The Next New Thing

The internet movement toward live-streaming has brought forth Internet TV for the masses. It is my prediction that Live Internet channels will be an eventual form of new media. The increase ease of recording and streaming on the internet would allow for individuals or groups to form their own channel on the internet similar to a TV channel but it is controlled by smaller focus groups rather than large network corporations. For a quality internet broadcast, a good internet connection and a fairly decent computer is recommended. The advancements in computer hardware and internet connectivity can make this movement feasible. Television networks will expand into online broadcasting as well. Internet channels will allow for a wide variety of content for viewing. People will be able to look for content by other viewers more easily and not be limited to just television produced material. This can open up new opportunities such as web shows or establish a new medium for discussion and communication in place of other new media such as internet forums or boards.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I assigned myself to contribute to the New Media & MMORPG's wiki page. I paid careful attention over the past few months to news revolving MMORPGs to see important developments and how it has impacted new media. I updated the list of MMORPGs with some refined details and cleaned up some links. I also cleaned up some grammar errors throughout the page. Some additions to the page include an example for recent virtual crime in EVE online, and a case reference to show how valuable the virtual world can be in terms of virtual property value in Entropia Universe. MMORPGs generally are quite similar to each other and there hasn't been any dramatic new form of MMORPGs recently. MMORPGs play a significant role in New Media and it will continue to do so in the future.

About my Term Research Paper

This research paper was quite interesting. I used Google Scholar to search for my scholarly sources and I utilized several major technology websites to aid me with my paper. I felt I knew a great deal about present day lifecasting but I was able to learn more about the history of lifecasting as well as many other sites that play a major role in lifecasting. I personally chosen this research topic because I was fascinated by the online community of websites such as Justin.tv. To be able to see various broadcasts and how individuals lifecast made me want to learn more about how it started. After further research, I have learned how great of an impact it has made on old and other new media. It has impacted television, radio, social networking sites and more. Live-streaming casts will become more popular. Lifecasting is broadcasting style that will continue to evolve and grow in the future but I do question how deeply engrossed humans will be with the internet and lifecasting.

Privacy & Confidentiality

The complication of the internet is that data posted on the internet is written and will exist permanently online. It is virtually impossible to get rid of something once it is exposed online. This can create problems for individuals who post pictures, statements or more that may be addressed to only a select few but be leaked to the masses. It is quite difficult to make something online 'private' because the content is not in your hands but in the care of service you had uploaded the data to. For example, if an embarrassing video of you has been posted online, you cannot remove it and it may have already spread to several new sites or machines. This can also be an issue with the new generation that with to be more socially connected with others online. Posting a twitter update about exactly what you are doing can be comprising of privacy of your personal life and is by no means confidential. On the other hand, it can be easy to disguise as someone else online. The new media provides an outlet to be anonymous or pose as an avatar online or even in a virtual world. This can allow users to keep their identify confidential. New media does promote communication and communities, therefore it can be expected that privacy and confidentiality of yourself will need to be loosened to a certain extent.

Advice to Baruch College

Baruch College does apply technology to help aid students. I feel that in a more radical approach, new media can be applied as well, in a virtual classroom or more. There are several large lecture classes that are difficult for a professor to give all students full attention to. There are several ways to work around the detriments caused by absurdly large class sizes. Few professors record their lecture, which will allow for students to revisit the lecture held in class. In addition, a virtual online classroom of fewer students may permit to fuller attention and engage students more directly. Wikis can also be made for several different courses that can help provide additional resources when applicable. There are several ways to utilize the online connectivity to network the student with the class on the internet.

The Social Network: Spoiler Warning

I wasn't thrilled to see this film about how Facebook started when I heard this movie was released, however I was somewhat interested in how engaging the director could make a movie about the history Facebook and it's key players including Mark Zuckerberg. The opening cut-scene between the main character and a girl surprised me. The actor for Mark Zuckerberg, Jesse Eisenberg did such an amazing job of portraying the director's vision of Zuckerberg being an 'ass'. I thought that the movie would not be able to keep me engaged from start to finish but the director was able to make the movie as concise as possible. The movie flowed quite well from one scene to another. There was minimal downtime from unnecessary scenes. The attention of the movie consistently stayed on track around how Facebook came to be and the stirring controversy between Mark Zuckerberg and the co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Napster cofounder founder Sean Parker, and the Winklevoss twins. Virtually all the characters in the movie were portrayed to have a unique personality, which helped keep the movie refreshing. I am turned off by the excessive overplay of college student stereotypes throughout the movie, that consists of students being drunk, stoned, and insane. I have no doubt that this film was created using the most interesting perspectives of the real life situation, but it makes me wonder how accurate everything is portrayed in the movie. When I reached the ending of the movie, I was surprised that the programmer of the Harvard Connection, working with the Winklevoss twins wasn't mentioned during the legal proceedings nor was there any mention what he got out of the lawsuit. Regardless of a few pet peeves, I found the movie rather enjoyable and an interesting watch. I would recommend this movie to others if they have any remote interest about The Social Network because the actors were great and the story was well written.

