Is anyone else experiencing problems trying to access the class wiki page? It says the webpage doesn’t exist.
Professor Weisel,
I’ve tried emailing you with no response. Can you please correct the webpage link?
Thanks!
-Jimmy.
Hired: Baruch College New Media
1. Website Design
– Website design is alright and pretty standard for the industry in regards to Universities. However, it lacks any sort of “catch”. This could be improved with more pictures of students (definitely not teachers in the graphic rotators) and more engagement with users.
Also, the Highlight section is pretty bleak and small. I would expect the news about the Hurricane to be apart of the graphic rotator or at the least bold enough for people to see it. It has neither. Perhaps implementing a blog like section at the end of the page to highlight the actual, highlights.
2. Social Media- FaceBook
Baruch has only 7,136 “likes” on FaceBook. This is pretty low considering the school’s population and the alumni population. Compared to Hunter College at 9,500 (still low in my opinion). Baruch has absolutely no user engagement (no shares). The content they post is pretty dry. Maybe if they used more personal posts that relate to students they would get more fans and more engagement.
Use the power of the itnernet community to strengthen your social media! For example, Baruch can post “memes” (popular jokes on the internet)
With a great selection of electives, you can practically be this guy! Register for classes today
3. Emergency Response- Hurricane Sandy
I didn’t receive any notification from Baruch College regarding the class schedule, and much much less from my professors. There should be some sort of alert system within the school and one that professors can access to text and email their students in regards to homework and exams.
When it comes to privacy, new media is anything but. A topic I discussed in my term paper, new media and privacy have an age old battle.
Never in the course of human interaction have so many shared so much about themselves with so many others—and with so
little apparent concern for their privacy. Was it really just a generation ago that people kept all but their most basic information under virtual lock and key? Today, we happily share our date and place of birth, name of our first pet, mother’s maiden name, favorite movie or book, favorite color, first school teacher—and myriad other snippets of information required by online services as part of their security procedures.
The basic premise behind this information-sharing is nothing new. Consumers have long handed over a little personal information in exchange for services such as banking and finance, utilities, and healthcare. The big difference now is that the information is digitized and accessible online—and we’re handing it out to virtually anyone who asks, regardless of how briefly the business has been in existence. Of even greater concern to many is the amount and variety of information being gathered about us without our explicit permission. Whereas retailers and others used to tweeze out information gleaned through loyalty cards, prize drawings, and catalog mailing lists, now these old standbys have been massively augmented by customers researching and purchasing online, leaving in their wake a digital trail of cookie crumbs detailing their needs, tastes, and desires.
With all the time we spend online and all the forums we frequent, it’s no wonder most of us have grown accustomed to doling out little snippets of personal information with barely a second thought. It helps that we rarely are asked to hand over a whole stack of personal information in one massive data transfer; that would be too much trouble and might provoke too much anxiety. Rather, we routinely hand it out a bit at a time.
The challenge now is to define what and who owns that kind of information. Does the government have the authority to check our FaceBook pages and see our messages? Can a company give your information to another one without your consent?
If you could start over fresh in a completely new world with new friends, new places, new lands, and new opportunities, would you? Sound like a fantasy? Nope. Not at all.
Well you can do all of that with a computer and internet connection. Its called a virtual universe and millions are living a different life, online.
According to Ruth La Ferla in the article “No Budget. No Boundaries: Its the Real You”, these virtual universes are limited less:
“In most virtual worlds, memberships are free, but players trade real money for virtual currencies, used to buy products, save up in an account or eventually redeem for real money. About 70,000 Therebucks on There.com, or 10,000 Lindens in Second Life, each about $40, can buy a choice of simulated wares, from several pairs of thigh-high boots to a plot of land.”
This poses the question: Why are Virtual Worlds even being used?
Well there are many reasons for virtual worlds. The most predominately is for personal engagement. Millions of people find enjoyment in playing a life-simulated game that allows the users determine what kind of life they will play in the game. But for others, virtual worlds can provide employee training or exercises for those coping with social anxiety.
For IBM, a computer hardware and software company, virtual worlds such as SecondLife.com are helping employes know each other during orientation process. IMB, which employes individuals from around the globe, is using this creative approach for employee interaction and business cultivation. In the article “IBM Learning Programs Get a ‘Second Life'”, Vice President of learning states, “The idea is to expedite orientation, as well as improve mentoring relationships. ‘New IBM employees separated by thousands of miles will be able to mingle, interact and share ideas in the virtual world before their first day on the job,’ Ted Hoff, IBM vice president of learning, said in a statement. ‘They can learn real-life working skills such as signing up for benefits, developing code as part of a global team, and ramping up sales skills before they meet with IBM clients.’”
