The Next New Thing

There are a lot of forms of “new media” in the world that seem to simplify most areas of life. There are, however, still areas that have become more complicated because of all the new technology. One of these areas is privacy. People post their personal information and updates on the internet, which connects them to the whole world. Anyone can see their profiles and internet activity. I think that the next new thing should be a service that is like the internet, but that only connects people who you personally add to your network. For example, if you want to update your friends about what is happening in your life, you can have a profile and update it as much as you want without having to worry about strangers having access to it, because only your selected group of friends and family has access to your network. It would be different than simply just setting your profile to private because many people can easily get past that and still see your updates if they are friends with your friends. With this new technology, it would be like updating your friends as you would do on any social networking site, but it would be as if you have the rest of the world completely blocked. Predators, stalkers, and other unwanted visitors would have to hack into your personal internet network instead of just having to get around a privacy setting. It would make social networking a lot safer and more personal.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

As far as the class wiki goes, I have looked through many pages of it and I plan to add to the page on smartphone technology. As I discussed in my paper, excessive use of smartphones has many negative effects on our lives and I think that some of these effects are worth mentioning on the wiki page. Specifically, I plan to discuss the effects of Smartphone Addiction and why users should disconnect from their phones from time to time. I have done a lot of research on this topic, mostly while I was writing my paper, and I plan to add a general overview of some short and long term consequences of consistent smartphone use.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is when a person shares internet or media files with other users on the internet. With the amount of internet users in the world, P2P file sharing has become a common occurrence. P2P, or peer-to-peer file sharing occurs through sites like BitTorrent, MojoNation, and Kazaa, which all allow users to upload or download files to share between users instead of many users having to individually purchase them from the distributor of the material. This is a huge problem for distributors. Organizations like movie studios and online software providers are helpless against online pirates. Some organizations have tried to stop online piracy, but attempts have failed miserably. Internet users still have the ability to quickly and easily download content and software onto their computers for free from an abundance of online sources.

Works Cited

Stelter, Brian, and Brad Stone. "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Major Hollywood Studios." The New York Times. The New York Times, 4 Feb. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Thompson, Clive. "The BitTorrent Effect ." Wired 13.01: The BitTorrent Effect. Wired, 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Privacy & Confidentiality

     With the growth of new media, there is more concern from users with the issue of privacy. The whole world can easily communicate with each other over the internet. Many people, however, do not wish to share their updates and their personal lives with the whole world. Although some internet sites have privacy settings, it is difficult, if not impossible, to direct your updates to those, and only those, who you approve of. Also, with anything that is on the internet, pretty much anyone can get access to your information on way or another, and even if you remove a post yourself, it does not necessarily mean that it is completely removed from the internet. With old media, if you wanted to destroy the only copy of a book ever produced, that would mean that the book would be removed from the world and it would never come back, leaving only the memories held by those who read the book. With new media, that is not the case. Once something exists on the internet, in many cases it means that it exists forever in some form, even if the original is destroyed or removed. This concerns many users, which it is important to be very conscious of what you put on the internet to begin with.

Advice to Baruch College

     Communication is one of the five main aspects of new media. In any community, communication is essential. This concept can be applied to improve Baruch College in many ways. For example, students need to be able to communicate with their classmates, professors, advisors, and administrators. With so many people in the Baruch College community, it can be difficult for individuals to stay in communication with the right people, especially when they have to deal with advisors and administrators. Administrators in Baruch College often have to help many students with different issues and it becomes very difficult for them to tend to everyone. Many students have small problems that have quick and simple solutions, but the people who can help them have so many other students to help that it can be overwhelming. Also, sometimes students go to the wrong person for help because it is not clear what their problem really is. Another issue is that sometimes students are not available at times that certain offices are open or when certain people are in their office. Trying to resolve simple problems becomes a hassle. To fix this problem, Baruch should have a specific online help center where students can post their questions, and school administrators and even other students with the same problem can direct them to the correct department so that they can more quickly resolve their issues. If everyone in Baruch can collaborate together to solve problems, then solutions would be found more efficiently and effectively.

Creativity

Many companies these days use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to find out what their customers think of them and use the internet praise and criticism to improve themselves. In the past, companies would have to use forms of primary research if they wanted to make improvements, in order to find their customers and figure out their thoughts on company products or services. Doing research in this manner can be very time consuming and expensive. Through social media and other internet applications, firms can now get their creative and innovative thinking right from their own customers easily. Instead of companies hiring people specifically to generate ideas that will please consumers, they look at the feedback they get on the internet to figure out what changes need to be made. Even Twitter used its own followers to find out what new features users wanted and made those changes happen. Internet users can easily use their creativity to generate new ideas for existing companies. Companies benefit greatly from knowing exactly what their consumers want, and consumers benefit by having their needs met by companies. This also fosters user creativity by allowing them to come up with their own ideas on how companies can meet their individual needs.

Works Cited

Cain Miller, Claire. "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Oct. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html>.