The Next New Thing

I don’t know for sure what the way new media will follow is, I think no one knows. On one hand people keep on working on improving existing examples of new media (e.g. social sites) to make them more interesting or more secure. On the other hand some say all the commotion over those innovations will decline, because it is already saturated, initial excitement is over and people start noticing drawback (loss of anonymity, “time thief’, security threat). It is only natural that new enterprises are developed: to help us to leave Web 2.0 (e.g. removeyourname.com, to help us improve our image for potential employers).

As for the idea for completely new form of new media I was thinking of something with the use of holograms. I react best to visual cues. What if we can go a step further with social networking and add a feature of hologram. We could ‘meet’ with someone who is miles away via tech gadgets, by displaying their 3d image in our living room… Could you imagine class discussion of 20 holograms of classmates? I don’t have specifics on how to do it technically, but I’m pretty sure it would be possible in near future ;)

Our Class Wiki - So Far

Unfortunately, I didn't contribute anything except for my bio to our class wiki.....But the issue is constantly on my mind. Lately, I was doing some translation work for my close friend from Poland for her PhD thesis. Coincidently, her PhD thesis covers e-learning technologies :) She asked me for help to research ADL initiative because it was implemented here, in the US. That is how I came across sth I thought I can share with my class thru our wiki.......
(source http://www.adlnet.gov/ )
In the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) of 1996, the Department of Defense (DoD) identified several factors that highlighted the need for DoD to provide on-demand training for individuals and units worldwide. DoD developed a Department-wide strategy to harness the power of learning and information technologies to standardize and modernize education and training in 1997. The strategy was called the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. It tasked the DoD with leading Federal participation with business and university groups and activities and charged them with developing consensus standards for training software and associated services.

The Deputy Secretary of Defense directed the development of a department-wide strategy to harness the power of learning and information technologies to standardize and modernize education and training.
Although there was ample evidence that significant savings were possible with current technology, the ever-quickening pace of technological change, with its continuous evolution of proprietary platforms, makes it difficult to implement technologies on a large-scale. Conversely, these newer technologies have the potential to provide a more efficient and effective means of improving military readiness, achieving significant savings, reducing travel, and improving quality of life.

Aside from the ADL initiative I also found some relevant articles durig research for my class paper. I intend to report on them as well......

P2P File Sharing

In his article for NYT (Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?) Eric Pfanner discusses  the idea of blocking the internet connection for poeople who abuse the system thru P2P platforms. I don't see how it would be possible, aside from the fact if it is the proper way to deal with the problem......
Those 'pirates' can always use open  internet access on e.g. campuses or internet caffees... They can also open new accounts with internet providers or even steal the access from ignorant neighbors, who don't protect their wireless connections (....yes they still exist    :)   )
P2P platforms are created for the purpose of sharing information. Some people use them in noble way e.g.  to share a marketing presentation, that is "too big to email".... Other people use them for sharing their music, movie or software files which is basicly piracy.....
File sharing done by companies is usually(to my knowledge) legal sharing of some files (e.g.TV networks offering some of their shows online), thta was introduced to eiyher generate addition income (e.g. from ads) or to offset illegal downloads....
On the other hand, P2P (peer-to-peer) sharing is a wild wild west, full of illegal activities. 'Peers' share music, videos, software or even books files.....

Privacy & Confidentiality

I think that new media raises new questions  today about privacy and confidentiality. Some of those question had simple answers before Web 2.0 era, but they are not so simple now....
That is just one of the examples of controversial issues that arose with the invention of new media....

Excerpt from "Young people, ethics, and the new digital media" by James C., Davis K., Flores A., Francis J., Pettingill L., Rundle M. & Gardner H.

Privacy in the Blogosphere

Sofia is an eighteen-year-old freshman at a small college. She has

been keeping a blog on LiveJournal for several years and has continued

to blog after she enters college to keep her high school friends

informed of the ups and downs of her new life at college. She also

finds that writing is a great way to think through problems in her life

and to express her opinions in a free environment. The stresses of

taking premed courses, handling dorm life, and making new friends

are consistent themes of Sofia’s blog at college, but she also writes

about her dating and intimate experiences. Some aspects of her posts

are fictionalized, but Sofia has fun writing, and judging by the comments

that her friends leave on her blog, they seem to enjoy her

narratives. She has told only a couple of close friends at college

about her blog and disguises the identities of her crushes, hook-ups,

and dates. Although she does refer to her college by name, she writes

under a pseudonym and doesn’t give many details that would clearly

identify her as the author. Even if a few random people happen

across her blog, she reflects, they probably wouldn’t be able to figure

out her real identity.

A local journalist who is writing a story on blogging searches

LiveJournal for local college students who actively maintain blogs.