However, for millions others suffering from social anxiety related disorders, virtual worlds can be a place where socialization can actually occur. It can be a place for support for individuals with autism, ashbergers, and other disorders. In the CNN Article by Nicole Saidi “‘Naughty Auties’ Battle Austim with Virtual Interaction,” explains that these virtual worlds can be comforting for someone dealing socialization. The graphical representations of real people create a “comfort zone” that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others. You’re on your own computer, in your own room, your own space.
Virtual worlds aren’t all fine and dandy however. The US Congress recently explored virtual worlds and their potential danger. What works in a face-to-face environment doesn’t mean it necessarily works in a virtual environment situtations. Virtual worlds do not share real-life cultures and users cannot gage some situations from those perspectives. What results could be physical harm to a user. The US Congress also had concerns for children using the site and the dangers for child internet abuse, money laundering, and fraudulent crimes. All of these situations are negatives when dealing with virtual worlds.
Though, virtual worlds can provide a way to social interaction in the future. Could you imagine companies using a virtual interaction platform for their employers instead of renting office space? As technology gets increasingly better traveling could be substituted with virtual world experiences.
The future of virtual universes are endless, but its important to understand that its not real life. You’re avatar is not you.
Facebook is a complete social networking site. Its surrounded on a “News Feed” that allows the user to see their friends news of the moment. A news feed comprises of status updates, pictures, videos, polls, checked places their friends have been to, and news articles. In one streamlined page, a user can see whats going on with their friends at any particular moment. On a users profile page, you can view pictures, videos, status updates, and even significant lifetime benchmarks (i.e. relationship statuses, vacation trips, birth of a child). Facebook’s direct objective is user-engagement with virtual social interaction. Its a general site comprising of everything unlike other niche social networking sites.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter is a niche social networking site. Twitter only posts “status updates” or “tweets”. Tweets are limited to 140 characters. Though similarly to facebook, it has a home page where one can see friends tweets in a streamlined page. Twitter services those who like microblogging and express their opinions in a short burst. It is essentially the “SMS” of the internet. In my observations of Twitter, it works very effectively on news related events. Sometimes twitter reports on things even before traditional news outlets. More than often when this occurs, news outlets first learned about an incident via Twitter.
MySpace
Myspace, the original “Facebook”, is a social networking site similar to facebook. It features a user profile that allows users to post pictures, status updates, and wall posts. Though, unlike Facebook, it does focus on one area: music. MySpace’s purpose was to connect artists with the public and the publics interest in discovering new music. In this way, MySpace is a niche social networking site. Currently, MySpace is renovating their entire platform that will provide a better streamlined profile and “newsfeeds.” Since its launch in 2003, the company has taken a huge dip in both revenue and influence in the social networking world. Though, I hope the new improvements will swade many facebook users over once again.
CouchSurfing
CouchSurfing is another niche social networking site. I picked this as my last social networking observation because of my interest in it. Its extremely creative in its purpose and very interactive. CouchSurfing isa worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit. Couchsurfing is a phrase referring to the practice of moving from one friend’s house to another, sleeping in whatever spare space is available, floor or couch generally staying a few days before moving on to the next house. Users create a profile that describe their interests, where they have traveled, and where they would like to travel. When a user couchsurfes, they can rate their host and recommend other users to a host. Similarily, hosts can rate and refer their couchsurfers. Other mechanism allow security verification. CouchSurfing provides editable travel guides and forums where members may seek travel partners or advice. CouchSurfing’s main focus is social networking and members organize activities such as bar crawls, camping trips, meetings, and sporting events. The site is an incredible innovation for travelers on a low budget or those wanting to meet locals in different areas.
Theres no question that social media has dramatically changed how we communicate today. Just think about it. Remember when we used to call our friends to go out to the movies? We now jump on Facebook, Twitter, or even MySpace send them a quick message or post on their profile pages about your plans. As a global online society, we are meeting new friends, dates, and partners virtually than ever before. A man in Demark can send a tweet to his online friend in rural China in a matter of seconds.
In fact, social media has allowed us to become interconnected and even more globalized than before. For millions, it has become a place to vocalize their opposition without the fear. For others, its also allowed them to explore new lands and become new characters.
