A new type of “new media” would be allowing to expand on the google glasses. Although the google glasses can help use GPS and answer general questions, we can develop a form of glasses that allows for 3D video camera with friends/family or even employers. It can be used for personal needs or business conferences. This may gives us a more realistic touch to seeing visually communicate with someone. It also saves us time without having to use a computer/internet connection whenever we need to.
Our Class Wiki- So Far
I am planning to contribute to Wiki pertaining to politics that occurred during the election time in November. However, I might like to create a page under fitness and allowing tips on work outs for beginners. I might add youtube links to show fitness gurus that demonstrate the particular workouts that I mention throughout the page.
P2P File Sharing
File sharing is allowing an individual to share files that vary from music, pictures to downloaded documents to known or unknown members of the internet. P2P file sharing, however, allows multiple computers that are connected through the internet and a P2P program to share files. In The BitTorrent Effect by Clive Thompson, it is stated that BitTorrent is a P2P file sharing program that allows for excessive amounts of downloads and uploads to occur at once. Other P2P programs include Kazaa and Tunngle.
Advice to the College
Brooklyn college currently does use new media through Facebook, Instagram and other outlets. However, I think the best platform to expand college information would be through either Facebook or the Brooklyn college website. First off, the BK administrators should make better use of their power by organizing their events accordingly. Most of the time, we are not informed of an event taking place unless its mentioned in class or posted around the campus. This is not efficient because not everyone will see these posts when they are on campus. There should be more than 1 administrator for Facebook. One administrator can focus on school events, another on schools academic information, and maybe another can focus on the interest of the students needs/concerns.
Another change to better the Brooklyn college would be to update the website. I recall having to spend more than the time required to find what I need and that wasn’t even useful enough that I had to call the college to get more direct information. The homepage should be well organized into different groups which then should be organized into sub groups to direct students to the core of their needs rather than having them go around in circles. Overall, it’s not about starting something new but rather improving what we already have into useful tools for the students.
Privacy & Confidentiality
Throughout the semester, we have discussed in great lengths about new media and it’s influence in different spectrums of our lives. Some of the new media outlets were Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr,etc. On all of these sites, we are the given a settings/privacy option to customize the viewers interest in who sees their posts. However, this does not mean it guarantees 100% privacy for the individual. For example, I remember once going on Forever21.com and adding couple of clothes in my shopping cart and then closing the tab to come back to later. Later that day, I logged into Facebook and the first advertisement I saw on the right side of my page was to my Forever21 website that displayed the clothes that I have viewed earlier that day. It then began happening every time I visited an online site and went back on Facebook. This shows that my privacy in both ends aren’t fully capable of keeping my page fully secure as I would have liked it to.
The idea of privacy and confidentiality are related to new media because they are both intertwined with each other to create a profit for both ends. First off, our personalized site uses our privacy information to provide services that are individualized and more in synced with each of our own needs. It’s a method that gives new media the upper head in always being a step ahead of its users. Secondly, the sites sells our private information to other businesses to increase their services to the users. It’s almost a cycle where the individual shares its private information on a new media which then gets shared to other new medias to profit off of.
Creativity and New Media
Here is a picture of me from my high school years. My known features were the long hair and glasses.
Using “MyIdol” App from the App Store on my Iphone, I was able to use my picture above and create an 3-D avatar that performs many activities from ballet dancing to some karate moves.
Click here to see me in action as a zombie. I used the same app and created a short video using my own voice (as a Zombie) and saved it to my iPhone. Then, I transferred the video from my iPhone to YouTube.
Creativity
“Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?” by Brooks Barnes shows a clear depiction of how new media can foster creativity. This article focuses on how Disney has continuously let YouTube users do mash ups of editing snippets of animated movies and TV shows. Using Disney property without authorization is clear and obvious stealing that will inevitably lead to any particular video to be deleted by YouTube. However, it seems that parodies and internet mash ups are tolerated by Disney/Nickelodeon as long as its purpose is more towards entertainment that is more creative and expressive of two different ideas into one. Pirating, however, is just plain stealing therefore it is not approved by Disney. However, that same use of content when used in a rap song with Winnie the Pooh or SpongeBob SquarePants can be used for comedic purposes that attracts viewers for the sole purpose of creating laughter rather than invading these private companies content to profit individually. I think it’s quite easy to tell the difference between both ends of the spectrum when Disney reviews these contents. For example, using Winnie the Pooh content for the purpose of showing an episode or scene from that show would be infringement that will get deleted right away. On the other hand, a rap song called “Crank Dat” using Winnie the Pooh visuals leads to the creatively of combining Disney’s property as well as the individuals level of creativeness leads to a more tolerable and enjoyable video for both parties to display to the rest of the world.
Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds can be used for several activities that can enhance its productivity. It can be used to improve gaming experiences,virtual prototypes, training programs for military, medical training (surgical procedures and diagnosing)and psychological therapy. However, it does have its downfalls which include lag time, better tracking systems, undermining the basic laws of physics and, it’s lack of acuity.
Virtual worlds allow users to be very creative by allowing to run practice cases before it occurs in the real world. In “Avatar II: The Hospital” by Stephanie Simon, she explains the usage of virtual worlds in the medical fields. It’s an online simulation designed to help nurses react properly in tensed emergencies. It works well in that it doesn’t interfere with the hospitals regular business and its cheaper to creative a virtual world and complete the training rather than having to pay actors to play the roles.
In “Virtual world may impact real world behavior”, it states how our roles in the virtual world may transcend into our regular day to day behavior. In the article, two groups played as either a villain or a hero. After the experiment, they each were given the chance to give either chocolate or chili sauce to the future participants. The ones that played as villains almost always choose to give chili sauce while the ones that played as heroes gave chocolate, almost twice as much, to the future participants. This shows that even though the participants were done with the experiment, their mindset was still similar to the role they played in the virtual world. It could have been done unconsciously but it’s interesting to see how virtual worlds can continue to affect participants even after they have entered back into reality.
The future of virtual worlds seems to be looking bright as technologies continue to improve vastly. I do believe that the online virtual worlds will somehow mesh with reality that will feel more life like. It might begin to feel more tangible in the sense that it allows participants to physically be connected to its experience.
Blog About Twitter
Discussions on Twitter vs BlackBoard vs in-class are very different for several reasons. First, Twitter is the worst place to engage in a discussion as its limited in allowing a freely open discussion with its 140 character limit. It’s a bit complicated trying to explain your ideas and thoughts in 1 or 2 small sentences. It’s not impossible, however, it’s also not necessary. In some ways, it feels childish especially having to use a “hashtag” to find my classmates on it.
BlackBoard discussion are far more efficient than Twitter as you have the necessary space to discuss important information. However, it doesn’t seem to be helpful in allowing me to interact with my classmates because it feels somewhat forced. I’m in a situation where I’m curious about my classmates to some extent but I also don’t seem to think online profiles really give you a good understanding of that person. It feels overly prepared and entails a false idea of who they are to some level. I also do not get notifications when someone updates something on BlackBoard (I’m sure I can fix that) but I still have no interest in socializing with others online unless its for friends or family.
I personally believe I engage the best in in-class discussions because the physical presence of my professor and classmates gives me a realistic understanding of my expectations and the amount of work I should be putting forth for that class. I also feel like I’m put in a classroom for an hour and 15 minutes therefore I can find myself getting more engaged in the conversation. It feels more real and tangible when you are seated in a room with a professor making eye contact with you on class matters.
Social Networking Sites
The four famous social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. My impression of Facebook is that it’s most efficient in communicating with your friends, family and strangers. The Facebook Messenger is very helpful in navigating through messages with friends and family. It’s easy for me to keep tabs on politics, day to day issues and any personal interests in regards to sports/movies/music. The reason why Facebook feels more natural is that it is not complicated in breaking down its features for the public to have access to.
I’ve made a Twitter couple of years back and did tweet once in a while to see how it works and it didn’t really gravitate my interest. I got bored of the 140 character limit as it made me feel like I’m in class trying to cut down on some extra pages on a term paper. Also, the hashtags are heavily popular on Twitter but it seems like it seems too hectic and overly done to keep people entertained. It’s not difficult to tweet but it’s not as quick as Facebook to get the people engaged. Most pictures, videos and stories on Twitter are linked therefore it takes a couple of extra seconds to gain access to it.
Tumblr is still popular even though it’s hype has been plummeting for awhile. Whether it be memes, pictures, posts, videos or personal notes, it can be very easy to access. However, it is difficult to really engage with others as you can through Twitter or Facebook. Tumblr makes you feel like a lone wolf as you’re basically reblogging or writing your own personal notes. Unless you’re famous, it’s difficult to talk with strangers as you can on the previous mentioned networks.
Instagram is known for its sharing of pictures and videos. It is easy to use as you just scroll by your followers posts and like or ignore depending on the level of interest it has on you. Sometimes, you don’t want to read or engage with others and thats when Instagram comes in handy. It’s something that intrigues you and keep you intrigued but only for a short term.
Mano Selvarajah 