The next new media is impossible to predict, but I have a few ideas. New media has permeated almost every facet of modern life, but one area where it hasn't is in the educational system. Students still do homework on paper, sit in classrooms in the traditional style, and Blackboard is seldom used to it's fullest. Elementary and high school education could use a makeover.
Online tutoring organized through schools is a new possibility. A student who has anxiety about attending tutoring at school may be more likely to seek help behind the comfort and security of a computer screen.
Schools force students to wake up at unbelievably early hours for classes that start at 7:15am. Online classes would help to alleviate the terrible hardship that these wake up times cause some students.
My high school used something called a Smart Board, an interactive board that was connected to a computer with a presentation on it. The Smart Board was more advanced than any dry erase board or chalkboard, and allowed the teacher to keep students interested with more bells and whistles than a traditional lesson. My high school was blessed to have these Smart Boards, but most schools don't have them. Every school should have Smart Boards.
I'm sure there are plenty of other ways that new media can be integrated into elementary and high school education; these are just some preliminary ideas. But when thinking about this assignment, I was trying to think of places that have an absence of new media. This area is most certainly one of those places.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Our Class Wiki - So Far
Up to this point, I have not added any content to our class Wiki, but I can describe my research towards this end so far. I plan to contribute to pages on music and new media, including services such as Spotify, Modlife, and cloud storage of music.
Spotify has been widely regarded by the new media community, so research in this area is plentiful. Spotify brings streaming music and internet radio together, allowing the usr to play just about any song on demand an unlimited number of times.
Modlife is a less talked about service, mostly known by fans of the individual bands or people that use it. Modlife allows a musician to bypass the failing revenue model that is selling CD's in the store and create their own revenue streams by distributing their content in just about any way imaginable.
Cloud storage of music is a compelling service offered by some companies, such as Google, Apple, and Amazon. With cloud storage, a person's music collection is mobile, and accessible from any device or computer at any time. Cloud storage is in direct competition with services like Spotify, where the user does not actually own anything.
I look forward to contributing to our class Wiki with this information in the near future!
Spotify has been widely regarded by the new media community, so research in this area is plentiful. Spotify brings streaming music and internet radio together, allowing the usr to play just about any song on demand an unlimited number of times.
Modlife is a less talked about service, mostly known by fans of the individual bands or people that use it. Modlife allows a musician to bypass the failing revenue model that is selling CD's in the store and create their own revenue streams by distributing their content in just about any way imaginable.
Cloud storage of music is a compelling service offered by some companies, such as Google, Apple, and Amazon. With cloud storage, a person's music collection is mobile, and accessible from any device or computer at any time. Cloud storage is in direct competition with services like Spotify, where the user does not actually own anything.
I look forward to contributing to our class Wiki with this information in the near future!
P2P File Sharing
File sharing is a natural occurrence with the existence of the internet and internet communities. Unlike many of the new media things that exist today, file sharing has been a problem on the internet since it's early beginnings, with Napster as the poster-boy example.
File sharing is the simple sharing of one file from one person to another. Technically, the file could be anything, something harmless like a text file of a to-do list. But file sharing is most often associated with the sharing of files that contain intellectual property. File sharing can happen on any scale. On an instant messenger program, for example, one person could share a Lady Gaga song with the person they're chatting with. Alternatively, file sharing could happen on a huge scale, which brings us to the discussion of P2P.
P2P file sharing is a more complex form of file sharing that involves the use of software, most commonly a torrent service. A torrent service searches for other connected computers that host the file you want, and downloads the file to your computer by "seeding" the file from various other users. In the scope of new media, P2P file sharing is something that is impossible to keep under control and attempt to "police." From music to Hollywood, file sharing has extremely detrimental effects.
An example of P2P file sharing is talked about by Brian Stelter and Brad Stone in their New York Times article found here, where they say a German based website TorrentFreak.com estimates that each episode of "Heroes", an NBC show, is downloaded over 5 million times. The site being based in Germany makes the policing of such file sharing even more difficult.
Another example of P2P file sharing is with a simple torrent software where a user can search for just about any type of media and download it to their desktop. This ranges from music, video games, movies, television shows, and more.