Her search uncovers Sofia’s blog, and because it is in the public

domain, the journalist feels free to write about its content. After the

story appears in the local newspaper, Sofia is surprised to find that

students all over campus start reading and commenting on her blog.

Eventually, a few people are able to piece together details from her

posts and expose Sofia as the author of the blog. Some of her past

romantic partners express anger and frustration because comments

that Sofia’s friends write on the blog reveal their identities. Sofia

feels blind-sided by this turn of events. She never imagined that a

broader public would be reading about her most intimate thoughts

and experiences.

Advice to Baruch College

I would love to have a multimedia platform to use for collaboration on group projects. Being a part-time student, and working full time I have really tight daily schedules..... (just like 99% of Baruch students :)  )
That makes it difficult to work on group projects with other students. We all know 'the pain' of working in a five-students group and trying to accomodate everyones' schedules ;)
I think that a multimedia platform, where we can all share our thoughts, videos that we want to present, and ppp slides we create, would be a good idea. We could save time on commuting to and from old fashioned meeting.

My research paper
 For my term paper I wanted to explote how the Web2.0 impacts us a a society.
Those are some o fthe issued I explored in the paper.

The arrival of new technologies brings remarkable change to our personal as well as social lives. It changes the way we communicate by either creating new forms of communication or by bringing new words to out everyday language. We tweet, we blog, we LOL when something is funny, we unfriend some people who disappoint us. Today we all understand what all those actions mean, but 30 or 25 years ago ordinary people wouldn’t know what I mean.

Web 2.0 also changes human relationship. Some argue that today’s contact may be more often (to the extent of daily updates) but it may lack the depth of old-fashioned friendships that were based on physical not virtual contact. Proponents of cyber friendship or romance claim that new forms of relationship are different, but they are not necessarily weaker. Some claim that they are a necessity due to our busy schedules, and that they evolved naturally as a way of adaptation.

New media also opened many new doors for journalism. Newspapers used to play a vital role in maintaining the sense of communities.  Today, other forms of journalism emerged. The question is whether those new forms help to carry out that idea or do they hinder it…Do we value immediate information reported by ordinary people more then in depth analysis done by professional journalists? Or maybe they complement each other. 

I've done my reserch online... (one of the fabulous perks of the internet). The only thing that frustrated me during my research it that some of the article I found thru our college library were unavailable. Some really interesting articles required a fee....
I also had to modify my initial outline for the paper since originally I focused more on impact of Web1.0 on our society. In my final paper I explored the impact of Web 2.0 (two way interactions)

Creativity and New Media

I want to start by saying that I’m not the artistic, creative type. So If I’m willing to spent any time on a creative project with help of new media……. it means that they truly enhance creativity from “zero to any” in my case J When I read the article “Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers” I got the idea to try the Design byME feature offered by Lego. I found it really interesting, because a week ago I was working on a Lego puzzle with a five-year-old son of my friend. I don’t have much experience with Lego and it was showing. It looked soooo complicated that I actually wondered ‘who invents those models?’…. It took three adults, a five-year-old, and a booklet of instructions to finish those two trucks J That is why I decided to give the Design byME a try………..

That  is my very first trial (I wanted to create a model of an Easter bunny).... and I have to admit it is not as easy as I thought it would be ;) 
I truly respect Lego designers now :)))

The Lego web site even priced it out for me.... The price for my bunny set came up to over 32$.......hmmmm

'Overpriced' is an understatement :) 

Creativity

I really enjoyed the article “Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers” by Claire Cain Miller for the NYT. The article is about users’ impact on products; especially on new media products e.g. Twitter.

“Twitter’s smart enough, or lucky enough, to say, ‘Gee, let’s not try to compete with our users in designing this stuff, let’s outsource design to them,’ ” (…)

Who better knows how to improve a product then people who actually use it? Why pay someone to come up with the idea for advancement if there are people willing to do it for free. Sharing new ideas about new media products is sooo easy. You just post the idea and then wait to see if other users like it. With regular goods e.g. cars, if one has an idea of an improvement he/she can only write to the producers and hope that they won’t disregard his/her comment(which is very likely to happen); on top of it other users won’t be able to respond to that idea, to declare their support (or the opposite). On the Twitter example we can see that those producers/managers may not always like some ideas at first, but users’ support for some features may change that eventually.

The founders did not like several user-generated Twitter features at first, but accepted them once they saw that others were adopting them, Mr. Williams said. When people started referring to Twitter posts as “tweets,” Twitter resisted until a few months ago, when it applied for a trademark on the term.  

Another way new media expands our creativity is thru virtual scrapbooking http://www.scrapblog.com/. Today we may freeze our favorite memories in virtual world, and send them worldwide in minutes. 

