The Next New Thing

I picture the next new media to be something that closes the distance between people and computers even further. With all these new media sites we have noticed that people are getting more and more connected to their computers and spending more time on them. I can imagine a product that allows people to be connected to the internet at all times. While today's cell phones do this for us I see the future being similar to Google's new product the "Google Glasses". These glasses allow you to take photos and also scan your environment and give you information about your surroundings like alerting you that a particular subway isnt working as you walk in and suggest an alternate route for you to take. They also alert you if you have received a new message on facebook or a new email.  Products like the Google Glasses are the next step in new media and I believe that there wont be many steps after this one before we start having computer chips implanted directly into our heads.

Our Class Wiki- So Far

I have not added any extra information onto the class wiki besides my bio so far. The section of the wiki I am working on is the presence and effect new media has economically.In my research for my term paper however, I did come across a lot of information on how new media has effected the way companies have began marketing and increased their connection with customer's wants and needs. Many companies have started using Twitter as a medium to increase brand awareness and create clever slogans. Particularly the people behind the KONY 2012 were able to raise massive amounts of money to their cause through their YouTube video and their marketing on Twitter through their hashtag of #KONY2012. Also companies like Proctor & Gamble have used new media to get customer opinions on certain products and better identify what exactly they like about a product and what they do not. For my section of the of the wiki I plan to expand these ideas and explain better how new media has been able to help companies reach out into new markets, better brand themselves, generate more profits, and reduce their losses.

P2P File Sharing

1. What is File Sharing?
File sharing is when music, documents, videos are shared between computers. File sharing is literally what it sounds like. It can occur through physically burning information on to a CD, placing it on a flash drive, or transferring the information over the internet to others.

2. What is P2P file sharing?

Peer-to-Peer file sharing is a sub division of file sharing. Programs like Limewire, FrostWire, and Bit Torrent allow its users to act as distributors of information to other users and at the same time allows them to download content from others as well. Peer-to-Peer literally describes how information is transferred from one person to another. A good example of P2P file sharing comes from an article in the Times: "A wave of streaming sites, which allow people to start watching video immediately without transferring a full copy of the movie or show to their hard drive, are making it easier than ever to watch free Hollywood content online. Many of these sites are located in countries with lackluster piracy enforcement efforts, like China, and are hard to monitor, so media companies do not have a clear sense of how much content is being stolen."

3. What are some examples of P2P file sharing?

Some examples of P2P file sharing include how sites like Frostwire are used to download music, Bit Torrent is used to download movies, and other programs as well. I know that many people actually have used Torrent to illegally download expensive video games and other software like the Rosetta Stone language software.

Cited Materials:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/media/05piracy.html?_r=1

Privacy

While New Media fosters many advantageous things like the sharing of ideas and connecting people around the world there are some significant draw backs to it. Most notably is how privacy is being compromised in a different way with every new social media site or website that people use. An example of this is how recruiters from a company may look at the Facebook profile of someone who is applying for a job with them. Facebook is mainly used as a social site so the content may not always be professional and employers may find some compromising photos of this person applying from a night that they went out. Judging from this photo an employer my determine that this person is not a good fit for their company although they may have a very strong work ethic and that photo is from a day they had off. There have also been cases of people being denied purchases/jobs because these companies are able to determine their credit score from their I.P. address. Just to elaborate on the extent of how much a person's privacy is invaded is how ads of their recent searches on google come up on their Facebook profile. While this is labeled as "smart advertising" this is actually considered an invasion of privacy for many people. The internet has provided many wonderful things for people around the world but with each new advance it seems as though everyone's personal details become less and less personal.

Advice

If asked to give Baruch advice on how they could use new media to improve the college I would tell them to follow others colleges who have employed the use of social networking sites to their advantage. many other colleges have started using Twitter as an additional means to connect the students with their professors and the other students in the class. The professor could have an account for their specific class which the students would follow, and then post updates on twitter like room changes or class cancellations through the site. There have been many situations where professors have cancelled class last minute or the morning of and many students end up going to class because they did not check their e-mail inbox. An update through Twitter would provide students with another channel to receive the message and prevent confusion. In addition to this, colleges could have a Facebook fan page where they can keep students informed about school events, services, deadlines etc. Many students do not know fully all the services that are available to them and having a Facebook page could help reach out to these students. A Facebook page could also act as a strong way to boost school spirit. As mentioned before, the college can post about school events and get more students involved.