The Next New Thing

I would suggest some kind of a new technology for retail stores that would completely eliminate the need to have cash or credit cards at the time of purchasing. An application could be downloaded on consumers` smartphones and have a list of favorite stores that would be allowed to have an access to the necessary information for them to charge their customers. For instance, people who go to Walgreens on a daily basis could have their phone registered in the system of the store. Once the customer enters the doors of Walgreens his/her smartphone would be recognized by the store`s system and the customer would be automatically charged for his/hr purchase. The same with the subway system. People could have a certain amount if money transferred on their metro cards once the value on their cards reached a certain threshold.

Our Class Wiki-So Far

In order to contribute to our class wiki I have created a page on the topic called Anonymous. I have done a research about the "hactivist" group called Anonymous online and created a wiki page that has some information about the short history of the group, their activities, and goals. Members of the group wear masks in order not to be identified, so i have posted an image of the mask and the group`s logo. 

My wiki page has a content sections and references at very bottom of the page containing the sources that i have used in oder to create the page. 

P2P File Sharing

1. What is file sharing?
2. What is P2P File sharing?
3. What are some examples of P2P file sharing?

1. File sharing is storing and distribution, and proving an access to digitally stored files like documents, pictures, programs, music. Such distribution can be performed using different intranets, local networks, and World Wide Web.

2. P2P File Sharing (peer-to-peer) is online file sharing that allows you to download digital files using P2P software. The P2P software searches for other connected computers that you eventually will be sharing files with. In order to perform P2P file sharing, you need The Internet connection and P2P software. 

3. According to David Y. Choi, one of the first P2P file sharing softwares was Napster. Other examples of P2P file sharing softwares are Kazza, Gnutella, and BitTorrent, with the help of which music, videos, documents can be downloaded. 

References:

1.Choi, David Y; Perez, Arturo. Online piracy and the emergence of new business models (Conference Paper). USASBE/SBI 2006 Joint Conference Proceedings. Tucson, AZ. ed. Toombs, Leslie A. 2006.http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/research/usasbe/2006/pdffiles/papers/cases/016.pdf

2.Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?" by ERIC PFANNER, The New York Times, April 13, 2009, p. B4. Available athttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/internet/13iht-piracy13.html

Privecy and Confidentiality

In this post, discuss how the issues of privacy and confidentiality are related to new media.

With the rapid growth of new media along came the problem of privacy and confidentiality. Very often the Internet users disclose and share their information on different networking websites being very careless. Very often we rely on privacy setting that all websites have but that is not enough for keeping our information save online. It is well known that what is posted online will stay there.

Our online accounts can be hacked and used by a third party. It will not necessarily harm you: many companies want our information just for their marketing purposes. On the other hand, those hackers who have a negative intent of using your credit card information may cost you a very high price.

No privacy setting can ever protect our information online. The only way to secure it to limit what you are disclosing about yourselves, use credit cards instead of debit cards online, constantly change passwords, and etc. Even all these precautions will not guarantee a complete safety of our online information but they will significantly lower the possibility of somebody breaking into your account.

 

Advice to Baruch college

You are hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the College. What are some suggestions you would make using new media?

I believe that Baruch College is doing a pretty good job using some New Media in its daily operations but it does still need improvements. The number of freshmen or transfer students is quite high because the college has a good reputation. Nevertheless, Baruch can do more of social networking using Facebook, which it does, Twitter, My Space. It can post some photos of recent improvements of the campus like the outside launch area between Vertical Center and the library. It should definitely avoid posting any pictures of the old 23rd building and the endless line for the elevators.
I believe that the recruitment process will be much cheaper and less time consuming if the college uses social networking websites.

I would also suggest to create a better networking system between students and professors, some sort of Facebook for Baruch College. Sometimes it is hard to reach professors via emails. Blackboard does not really serve that purpose.  The new network would be accessable by Baruch students and professors only. Each professor would have a professional profile. Students could also leave their feedbacks regarding professors just like on RateMy Professor. com. Descriptions of classes might be found on website too. Students could also create study groups, share information on their HW, assignments, and projects. 

Creativity and New Media

To complete this assignment I have created an account on Second Life. There are several options that you can go with in order to create your own avatar. I have chosen an avatar image that suits me: she is a student and has some features similar to mine.

Here is a snapshot of my avatar. She just made new friends and was invited to a party. The Second Life   experience is definitely new for me, I have never been in a Virtual World before. It does look interesting as a game but, personally, I would never substitute  real life communication with it. 

Creativity

       New Media has become a great tool for many artists and musicians who use it either to enhance quality and looks of their "masterpieces" or to create a completely new and fresh piece. 

There are many reasons and incentives those people of art have in order to use new media in their creative process. One of the reasons is the novelty and uniqueness that new media gives: it makes music sound different and art look exaggerated.

      Another reason is the cost. There are a lot of talented individuals out there not everyone has an opportunity to promote their skills. In her article 1+1+1=1, Sasha Frere-Jones says that "You don’t need a distributor, because your distribution is the Internet. You don’t need a record label, because it’s your bedroom, and you don’t need a recording studio, because that’s your computer. You do it all yourself.” Indeed, "mashup", a web application, makes it possible for many composers and DJs to create new songs and soundtracks by laying the music from one song over the vocal of another. According to the author of the article mentioned above, such great artists as Jay-Z and Linkin Park, have used the web app before and the project became a number-one mashup album. 

      Another musician, Soulja Boy, has used Disney World characters in his video called "Crank That". According to Brooks Barns, the author of the article called Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?, the video was created 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. As “Crank That” climbed the music charts over the summer — the song hit No. 1". 

      The Internet allows its users exchange their ideas fast and very cheap. Many companies benefit from collaboration with their customers who have new ideas in how to improve the business, and especially e-business. 

References:

1. The New Math of Mashups from The New Yorker Magazine 2005.http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/10/050110crmu_music
2. Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why? The New York Times, September 24, 2007; available athttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/business/media/24crank.html