The Next New Thing

How about video chat on social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and etc.? I know that there are various software out there such as skype, yahoo messenger, and etc. that offer video chat for private use and groupware technology such as Microsoft Office Communications Server that offer live group conferences for corporate use. However, with the increase popularity of social networking sites and the amount of time spent on these websites, I believe the feature of having video chat will vastly improve its population and will take new media to the next level. Not only can users view photos of their friends and family, they would also be able to see them live!

Our Class Wiki - So Far

At the moment, the only content that I have contributed to the class wiki is my own bio. I plan on contributing to the New Media and Major League Baseball section by adding more content to it. I will discuss the new media behind a new TV network known as MLB Network which began airing last year. It is a TV network that is solely contributed to major league baseball. Since it is a new network, its way of bringing updated news to its viewers are technologically up-to-date such as blogging, twittering, facebook, and etc.

About My Term Research Paper

Well, for my term research paper, I basically conducted research on online social networking, why it is important, what it is exactly, how it came about, and the various perspectives on the phenomenon. My research came from online scholarly documents and articles. Through my research, I found it extremely tiring and boring reading through all the scholarly documents. However, at the same time, there are key points that were quite interesting and informing. I have learned more on the topic of social networking than I have by just using sites such as Facebook.com. I chose this topic because online social networking is an expanding field with a lot of potential. There has to be a reason behind the success as well as a foundation for it. To understand how and why it is successful, research must first be conducted. In conclusion, online social networking isn't disappearing anytime soon. Expect new applications, evolution, and features from these sites because more and more of these sites will start up and competition will only increase. To stay on top, these sites will have to please us users. In addition, these sites are becoming more and more mobile with the boom of smart phones. My research paper provides some insight onto one form of new media, online social networking.

Privacy & Confidentiality

There is virtually no privacy and confidentiality on new media websites. Social networking sites allow users to freely express themselves with all their friends and family. Users can stay updated or update their friends and family on their current status. It is generally up to the user to decide exactly what information to share. Social networking sites typically have privacy settings that users can choose from. For those who don't set their privacy settings, their information is pretty much up for grabs. Their information is exposed to everyone who is registered with the site. There are cases where employers would screen potential employees on these sites before making a decision. It is definitely not a good idea to create a negative blog on your boss, or take a day off because you went out to a party the night before and decided to post pictures. Due to the lack of privacy and confidentiality these days, employers usually tend to find out, and you wouldn't be in a good position.

Advice to Baruch College

I would suggest creating an open forum that would allow students and professors to create posts and to comment on ideas or suggestions. Students can start a post on virtually anything, club activities, selling/buying textbooks, or their thoughts on classes that they've attended in the past. I believe this would be a huge impact on the Baruch College community as a whole since it would allow everyone to communicate with one another. Thoughts and ideas can be shared freely by undergraduates, graduates, and professors.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual world is a type of online community that is quite different from blogs and social networks. They usually take on the form of a 3D computer simulated environment. Virtual worlds can be used for social interaction, gaming, and other social related activities. According to Ted Hoff of IBM, employees would enter virtual worlds to expediate orientation, and to improve mentoring relationships. IBM employees can be separated by thousands of miles and by joining virtual worlds, they would be able to share ideas, and interact with one another. Virtual worlds have the ability of gathering people from various cultural backgrounds. They are on the rise and are generating more and more revenue every year. Virtual worlds can also have a negative impact. People can get so engrossed by these worlds, that they tend to forget what is reality and what is not. Virtual worlds provide the ability for maximum creativity. Users are able to create their own avatars, or their own virutal representations of themselves, and are highly customizable. Use of virtual worlds are continuing to expand, even into the corporate field.

