About My Term Project

My presentation/project discussed eBay and how it is a community and a part of new media. eBay allows practically anyone to buy and sell whatever they want online easily, securely and very cost effectively. It is a part of new media because it is an internet community as opposed to a store. When you join the community you get the benefits of being able to buy and sell and then leave feedback to the buyer and seller alike. This is completely different from a store and is exactly what Web 2.0 is; a user contributing back to the internet. You are also able to discuss ebay strategies on their website through forums, blogs, etc.

About Someone Else's Term Project

I really enjoyed Paul's presentation about the iPhone. Paul explained all the options of an iPhone such as a full internet browser, youtube, itunes, app store, etc. As a piece of hardware technology I think it is a big part of New Media because it is one of the first mobile devices to really offer basically every feature a full desktop PC has in regards to new media on the go. The iPhone encorporates mashups with the app store. TV on the go with iTunes. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, chat clients. It really is THE New Media device.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

The class wiki is a great idea. Only recently did I actually learn how to use a wiki and it is very easy. I just made the Peer to Peer page. Unfortunately I did not have enough time to make it as nice and extensive as I would like, but I gave some good background information on P2P file sharing. I hope someone next semester will contribute to that page and make it a lot nicer with some sources. (Although I guarantee everything written there is 100% accurate :) lol )

The Next New Thing

It is very hard to predict "the next new thing". You usually get used to what you have and think that is all there is because its hard to think of something that doesn't exist, at least in some form.

I think its possible that we may see another P2P revolution soon, in particular dealing with torrents. Many of the major sites are being shut down and they are actually complying with court regulations (such as mininova.org). Instead of torrent files, now "magnet links" are being offered, which I guess work the same way, although I haven't checked on this.

I think that torrents have been around for a while already and something new will come out soon, even if it will be similar. Something has to come out that will make it completely anonymous so that no one can be blamed for hosting the files. Sites such as ThePirateBay and MiniNova didn't host any files, they were just a "tracker" however they are still blamed for it.

Privacy & Confidentiality

The internet and social networking has taken the issues of privacy and confidentiality to a whole new level. Before, when you didn't want someone to know something you simply just did not tell them or show them, etc. Now however you have to make sure no one knows, no one has pictures or any proof.

Once you post something on the internet, chances are that it will be there forever. Even if it is your own website, and you take it down, chances are that someone has saved a copy, not to mention all the people that already saw it.

Sites like Facebook are the worst with this, they never delete anything (unless it is flagged as offensive). And its one thing when you post pictures of yourself so you can monitor what is online. People have the option of posting pictures and "tagging" you in them. (Sure you can untag yourself, but by the time you do that all your friends have already seen it.) This really not the best idea, especially when you're younger and out at parties getting completely wasted when every other person has a camera.

Advice to Baruch College

It would be very interesting to see Baruch implement New Media technologies into their system as it can benefit the students and professors.

The first thing they should do is implement some online classes (as many other colleges have done so already); this class is actually the only one, perhaps even the first, that is offered online. Many students only come to class because attendance is mandatory; they would much rather have their class work online. This can be easily done using Wikis and other tools.

Also, it would be interesting to see Baruch make a social networking site, just for its students and professors. This site should be used for notification of class cancelations, schedule changes, etc. It would also allow access to Baruch Alumni and would better build a "Baruch Community". Since many people have internet access on their cell phones now, this option would help with knowing what is going on right away. How many times have you came to class, only to find out it is canceled?

My New Media Class - So Far

Coming from a background with computers I didn't think I would learn much new things in this class, however now we are at the end and I must say, my assumption was wrong.

New Media consists of many various different technologies on the internet which include blogs (such as this), social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, YouTube, virtual worlds and many others. All of these technologies sum up Web 2.0 which is kind of the reinvention of the internet. Now the user can not only just read whatever is on the internet but they can contribute to it as well.

The internet is obviously the most important part of New Media; without the internet such concepts just would not be possible to achieve. How could a Facebook or YouTube work without the internet?

New Media is replacing much of the old media as people are going online for many things that we're previously done offline. People go online for news, weather, stocks, and recently even TV now. This can be seen in the article “Who Needs a TV? I’m Watching on a Laptop” by Laura Holson. You no longer have to sit and wait for a specific show, just watch it later.

Technology is evolving faster than we can think and its interesting to see what will be the next new thing.