Wiki So Far

I contributed to the YouTube wiki page. I added another section called YouTube TV. The day it launched, I found an article with the information on the new developing technology. YouTube took on another platform of media. They are in the progress of building this new subscription service. This service will contribute to the necessity of cable being obsolete, such has Netflix and Hulu programs. I will continue to research this topic as it is still developing. 

I have also been going through the wiki pages to see if any catch my eye for more research. Although looking through social networking, I want to contribute the research I did for my paper. The topic was social networking so I have a lot of knowledge I want to share on the subject. 

P2P

File sharing is the ability to contribute your own work or files to other people.


According to NMA Staff in "Content producers should take advantage of P2P, not fear it"  they specify that P2P file sharing is peer to peer distribution of content.

For example, The Pirate Bay is a website when you can share files with other peers. The initial concept of the site was to advertise the Steal This File. There are other blogs notated in this blog such as "Digg, Slashdot, and BoingBoing" to bring people together to download multiple files.

Privacy

New media comes with plenty of issues with privacy and confidentiality. For example, In the New York Times, Tim Arango published an article "As Rights Clash on YouTube, Some Music Vanishes" where he goes into depth about the copyright issues on YouTube. Warner Music has a partnership with YouTube to monitor footage uploaded by anybody with possible issues of copyright issues. Resulting in these issues people are subjected for their videos to be monitored on a daily basis which violates privacy at a certain level. Also videos do get taken down if there is an issue found with it. Another article in Wired by David Kravets, goes into detail about how Google was opting to manually go through copyright issues that arise on Youtube. However this article was updated two days later stating that Google has retracted that statement. Youtube does need to manually go through the videos rather than taking it down automatically because some of the content that is published do not violate any rules of confidentiality and privacy. These are some issues that arise in new media and privacy.

Advice

  Using new media to improve Baruch can initiate constant evolving. As students we use media to research, to be up to date, and share amongst each other. Suggestions I can make is suggesting a platform that includes all of the new media we can get. As in having one domain for vlogging, blogging, posting, sharing, etc. Having all these accessible concepts, allows us as students to find everything in one content. Instead of having different accounts through different platforms, having to remember passwords and different usernames. There should be news and entertainment occuring together to give the most information at once. Speed and consistency is what we seek when looking for information. To have an organized domain appealing to everybody at every demographic and putting a creative spin on it is what I would suggest for applying new media to Baruch. It would have to be like nothing created before, which is why suggesting everything in one domain would give more access at a faster rate.

Creativity and New Media

I decided to give Second Life a try because I do know people who use it and have recommended it to me before. I started by creating my avatar by selecting one of the choices provided. I was then given instructions on how to navigate through the game with which keys on the keyboard. After going through 5 steps to be entered into the "Social Life" Where you can communicate with others in the vicinity, change your appearance and have access to all the settings. You can morph your voice. There's an active map to show you all the people near by. All tools provided for the character to walk, fly and jump. 

HW Creativity

New media continuously generates new creative content. With all the new platforms provided more people are expressing new types of art. In "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?"  of the New York Times discusses the popularity of mashups with familiar characters. Both Disney and Nickelodeon characters have been starring in music videos created by users using recent music. These users take snippets of old shows and match them with songs and create the video. This is one example of how new media fosters creativity. The ability of editing, shooting, and publishing gives individuals creative imagination. It brings a sense of nostalgia too.

Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why? The New York Times, September 24, 2007; available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds can be used in numerous ways, educational, social and entertainment. Online classes have increased within the last couple of years. Online classes give the opportunity to people who don't have the availability to physically go into school. In a social context, virtual worlds create connections to different people all over the world. The ability to communicate with anybody in an instant is revolutionary. In the case of entertainment, "I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff wrote in the New York times about a virtual Lower East Side. That's right virtual access of a neighborhood right at the tips of your fingers. Itzkoff starts off this article with going to a concert from the comfort of his own home. There were no bouncers, no lines and nobody to distract. 

The pros of a virtual world give us an advanced society and provide connectedness. Virtual worlds create an advanced society by giving us opportunities we did not have before. Before virtual worlds, you miss out on events and interactions due to whatever reason and you get another opportunity with this option. Also the creativity and sources used to create virtual worlds goes unnoticed. At a point in time we did not have the tools to communicate and now we have software to transit you to another world.  Virtual worlds create interconnections between the users. For example, a person who is shy maybe classified as an introvert may not feel comfortable speaking to somebody at an event or a public place. Whereas in the virtual world the atmosphere invites the idea to communicate with each other and connect.

The cons of virtual worlds are absence of reality and lavish spending. "No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You" by Ruth la Ferla in the New York Times speak on these issues. She discusses the users of virtual worlds where there is a distinction between life in the real world and virtual world. The opening paragraph suggests that users throw themselves into a virtual dimension and keep up the facade of that life itself. They spend money on clothes and furniture of their virtual lives opposed to spending money on rent needed. Mike Wilson, the chief executive of There.com explains that there was an influx of spending within the virtual world throughout the recession. This whole article discusses the percentages increasing of spending over the years for their need to stay in touch within this world.

I believe the virtual worlds continuously adds creativity. It's giving another outlet to us as a society. We are instantly transported into a world of interests or opportunities. For example this class itself, fully online but we all contribute ideas and intelligent conversations amongst us. Next, we might be transported into a class itself through this world. In the future I'm sure the virtual worlds will relate even more to reality. I feel eventually the difference between the two is going to be hard to distinguish.