Media has advanced a lot in the past decade or so, especially the evolution from old media to new media. But what is next? Technology has gotten a lot more advanced since the introduction of blogs, social media, and more. As technology increases, so should the type of media being used. The golden age of computers and cell phones has passed and a new technology has recently been emerging. Such new technologies are the Apple Watch and Google Glass, otherwise known as wearable technology. While these new inventions provide users with features never used elsewhere, they lack a lot of media that is present in technology today. New types of new media on these new wearable technologies can provide a whole new range of possibilities for it’s users. For example, the future Apple Watches could feature cameras for pictures or videos, which could then be uploaded and shared. This could evolve into a watch-form Instagram or Snapchat. The next stages of New Media can even be more advanced than that if wanted. For example, the Google Glass could provide virtual reality to it’s users. Virtual reality gaming is possible nowadays thanks to the Oculus Rift, a 3D gaming headset. If these technologies merge, the Google Glass can feature portable virtual reality that can assist in people interacting with each other and more.
Our Class Wiki – So Far
I have not yet written a wiki page yet, but I have done research on what I want to do. My wiki page will be dedicated to video games.
I’ve been playing video games for my entire life, so I have a lot of experience on this topic. There’s a lot of subtopics relating to video games such as MMORPGs, in-game purchases, piracy, video game finances, and more. I also plan to write the history of video games, and also the future of it as well. Important moments and milestones of video game history will be featured in it as well.
To do this, I will be writing substantial amounts of information on these topics for video games. Along with writing, I will include pictures, charts, graphs, and any other information relevant to the topic I am writing on.
P2P
File sharing is the distribution of files, programs, and other digital media through the internet. This allows people from around the world to download and share files with each other. P2P sharing, otherwise known as Peer-To-Peer sharing, features decentralized file sharing. In P2P networks, every computer acts as it’s own client and server, instead of being connected to a central server. A main aspect of P2P is media sharing, which leads to piracy and other illegal acts. P2P also allows anonymous network traffic routing, which helps in keeping users anonymous from law enforcement that are tracking down illegal file sharing. When using P2P networks, the users are given a good amount of options, being able to control the amount of connections, avoiding certain connections, and more.
An example of P2P file sharing is BitTorrent. In “The BitTorrent Effect”, an article on BitTorrent, the author states that BitTorrent traffic accounts for a third of the total internet traffic today. BitTorrent started off with a goal of allowing Linux users to share software with each other, but eventually attracted music and movie enthusiasts, which helped create BitTorrent to what it is now. Another example of P2P file sharing is LimeWire. LimeWire was extremely popular for pirating movies, music, and more in the early to mid 2000’s. LimeWire was sued in 2010 for copyright infringement, and has now been shut down.
“The BitTorrent Effect .” Wired 13.01: The BitTorrent Effect. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
Privacy
The issue of privacy and confidentiality is extremely common in the discussion of new media. In a lot of new media where user accounts can be created, anonymity and pseudonymity is heavily desired. People do not want others over the internet to know exactly who they are for whatever reasons. Privacy and confidentiality is extremely important mainly for security reasons. If someone over the internet has private information that you do not wish to share, they can do many things that can negatively affect your personal life. Types of new media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter can provide information on people such as their personal e-mail, phone number, pictures, and more. With information like this, many can troll, scam, and steal. Criminals can spam your e-mail, make purchases to your address, give your phone number out to others, and more. One example of how important privacy is, is when Target had it’s security breach in late 2013. Hackers hacked into Target’s system and accessed private information such as names, addresses, payment information, and more. With this information, some people were charged purchases that they did not make. A lot of people stopped going to Target after this security breach, and Target offered an apology along with free credit monitoring. Although Target apologized and offered free services, the trust from the lack of privacy has already been severed.
Advice
New Media can be very effective in the course of a college student’s career. Nowadays, colleges have been trying to integrate new media in their classes and teachings, but to little avail. One way I feel like colleges can improve interaction with students is to provide college regulated Facebook pages. Currently, there are Facebook pages for many different areas of Baruch, such as for textbooks, internships, and more. These Facebook pages are made by students and have very little regulation. If Baruch advertised and regulated these pages, more people will use them and be more positively affected by it. Since Facebook is usually a college student’s most used source of new media, students would receive updates more easily. Another way new media can be used is an anonymous suggestion blog. A lot of students want to give advice or suggestions to the school, but are too lazy or shy to do it. Some sites allow anonymous posting or questioning, which would help improve student involvement. By being anonymous and online, students would be more prone to wanting to speak up.
Creativity and New Media
An example of creativity among new media is the creation of custom avatars. Nowadays, a user icon can help other online users distinguish who you are. When choosing an icon to represent you, that is where the creativity happens. This form of new media allows you to create and become whoever you want. A lot of the websites I use allow me to create accounts. These accounts usually feature a picture that I can add. Now some people add their real picture, or pictures that they like. I feel like both wouldn’t work for me as I like a certain degree of anonymity and I also can’t decide on what I actually like. Because of this, I created an avatar that I can use as an icon. The app I used was called Face Q, and is available to download on the Apple Store. I chose to create a avatar similar to me so people can have a sense of who I am through the internet, while attaining the pseudonymous identity that I would prefer.
