Blog: Next New

To think of a new "type" of new media that does not yet exist, one should look at the current situations to know which solutions to look for. To name one specific issue within today’s society, it would be fake news. Fake news is commonly going viral as there are many articles created solely to mislead people into believing something that isn’t always necessarily true. These days, click-through rates are valued more than the content of something and this, unfortunately, often results in the spread of false propaganda in which individuals are more likely to spread. With the rise of technology, real and fake news now spread at faster rates and can be shared onto different platforms. 

To overcome this growing issue, I have pondered upon a new media device that I believe will change the way our society works as well as new media. This device is a software that scans all online information and grades it by authenticity and reliability. For example, if one were to scroll through their Facebook feed, before clicking on a shared article, there would be a color scale next to the article representing how truthful a source is. As viewers see the graded scale include colors such as red to represent unreliability to green as trustworthiness, users may now spread information that is accurate instead of propaganda that influences the way a society views politics.

Though this has been tried before using AI, it has not been perfected as there are many flaws within the algorithms. As creators of spam content keep evolving, they are constantly learning to find the loopholes within these algorithms and mend the truth. The problem is, as there is are millions of different opinions, everyone has a different perspective of a story and the truth becomes blurred. To battle this, the device can scan the articles and test for not only engagement of source but also which platform the source was published on and what other platforms linked this article as a reliable source. Additionally, this software can compare the title of the article to the content within the post and show how relevant the body of the post is to the title, ultimately demolishing clickbait articles. In order for the device to differentiate between real and fake information, the developers need to program this scanning device carefully. After feeding examples to the software, the device should have the ability to distinguish the authenticity. From this, the device grades the article by percentage and viewers are able to know whether or not the article is worth reading.

Blog: Wiki So Far

So far, I have been able to edit and contribute more information to what someone has already spoken about. In the Youtube subcategory, Jefree Star, I have updated the information to make it more accurate to the times, grammatically edited mistakes and have also included content that is relevant to new media and how the social media platform, Youtube, has skyrocketed sales for Jefree Star's Brand. Additionally, I have researched more information on my topic of interest and plan to include the acquired information into the wiki. My topic of interest is a social media app known as Tik Tok which has become widely popular within the "Gen Z" generation recently. From my current research, I have noticed how successful this app has become and has given many a positive start within their social media careers. I plan on discusses the content it provides, the likeliness of a video going viral and both the benefits and consequences that come alongside with the app. In addition to incorporating this information, I plan on adding more graphic images in other topics that interest me such as Youtubers and their content or creations that they promote. 

Blog: P2P

According to Eric Pfanner, in "Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?" the author explains the concerns and benefits of file sharing and questions if it should be illegal or not. To define it, file sharing is the process in which individuals share and transmit files of computer data in a network or internet with various access levels. Through this process, one can add on and transmit their data from one computer to another, which ultimately becomes much more  efficient for the users to work on documents especially if they are in different locations. P2P file sharing, however, is a peer to peer file sharing which gives people the ability to use media files through a software program that locates that specific computer which has that wanted file.  An example of P2P file sharing is RapidShare.  To simplify, RapidShare allows users to upload files too big to e-mail. Once the software finds that specific computer which has the wanted file, they can then download that file into their own computer.  Another example incorporates the fact that many free media is released online and encourages voluntary payments for donations. This becomes beneficial for both consumers and producers of this content for consumers now have access to the media and the producers receive more recognition.

Blog: Privacy

The issue with privacy is often a concern for many these days and, with new media on the rise, the threat of privacy has become very prominent. As more and more people become more involved in social media, there are often including almost all aspects of their personal information into their profiles. This has now been a concerning issue for especially Facebook users. In 2018, there was a huge scandal regarding this matter as over 2.13 billion active users worldwide were misled by the privacy policy. During this time, it has become a major political issue which revealed that Facebook had harvested the personal data of millions of peoples' Facebook profiles without their consent and used it for political advertising purposes.
 In another aspect, an additional privacy concern resulting from social media is the fact that employers are using new media as a source for recruitment for job placement. As they scout for  potential candidates' profiles and accounts, they look for any possible flaws that would interfere with the company's values. Through this, many are concerned that sometimes their accounts may be interpreted  incorrectly and will place them at a disadvantage when in search of a job.

