About Someone Else's Term Project

The term project I will be talking about is by Joseph Bruno called Free Content: What is the Cost? This project was about content that is considered free, how people react when they see the word free, and the actual cost associated with free content. The presenter first started off by defining free. Then he moved on by talking about Gillette and how they use free razors to gain a competitive advantage. They gain a competitive advantage by offering free razors to many businesses such as banks. Next he moved on by comparing a high quality product with a free product. The people preferred the free product over the higher quality product because of the association with the word free. Then he went on to explain the actual cost of free content. He mentioned that many free content create a monopoly, deteriorate quality, and cause the death of many industries.

I think that this project was very interesting and I learn a lot things that about how companies are using free content to gain a bigger market share. I also learned that there are many costs that are associated with free content. Which proves that nothing is really free. I found surprising that many people would actually choose a lower quality product over the higher quality just because the lower quality product was free. I really enjoyed the presentation.

The Next New Thing

The next new thing that we might see in the future would be a new form of the newspaper. Currently the newspaper is not integrated with the internet which therefore can't be constantly updated. This new version of the newspaper will be integrated with the internet. The new newspaper will not be made out of paper but will be a made out of a new technology called OLED which stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. It will be transparent, waterproof, touch screen, and could be folded just like paper. The news will be constantly updated when there is breaking news. Users will also be able to comment on the articles they read. The newspaper will be charged by the sun and when full will be able to store energy so that when not under the sun will still be able to run. Not all of the content on the device will be accessible to all users unless they subscribe to that content. The price to manufacture will be real low comparable to current newspapers. It is also biodegradable so disposing of the device will not harm the environment. This device will give a much needed boost to the newspaper industry. Every type of media could be used on the device such as television, radio, and you could even video chat.

About My Term Project

I am finally done with my new media presentation. I have done lots of research about my topic which is the impact of new media on national security. I learned lots of things about the government. I am amazed on how they are using new media in their infrastructure. I will start my presentation by defining national security and how the government play a major role on the country's national security. Then I will talk about how new media impacts four government functions which are inward sharing, outward sharing, inbound sharing, and outbound sharing. Next I will describe how the government has implemented new media into their infrastructure. I will also state some of the benefits of integrating new media and the government(government 2.0). Next I will describe some of the problems with new media and national security. Then I will talk about the solutions I think will help solve some of the problems. Finally I will describe how new media is being used outside the U.S.

I most interesting thing I found out was how the Department of Homeland Security is using virtual worlds to simulate terrorist attacks in order to better prepare first responders such as law enforcement on what to do after a terrorist attack. This simulation will help in better preparing them on how to coordinate with each other.

Overall I am glad that I chose this topic for my presentation because I was able learn new things about the government and how important it is for the government to use new media in order to improve a country's national security.

Privacy & Confidentiality

I believe that privacy and confidentiality do not go well with new media. The purpose of new media is to allow other to contribute and give their inputs on whatever is being shown. New media is always taking place online and the internet is no place for privacy and confidentiality. People can not expect to post sensitive information online and expect it to be out of the eyes of others. Sure there are ways to block people you don't want to be able to see your information but there are always ways to get around any security. As long as new media is able to connect people there will never be complete privacy. This is one of the main reason that the government was reluctant to implement new media into their infrastructure because it is so easy for someone to obtain sensitive information and use it for harm. The government has been implementing new media into their infrastructure but they are careful what information to broadcast and what information not to broadcast. We should all be aware of the type of information we posting online.

Advice to Baruch College

My advice on how to integrate new media to improve Baruch College would be to try to make Blackboard more customizable by its users. Students should be able to edit contents on the Blackboard homepage just like a wiki. Blackboard should be open to everybody to see not just individual classes. Also Baruch College should have a student blog implemented on Blackboard allowing students to communicate with each other. Another advice I have for Baruch College is for every professor to integrate some sort of new media into their classroom. For example instead handing in hard copies of the assignments maybe they could use a class wiki to submit their assignments and allow others to read and correct any mistakes. I also recommend that every student in Baruch should have a twitter account so that professor could update them on any recent changes with the class schedule.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

So far I have been contributing to wiki by posting to the political section of the wiki. I have posted the pros and cons of new media in politics. This basically points out some of the negative and positive aspects of using new media in the political environment. In the future I want to contribute to the sports and education section of the wiki.