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

I believe that virtual worlds (VW) expand the way people interact with each other. To befriend someone we no longer need to meet that person face in face; today, we can make our avatars meet in one of virtual worlds. Those new ways of interaction bring hope to people who are socially impaired (e.g. people in autism spectrum), for them to overcome the problem. CNN’s iReport covers this issue in “iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction” by Nicole Saidi.

 David Savill, who created the 'Naughty Auties', a spot witih virtual world of the Second Life, says that his creation allows people like him (on autism spectrum) to practice social skills and to exchange information about their condition. In his own words: "So you're not going out into the real world meeting people, you're going meeting people online and in your own home, so you're perfectly relaxed. It's just a fantastic tool to use to bring people together."
I see the way VW can help people like Mr. Savill to overcome his shortcomings, but that social outlet has also a dark side. People are bound to 'take a path of a least resistance' that is our nature. I'm afraid that VW may become a substitute for real life relations instead of being just an exercise to improve them. People who are just shy by nature will also use VW to socialize. They will befriend a bunch of avatars in VW and that will satisfy their need for human contact. Instead of improving real life social skills VW may cause some people to cease going out.

Another aspect of VW is presented in “No Budget, No Boundaries: It’s the Real You” article by Ruth LaFerla. She familiarizes the readers with financial side of the Second Life (SL). The author points out that SL allows us to escape real problems of financially tough times. I our real life we may struggle financially, be frugal and penny pinching. But we may escape all that in our virtual world. In VW our avatars may ‘live large’, and immerse themselves in luxury unattainable in real life.

I consider this aspect of SL harmless fun. It may help us to cope with tough financial reality as long as we keep it within healthy (money wise) limits. What we need to spend in VW on some goods is far less then in real life, but it still costs money… But it’s rather inexpensive entertainment that allows people to express themselves.
“Certainly her real-world occupation as a nurse affords Ms. Cocke scant opportunity “to rock my new leather Gucci messenger bag or Jimmy Choo sandals,” she said. In contrast, “Vixie’s style is a better representation of my true self,” she said, “as it’s hard to be fashionable in hospital scrubs.””

Being a member of virtual world definitely fosters creativity. Everything in VW is created by its users, whether it is an outfit, tropical gateway, or a building. In the future we can get really creative, there are endless possibilities… We can create virtual classrooms (e.g. for our class J ), go for virtual dates in virtual clubs…. I just hope we won’t become so obsessed with virtual world we will opt out of the real one……

Social Networking Sites

I'm a newbie when it comes to social networking, so it is really hard for me to comment on SNS out of experience. I've logged to MySpace few minutes ago; opened the account with Twitter a week ago; own a Facebook profile for few months but rarely use it. The only SNS I really used is a polish site http://www.nk.pl/ When the nk.pl was created I was really excited. I was among the first million people who logged on (Poland is a 40mln people country). Initially it was created for schoolmates, to find each other. That is how the website got it's name "nasza klasa" or nk.pl ; it means literally "our class". I was thrilled to be able to find people I was close to for 8 (primary school) or 4 years (secondary school). Initially I logged on every day. Then I realized that it really takes up a lot of my time. I don't negate the fact that it was really nice to see all those once familiar faces, to learn about their children all other things; but somehow I lost interest in it after a while. SNS are an interesting initiative but with work, study, commute and overall life, logging onto SNS is not my daily priority.
I can say very little about the other 3 SNS. I'm still learning to socialize thru the Twitter or Facebook. With T my biggest challenge it to squeeze my thoughts into those 140 signs :) Facebook ahs LOTS of potential for me but I'll need to get used to logging there more often. As for MS, the minute I logged on I got suggestion on whom to befriend and but about 75percent of those suggestions were commercial account...so I know that MS won't be my favorite site anytime soon...

Blog about Twitter

I won't pretend that I know the Twitter well, but as of now I don't like it much :(
After reading the article "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy" I got really interested in that new form of relationship that emerged thru microblogging, feeling of closeness without ever seeing the other person.  I found the idea of “ambient awareness” really interesting. However, at this time I'm still at the point, where I'm reluctant of the twitting. I prefer other types of discussions like thru blackboard or my favorite....in class discussion. With Twitter discussion I spend more time on fitting into those 140signs, then on what I want to say. It is counterproductive. But it also forces us to use new forms of communication like texting acronyms and abbreviations (e.g CU, l8er, U2 etc) and that is the interesting part of the whole experience

Social network changed our society, our relationships forever. It helps us to stay in touch with our closest friend, as well as it allows us to expand our contacts with people who would be left out otherwise.  There are many pros and cons to the changes that social networking brings. We are not able to fully comprehend them at the moment, but over time we will learn to use them to our benefits and eventually we may get addicted to them.