http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/24/61/08.html

Checking Out Social Networking Sites

Well, let's begin with facebook becoming the largest social networking site on the net. Mark Zuckerberg is its founder and CEO. Facebook originally begin as a site that was only open to those on the Harvard campus but has now spread to the point where anyone 13 years of age or older with a valid email address can sign up and register. Facebook offers its users a variety of tools. Users can create profiles with photos, interests, contact information, education, and other personal information. They are able to communication with one another through public or private messaging and even through the new chatting feature. Users can create and join fan and interest groups. Some noticeable features of facebook are its Wall, a space on every user's profile where messages are posted and shared with all their friends and family. A Status, which allow users to provide an update on their whereabouts and actions. Also a news feed, which is located on every user's homepage revealing all of your friend's and family's newest updates. Facebook's most noticeable feature is its platform which provides a framework for software developers to create applications and the ability to share these applications with everyone. Myspace is another social networking site that has its own set of features. Some immediate impressions are the difference is user interface and layout along with the feature of music. Myspace is a well known social networking site for music artists who upload their albums onto their profiles. The site also offers the ability to create blogs as well as commenting on them. Similarly, it also provides the feature of photo uploads. Myspace also allows users to customize the layouts of their profiles through the use of HTML and CSS. Friendster, another social networking site also has a different layout and interface. It allows its user to share online contents such as videos, photos, messages, and comments with one another through their profiles and networks. Users can also create blogs and join forums. Like myspace, friendster provides the ability to customize user profiles by choosing through a selection of 40 different skins, or through the use of HTML and CSS. Similar to facebook, friendster also offers applications to its users. Twitter is another social networking site that is a bit different than the others. Messages or tweets are text based posts that are limited to 140 characters are displayed on a user's profile and are delivered to his or her subscribers/followers. Twitter basically allows a user to keep his followers up-to-date on his or her whereabouts. Twitter also offers the use of applications to its users.

Blogs vs. Wikis

First, let's define what exactly is a blog. A blog is a type of website that is maintained by an individual who will frequently create entries on topics of his or her choice. Blogs can be commentaries, description of events, or even a video. They usually have a feature which allows readers to leave comments at the end of each entry. Blog comments can be used as a form of collaboration. In a sense, comments and opinions are shared. On the other hand, a wiki is a website that allows easy creation and editing of various interlinked websites through a web browser using a markup language such as HTML. Wikis usually run on wiki software which enables the user to create collaborative websites that are open to the community. Registered users have the ability to create and edit the content on wiki websites such as those on Wikipedia.com. A NY Times article names another wiki, Diplopedia, which is open to all of those who are employed in the State Department. The wiki was described as efficient, especially in saving paper, and has the ability of containing articles that can reflect a large range of the staff's interests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/business/media/04link.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1267239641-IW3/vTDsoCcbSAX8kIXvbg

Old Media vs. New Media

Old media is considered to be more on the traditionally side and are the means of communication that have existed before the appearance of the new medium, the internet. How would one distinguish whether the media presented is old or new? Typically, old media is more costly to produce such as broadcasting through the television, the radio, or publications in newspapers, books, and magazines. New media on the other hand, is more digitized. Thoughts and comments are shared and recorded through the internet on various blogs, wikis, and other social communities. With the introduction of the internet, new media has been evolving on a global scale. The expansion of globalization has enabled people worldwide to express themselves on any type of new media. In addition, blogs, articles, and other various medias can be created by a professional or amateur alike and can cost little to nothing.

New Media Research Topic

Basically I will be conducting research on social networking. I will explain how new media was made possible, what it is, and who uses it. I will discuss the topic from various perspectives and provide many different point of views. I will be concentrating heavily on the technological, sociological, economical, and ethical perspectives of new media.

What is New Media?

New Media can be thought of as media in transition. Rather than having a concrete answer, new media can be more clearly defined by the various technologies that compasses it. Most of the credit can be attributed to technology such as Web 2.0, improved mediums in terms of telecommunication services, the increased use of digitization, the innovation of mobile internet, and the creation of various revolutionary websites such as youtube, facebook myspace, bittorrent, wikipedia, and etc. Of course, new media would not have been possible without the use of the internet. New Media in a sense, revolves around the internet. The internet or going online has become a social trend that is easily accessible, and is the foundation of new media. New media isn't exactly replacing the old media. Instead, it is actually forcing the old to evolve and adapt to the new. For example, newspaper companies have been forced to establish online presences in addition to concrete brick presences.1

1. Friedman, Linda Weiser and Friedman, Hershey H.,The New Media Technologies: Overview and Research Framework(April 2008).