The Next New Thing

I’ve said once in one of my previous blog posts, and i’ll say it again. I think a great type of new media that should be created but doesn’t exist yet is a virtual world in which people can go inside of, just like in the movie “The Matrix”. I think a virtual world in which people can go inside of would be amazing. In it we would be able to do things such as, fly, go on crazy adventures, shoot lasers from our hands, and fight three headed dragons. I can’t wait for the day that virtual worlds that we can go inside of are invented.

While i think that virtual worlds that people can go inside of are amazing, i also think that they might negatively affect people. I think people might get addicted to spending more time in a virtual world than in the real world and that’s not good at all.

 

Privacy and Confidentiality

In this post, discuss how the issues of privacy and confidentiality are related to new media.

In this day and age, new media, especially the internet, is constantly being accused of doing away with all privacy and confidentiality. I am actually one of few people who don’t believe new media is to blame for the diminishing of privacy and confidentiality and that’s what I’d like to talk about.

I think that people, and not new media, are responsible for the loss of privacy and confidentiality. I think that if people don’t want something private, such as an embarrassing picture, to be seen by others, then they shouldn’t upload it on to the internet. It’s widely known that once something is uploaded on to the internet, it’s going to be available for the whole world to see. I think people should stop blaming new media, especially the internet, for the loss of privacy and confidentiality and that they should start being more responsible and conscious of the things they upload onto the internet. 

 

 

P2P File Sharing

What is file sharing?

File sharing is exactly what its name implies. It is the sharing of a file. File sharing is mostly done over the internet. If a person wants to share a file, all they have to do is upload the file onto the internet so others can download a copy of it. File sharing is looked down upon because it is believed that file sharing is hurting the profits of the movie and music industries.

What is P2P file sharing?

P2P file sharing stands for peer-to-peer file sharing. According to the article “The BitTorrent Effect”, by Clive Thompson, P2P file sharing is when a huge file is “chopped up” and the pieces are handed out to several up loaders. The reason a huge file is chopped up into pieces and handed out to several up loaders is so that others can download the smaller pieces simultaneously and obtain the huge file at a faster rate than downloading the huge file as a whole. A couple of currently well-known P2P file sharing websites are “Mininova”, “Isohunt”, “Torrent Portal”, and “BitTorrent”.

What are some example of P2P file sharing?

On a P2P file sharing website you can download just about anything. P2P file sharing websites offer a variety of down loadable e-books, pictures, MP3s, (MP3’s are music files), movies, etc. Even though I’m not proud of it, I’m going to admit that I’ve actually used P2P file sharing websites to download files that I’ve needed.

So that’s pretty much it for this blog post assignment. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

 

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

How’s it going, folks! In this week’s blog, I’m going to talk about virtual worlds. Virtual worlds have many different uses. Stephanie Simon, in her article “Avatar 2: The Hospital”, talks about one of the most amazing uses of virtual worlds. She states that, “Hospitals, medical schools and health foundations are staking out space in the online community Second Life [“Second Life” is an online virtual world], in order to improve patient care and hospital efficiency.” One of the ways that hospitals, medical schools, and health foundations are using “Second Life” to improve patient care and hospital efficiency is by using it to simulate medical emergency situations. The virtually simulated medical emergency situations are designed to help doctors and “nurses make quick, sure decisions in emergencies” (Simon, para. 3).

A pro of online virtual worlds is that they can bring people together. People from all over the world can meet up in an online virtual world. IBM, an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, is currently using online virtual worlds to bring its employees from all over the world together. In the article “Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life”, by Mark Tutton; Rashik Parmar, IBM’s chief technology officer for Europe, states that, “last year about 350 of its [IBM’s] technical leaders from around the world met for 72 hours via Second Life to brainstorm about new technologies.”

I don’t see any cons to online virtual worlds. Online virtual worlds seem be a great place to meet people, develop social skills, and have fun. The only thing I think you have to worry about when you join an online virtual world is the amount of time you spend in an online virtual world. Spending too much time in an online virtual world can become a self-destructive habit.

I think online virtual worlds are great at encouraging creativity. I think online virtual worlds encourage creativity because they give people the tools to be creative and express themselves either for free or at a small price. I actually happen to be part of an online virtual world called “Maplestory”.

