Monday, September 27, 2010

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.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

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.