BLOG: Next New

      A new type of media that doesn't currently exist that should exist is the media of culture and food. The idea may sound trivial but a media that is solely dedicated to exploring the different cultures of food around the world would be extremely essential. A holistic view of cuisine from a vast perspective is vital to broadening the horizons of those around the world. Media is used to reach countless of viewers, members of the audience and people around the world. 

             In terms of media, I would like the media that I am suggesting to be used by both the old and new media. Having the media of both culture and cuisine in both print and digital media can capture the attention of many people. This new type of media will take a unique approach to old and new media by having the information plastered everywhere around the world.

Wiki So Far

  I am currently editing the category of music to our class wiki. I am currently focused on the genre section and editing the genres of Soca. I have edited and added information under the content of the music genre, Soca. I am also currently adding the genres of Calypso and Reggae music under the different genres of music. I am also editing the genres: Rap, Blues, and R&B.

  This work I am currently doing will be a part of my requirement as a Contributor and Content Auditor. I am also citing where I retrieved my information from and making sure that others who have added content cited. This coincides with my requirement as a Page Editor.

  I will also in the future add images and videos to the music page which will coincide with the Graphics Editor portion of the Wiki.

BLOG: P2P

     File sharing has become a huge part of new media because file sharing is the practice of distribution or providing access to digital media. Digital media is a prime element of new media in today's society because every aspect of life is now taken care of online. Online media has taken over the world in terms of not only functioning, but in terms of media as well. 
   The blog post, "Content producers should take advantage of P2P, not fear it" by the NMA Staff, discusses their own file sharing documentary, Steal the Documentary- Part One in which they asked a question about P2P. P2P is peer-to-peer distribution. They were certain of using BitTorrent to distribute their film, but asked, "could P2P itself create the attention needed to bring big audiences to our message?" The answer was a huge yes because a P2P, site, The Pirate Bay has millions of daily users and was the original place of huge interest in Steal This Film. 
    The blog post continues, "The next part of Steal This Film is released this month and distributed, again free, through the major BitTorrent trackers." The fact that the use of media has the extreme perk of being free to use or view will continue to strengthen its reign on society. There is also information in terms of the blog's benefit to not asking for money and they say that to them the largest benefit is being at the forefront at the extension and exploration of the new age of media, digital media. The P2P file sharing is one of these extensions and explorations of digital media.
   The blog post also says, "what kinds of social change can be precipitated by communicating this way. In our view the changes wrought by networked peer distribution are historical on the scale of the printing press." The comparison between the printing press furthers what I mentioned about the new age of media being primarily found online. The new media of digital and online media is historical in terms of its impact on society.
   The examples of P2P file sharing include the mentioning of current important websites in this world, BitTorrent and The Pirate Bay which are essential to the distributions to torrents and online media to society. 

Blog: Creativity and New Media

    New media fosters creativity in countless ways. As I stated in a previous post, new media is represented by social media or online media. For my example, I will show how the video game, Sims can be used an example of new media fostering creativity. In Sims, the user can create an infinite amount of families, either buy the family a home or build a home from scratch for them to live in. You can create families with up to eight members.

   This is a picture from my Sims video game of a family of four. These picture shows the family listed in the menu before I choose to play them. While this a video game, it can be seen as a form of new media because it is virtual media which is another form of new media. The creation of the family is very consuming and in-depth because you are choosing whether they are male or female, what age, what skin complexion, hairstyle, outfits for all occasions, personalities, attractions and much more! The outfits for all occasions include workout gear, gear for inclement weather, bedtime wear, swimsuits, formal wear and everyday outfits.

  This is a picture of another family, but this is a family of two.

This video is of a one of my created couples getting married surrounded by family and their closest friends. There are two options in terms of marriage, you either choose to be married alone with your partner or you can invite a few family members and friends over.

This is a video of a family becoming engaged, in Sims you can have either the man or woman propose to their partner. It can either be a heterosexual or homosexual couple. In this video, the man is proposing to the woman.

These are some examples of how new media fosters creativity through the use of a video game. It can be complex, but once you get the hang of it, it is actually quite simple.