I think that in the future, due to the fact that technology is getting better and better, online virtual worlds will look more realistic. I think that online virtual worlds will look just like real life one day. Now I know what I’m about next is going to sound crazy, but I also think that in future, humans will be able to go inside virtual worlds. Just like in the movie “The Matrix”.

 

Creativity

How does “New Media” foster creativity? I think new media encourages creativity because it gives people the tools to create things, such as new songs, videos, and pictures, for free. One of the types of things created by using new media tools is called “Mash-ups”.  According to Sasha Frere-Jones, in her article “1+1+1=1, The New Math of Mashups”, “Mash-ups” are when “the vocal from one song is laid over the music from another.” The reason people create “Mash-ups” is because new media gives them the tools to do so for free. If people had to pay to create “Mash-ups”, I think they would stop making them.

I also think new media encourages creativity because it rewards people for being creative. Coming up with a creative idea that people like or find useful can make you a millionaire. New media companies are constantly on the lookout for creative ideas that will make them more money and will happily pay people to use their idea. The article “Twitter Serves up Ideas from Its Followers”, by Claire Cain Miller, clearly shows that new media companies value the creative ideas of people. Being creative, in this day and age, is a good thing.

 

Creativity and New Media

For this assignment, i decided to create a blog. My blog is about my mission to hang out with all the people i have on my Facebook Friends List. I decided to create this blog because i thought it would be cool to hang out with all the people i have on my Facebook Friends List. I haven’t seen some of the people i have on my Facebook Friends List in years. I also created the blog because i wanted to prove that social networking sites really do help bring people together.

Here’s the link to my blog: http://christianguiracochasfacebookemprise.wordpress.com

I’ve already hung out with 3 people from my Facebook Friends list. I have over a hundred friends left to go. =D

 

Social Networking Sites

For this week’s blog assignment, I decided to examine the social networking sites Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and Flickr.

Facebook was the first social networking site I visited. I really like Facebook. I’ve had a Facebook account for about two years. Facebook is a social networking site where people can create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages (Stole that definition from Wikipedia.com).  Some of the things you can do on facebook are play video games, upload pictures and videos, store an unlimited amount of pictures and videos, post messages (Which are called “Statuses”) about what’s on your mind, voice chat with other users, web cam video chat with other users (Webcam video chatting is my favorite thing to do on facebook), and instant message other users.

The second social networking site I visited was Myspace. I liked Myspace more than I liked Facebook. Myspace is similar to Facebook because it’s also a site where users can create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages. The reason I like Myspace more than I like Facebook is because of how much you can customize your personal profile. On Myspace, you can customize your personal profile’s size, color, background, design, etc. It’s impossible to customize a Facebook personal profile. Some of the things you can do on Myspace are instant message other users, watch videos on Myspace’s video service called “MySpaceTV”, listen to music, add music to your personal profile (I think being able to add music to one’s personal profile is an awesome feature), play video games, and download free music. That’s right! You read correctly. On Myspace, you can download music for free. A lot of unknown musicians create special Myspace music accounts so people can listen to their music. One of the ways they get people to listen to their music and make more fans is by giving out digital copies of their music for free.

Twitter was the third social networking site I visited. I created a Twitter account last week because it was an assignment for this course. Twitter seems kind of cool. On Twitter, you can post pictures and “Tweet” (talk) about what’s on your mind. I’ve noticed that a lot celebrities use Twitter. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the things celebrities say on Twitter end up getting them in trouble.

The fourth and final social networking site I visited was Flickr. Out of the four social networking sites I visited, Flickr is my favorite. Flickr is an image hosting website, web services suite, and an online community (Stole that definition from Wikipedia, too). People create Flickr accounts to upload pictures for other people around the world to see. I really liked the website Flickr because you can find all sorts of pictures on it. One of the cool things about Flickr is that people can comment on the pictures people upload. The best thing about Flicker is their “Tagging” system. When you add a “Tag” to a photo, it describes what the photo is about in one word. Adding “Tags” to photos makes it easier to find a specific type of photo.