Twitter Discussion

This is my first time using twitter personally to send tweets to others. I have visited the site a few times for other uses such as information updates from major companies. The mass feed of twitter updates seemed very daunting to me. I'm quite used to participating in forums, and Twitter was a different feel. In comparison to using BB Discussion board, I feel more comfortable writing extended responses with more thought and detail. Twitter certainly makes sending some important messages clearly challenging. In addition, the mass of short messages can be quite uninformative at times but at times 140 characters is capable of putting the message through. The discussion board is probably easier to revisit in the future due to the organized structure but to engage in closer to real time, twitter certainly has the leg up compared to the forums or the discussion board. In terms of real-time, an in-class discussion is the best way to immediately and direct communicate with one another. The drawback is if everyone is trying to speak at once. The result would be a incomprehensible mess. The same situation would apply to all other mediums including Twitter and possibly even the discussion board. The in-class discussion can be moderated and therefore be the most effective way to communicate among a group. Twitter is definitely an interesting new experience, which I hope to make better use out of over time but I must avoid engrossing myself with excessive status updates.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

The development of a virtual world allows humans to perform actions otherwise limited by our human capacity. For enjoyment virtual reality can loosen the laws of physics and more. The virtual representation of the person is an avatar, which can be created to be similar or completely different from the person in their Earthly form. This freedom of personal identity allows individuals to be and act as then cannot in the real world. For example, medically handicapped individuals can function and appear as a healthy normal avatar when they may not be able to walk or function normally in real life. Away from personal embodiment, a person may assume a role in the virtual world such as leader or member of an organization. According to CNN Health, a virtual resource center was formed in Second Life to help individuals with autism and other related conditions. This can provide help to those seeking such aid. Some corporations also take part in the virtual world by having executives hold a meeting through their avatars. According to the Washington Post, several executives of major corporations including IBM, Linden Labs and others held a meeting in Second Life. This act can allow for spectators to view the meeting and possible engage with other spectators as well regarding the meeting. This accessibility can lead to good publicity but can also be counter productive if the online community does not take part in a serious manner.

The cost of living in the virtual world is much less than that of the real world. Users may obtain fancy accessories for their avatar and live a luxurious life, which would be more difficult to do in real life. Living the virtual luxurious life can come at a cost that an individual may not be able to sustain alongside the real life. Regardless, virtual worlds such as Second Life allows for an escape from reality. It grants the person the ability to do things that otherwise you cannot in reality. The ability to break free from boundaries such as the laws of physics can spur creativity such as owning multiple islands and being able teleport to each of them at your own will. In a case of where a place ceases to exist in reality, The New York Times reports that a famous hotel called Hotel Chelsea was changed in the real world by new management and the former manager recreated the hotel in Second Life. The hotel was digitally replicated and allows for individuals to experience how it originally was. The virtual world makes impossible moments possible but it requires the individual to take the step to create it and take part. Online gaming particularly MMORPG's allow individuals to live a fantasy life and the actions they make is based on how creative they wish to be. They can play casually to have fun or take the game seriously to even as far as online relationships through fictional characters. Real life can get complicated if the person thinks marrying a digital character is synonymous to the real life. Such extreme actions can be the consequence of virtual worlds if the individual gets too drawn in.

Virtual worlds will not vanish in the future. The digital world will grow thanks to expansion of the social network and incorporation of virtual worlds through online gaming and more. Earth could probably be replicated in the virtual world in the future in one instance to provide a substitute for the real world. I would not be surprised if the virtual world will be deemed as a World 2.0 that can almost completely engage our life, but we still need to remember we exist in the original World 1.0.

Social Networking

Social Networking has certainly invited new opportunities and possibilities of use. Many social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Blog sites have brought upon several new benefits and some issues of concern as well. On the corporate side of the social networking, businesses are capable of obtaining more personal feedback of their products or services, which can serve as vital information for making improvements. A possible downside to community reviews is the validity of such feedback. In Technology Review, researchers say online recommendation systems can be distorted by a minority of users. The mass feedback can be a false representation of criticism if a large number of feedback comes from a small amount of users. In addition, the small representation that votes may be on the extreme end of the spectrum. User feedback can evolve into even more in-depth reviews that show their usage of the product and service.

Businesses are also able to use social networking technology to help with job recruiting. According to the NPR, professional recruiters have begun using MySpace, Facebook, and particularly LinkedIn to locate qualifying candidates for hire. This has resulted in an increase in job recruitment. It is quite possible that in the future, employers may conduct interviews online instead of using phone calls or meeting physically in person.

Social Networking sites also allow for several ways to share content including videos, images, and more. Barb Dybwad of Mashable mentions several ways to utilize twitter other than it's primary status update based function. The expansion of functions for social networking sites allow users to have more options available to them.

The goal of these sites is to get the user to speak out and be more open about their life and opinions. This of course is not what everyone may want since privacy is to be respected as well. Marc Parry of The Chronicle states that research indicates Facebook users have altered their privacy at least once in the history of their account. Social networking will certainly still expand by leaps and bounds but at the same time, the services need to realize there is a limit to how much people are willing to share and there should be control over that.

