf).

Privacy & Confidentiality

New media has sparked many more ways in which individuals can be exposed. One of the biggest problems is email. It is possible for hackers to access an individual’s email and see their personal information. Also, Web 2.0 allows private photos or even videos easily accessible to millions of people. There are ways to track down people on the internet using Facebook or even Googling them. Although new media allows for creativity and experimentation, there is no doubt that the individual is making themselves more vulnerable to hackers by using new media technologies. 

Advice to Baruch College

 Some suggestions I would make are to improve the interaction of students, especially with their professors. I would love to have a Wiki page in all of my classes or even a Facebook discussion group. I think this would motivate more students to work harder and also feel more comfortable. I would also suggest that students and professors can video chat. Sometimes I am unable to meet my professors because my schedule clashes with their office hours, so I think it would be easier if we could video chat. Also, many professors are not responsive to emails so I would suggest an overall improvement of a communication system. 

About My Term Research Paper

For this term paper, I mainly used Google News and the Baruch library databases to do my research. I learned a lot of things from my term paper on piracy and P2P software. I already knew that piracy is a problem and all the different types of P2P software, but the thing that really surprised me is how serious the punishment is for pirating. A maximum of 25 years in prison is a lot, and is more harsh than the punishment for those convicted of statutory rape. P2P has always been an interest to me because I know so many people who use it. I knew the fines were hefty and I wanted to learn more about what has been done to crack down on piracy. My major findings were that piracy can have harsher punishments than statutory rape. Also, piracy rates continue to increase despite new ways to try to prevent it. New media has so much variety that not many people know much about its involvement in piracy. Those who use new media technologies might not know they are pirating so I hope my research paper had expanded knowledge on new media and piracy.

Creativity and New Media

One of the ways I use new media technologies to express myself is by using an application on my cellphone called Androidify. What this does is it allows me to create my own character using the popular Android logo. I make these from time to time of my friends and it is always fun to see how accurately you make your friends and how amusing it is when you show it to them.

This is the one I made of myself:

This is just one of the amazing things new media has allowed me to do. Another popular way to create cartoon characters of ourselves is on the Nintendo Wii which lets you to make your own “Mii.” I am totally not an artistic person by any means so such new methods to allow me to “draw” make it easy for me to demonstrate my creativity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity

Media is an excellent way to foster creativity. The introduction of new media has lead to more ways for people to express themselves, particularly through YouTube. YouTube allows users to post videos and many have achieved fame doing such. Some videos include people singing, dancing, or mashups. A unique type of video that has become video are mashups. Many video are showing off their video editing skills by compiling certain segments of shows (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html). On the more humorous side, many people are clipping parts of Disney movies and putting them together so that it looks like they are dancing to famous songs. These videos have actually garnered millions of views. Before the introduction of YouTube, I am sure no one would have ever imagined the use of Disney characters in mashups of them dancing in singing to popular hip hop songs such as “Crank That” by Soulja Boy. Media has allowed for so many possibilities and this is only just one example of it.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can actually be used in many ways. Many people think that virtual words are for fun and can not be used for productive reasons, but many fields have been trying to take advantage of virtual worlds. One of the most impressive ways virtual worlds can be used is as a way of training for nurses (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204.html?KEYWORDS=avatar+ii+the+hospital). It offers an immediate training exercise for nurses who can react to similar real-life situations. I think this is a great way for nurses to improve their decision making abilities and get an idea of what it is like in a real situation. Also, it allows businesses to hold video conferences (http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html). Although this is similar to video chatting, I think it offers a little more by allowing you to have a virtual character. This is more interactive and can make the conference more comfortable. However, I feel that many businesses would find this to be unprofessional.

Although virtual worlds can be used efficiently, I think they are more like a game for most people. More people use virtual worlds as a second life instead of for productivity (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html). You get to socialize with people and walk aroundNew York City all behind your computer screen. I think some people may be more open and creative using virtual worlds because you are behind a monitor after all, but I don’t think using virtual worlds make people more creative. It does allow for more interaction but I would prefer blogging or using a Wiki over a virtual world. The future of virtual worlds will continue to expand when it comes to RPGs and MMORPGs because these type of games are always being played. However, I think there will be less usage of virtual worlds for more serious business such as training for nurses or video conferencing.

Blog about Twitter

A Twitter discussion is definitely more casual useable on the go via mobile. However, I find that it could be a little confusing because it is not as organized as a blackboard discussion. Twitter allows you to direct tweets using “@” but it is restricted because of the character limit. Blackboard discussions are easy to use and are more formal. I think an in-class discussion is always the best way to communicate with the class. You get to hear emotion and see expressions that you would not be able to witness on the computer.