So that’s pretty much it for this week’s blog. Hope you enjoyed it. ^-^

 

Social Networking

Social Networking has a variety of uses. You could probably write hundreds of books on the different uses of social networking. One of the coolest uses of social networking I recently discovered is something called “Virtual Gifting”. The article “Real Facebook Shop in Virtual World Breathes Life Into Mars”, by Rufus Jay, talks about what “Virtual Gifting” is and how it works. In order for a person to send someone a virtual gift, they must log to Facebook.com, enter the virtual store, purchase an SMS code using a pay pal account and then text the code to the person who will be receiving the gift. The person receiving the gift can then take the SMS code to a participating real world store and redeem the gift. Virtual gifting seems a very creative way to use social networking to make money. One of the most mind blowing and impressive uses of social networking was President Obama’s use of it during his 2008 presidential campaign. According to the article “How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power”, by David Carr, President Obama used social networks to help him create “an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans.” I think President Obama’s use of social networks to help him win the 2008 presidential election was genius.
Social Networks also have many positive and negative uses and effects on society. According to the article “Is Myspace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum”, by Stephen J. Dubner” some of the positive things about social networking is that they help bring people together, they help maintain and strengthen relationships, and they provide an outlet for creative expression. One of the scariest and negative things about social networks is how easier its made it for people to attack or hurt others. The article “They’re Back, and They’re Bad: Campus-Gossip Web sites”, by Jeffrey R. Young, talks about how high school and college students are using social networking websites to post hurtful and derogatory comments about other students. Social Networks make it easier for people to attack and hurt others because the person saying the negative things can easily conceal their identity. Other negative effects of social networks is that people can become addicted to spending an excessive amount of time on them and that it causes distraction and harms productivity.
I think that in distant future, social networks will die out. One of the reasons people join social networking sites is so that they can keep in touch with their loved ones who are far away. I think one day transportation will be extremely fast and cheap and people will able to see their loved ones all the time and not have a need for social networks. The reason I’m a member of a social networking site is because I want to keep in touch with my friends and family members who live far away. If it were possible to see them everyday with out having to travel so much and waste so much money, I wouldn’t have a social networking site.

 

Blogs Vs. Wikis

What are the differences and similarities between a Blog and a Wiki? That’s the first thing we are going to talk about today. The most important and only similarity between Blogs and Wikis is that they allow people to come together to collaborate on projects or goals. One of the differences between Blogs and Wikis is the kind of projects or goals people are allowed to work on. On a Blog, people are allowed to work on any kind project or goal they like. The project or goal could be a Blog dedicated to informing people about natural disasters or even a Blog dedicated to raising money for a noble cause. The only kind of project or goal a Wiki allows people to work on however, is collecting factual information about different subjects. Another difference between Blogs and Wikis is who is allowed to contribute and how they are allowed to contribute to a project or goal. On a Wiki page, anyone can contribute what ever they like to a project . In order for a person to start contributing to a Wiki article, all they need to do is create an account. On a Blog however, a random person can’t start contributing anyway they like. The only person who has control of what is going to be posted on a Blog is the creator of the blog.
The most fascinating thing I discovered while doing this assignment is how beautifully a Blog can be used for collaboration. The article titled “Brooklyn Blog Leads To Drug Raid”, by Michael Wilson, tells the wonderful story of how a group of individuals came together on a Blog, and then in real life, to get a “Crackhouse” in their neighborhood discovered by the authorities and then closed down. The story of that group of individuals is a perfect example of how Blogs can be used for collaboration. If it wasn’t for a Blog, the group of individuals in the story would have never accomplished their goal of getting rid of the “Crackhouse” in their neighborhood.
I spent sometime trying to think of a new use for a Wiki that hasn’t been done yet, but I couldn’t think of anything. Thinking of a new use for a Wiki is harder than I thought it would be. I really like how the U.S. State Department has decided to use Wikis. The article “An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified”, by Noam Cohen, talks about how the U.S State Department is putting Wikis to good use. The U.S State Department has created a Wiki called “Diplopedia” and it’s a Wiki dedicated to collecting information on political diplomats around the world. The only people who are allowed to contribute and use the Wiki are people who work for the U.S. State Department. Finding out that U.S. State Department uses Wikis was kind of surprising. I didn’t think that high-ranking government officials used the same kind of new media technology as regular people do.
So that’s it for today’s Blog. I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Description of my Term Project!

Hi! My name’s Christian. For my term project, i plan on doing a paper on some of the positive and negative effects “Social Networking” websites, such as Facebook.com and Twitter.com, are having on society. I did some research on the requirements for my class’s term project and i discovered that our term project must be around 10 pages long. In order to try and reach the 10 page requirement for my term project, I plan on writing about at least five positive and negative effects “Social Networking” has on society.