Next New Media

New media is defined as “means of mass communication using digital technologies such as the Internet.” (Dictionary.com). I think the next form of new media will be related to virtual reality (vr). I think this new media will be similar to face time, but people can be with each other while not being in the same place. For example, instead of seeing each other in the same video chat, the vr will bring u to the same place. This will enable people far away to spend time together. Features like this can be seen in futuristic movies, but I think we are getting closer to make it a reality.

Wiki so far

While I have not added anything to the class wiki yet, I am planning on creating a section for the NBA playoffs. I have watched almost every playoff game so far this year and will be referencing nba.com to get stats for each round 1 matchup in the playoffs. I will summarize each series and include the stats and my opinions about who will advance further in the playoffs.

P2P

File sharing is defined as “the practice of sharing computer data or space on a network.” (Dictionary.com). Person to person or p2p file sharing is duplicating files from your computer and copying them to someone else’s computer using the internet. There are many examples of file sharing including entertainment. The article “The BitTorrent Effect” by Clive Thompson shares one way people file share with each other. In the article it states “BitTorrent lets users quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than a single MP3. ... Cohen showed his code to the world at a hacker conference in 2002, as a free, open source project aimed at geeks who need a cheap way to swap Linux software online. But the real audience turns out to be TV and movie fanatics.” (Thompson). In other words, while BitTorrent started as a way for users to swap computer software, it has become a means of piracy for movies and tv shows. This piracy of these shows are a form of person to person sharing because a user or many users upload it, allowing other users to download it. In other words, using the internet a user shares a file with others by putting movies on this application.

Advice

Some suggestions I would offer is to use new media as a platform to bring the student body together. For example, right now Baruch mainly uses new media to post the events that student government provide through the year. However, I think i think this isn’t the best use of new media considering they can do more. I would suggest they can use new media to post ideas for events and see the feedback. This would create higher turnouts if the events are well received and posted in advance. Another idea could be to post a version of narrowed down potential events and let the students vote on it using a poll on Facebook. This would also increase the participation in events and provide the students with activities they want to do.

Privacy

Privacy is a very tricky subject, because who determines what things should be hidden or not. For example, if someone was doing something suspicious in their own home do they deserve privacy? Privacy and confidentiality are related to new media because many sources of new media gather information about you. For example, on Facebook they gather data about you to try and find ads you will click on, providing them with more revenue. With new media, we must ask ourselves what do we give up in terms of privacy while using these free site as Facebook. Besides ads, privacy and confidentiality can also be tricky or confusing with new media. For example, with Facebook there are many settings and terms that you have to know how to operate to provide greater privacy. For example, on Facebook you can allow only friends to see your post or allow only friends of friends to send you a friend request. There are many issues with privacy relating to new media, and the best way to combat these issues is to educate yourself on the ways sites allow you to protect your privacy the most you can.

Creativity and new media

For this assignment I chose to create some memes. I created these memes by using the app meme generator by zombodroid. To create the meme I did the following steps.
1. Found the picture I thought was funny 2. Added a funny and relatable caption

Creativity

New media fosters creativity by giving people the ability to create something new. New media allows Dj’s to create something called mashups. A mashup is “a recording created by digitally combining and synchronizing instrumental tracks with vocal tracks from two or more different songs.”. New media has given people the technology to easily creat these mashups with just their own computer. The article Pop Music by Sasha Frere-Jones explains how people can use new media to create mashups. The article states “If there is an electric guitar of mashup, it is a software package called Acid Pro, which enables one to put loops of different songs both in time and in tune with each other. Mark Vidler, known professionally as Go Home Productions, explained some other benefits of digital technology to me in London not long ago: ‘You don’t need a distributor, because your distribution is the Internet. You don’t need a record label, because it’s your bedroom, and you don’t need a recording studio, because that’s your computer. You do it all yourself.’”. This proves how thanks to new media all people need are a computer and a software and they can create any mashup they want. This fosters creativity by giving the ability to many users to create something new and innovative, even though it’s using a previous invention.