The Next New Thing

In the future, I believe all the devices that we use everyday, will all be integrated into one for the users convenience. In addition, these objects will only get smaller and smaller, and work faster and faster to best fit our needs. Also, we will not have to worry about getting reception or connection everywhere we go, because one day it will work anywhere, whether it is in a basement or at the bottom of a well. One day, we might even find that we wont need credit cards or metro cards anymore because all we would have to do is wave our hands in front of a machine and it will be recognized who we are. Although I do think that all of this will be more convenient to the users of everyday that value every second of their day, I believe that is a bad things because people will no longer have the privacy to share who they are with others.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I am the editor for the New Media and Economics page. I have done a little research on this topic, just trying to get a simple understanding of how new media and economics work together. So far, I had added a picture to the page. In addition, I have began to write about the history of new media economics. I have also began explaining the many benefits of how new media and economics work together to bring in a bigger revenue for a company. I hope to show what the economics of new media really is and how its used daily.

About My Term Research Paper

My topic for the term paper was new media and privacy. I feel that because new medis is used everyday in our lives and that society has become to independent on it, people should also see the flip side to it. Everything good also has a bad side. The good side to new media is the 5 C's: communication, collaboration, community, creativity, and convergence. The bad side to new media is the lack of privacy it presents to the users. Social networking sites, blogs, wikis and mashups are all used everyday and the users take advantage of it. It is used for personal reasons along with business reasons. But the lack of privacy can be seen when posting a picture on facebook, using a site that stores cookies into your computer, and even third parties on these sites. Although there are more, those are the ones that I mainly focused on. his has in impact on society as a whole because the world has put thier gaurd down to the fact that there is even a risk. But it is now more than ever that society should be aware of the risks and the potential impact it has on us. I have always found the privacy issues of anything new and current interesting because it seems that there are many loopholes.

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy is the right of an individual to hold information about themselves in secret and free from the knowledge of others. Confidentiality is the assurance that the release of information about a person which would constitute as an invasion of privacy will not be disclosed without consent except as allowed by law. Looking at facebook, a persons log in and password is confidential. Similarly, so is a persons credit card information. But once one logs into facebook, the information they choose to share with others is privacy. Whether or not one's wall or photos can be seen is privacy settings. If somone else were to get thier hands on a persons information, they could potentially damage a persons life. When people are sharing personal information about themselves, they should do so with much caution.

Advice to Baruch College

New Media can improve schools in many ways. It can be used to change and improve the Baruchs classes and infrastructure in many ways. Although alot of money would have to be spent to implement the technology, I believe that it would truly pay off in the long run for both the college and the students and staff. New Media can be used for classes to create classes that are used within a "Virtual World" online, or a second life. This way teachers and students can participate from anywhere, and can also record the classes for later reviewing. This can ultimately cut down on costs for the school in needing classrooms and all that goes in to keeping a building running. This is also easier for the students that have to commute a long way in order to get to school.
In an easier way, we can make more classes online. That way students can just log in from their home computer or even work computer and learn the lessons. Similarly, tutor sessions can be held online as well. That way, if someone has a quick question because they do not understand something, they can just ask someone and an answer from someone working at Baruch can just reply and help them.

Twitter: Discussion

Twitter discussion is much different than any other websites I have used for socializing. I did not know how to navigate to what I wanted to do. I think its difficult for everyone when they are using a new site for the first time because you don't know where anything is and most importantly, you don't know what the site allows you to do and limits you.
Twitter is much different than an in class discussion. In classt you can actually see the person and interact with them face to face, which provides a benefit. In twitter it is much more difficult to follow a conversation because when you reply to someones tweet, it does not come up under that persons original tweet. everything you post gets posted under your wall and its hard to figure out to who's post you are reply and to which one. Twitter also differs from the Bb Discussion Board. although they both allow users to interact, BB allows one to post longer discussions. That makes it easier for users to interact because it dot not limit the users to sharing what is on thier mind.
I personally did not like twitter before I signed up for it, and I still do not like it now. It is annoying to have all of my tweets under my name when I feel that they should rather be under the tweet that I replied. Also, people who use twitter use it to put their life on display, and I have better things to do than read about how someone loves the weather or is running late to class.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

These virtual worlds that have emerged online can be used in many different ways. Not only can they be used for ones entertainment, but they can also be used for businesses. This allows businesses to interact with others from people on the other side of the world. Also, this gives businesses an advantage also because they can be creative and that will allow them to create more ideas that can help their company.
There are both pros and cons to these virtual worlds. Although they do let us skip reality, for some, they believe that the person they are in the virtual world represents them. That could be a problem because sometimes people represent themselves as more superior and able, although that is really not who they are. The pro can simply be seen as an escape from reality. The con is that one cannot simply fprget about thier real life and become to attached to the world virtually. Virtual worlds fosters ones creativity. It gives us a chance to create a world where anything from being able to fly to fly to having six arms is more than possible. In "In Room 100, It's Sid and Nancy All Over Again,"by Saki Knafo, it can be seen that the present changes in a building does not please the attendants so they create this virtual world so they can go back to the way things were before. In "iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction" by Nicole Saidi, both pros and cons can be seen. The pro's are that it allows people with autism escape into a world where they can interact with people and practice social interaction. This allows people to interact with difficulties and lets them be realaed in their home space. The cons are that although it does let these people interact smoothly, these people might become very accustomed to interactions in the virtual world that interactions in the real world could be seen as frightening to them.
In the future, I think the worlds will be a better copy of our reality and maybe integrate more with the real world so they become less of a fake game, and more of a real tool in our lives. I think they will become more useful in education and training for people, so such things will be more accessible by everyone all over the world, no matter their status.