I loved the article by Clive Thompson for NYT “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy”. It shows that exact order of things (fear of unknown, getting used to, and addiction) on the example of Facebook. When News Feed was introduced to Facebook members, they were very suspicious at first but later they got over it. Now the News Feed feature is credited for the success of the Facebook among other things….  Just like Mark Zuckerberg says himself “(…) and at times that means stretching people and getting them to be comfortable with things they aren’t yet comfortable with. A lot of this is just social norms catching up with what technology is capable of.”

That same article also talks about benefits of social networking esp. Twitter. How the idea of constant intimate updates can seam silly for some people, especially those who never tried it (myself included).But the author talks about how it created new concept of relationship or friendship. Surprisingly, that new form of contact gives him a sense of closeness to the people he never even met in person.

“Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating.”(Thompson C.)

Another benefit of social networking is how it can be used for job recruiting. In an article “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting” by Frank Langfitt we can see exactly how it works.

“Maureen Crawford-Hentz recruits for Osram Sylvania, the global lighting company. She says the new tools have changed her life.” Social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting — ever."”Any recruiter can easily access the LinkedIn and search for a perfect job candidate among its 90 million members.

When it comes to cons of those new tools, my biggest concerns are privacy issues and abuse. Some people may post information that makes them vulnerable to identity theft, sexual predator or scams. Also internet communities bring back the atmosphere of a small town even to people living in the biggest metropolises (the idea of everybody knowing everything...)

As for the future I can't even imagine what will happen? I guess we will get used to those new ideas, and hopefully their creators will focus on improving the security of the system. I'm also concerned about marketing specialists being very innovative and finding the way to use social networking to their benefit. They may find a way to uncover our preferences and to make us spend our hard earned money.

Wikis vs Blogs

I have the feeling that the main difference between wikis and blogs is that we turn to a wiki for information, and we go to a blog mainly for opinions. Those to ideas are very closely related but they are also distinctive at the same time. In her article “How to build your own Wikipedia”, Margaret Locher praises the main feature that wikis were created for.” By making it easier to gather and share information as well as record discussions about a subject, wikis (…) can help people improve their processes and get projects done faster”. Wikis are used mostly as collaboration tools, platforms to exchange information, share documents and ideas.

Blogs, on the other hand, are closer to journalism. Just as Kathy Gill claims in her article “How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere?”: “Not only does it provide many viewpoints on shared experiences, but it often also serves as a collective databank used to jog the faulty memories of those who write or report for major media.” We also turn to that outlet for information, but it is a different kind of knowledge then the one we find on a wiki.  

I’d call convergence a cause and an effect in one. Different media converge with one another (e.g. infotainment, TiVo) as a result of changes in today’s world, because people in charge of media look for new ways to get to more people. That new hybrids cause convergence of consumption, as people can now use different Medias simultaneously (we watch TV or read newspaper on our computers or other portable devices).

Blogs do allow for collaboration because they are a two way street. The authors allow for recipients to post their own comments as well as they can post material for all readers to see. Corporate blogs (e.g. for Dell or Wall Mart) were created for the single purchase of collaboration of many individual customers.
This is the first time I'm learning about wiki platforms, other than Wikipedia. I see the great potential they have in corporate world for information exchange. I'd have to explor more to find brand new application for it. The only obstacle I see, is that we all would have to have a class like this one, to be able to use that fantastic tool.

Intended scope of my paper....

For my paper I’d like to explore the impact of new media on our society (sociological perspective). How is the new media changing people and our relationships? I’d like to look into: social networking; the phenomenon of dependence on constant web access (e.g. GPS); information overload (e.g. before we visit to a doctor we already have a diagnosis in mid because we searched the web).

 Does the web foster human relationships by giving access to more and more people.......or does it impede human contact ( due to anonymity, distance,  etc)? I want to figure out if dating sites were 'bound to happen'. Our generation lives on a fast track and it is hard to find a mate (especially when one is out of school). Online dating services are there to help to find people in similar situation (singles looking for a mate) and to "prescreen" candidates (in order to limit disappointment and waste of time). But is a step forward or backward? (Think of prearranged marriages and professional matchmakers)

I also want to investigate ‘information overload’. It is really amazing how simple research is easy nowadays...The problem arises when we consider ourselves experts on a topic after one hour web surf. It's probably really annoying to any specialist that we go to see afterwards (my favorite argument "but I found on the internet that.........."). Is it bad that we educate ourselves or seek more then one opinion? Probably not, but I want to look deeper into that phenomenon...

I believe this topic is very interesting and fun to work on.

Hi Everyone....
This is my very very first blog ;)...... so I still try to figure out how do things work :)))