SOMEONE ELSE'S TERM PROJECT PRESENTATION

Pick a research presentation other than your own. Summarize and comment.

One of my favorite presentations was the one of romance in digital era. He also presented on the day of our presentation, personally i thought he was fabolous. He mainly focused on couples that meet online and how and what is their relationship based on compared with the normal ones. He spoke on the negative and positive aspects of meeting and dating people over the internet, and compared it to other relationships that meet normally. For example, over the internet many people make up things on how they really are and physical aspects. He showed an interesting video of a couple who had problems because the female was "cheating " with someone else through second life. I enjoyed his presentation very much, he had music on the background, funny handouts and his way of presenting was very catching, he kept the class tuned to his powerpoint presentation. He gave many websites that people use to chat and date online. Overall, it was very up to date with what goes on today.

MY TERM RESEARCH PROJECT

On Thursday, April 23rd my partner and I presented our class with our project on text messaging and its impact on society. We divided the work in half. I spoke about the popularity of text messaging and why it has become such a popular technology among young people. Also, the benefits of the usage of text messages and the reasons behind its popularity. Why people prefer it instead of a phone call or email?
I also gave statistics on the usage and what countries send and receive the most messages. In my presentation I explained the impact that SMS (Short Messaging Service) has on medicine, academia and young people. I reported on how South Africa Health Campaigns use SMS to distribute health information regarding HIV/AIDS. SMS are sent to mostly everyone in the country with information on how to prevent it, how to treat it and its symptoms, facilities where they can get tested etc. And how SMS are used to make people quit smoking. SMS impact in academia, I explained the concerns that many have in regards with the "language" use in SMS, which resembles a code rather than a language. And how the this messages are braking the standard English language. Towards the end, I gave the positive and benefits of using SMS while my partner focus on the negativity of the SMS.

BARUCH NEW MEDIA - OUR CLASS WIKI - SO FAR

On the wiki, I created a page under New Media & Entertainment called Digital Distribution. I gave a brief definition on what digital delivery and Electronic software distribution are, which, is the principle of providing digital information and content over the Internet in the form of products or services. I started by putting up two companies that are famous for their distribution of audio content and books online. I included two pictures and I am still in the process of populating my page of the wiki with companies who are famous for their digital distribution, and also writing about their revenues and profit... Now I added more information on how their revenue is considered and the advantages of exchaging files online.

The next new thing

Suggest a new type of "new media" that doesn't currently exist. Describe it.

Um, well to think of something that doesn't exist yet, is somewhat hard. Maybe if we can have job descriptions and interviews online.

ADVICE TO BARUCH COLLEGE

You are hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the College. What are some suggestions you would make?

A good way that I would use new media to Baruch College, would be using the same idea of the Virtual Worlds into students classrooms. There are many students who are parents or have jobs that require them to travel often and cannot make it class. So, if we create a virtual world with all the classmates into one environment we can have regular class through virtual software. Each student would create their own character and they would all log in at the same time they are schedule for classes. They can be in Japan and still be marked present in class. I think this is a great way of not only interacting with your class mates virtually but contributing your ideas in a mandatory way. Many times students don't pay attention during class and consider participation as attendance only. By, using this software of virtual class I would make mandatory the contribution of each student, it doesn't hurt to give an opinion.

OLD VS. NEW

How do we distinguish “new media” from “old” media? List and explain several ways to do this.

We distinguish new media from old media by exploring the options, access, control, modification, and distribution of the source. For example our old media for news is the newspaper. Before new media, the consumer had little access to the information, if it wasn't read or seen on tv there were no other ways to get to the recent news. Now we have more options when the newspaper is on the web, this allows the information to be accesible in a faster way, now in days you can even read it from your cell phone.
Old media platforms such as radio, television and movies are not the consumers only options any more. The same content is now available in many different forms and formats. (e.g., blogs, wikis, YouTube). We don't need to depend in one source only, the availability that we have is so much greater with the internet that our access to it is unlimited. Also, new media gives the advantage of a mass distribution to consumer, I think is is the biggest difference between them two.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds in my opinion are beneficial in many aspects of human life. Like the article that we read about the woman who gain such a social joy in second life because she was able to do in the virtual world what she wasn't able to do in real life. It gives them a sense of hope and allows them to do what in real life they can't. Also the kid with autism used second life for social interaction, it helps them develop friendships, since its so hard for them to speak and open up to other people. This technologies can be use as therapeutic methods, it's a stress release and a get away from it all, its a different experience.
Business that advertise places or for tourist who wants to visit a city and will like to know how the city looks like before going there can use virtual worlds just like VLES that shows how Lower East Side from NYC looks like. This can help out a lof of business to advertise and sell more eventually.
Addiction is a dark side, many people can get hooked on it and not leave their homes. Kids may not even excercise or not do their homework and get in the habbit of just sit infront of the computer all day. I think virtal worlds will evolve and will be the "hot thing" in more years to come. I think video games companies will take more advantage of this techonology to make more realistic and better games.