Social media really has changed the way we communicate; but it has also changed the way we conduct business. According to the “What’s Next? Your Future in Social Media,” article, businesses can use social media as a new way to innovate and get customer input. Social networks allow businesses to collaborate with all kinds of people, with diverse backgrounds and different levels of expertise, from locations all over the world.Social technologies reduce the cost of doing business. You can pull together an innovation very, very quickly and sell the product to millions of consumers you could not do with traditional advertisement.
In Clive Thompson’s “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy”, Thompson describes that social networking has allowed people becoming increasingly closer to one another- virtually. Saying goodbye is a thing of the past. But it all comes with a price.
That price: privacy.
While social networking can connect anyone around the globe with their community and the world, privacy is also questioned. Sites like Facebook and MySpace have made it hard for a teenager to sneak out of their parents home and into a party. Camera phones and social networking sites show the world where you were, what you were doing, and who you were doing it with. Even if an individual does not have a profile on these websites, the pictures are still uploaded for others to see. And with over 500 million facebook users, its kind of hard to “opt out” of the service.
The loss of privacy here is the “dark side.” Its also interestingly, a topic I will be talking about in my term paper.
There is no doubt that the Internet has dramatically changed human social behavior, particularly in communication. In less than 20 years, the internet has been able to transmit messages, pictures, and videos to anyone around the globe in a matter of seconds. Two hundred years ago that same message would’ve have seen several seasons. Our online communication today relies heavily on social media where ordinary citizens with access to the internet can share their life stories and their projects. Two such examples are blogs and wiki’s. Despite this similarity, their differences are much greater.
According to Rob Edmonds, blogs are “online diaries” that portray certain themes a user wants to talk about. Kathy Gill adds that,
“Bloggers write about topics that matter to them; their
audience may be large or small. Some blogs are single-
person operations (one to many); others have a community
of authors (many to many). They foster community and
conversation by allowing readers to comment on postings.”
The phenomenon began around 2002 when traditionally media started reporting on the early successes of a few blogs.
The phenomenon began around 2002 when traditional news outlets first started reporting on the early successes of a few blogs. Soon thereafter, FOX News, MSNBC and others produced their own blogs giving the network added commentary and a greater online presence (Cathy Gill). Since then, the blogosphere has exploited with millions of blogs, including this one.
In short, a blog is a user controlled website that allows a particular user(s) to share information in a forum-like medium.
Wiki’s are quiet different in nature. Rob Embonds describes wiki’s as “typically provid[ing] a repository of useful knowledge and information.” In today’s online world, wiki’s serves as a collaboration of ideas, creations, and knowledge. Users can edit individual pages, adding additional useful information on a particular subject. One of the most popular wiki’s is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a online encylopedia wiki. It provides millions of wiki pages on various topics. Wikipedia even has a page on wiki’s stating,
“Wikis serve many different purposes, such as knowledge management and notetaking. Wikis can be community websites and intranets, for example. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access). For example, editing rights may permit changing, adding or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Other rules may also be imposed for organizing content (Wikipedia).”
As noted, Wiki’s aren’t necessarily a free for all. Owners of a particular wiki can put controls on editing rights and restrictions to certain items. When Wikipedia did this in 2009, CNN (Wikipedia: No Longer the Wild West?) reported that a Web debate erupted. While Wikipedia wanted to add more controls to rectify incorrect edits on pages, users complained that it would only be another added layer of “complex rules.”
While Wiki’s and blog’s dramtically differ on its intent and user engagement, the both do have one thing in common: bringing people and ideas together in an online medium. Communication, whether it be in forms of online diaries like blogs or online collaboration projects like wiki’s, has been dramatically altered by the use and access of internet for people around the globe.
As part of my New Media class at Baruch; I will research the impact and different roles of new media in the political arena. I will focus on social media and have selected “The Political Power of Social Media” as a working title.
From a broad viewpoint; social media has done two main things in politics. Firstly, new media has increased transparency by providing faster, more direct and targeted methods of communication. Secondly, as part of new media, social media outlets have become incubators of ideas, grassroots movements and revolutions.
I will discuss in finer terms, political impact both negative and positive; the resulting effects on sociopolitical organizations, e general populace and specific situations in recent history.
~~Jimmy G.
Welcome fellow bloggers! My name is Jimmy Goicoechea. I am currently a junior majoring in Finance at Baruch College in New York City. As part of a course I’m currently enrolled in; this blog will serve as a an ongoing reflection on varied topics within and affected by “New Media”.
Happy reading and welcome to New Media!
~~Jimmy G.
Jimmy G's New Media Blog 