Blog: Advice

If I were hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the College, one of my first suggestions would include improving the their social media platforms such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. When I was a high school student determining which college was right for me, I tried to do the most research as I possibly could on the benefits of attending any school of my choice. From this experience, the first thing that I have looked into were the student life via the social media pages. For me, it was very important to realize that in addition to providing a great education, the school had to inspire me to want to improve myself and grow as a human. I believed that the social media pages such as Youtube videos where a great example for exploring if this school is best for me. To my disappointment, there were not many social posts and it made me feel less motivated to go to this school. Thus, if I were a hired to improve the college, I would focus on the improvement and frequent activity on the social media platforms. By showing a fun and  lively environment of Baruch college, it becomes a much more attractive element for potential new students.  Other aspects of improving the New Media would be to improve the Blackboard of the CUNYPortal website. With all of the extra buttons, it becomes much more complicated site to work on as it is very confusing for those who aren't adjusted to it. For example, if I were on the team, I would pitch to make blackboard discussion posts more legible and less complicated to read due to its organization. By simplifying their options, writing becomes much easier and people will be more eager to do their work by not having to deal with a complicated site.

Creativity and New Media

Attached is a screenshot from my Instagram feed. Within the photo is a picture of myself eating three cones of ice cream. In relation to what was currently trending, the final season 8 of Game of Thrones, I have decided to make my caption similar to the title of my favorite GOT character, Daenerys Targaryen. To match her long title, I decided to put my own twist on it by making it represent myself and the ice cream cones to be my three dragons. 

The original GOT title reads,  "Daenerys of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons”

My take on that reads "Rebecca Edelstein of House Edelstein, First of Her name, The unburnt,  Queen of the Samples and First in line (at Costco), Khalessi of the Great Food, Breaker of Belts and Mother of Sprinkles. Game of Cones."

This simple yet obnoxious caption is one way I used a New Media platform,  Instagram, to foster my creativity by relating my post to a then hot topic of discussion, Game of Thrones.  

HW Creativity

New Media fosters creativity in many different ways including in marketing and advertising to consumers. Using these platforms allows for the companies to not only strive to match consumer needs but also promotes creativity with a particular campaign. The ideas are often driven by the medium and how the consumers use them. After experimenting with the new media platform, the company finds contextual ways to be relevant and can invite users to be part of the process in certain campaigns.
In Claire Miller's article "Twitter Serves up ideas from its followers" she states just how this process is beneficial to companies as "consumers often come up with ideas for products, and companies wait on the sidelines to see if they have mass appeal." By allowing consumers the freedom of using the platform in their own ways, the company notes what they should prioritize and how they can use a platform to their advantage. The developers of the new media constantly ask themselves "‘Why are people using this and how could we make that better?'" By doing so they're allowing themselves to explore the benefits of a platform and later use it to their advantage in a creative and innovative way.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual words are used to mimic reality. They are often used to show one's ideal version of life, if one would have a choice but also portrays scenarios that may or may not occur in reality. The advantages of this include the ability to gain experience in gaming or even training for certain programs such as military, psychological therapy or medical training. 

For example, Stephanie Simon in her article, "Avatar II: The Hospital" explains the many different uses medical professionals may use in virtual worlds. "In addition to the disaster drills, Second Life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills. Medical schools traditionally have run such exercises using computerized mannequins, which can be programmed to exhibit certain symptoms. But each mannequin costs about $65,000, so there may be just one for every 50 or 100 students." (Simon, 2010) This program not only saves money for the hospital but it also gives individuals the ability to practice as much as possible to perfect their skills. 

Some disadvantages include the fact that it isn't the most perfect representation of our current world. For programmers, it is a very time-consuming and difficult task to mimic. Some obstacles developers face when creating these include lag time, lack of acuity, overlooking basic laws of physics and better tracking systems. In "Virtual Classroom" by Guy Posey et al., the author describes both the positive and negative impacts VR has within a classroom. To discuss the cons, the author states how "Internet students are put at a disadvantage when it comes to networking and forming new relationships. Students can get to know each other over the net however it does not replace the bond that is formed from face-to-face meetings." (Posey et al.)

Virtual worlds foster creativity by allowing individuals to explore a new world, a world that has no strict rules and is safe. Players are given the chance to challenge themselves in new aspects that may influence their real lives so they can apply these skills to their work and everyday tasks. 

In my opinion, the future of virtual worlds will probably be more incorporated into our daily lives.  With the many advantages they hold, including within the medical, psychological and military fields, the future is likely to contain more of this as we as a society shift our reality into a virtual one.  

Blog about Twitter

Twitter and Blackboard are very different channels of communication. For starters, Blackboard discussion is only for CUNY students who are set in the class and allows students to center their focus on the subject topic. Posts on Blackboard are encouraged to be longer as opposed to twitter whose main criteria involve brief interactions of no more than 280 characters. Additionally, Twitter allows for a broader audience of interaction and engagement while blackboard discussions are centered on the students and their opinions. Within an in-class discussion, students are placed in a classroom setting where they each see others and interact in real-time and real life. The Twitter setting allows for outsider interaction which may broaden ideas of the students.  In the classroom setting, students are confined to learning from their current setting in comparison to endless sources of opinions on Twitter.

