The Next New Thing

I think that the next new thing in "new media" is a platform that will physically connect people based on localized recommendations. Facebook and other social media platforms currently connect you to people you already know and more and more teens and young adults are beginning to move away from these platforms as they are becoming more popular with parents and older family members. Many people want to break out of the confines of what they already know and experience something new--they want to meet new people, learn new skills, explore new restaurants, etc. While platforms do exist that connect people with similar interests or that recommend places to go to nearby, they are not nearly specific enough. The future of such platforms will be an app that can recommend events that are happening at that moment based on your location, time constraint, personal interests and even budget. This will ultimately solve the problem many people have "killing time" and can lead to a more active and fulfilling lifestyle, as opposed to traditional new media.

Wiki So Far

For the class Wiki page, my contribution thus far has been the creation of the "Education" page. So far I have given a brief overview of the role of New Media in Education and I hope to continue my research and create more pages, especially focusing on online tutoring and social media's role in education. I also want to look at the developments in classroom and learning culture as a result of new media. You can view and edit the page here: http://newmedia.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Education.

P2P

File sharing is the distribution of digitally stored information ranging from computer programs to electronic books. Peer to peer file sharing occurs when users connect to a network where they can search for files on the computers of other users. This practice, however, has led to the disruption of various industries--including publishing and music-- and has inadvertently promoted the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. There are, however, applications of P2P sharing that can prove to be quite efficient. Tech giant Google invested $125 million in Lending Club, which "gets borrowers and lenders together outside the conventional banking system." It turns out that peers feel less pressure borrowing from other peers as opposed to big banks. Services such as Lending Club also have more to offer in tough situations.

Privacy & Confidentiality

While new media has undoubtedly revolutionized the way we communicate, it does come with severe consequences. One such consequence is the lack of privacy that comes with a technology that allows us to see what anyone is doing at any time. Take Facebook, for example. While you may want to share your profile with close family and friends, you may not want their friends or just random users looking at this information. While there are options to make your profile private, you have to go to great lengths to preventing specific people from viewing your information. Furthermore, while you may want to share a picture with your friends one day, you may several years later want no one to know this picture existed. This is especially true for younger kids and teens, who are not aware of the consequences they post and furthermore, it's irrational to say that they should be aware of everything. No one is perfect and in such cases new media is incredibly unforgiving. Furthermore, new media makes it way too easy for people to find you online. All social networking sites aside, people can find you through blogs that you have to write for school, through your friends accounts, etc. Not only does this make the internet an extremely dangerous place, but it could also be detrimental in other ways. One issue that has come up repeatedly in previous years is the fact that employers are looking at social media profiles of potential employees. This essentially removes the border between personal and professional life. Essentially, people in the new media age are forced to give up a huge part of themselves in order to avoid the problems that come with new media.

Advice

There are numerous ways new media can be used to improve Baruch College. One major problem with Baruch is that because it's a commuter school, there is a lack of school culture and community. Despite it's progress in using new media, I still think there is a huge gap between student organizations/students who are active on campus and regular students. One thing the college can do is create a more unified platform where students can talk about campus life in an organized and appropriate way. This can help those looking for help or looking to reach out to other on campus can do so quickly and efficiently. Another thing the college can do is create a private YouTube account where professors can post lectures for students unable to attend the class or to give future students an idea of which professors they like or don't like based on their teaching style. Finally, professors should create class wiki pages where students can compile their notes for the class and more efficiently prepare for quizes/exams.

Creativity and New Media

After spending so much time reading and talking about new media, it's finally time to put everything I've learned to good use. Considering one of the final assignments for this class, I decided to work on a wiki page, specifically a Wiki-How article. Check out my page here: http://www.wikihow.com/Throw-an-Easy-Halloween-Party and feel free to add on to it. In this page, I give a few cool tips on how to decorate this Halloween.

Creativity

Forms of new media foster creativity among its users. Starting from 2003, digital software has allowed people to create mashups of songs. One can add a range of sounds to the song, such as beat boxing or extra vocals, to create a revitalized version. These programs help stimulate creativity and inventiveness among those with interest in musical arts. People can create remixes to their favorite songs even without the ability to read notes or play instruments.