BLOG: Privacy

     Privacy and confidentiality are products of new media but this affects the user the most by what he or she chooses to upload. The social media will not see what you do not upload and if you don't want this particular thing online then don't upload it. Privacy is undoubtedly an essential part of being because everyone is entitled to privacy. If one doesn't want to share every aspect of his or her life then that is absolutely his or her prerogative.
     New media cannot tarnish one's privacy if  he or she doesn't share something meant to be private. Private also means different things to different people and new media can show that. People who do not have any social media accounts may be very private which is why they make the choice to keep their lives to themselves and those around them directly. Others may share too much online such as what they are eating for breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snacks. There are very very private and those who are excessive with their sharing and uploading.
  Confidentiality is similar in terms of a person's choice because confidential lends a hand to the concept of trust. One who uploads a lot of content to their social media accounts may trust that their confidentiality won't be compromised. But this isn't necessarily a smart choice because one cannot ever trust the internet. Once uploaded you are subjected to every emotion on the spectrum from those who are viewing it.
  Another important factor of one's privacy is the passwords for every account. "Survey reveals generation gap in attitudes about security and privacy" by Tony Bradley reveals that, "More than 40 percent of both Gen-X and Millenial respondents indicated that they never change their passwords, or only change their passwords when forced to." This news is astounding because security breaches have been all the rage within new media. New media is all about overzealous sharing and sometimes both privacy and confidentiality are compromised.

BLOG: Advice

     Improving new media in Brooklyn College may not be as hard of  task as it may seem. New media has began to appear everywhere especially in colleges because this generation explores new media constantly.
     As a leader who was hired by the college I would begin with social media. It seems that social media has become synonymous new media. This is because new media has been deemed new media primarily by its format. The content has changed slightly, but the format has defined the way media is viewed and used. Media has transcended to the use of media online and through social media platforms and social networking. New media is the social media platforms that this generation uses to connect, share and have a presence online. My advice would be to maintain a presence online to stay relevant in terms of newx, nuanced media online. Networking is key to defining yourself in new media because you are representing yourself as a prominent member in the social media community. People take online media very seriously and to be taken seriously, one must display skill and relevance in today's media.
    Another huge think I would suggest is to start online because that's where most people are now. YouTube is a prime example of how stars are made using the new media formatting of online. YouTube can make or break a lot of artists' careers because of its impact on new media. A somewhat negative component of sharing videos on YouTube.

    According to As Rights Clash on YouTube, Some Music Vanishes by Tim Arango, there have been numerous cases where music that up and coming artists have uploaded was removed because of copyright claims. An example includes a high school sophomore uploading a video with her singing "Winter Wonderland" while playing the piano being deleted because "of a third-party notification by the Warner Music Group." This company owns the copyright to the Christmas song. This new artist was someone who didn't have a good experience with new media so m suggestion would be to be aware of what you are uploading so you are not putting your heart and soul into a performance of someone else's song to be deleted. The bottom line is that new media  has a lot of ups and downs in terms of adding it to colleges or anywhere for that matter.

BLOG: CREATIVITY

    New media fosters creativity in numerous fields. The transition from old to new media is 
visible in today's creations  by various artists. An example includes one field of entertainment simulating another such as in "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?" by Brooks Barnes. This article discusses the YouTube video in which rapper, Soulja Boy mimics Winnie the Pooh and his friends in his song, "Crank That." This is a distinct effort made by The Walt Disney Company to display its involvement with new media by allowing mash-ups. Mash-ups, "are made by editing together snippets of animated movies and TV shows. The finished products look like music videos in which the cartoon characters do the singing." “Crank That” is an example of music and television intertwining to influence new media.
       Nickelodeon, which is part of Viacom has allowed "Spongebob Squarepants" to be used in a mash-up. Nickelodeon spokesman,Dan Martinsen, says, “Our audiences can creatively mash video from our content as much and as often as they like ... By the way,” he added, “that was a very nice edit job by whoever did the SpongeBob mash.” Disney is a bit different in its view in terms of legality because the company believes that any unauthorized use of Disney's work is stealing. 
       Though Nickelodeon and Disney have different views and one company's terms may be more stringent than the other, both serve the same purpose. In terms of the new media fostering creativity, both television broadcasting companies have lent a hand in its increase. Fostering creativity has been heading upwards since different businesses and companies have been more open in terms of allowing more creative options.