Social Networking Sites

The four social networking sites that I use the most are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Each site serves its own purpose but, overall, their common denominator is the communication and connection they bring to the world, bringing millions of people who share similar ideas, voices, and differences together.
From first glance alone, Facebook allows one to share what's on their mind in a "status", share and reposts items as pictures, videos, surveys and more. Additionally, Facebook allows "friends" to interact with what you post by commenting, resharing and chatting with each other. From my experience, I use Facebook to read articles, look at life updates from friends and cry about it later while I watch Netflix.
Twitter is an interaction done in short tweets. It allows for short engagement with what's happening in the world. Through hashtags, followers are able to follow the same stream and interact with each other and still remain on the same topic of interest. For me, I use twitter the least as it is often used more for celebrities or Politicians, however, it is a great way to share short daily thoughts and impressions.
Instagram is similar to Facebook in that it reconnects others with each other but with pictures and videos. Now, Instagram allows one to "live stream" bits of their day in order to increase follower engagement.  I use Instagram the most to catch up on my friend's lives, sharing memes, and to keep up with my favorite influencers.
Lastly, Snapchat is a popular messaging app that allows users to send short videos and pictures to one another in a maximum of 10 seconds and disappears forever. Additionally, with Snapchat, one is able to put these short videos and pictures for others to see by putting it in a "Story". With this, followers can see what the user is currently up to. Personally, I use Snapchat as another form of text messaging, as it is a fun new way of communication.

Blog Social Networking

Social Networking has allowed communities to gather together in a way that changes communication forever. Not only can we reconnect with old friends but there are new elements to social networking such as media sharing and social media marketing that allow businesses to promote their services via these outlets. 

According to Frank Langfitt's article, "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting", we alone are able to see how much of an impact the social networking tech has been able to increase our economy by interfering with the job market. With networks such as Linkedin, recruiting has become a significantly easier aspect for Human Resouce Departments. However, though there are many positive elements to it, Langfitt states that even though " Linkedin... can scout a group of job candidates in just half an hour...if he wants to develop a relationship with any of them...there is no substitute for a much older social networking tool: the telephone." 

Though it has significantly improved businesses and networking with others,  there are blurred lines within the privacy. In Rebecca GreenFeild's "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private", she explains how even the Zuckerberg family is not excluded from the fact that anyone can access all photos and other private information on the internet. This becomes a very high concern for many as now recruiters have easier access to personal information. By looking into anyone's profile, this may ultimately be the final deciding factor for talent recruiters.  With that being said, it is important to not hide anything online as "everything can be shared and re-shared these days." (Greenfield)

In my opinion, I believe that these concerns may increase in the future, for now, we are seeing more specific elements into our technology that ultimately eliminate all types of privacies. AI programs, for example, allow systems to memorize one's habits and patterns and uses them in a way that benefits businesses. Though it is very good for segmentation and statistics, it seems almost unethical to gather such specific details of an individual's life and use it for profit. 

Blog v Wiki

The key difference between Blogs and Wikis all lie within the contribution of the work. To simply put it, Blogs are usually only run by an individual or a small group that can intrigue conversations, while wikis' content and editing are collaborative with any user. Pagliarulo says in the article More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia just how "Wikis are very good for a departmental project," and further elaborates how "this technology will scale for active collaboration among very large groups' and across multiple locations."

Diverse opinions are how we grow as a society. With collaboration and sharing different ideas, we are able to see different perspectives on how to work strategically. Convergence within networks allows communities to learn and expand onto greater levels. Similarly to Wikis, Blogs have allowed individuals to express their ideas. For example, bloggers can collaborate with other bloggers to create unique workpieces. Through these collaborations and idea-sharing, blogs have expanded so much that Kathy Gill writes in her article, How we can measure the influence of blogosphere? how just "in the five years since blogging software opened this form of journaling to nontechnical writers, blogs have exploded on the Web’s landscape...and in the process, bloggers are influencing the world outside of the blogosphere."

Wikis are used often for business projects but what would be interesting is to see is a collaboration of artwork. For example, beauty gurus can collaborate onto one wiki page and share all their tips and ticks onto one website alone.

Social Media and Its Affect on Human Trafficking

Social Media and Its Affect on Human Trafficking

With social media being the prominent form of communication nowadays, I have always wondered of the effect it would place on Human trafficking. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and can specifically be defined as "the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others."(Wikipedia) As we become more willing and accepting of the idea of engaging with strangers on the internet, I can imagine how human trafficking has become a more easily-accessed trap to conspire for many preditors. In the paper, I will be defining Human Trafficking, its outlets and dissecting social media's negative influence on mental health and how victims can be unconsciously manipulated into submission due to their insecurities. To support my claim, I will also state the statistics and the recent studies on this topic. I plan on going into great detail and I am excited to learn about this as I am passionate about these topics.