The Next New Thing

An idea for a New Media that currently doesn't exist may be virtual reality machines that connect all your senses and movement to tiny devices that connect directly to your brain. This will probably be future technology in id say about 20 or more years. Although Technology is currently still advancing it may come quicker then that. Uses of this new technology could be within the parameters of gaming, traveling, traffic safety, and many more uses. This may be similar to some products that certain companies are currently working on such as google Glass. Where your technically looking at the real world and a digital world at the same time, displaying things such as directions, emails, reading materials all displayed side by side. The user could move his hands as a signal for certain controls of controlling the settings and stuff. Hopefully this kind of technology could change the way we live for the better. 

Our Class Wiki - So Far

For our class wiki so far, I have currently not added any content onto our wiki yet. However, I have done some research regarding what I'm thinking about adding and what I want to contribute towards my goal. From what I have read on the blog so far, some sections such as the Youtube section needs to be updated with more up to date information as trends tend to change fairly quickly, some of the YouTube Stars listed have stopped making videos or have been replaced with more newer content Creators. Some page ideas that I have been thinking about adding to the wiki, are how Youtube has changed and some videos that get millions of views are things that feature makeup tutorials, Travel documentaries, Gameplay recaps, or Gameplay in general. These are some topics that have not made it onto the wiki yet and I hope to add these there. I have currently researched the following topics regarding Youtube, Gaming and Social Media. These three topics are what I mainly want to focus on and be able to contribute towards the wiki. 

P2P File Sharing

File sharing by definition is the the ability or practice of transferring files from one persons computer to another. According to "Content Producers should take advantage of P2P, not fear it" by NMA staff, P2P file sharing means Peer to Peer file sharing. P2P file sharing mainly occurs through sites that have to do with downloading or torrenting. Some sites that they used in their article included PirateBay, Digg, SlashDot, and BoingBoing. How these sites work is that people who have already downloaded or owns a specific file can share their file via their website by acting as a seed where others can then download that file. The speed of the download depends on how many seeds or people currently have the file up for others to download. Some examples of P2P file sharing can include music, games, and movies. The most popular ones being music and movies. 

Advice to Baruch College

My advice to Baruch College if they want to incorporate new media to improve the college may include things such as creating more hybrid courses, fully online courses, teaching professors how to use new media, teaching via things like FaceTime, and Skype from virtually anywhere. Although Baruch is already beginning to incorporate new media into the college, I believe that the biggest factor or problem may be that some professors don't really understand new media, and how to use it, thus they stick to old media. Some professors that I have come across sometimes don't allow electronics in classrooms which includes phones, laptops, and tablets. They tend to like the old fashion way by using pen and paper. Although some people may not have a problem with that, i believe that how things are taught and learned should be evolving along with technology not only because with technology almost everything is virtually made easier, but because with new growing trends and way to learn, most kids aren't going to want to learn face to face or write things with pen and paper. Many will probably want to learn via internet, and taking notes with electronics. 

Privacy & Confidentiality

Issues of privacy and confidentiality can be arise with the topic of new media. Some of these issues include things such as cookies, billing and shipping addresses being saved on certain websites, sites saving your payment information, sites that sell your information or eyes to advertising agency to make money by selling targeted ads to certain customers. To some consumers their privacy and confidentiality mean everything however to others, they are willing to give that up for a service. For example many of us have or use a google mail account. So how does google benefit from giving us a free e-mailing service? well its simple, because in the beginning when you click accept you are giving google permission to use your information for advertisements, contact info, and tracking what kind of info you receive. Amazon is another site that also in a way can cause issues of privacy and confidentiality to arise. When you order from Amazon for the first time, or make an account with them, Amazon sends a cookie to your computer identifying you as an individual and every time you visit Amazon after that they know what your preferences are, your billing and shipping, what kind of products you would be interested in, and how they can advertise to you effectively. All in all, many of us do not read the fine print where companies may ask you to give up some of your privacy and confidentiality for a free service, but I don't see anything wrong with that, however that is solely my opinion.

Creativity and New Media

With the development of New Media, it acts a vent for creativity. For example I used a game I used to play called MapleStory. For some this may be a throwback, however from what I can see they are still thriving and developing new creative ways to improve the game. Below are some pictures of the game itself and a character that I had created.

In the picture above, it shows the options of choosing genders, hair color, style, outfits and etc. in this virtual world, Although the characters are more cartoon like then those of second life it still inspires communication and creativity in this world.

In the picture above, it shows one of my characters in the virtual world. As you can see you can dress up your avatar, have different jobs, do different things such as buying and selling goods, leveling up, and etc.

In this last picture, it shows that  every avatar is different based on how the user wants to dress them up, virtual avatars communicate and engage in transactions, sharing ideas about the real world and the virtual world. 

CREATIVITY

I believe that New Media helps foster creativity in many ways. For example according to the article "Youtube Traffic Characterization: A View From the Edge" by Phillipa Gill, Martin Arlitt, Zongpeng Li, and Anirban Mahanti, their paper presents the statistical human traffic that goes on in the New Media sharing site, Youtube. In their article they mention that over a three month period, they observed over 25 million transactions and over 600,000 downloads. As a user of Youtube as well i can agree that many of the popular videos usually get millions of views. Thus it also gives the creator more purpose to create new content and share on a regular basis. Not only do the content creators get paid for doing what they love and enjoy, they are also satisfied knowing that other people love to watch their work. Through this process creativity is born as more and more people want to get youtube famous whether its Vlogging, Travel guides, Gaming Guides, Beauty tutorials they all began with one persons creativity. Other new media sites such as Instagram promotes creativity as they are challenged to create new content for their posts and continue to grow their following and get more collaborators.