My New Media Class

Technologies that are part of new media are: online publications such as blogs and wikis, digital television, Adobe photoshop, the online newspapers, magazines, books, chats, social networking sites. I think the Internet is the most important feature of new media, new media is nothing without the internet. New media without the Internet is just Media. The Internet has enabled the new media to be born and to grow endlessly. New media is not replacing but enhancing old media, in the way that is reachable to more people. It gives control to the consumer and incorporates people into the manipulation of this technology, it actually give us the right to participate. It helps us to be connected with each other more easily and faster. It allows the public to interact with each other regarding of the geographical locations. One example is second world and VLES, where you dont necessarily need to be in New York to see what New York looks like or to speak and meet someone from here. It gives you in a sense more freedom to travel without leaving the comfort of your home.

Social Networking

Well, last summer when I was working at an Air Freight Shipping Company, it was required of all the employees to have an account with a messenger specially with hotmail. We needed to network and socialize with the agents of airlines, ocean lines, vendors, etc. We needed to establish a friendly relationship with them so we can get customers and discounts. Everything was done through the computer, (email and chat) so that was our way of communicating. Also, with the staff in the office, instead of calling each other's extension we would just chat. The benefits of this technology is that it makes communication so much accessible and convenient. I think it saves us time, and if it saves time it saves money. The dark side is that since everything is on the web we are at a higher risk of any virus, and at a higher risk of exposure especially when we are dealing with confidential information. A way that technology may evolve is that we may have a computer that completes more tasks that what is already accomplishing. Maybe we wont need a notebook with a pen, because we might be able to write directly to the screen, one example is signatures. Maybe we can just photocopy the check and sign it right on the screen. This is like the topic we covered in class with convergence.

BLOGS vs. WIKIS

Blogs and Wikis are both beneficial for the spreading and updating of information. What I consider the biggest difference between them is that the Wikis is more like a collaboration between people in keeping a site full of information. Its a nonending process, we keep on adding new things and any one has access to it. Is a work of all, it belongs to anyone who wants to collaborate. With Blogs instead is more like a response to comments or questions. It helps us be on top of every topic out there.

Checking out some social networking sites

While checking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Friendster I found many similarities and differences between these sites. They share the common purpose of social networking and getting people to know each other a little bit more. Facebook targets students, it gives them an opportunity to meet people in their colleges and see who has the same interest as you such as major, career etc. I think Facebook goes a little too far with tracking your actions. It gives too much information to other users who you have in your friend network. For example, if you become friends with someone else, your friends can see what you recently did and at what time. With Myspace I believe you have more to work with, you can design your own page and insert more things like music, backgrounds, slides etc. Facebook I will consider more serious. With Friendster I found it very similar to MySpace, you can also use creativy in your page and this reflects somewhat of who you are. You can also browse people by names, location, emails and the site will pop up different pages. These sites allows people to be in constant interaction and updated with friends and community, is such a great outcome when is used for networking purposes.

What is new media?

Is the term used to describe communication technology that we the “users” can manipulate, allowing our interaction with each other to be faster and more efficient. Is a many to many method of delivery of information. New media gives us more control over the information and resources we use. New media is part of the late 20th century, and is most digital and computerized.

Description of Project

Text Messaging impact on society

This new media is being use more often and by broader sections in society as a mean of communication. Increase in usage has essentially influenced how we go about our daily activities. Like other types of communication, text messaging has evoked a range of projected fears and hopes. Our main goal is to present to our fellow students the positive and negative aspect of this new media, the diverse ways that text messaging impact different age groups, the different uses of text messaging, and how it has helped or hindered our association with others.