Creativity
The use of new media helps many people foster newfound creativity that they otherwise would not have found. New media gives users a lot more functions in comparison to old media. As new features and material is introduced, people generally find ways to get creative with these new features. Since new media is basically an evolution of old media, many new features are similar or at least relatable to old media. This causes interest from the users, since there is a nice and new change in their new media. Users allow this interest to get the best of them, seeing the limits that their creativity can take them.
In the article “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of it’s Critters. But Why?”, a rap parody of “Crank That” by Soulja Boy is made from videos of Disney characters. The creator of the parody used his/her creativity to make a video that many found humorous. By matching up the music from Soulja Boy with the actions of the Disney characters, the creator made a viral video that amused many. Some other examples of new media fostering creativity involves platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. When cover photos were introduced on Facebook, some people took advantage of this by correlating their cover photo and profile picture, making seemingly one image. On Instagram, pictures uploaded by a user are sorted out in grid-formats in their user page. This format made it possible for some users to line up multiple pictures to make a single image – similar to Facebook.
Barnes, Brooks. “Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Virtual Worlds
A virtual world is a digital community that mimics many aspects that we face in the real world. In a virtual world, users generally have their own character or avatar that they use to communicate with others that are also logged in the virtual world. An early example of a virtual world would be the video game “The Sims”; which allowed gamers to create their own world and characters that were able to do many real-life activities. In “The Sims”, you would have to feed your characters, make sure they go to work, take care of your house, and more. Eventually, virtual worlds took a turn with the introduction of MMORPGs, otherwise known as Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. With MMORPG’s, players assumed the role of a video game character that can interact with other players around the world. There are many pros and cons to a virtual world. Some pros would be that virtual worlds provide communication and interaction between users. Virtual worlds also act as a pastime to many as well. Some cons of a virtual world would be online harassment, hacking, and more. Many users of virtual worlds are victim to virtual harassment due to the lack of real identity. Being able to hide behind a computer and a virtual character allows many to be more ruthless, aggressive, and angry. Since there are no real-life consequences usually stemming from virtual worlds, players have no incentive to act nice.
Virtual Worlds can be used in many ways. In the article “I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life”, the author visits his own neighborhood not in-person, but in virtual reality. The author states that although he can just walk outside to club, he’d rather go to that club in the virtual world because it’s a different experience. Via his virtual world, the author is able to communicate with other players and eventually has many successful “nights out”. Another example of how virtual worlds can be used is featured in the article “Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life”. According to the article, many big companies actually use virtual worlds to host meetings and events. Integrating virtual worlds to your business can be more convenient, cut travel costs, and improve security.
Virtual worlds foster creativity among their users by allowing them to express themselves in a virtual setting. In virtual worlds, users can dress, act, and do many things that they otherwise would not do in the real world. Society usually judges each other based on the social norms that have been established. When these norms have been lifted (such as in a virtual world), people are more comfortable to openly express themselves.
The future of virtual worlds is not far off. As privacy and technology improve, so will virtual worlds. Soon, users will be communicating more via virtual worlds for many reasons whether it be business or social. Even nowadays, there are users of virtual worlds that make real-life money by selling virtual items. As technology rises, there will be more opportunities for people to make money off virtual worlds.
Itzkoff, Dave. “I’ve Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Jan. 2008. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Tutton, Mark. “Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life.” CNN. Cable News Network, 09 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Blog About Twitter
Twitter, BlackBoard, and in-class discussions all contribute to students communicating with each other about class material. A Twitter discussion is limited in words and less organized compared to a BlackBoard discussion. Blackboard discussions are more like a forum, while Twitter discussions are more updates and comments. In-Class discussions are probably the most effective source of communication between classmates. Discussing topics in class allows students to be more engaged in the topic since the discussion is in person. In Twitter, users can only engage in discussions via short replies and comments. In-Person discussions let students explain their points and reasoning way more in depth than on Twitter.
Social Networking Sites
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are some examples of the top current social networking sites. These sites allow easy communication between users. While all 4 are social networking sites, they are very different in their own terms.
Facebook, probably the most popular social networking site out there, is usually used to keep in touch with and get updates from your friends. Some examples of Facebook features is status updates, chat messengers, photo albums, in-browser games, and more. Generally, Facebook is the primary social networking site for many – especially the younger more tech-savvy generation.
Twitter is used to provide and receive constant updates from your followers. Twitter is more face-paced compared to Facebook in terms of status updates. “Tweets”, which are basically Twitter’s version of status updates are usually posted more in comparison to Facebook updates.
Instagram is currently the top photo social networking platform around today. Instagram – otherwise known to many as “The Gram” – lets users post picture and video updates and only that. They do not allow word statuses that are not accompanied by pictures. Compared to Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is a lot more slower paced, with many users not posting as much picture/video updates in contrast to Facebook’s status’ and Twitter’s tweets.
The most popular social networking site for careers and jobs is LinkedIn. Although it is a social networking platform like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, it is actually very different in it’s core. LinkedIn is a lot more professional as people on LinkedIn are trying to get internships and jobs. LinkedIn gives companies and firms the opportunity to view a user’s professional background and more from their profile.
Edward Yuen 