File sharing is the simple sharing of one file from one person to another. Technically, the file could be anything, something harmless like a text file of a to-do list. But file sharing is most often associated with the sharing of files that contain intellectual property. File sharing can happen on any scale. On an instant messenger program, for example, one person could share a Lady Gaga song with the person they're chatting with. Alternatively, file sharing could happen on a huge scale, which brings us to the discussion of P2P.
P2P file sharing is a more complex form of file sharing that involves the use of software, most commonly a torrent service. A torrent service searches for other connected computers that host the file you want, and downloads the file to your computer by "seeding" the file from various other users. In the scope of new media, P2P file sharing is something that is impossible to keep under control and attempt to "police." From music to Hollywood, file sharing has extremely detrimental effects.
An example of P2P file sharing is talked about by Brian Stelter and Brad Stone in their New York Times article found here, where they say a German based website TorrentFreak.com estimates that each episode of "Heroes", an NBC show, is downloaded over 5 million times. The site being based in Germany makes the policing of such file sharing even more difficult.
Another example of P2P file sharing is with a simple torrent software where a user can search for just about any type of media and download it to their desktop. This ranges from music, video games, movies, television shows, and more.
Privacy & Confidentiality
Privacy and Confidentiality have gone completely out the window with new media in our lives. The primary people concerned about this are people who are probably about 20 years old and over. We remember a time before computers and understand how intrusive new media has been to our privacy since it's inception.
However, the younger generation of computer users and new media users consider these conditions of privacy to be the norm. Privacy is of no concern to them. Teenagers willingly post anything they are thinking for the public to see. With services like Foursquare that allow users to "check in" to places they are at, privacy and confidentiality truly mean nothing.
Personally, I am concerned about how privacy and confidentiality in our lives have been eroded by new media. I never "check in" to places and rarely post sensitive information on a social media site. I value my privacy and I think that some parts of my life need to be confidential. As time goes by, I may become a part of the minority in this way of thinking. The very definition of the words "privacy" and "confidential" are changing with the new media world we live in.
However, the younger generation of computer users and new media users consider these conditions of privacy to be the norm. Privacy is of no concern to them. Teenagers willingly post anything they are thinking for the public to see. With services like Foursquare that allow users to "check in" to places they are at, privacy and confidentiality truly mean nothing.
Personally, I am concerned about how privacy and confidentiality in our lives have been eroded by new media. I never "check in" to places and rarely post sensitive information on a social media site. I value my privacy and I think that some parts of my life need to be confidential. As time goes by, I may become a part of the minority in this way of thinking. The very definition of the words "privacy" and "confidential" are changing with the new media world we live in.
Advice to Baruch College
How can Baruch College use new media to improve the college?
Baruch College already uses new media quite well. Various offices use Facebook and Twitter as ways of interacting with students. But I have one particularly good suggestion that would help make the Baruch College website a more manageable place to navigate.
Currently, the school website is huge and it is often difficult to find information. The search function has limited effectiveness. I would suggest transforming the Baruch College website into a Wiki. In doing this, the school allow students to find the information that they needed more quickly and with greater clarity. Instead of 100 links on the homepage to every imaginable location, a Wiki would streamline the website, using a more familiar user interface to help students navigate.
Of course, there would be a small issue of the editable nature of Wiki pages. To fix this, the site would not be a true Wiki for students to edit. The pages would have to be locked. Rather than a collaborative focus, the purpose of a Baruch College Wiki would be in the interest of a more organized website.
Baruch College already uses new media quite well. Various offices use Facebook and Twitter as ways of interacting with students. But I have one particularly good suggestion that would help make the Baruch College website a more manageable place to navigate.
Currently, the school website is huge and it is often difficult to find information. The search function has limited effectiveness. I would suggest transforming the Baruch College website into a Wiki. In doing this, the school allow students to find the information that they needed more quickly and with greater clarity. Instead of 100 links on the homepage to every imaginable location, a Wiki would streamline the website, using a more familiar user interface to help students navigate.
Of course, there would be a small issue of the editable nature of Wiki pages. To fix this, the site would not be a true Wiki for students to edit. The pages would have to be locked. Rather than a collaborative focus, the purpose of a Baruch College Wiki would be in the interest of a more organized website.
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