BLOG: Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

    Virtual worlds can be used for various different reasons. The popularity continues to grow as media's migration to the online world grows. Virtual worlds provide its user with an outline profile that can be used for various fields such as fashion according to "No Budget, No Boundaries: It's the Real You" by Ruth La Ferla. The virtual world she describes in depth is in terms of creation in the entrainment and fashion world. She speaks about what she calls, "The grandaddy avatar-driven social networking sites, Ms. Rayna, an avatar on Second Life" which provides its members with a fantasy world which intertwines fashion and entertainment worlds. These avatars are allowed to wear what they want when they want, "to shop at boutiques, leaf through fashion magazines, or attend runway shows." Money also becomes an important to virtual worlds because while most memberships to these websites are free, every company has to make money and Ruth La Ferla states these virtual "players trade real money for virtual currencies, used to buy products, save up in an account or eventually redeem for real money." These virtual worlds facilitate creativity with its ability to implement a world where members can display their creative abilities. 
     According to "After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get A Reboot?" by Diane Mehta, the virtual worlds are growing on a larger scale. This article discusses the business aspect of virtual worlds and the advances. These advances include, "You can use virtual worlds in education, in delivery services, or as an advanced form of telehealthcare that offers so much more than videoconferencing. Virtual worlds can give us social connectivity, built-in support groups, and ways to avoid ever being alone again."
    In the future, virtual worlds will continue to grow and take over the internet. Online media will contimue to  excel.

TWITR: Blog About Twitter

A Twitter discussion is very distinct. For one it's on a social media platform whereas in class discussions and Blackboard are not. Twitter's discussions are restricted or limited to 150 characters. Characters, not words! If one has something with a lot of substance and content to share, Twitter doesn't sound all that useful because your message will be slashed into a ton of Tweets that will be extremely awkward. More importantly, your message can be misconstrued all the time with Tweets being too short. An in class discussion and Blackboard discussion can go on and on without having to worry about misunderstandings and awkward looking content. Another major difference between in class discussions versus both Twitter and Blackboard is that those words are forever in the cyberspace of technology. Words said in the class, unless recorded or otherwise aren't forever. You aren't held to what you said like on your social media account or Blackboard account.

BLOG: Social Networking Sites

     I would like to compare Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

    These four social networking sites are very important in today's society. I personally don't use Twitter at all, though I am avid user of Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. The main comparisons include content. Instagram is a network primarily known for uploading pictures and videos and the only writing content is captioning. On Snapchat, you can upload photos, videos and writing content. Facebook is also the same way. The only difference on Facebook and Snapchat in terms of video is that Snapchat only allows 10 or 15 second videos. Twitter uses photos and writing content from what I know.
    All four networking cities can be used for promoting companies and businesses.

BLOG: Social Net'g

     First off, there are countless discrepancies where social media is concerned and from the looks of it, it doesn't seem like it will change anytime soon. Social medias such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are just the tip of the iceberg. These are the only three that I am familiar with and I am almost sure that there are dozens more. There is constantly the argument about whether social media lives up to its namesake or not. 

     Honestly, the use and privacy of these accounts are entirely up to the user. I look at it from a simple point of view; if you don't want it online where it can be shared, interpreted and picked apart then don't post it.  Once again, in all honesty, the only people that may benefit from social media and that social media may help are celebrities. Celebrities can use their social media accounts to promote their brands, provide needed publicity and whatever other reasons they conjure up for being in the public eye. These people are bringing more awareness to their brands and products. 

    Take actors for an example, if their social media accounts are used enough, have the correct managers or writers, their brands will continuously flourish and prosper. Their social media assistants or whoever they hire will shed light on their upcoming movies and films for the actor's fans to see. Also, using their accounts for movie promos and previews are a beneficial part of having an account in the first place. Another way for the actors to successfully promote themselves is to promote a sense of relating. If they were to post a dat night or a day out to the park with their kids then their fans will more likely want to purchase tickets to go see their movies because the fans will think, "Wow, Will Smith does do the same things as me."