My New Media Class - So Far

So far my new media class has been very interesting and fun. The professor had mention that this class will be the most entertaining class in Baruch and she was right. In this new media class we had used many social networking sites like twitter, blogs, facebook, etc. My favorite social networking site is using the blogs because I get to personalize it. My least favorite social networking site is twitter because of the limitation it has with the 140 characters. In class I learned how much of an affect new media has on different societies. Throughout the semester I have been posting many things on my blog. I have also been updating our class wiki. I think that this type of learning is the best way to learn because it is very interactive. I wish that all my classes were structure this way or at least give me the chance to creative like this class has given me. Hopefully the rest of the semester is as good as the first half of the semester.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

When I first heard of virtual worlds the first thing that I thought of was gaming because of the way the virtual world looks like. A virtual world basically a replica of our world but with no rules. Anything you could imagine could become reality in the virtual world. Once I started learning more about virtual worlds I soon found out that virtual worlds are more than just for gaming. Virtual world could be used for socializing, training, and even for giving the disabled the ability to do the thing they can't do in reality. Because virtual worlds are part of the internet this enables people to socialize and establish a community within the virtual world. Virtual worlds could also be used by businesses to train their employees. IBM has been using Second Life for just this reason (IBM Learning Programs Get a ‘Second Life’). They are using this technology to train their younger employees who have grown up playing 3-D video games. Virtual worlds are also being used to give the disabled the opportunity they don't have such as walking, playing different sports, and connecting with others with the same disability. Like in the article 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction a guy name David Savill has Asberger's syndrome and been able to a virtual world to connect with others with autism spectrum disorders.

The pros of using virtual worlds is that it allows you to be more creative like in the case of IBM training their employees. Another pro is that the virtual world allows people to replicate anything from the real world. This allows them to experiment with it without the fear of making a mistake. For example a building engineer could replicate a building from the real world into the virtual world and be able to find ways to improve the infrastructure. The cons of using virtual worlds for socializing is that sometimes people might become lost in the virtual world and forget about the real world.

Virtual worlds foster creativity by allowing people to come together and share ideas with each other. Because virtual worlds do not have any boundaries it allows people to let their imagination run wild.

The future of virtual worlds might be moving towards helping others improve their lives in more ways than it already does. Maybe it would be used for doctors making house calls in the virtual world and being able to diagnose a replicated version of the patient's symptoms.

Twitter: Discussion

My experience with Twitter has been a good one so far but there are a few things I didn't find too appealing. The first thing is that I feel that the 140 characters limitation is too constraining. It would have been better if it was 140 words limitation. This allows me to more space to express my opinions. This is one area that discussion board does better because there is no limitation on what to write. Another thing I didn't like is the way you reply on Twitter because you have to include RT and the class section which further limits the space to give a reply. One thing I like about Twitter is that I'm able to correct any mistakes before posting it which is why I like Twitter better than in-class discussion. One way Twitter is better than discussion board is that Twitter is more portable, easier to access, and can get updated much quicker. Many mobile phones allows you to post messages on Twitter directly unlike blackboard's discussion board.

Social Networking

Social networking sites have been used in many ways by individuals and businesses in order to get into contact with others. Social networking sites such as Twitter have been used extensively by businesses to communicate with their customers and also their potential employees. Like in an article in the NY Times, Tweeting Your Way to a Job, it mentioned that "Twitter is an extension of customer service, an efficient way to solve problems for disgruntled customers." Businesses are looking for employees who can effectively communicate with their customers using social networking sites in order to solve their problems and even establish a relationship so they can retain that customer.

Not only are social networking sites useful within the business community but they are also useful for education purposes. Many schools are using social networking sites to help communication between the students and the professors. Students are able to collaborate and complete assignments much more effectively because of social networking sites. For more examples on how to use Twitter within the school environment please read this article, 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom.

I believe that these technologies have a great benefit to our society because it helps bring people together which allows them to accomplish things with more efficiency than ever before. It also helps people become more inform about what is currently going on in their community and around the world. Social networking sites gives people the chance to voice their opinions on important matters. For example in the article, Twitter used to help land plane with aid for Haiti earthquake victims, Twitter was actually used to help save the lives of Haiti earthquake victims. Many people were allow to voice their opinion by tweeting that the plane, full with medical supplies, land on the tarmac.

Of course where ever there are so many people connected to each other there is always going to be a dark side because some people are going to abuse these technologies to meet their needs. There have been reports of individuals stalking and tormenting others using these social networking sites. Sometimes finding these individuals is difficult because they may multiple accounts with different profiles. Also employers may find information about their employees on these social networking sites that may get them fired. So there is the potential of these sites to have a negative impact on people lives.

But I do believe that the future for social networking sites to be bright. These sites have the potential to evolve into something great especially in the business world. Employers could have interviews with potential employees from across the world and feel like they're sitting right in front of them. Also in the medical field, doctors could examine a patient when they're located in another country. If the pros continue to outweigh the cons popularity of social networking sites will continue to grow.

Check Out Social Networking Sites

There are many social networking sites which allow people to connect with others. Four of the social networking sites that I'm familiar with are Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, and LinkedIn. Each of these sites are very similar to each other but have their own differences that set them apart. The main similarity between these sites is that they connect people with each other. These sites allow you to find people that you haven't talked to in a long time. The main difference between these sites is the look of the sites. Another difference is who they try to you with. Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster try to connect you with other friends who have the same account but LinkedIn focuses on trying to connect you with professionals in your career path. I also notice by looking at these sites is that Facebook and MySpace have ads and Friendster and LinkedIn do not. I should mention that Friendster does allow you to post free classified ads. As I checked out these sites I noticed that Facebook is mostly targeted at college students or adults, MySpace and Friendster targets younger kids, and LinkedIn targets professionals. All of these except LinkedIn allow you to post photos and play games. MySpace allows you to search your favorite music. The site I'm most impress with is Facebook because I feel it is easier to interact with and I know more people who have Facebook accounts.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and wikis have many similarities and because of this it is sometimes hard to see what the differences are. One similarity of blogs and wikis are that they allow people to communicate with others over the internet. They are also both dynamic web pages which means that they are constantly being changed and updated. Because blogs and wikis could be created by anyone the information on these medias are sometimes inaccurate.