Social Networking is not to be taken for granted and it will not escape our lives especially with the incorporation of wireless devices.

Check Out Social Networking Sites

There are far too many social networking sites for one person to pick from. The few that I have recently visited are Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, and Linked In. The first thing that comes to mind when visiting these sites is some form of advertising. Facebook didn't directly present a third party ad at the homepage, however the other three had at least one banner ad space of a third party advertiser. Beginning with Facebook, the layout of the website seems organized and easy on the eyes. Although the space is organized, it can easily be populated with an large amount of different information from status updates of friends, events, and even advertisements. Facebook seems to offer a balanced degree of control over what information you see and what you want seen. Facebook appears to be less bloated and provide more focus on your personal friends status in comparison with the others. The others seems to create a general focus on unknown groups and individuals to you, which are recommended to you. Linked In tries to maintain a display of professionalism as a business social networking site whereas the others are more focused on the personal life activities. Linked In's color scheme is more neutral, whereas the others use more vivid color schemes. I feel somewhat insecure about using Friendster and MySpace because of the mass display of advertisements. Regardless, all sites have their own privacy controls and they each seem to have a decent amount of power to personalize your privacy. The simplicity of presenting yourself makes these sites so attractive to people. It's a wonder what will be next.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and Wikis are two forms of communicating information as new media. There are some key similarities and differences between the two. Both are capable of incorporating collaboration amongst the internet community but there is a distinction of how involved the community can be. Information control is the key difference between the two. Articles published by blogs are edited solely by the writer and can only be commented upon by the community, whereas wiki articles can be published and edited by anyone in the community.
Information on blogs can be kept in strict moderation under the discretion as blog page owner. James Dao described social media control by the government in The New York Times Article, "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog" as restrictive to maintain the integrity of the security of the armed forces. On the other hand, Michael Barbaro of The New York Times wrote in "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog" that some blog sites allow for unrestricted commenting by the community. Wal-mart has shown an example of blog community collaboration of customers regarding goods and services offered by Wal-mart. Blogs can encourage the community to freely reply to articles, publications and other comments as well. This ease of providing one's thought can spur collaboration. Blog site owners may choose to let the community get freely involved or enforce what is posted on their blog.
Information on wikis are generally open for anyone to add, edit, and remove, however, there are some wikis open for collaboration for only a team of users. In the article "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia" by Margaret Locher at CIO, wikis were described as being more commonly used by corporations to collaborate their departments and employees. Corporate wikis usually designate small teams to update project details and other information. Wikis could conceivably be used for instructional guides for common to uncommon applications in life. Although several wikis are information databases that focus on facts. Wikis can evolve into becoming a new support site in place of technical support or the latter. By providing more focus on how the information applies to the end-user, the wiki can become more than just a encyclopedia entry.
The principle of convergence is a key element in present day social media because the internet allows users to collaborate and communicate in this networked world. Information on the net will expand and hopefully become more resourceful with the help of the vast contributors to the online world.

Project: The Impact of Lifecasting on New Media and Society

My research project will explore the evolution of lifecasting as new media and how it has impacted society. Lifecasting is the live streaming broadcast of an person's life through the internet. The lifecaster records him or herself and shows the world what he or she is doing in real-time. The viewers will watch the live feed on their computers and see through the broadcaster's recording device. I will investigate how lifecasting socially impact broadcasters and viewers and the effect it has on other new media including television, radio, videos sharing, and more.

Describe New Media

New media is expanding with the development of new technologies. One such technology is podcasting. In the article, Podcasts: New Twist on Net Audio by Daniel Terdiman of Wired.com, he describes podcasting as the new method of sending information to users via audio content in their media device such as an MP3 Player or the infamous iPod. Podcasting inevitably allows 'producers' to upload episodes of recorded audio to the internet for users to listen at their convenience away from the computer. Other technologies include internet services such as YouTube, applications on mobile devices, and more.

New media gets the community to connect to the internet and access articles, news, videos, and other content. YouTube has profoundly grown since it's launch. With an abundance of video content being uploaded constantly by the community, viewers in turn engage themselves easily in many ways. Clive Thompson of Wired Magazine referred to a online video that received thousands of replies from viewers that spurred creativity and collaboration among the community. New media is an evolved element of old media.
Three striking differences new media has over old media are instant access through use of the internet, personalization of content and user involvement. Old media consists of content that is primarily not connected to the internet such as television, radio, magazines, books, and more. Old and new media both present information to the people, however, interaction among the readers, viewers, and others are much more difficult with old media than with the help of newer technologies in new media. In addition, due to the speed of the internet, updates are much more frequent than sources outside of the internet. An example of how fast news travels can be seen by TMZ as described by Stephen Brook of guardian.co.uk, information gets posted instantaneously on their website of breaking news about celebrities. Users of new media can instantly involve themselves with the news by making a reply to an article or video. The interaction of users of old media is more limited without the aid of technology.

New media performs many functions of old media but with the aid of technology and the internet, people are able to get more personally involved and communication is promoted among others.