   For non-celebrities, social media may not be as promising because for one, you do not have as huge of a following. Some people may be very very popular which may ensure a decent following. Also a brilliant and flourishing brand to back you is never a bad idea. But back to the discrepancies within social media and social networking.   

   These discrepancies are what can be categorized as "the dark side" of social networking because of the false sense of security that these accounts provide to its users.

  Privacy within social media accounts are constantly called into question by its users. For an example, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg's sister, Randi Zuckerberg, found herself calling into question her own brother's company privacy settings. According to "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private" by Rebecca Greenfield, Ms. Zuckerberg became sensitive about privacy and asked a few people to take down a family photo taken on Christmas Day 2012 that she posted to an app called Poke app. One tweet reads:

@cschweitz , not sure where you got this photo. I posted to friends only on FB. You reposting it to Twitter is way uncool.

She continues on:

@cschweitz would really appreciate if you would delete the original tweet where you posted the photo. No need to spread it further. Thanks!

  You would think that Mark Zuckerberg's sister would be more familiar with Facebook's privacy settings. Apparently not. The complexity of such privacy settings only proves my previous point;  if you don't want it online where it can be shared, interpreted and picked apart then don't post it.  In this case it wasn't even that serious because the Twitter user who posted the picture didn't spread any negativity. It was simply a repost. Ms Zuckerberg, as a celebrity by family association should have thicker skin.

Another reading about Facebook privacy, "Who Cares About Facebook Privacy? Students Do" by Mark Parry, provides brief details by two researchers who wrote a paper which proves that teenage users between the ages of eighteen and nineteen do indeed care about their accounts' privacy.  Of their research, they say:

“Over all, our data show that far from being nonchalant and unconcerned about privacy matters, the majority of young adult users of Facebook are engaged with managing their privacy settings on the site at least to some extent,” the researchers write.

Remember, if you don't want it online where it can be shared, interpreted and picked apart then don't post it!

 In my humble opinion, the future of social media may lead to a darker side if that's even possible. These settings will continue to be filled with trickery and its users will continue to display their vulnerabilities until it is too late.

Both readings provide a well amount of research and information.

Citation

http://www.thewire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/who-cares-about-facebook-privacy-students-do/25877

BLOG: Blog v Wiki

BLOG: Blog v Wiki

Compare and contrast blogs and wikis. Comment on the importance of convergence in today's networked world. How can blogs be used for collaboration? Can you think of a new use for a wiki that has not been done yet?
   
          Blogs and wikis are both vastly similar and different. The importance of convergence is never ending. Today's networked world is filled with interconnectedness through social media that continuously grows.
          Blogs can be used for collaboration in several ways. According to "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog" by James Dao, a specialist in Afghanistan nicknamed Mud Puppy created a blog that documented the life on the war front. The blog called Embrace the Suck (military slang for making the best of a bad situation) was filled with hilarity and satire. He showed "terror of roadside bombs to the tyrannies of master sergeants." In this instance, blogs can be used to document and display lives of others in another part of the world with people who are not going through the same experiences. The ability to show life for others to relate to is extremely powerful and shows how technology continues to advance online and through the use of social media. 
         Wikis are websites used for collaborative modification and efforts of uniting numerous people thought's online. According to Wikipedia, wikis modify "content and structure are directly from the web browser." "In a typical wiki, text is written using a simplified markup language (known as "wiki markup"), and often edited with the help of a rich-text editor."                Wikis and Blogs are very effective in socializing life and ideas of everyday life. I can't think of a new use for a wiki because it has been used in countless ways and continues to evolve.


                                                 Sources I Used

https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/lobj-wiki-bb_bb60/wiki/BKL01_BUSN._3110_MW2_1169_1/_26180923_1/Home?cmd=GetImage&systemId=Pentagon+Keeps__0.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki  

BLOG: Project Description: Wikipedia: A business model that should have flopped

Kayla Nathaniel

Final Project Proposal

   My topic for my term paper may possibly change, but at the moment I would like to focus on the choice that involves the use of Wikipedia. I heavily use Wikipedia and would like to explore in-depth the negative and positive impacts of Wikipedia on today's society.

  I want to explore Wikipedia as a business model also. I am in the early process of making the points of what I would like to discuss.