Aside from the many similarities blogs and wikis also have many differences. One difference between blogs and wikis is that the wikis do not include the source of the information. The is important because we would want to see if the information is accurate. With blogs you could see the information about the person who is posting the information. Another difference is that with blogs you have more control over the information you post but with wikis the information you post could be changed by another person.

In today's world where the internet could connect everybody together the importance of convergence is great especially in the business environment. In today's business world companies are sending their employees all over the world to do business and the need to communicate back and forth is crucial. So the use of new media technology like blogs and wikis become very handy because it allows companies to communicate with each other effectively.

Though wikis can be used to collaborate with others I believe that blogs are a more effective media for communicating to specific group of people. The reason is because wikis can be edited by anyone and this isn't good for very important information. Also blogs allow other to give feedback on the bloggers' opinions which is important when a group of people are collaborating.

I can't thing of a new use for the wiki that has not been done yet but could think of an improvement. An improvement for the wiki is that it should not allow anybody to put an inaccurate information on the wiki. Like the article in the NY Times, Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People, said the wiki should be more dependable source of information.

Old vs. New

There are many ways to distinguish the difference between old media and new media. One way is by seeing if the media is static or dynamic. If the media is static than it is old media and if it is dynamic than the media is new media. The reason old media is static is because old media is never constantly changing like new media. What makes media new media is the fact that the users are able to manipulate the content in some way by either editing the content or adding comments. For example film is considered old media and youtube videos is considered new media. Film can't be manipulated by the user and youtube videos are able to be manipulated by the user or add comments about the videos.

Another way to distinguish the difference between old media and new media is usually by seeing what kind of communication there is between the media content and the user. In old media there is only a one way communication meaning that the user can't interact or has no way to get in touch with the creator of the media. In new media there is always a two way communication where the user can always get in contact with the creator of the media and also has some say about the media. For example magazines had a one way communication with their readers in which the journalist write the content and the readers read it. The reader had no say or could not write their comments about the content. But now the new media version of magazines, ezines, allows the readers to post comments about the content they read.

Also if the media is a combination of other medias than it is considered new media. Old media is always separated from other medias. For example television is considered old media because it is a stand alone media technology. But now television shows are now being seen in the internet on different websites such as hulu. Which is why hulu is considered a new media technology. Hulu is a combination of television and forums where viewers could post comments about they are seeing.

Impact of New Media on National Security

My research project for this class is going to be about how new media impacts national security. By national security I don't mean only America's security but also other countries. Because new media can't be used with some sort interaction with the internet every country's security is compromise. For example many terrorist groups use new media to communicate with other terrorist groups or send terrorist threats to other countries. There are many other security breaches that new media can potentially have on national security and with my research I will try to uncover what these security breaches are. Also I would want to find out some possible solutions, if any, are there that will eliminate them.

What is New Media?

New media is constantly changing and evolving with every new technology. There are many kinds of technologies that are part of new media. One of my favorites is YouTube because of the way people are able to show their creativeness with everybody. Everyday I'm always seeing something new and interesting that people are creating. Every time I want to see something funny I always turn to youtube and find a video like this one about some funny cats. A new media technology that I frequently use is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an interesting technology because I would have never expected that letting people post and edit information into an encyclopedia would ever be successful. I would never have expected that people would take the information in Wikipedia seriously because they were being edited by ordinary people. Other technologies that are part of new media are facebook, flickr, hulu, twitter, and many more.

New media would have never been possible if it wasn't for the internet. The whole reason the term new media was created was to show how media was being used to connect and communicate with each other. The way we connect and communicate now is through the internet which made it possible for new media to change and evolve. Like Lev Manovich wrote in "New Media from Borges to HTML", "new media are the cultural objects which use digital computer technology for distribution and exhibition. Thus, Internet, Web sites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs and DVDs, virtual reality, and computer-generated special effects all fall under new media." Therefore the internet and new media go hand-in-hand because new media would not have become what it is now without the internet.

Just like new media needed the internet to become what it is now, new media also needed old media just as much if not more. Many of the old media such as television, newspaper, books, magazines, and radio are being replace and/or enhanced by new media. The reason old media is being replaced or enhanced by new media is because new media is able to be more interactive with its users. Also users are able to express themselves and connect with others that are feeling the same way. An example of how old media is being enhanced by new media is the newspaper. In an article from the New York Times by CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, she wrote that a new newspaper company called "The Printed Blog" will publish blogs on paper and distribute it in big cities. It will also contain other user generated content. Though the future for this company is uncertain you could see how old media will need to be enhanced by new media in order to survive.