BLOG: Next New

I think a new media technology that could exist in the future would be if images appeared projected in the air, on a transparent monitor. Data and websites will be more advanced than ever and they would be able to be interacted with a 3D sense. You'd be able to pull up multiple screens 360 degrees around you in a real life and you could toggle back and forth between them. Another possibility would be to take the Google Glass even further. Taking the technology of the Google Glass and allowing you to stream movies and pull up information quickly and hands-free is the future

Our Class Wiki - So Far

So far on the class wiki I have many edits to the music page on the billboard charts. I have been researching royalties through ASCAP and BMI, the history of Vinyl as an audio playing format, new media in music programs and more.I plan to make more edits to the wiki this weekend as I compile my sources and images.

 I would also like to add more to the impact on the music industry section as I feel that new media has played a very significant role in the music industry. I'd also like to add a section on music piracy and P2P sharing as we have been discussing lately, specifically with Napster and other mainstream instances of music piracy. I plan to sort through the music wiki and remove outdated and irrelevant information.

P2P

File sharing is when users share and transmit files from one computer to the other over the internet or through an external drive. P2P file sharing is the ability to share such content through other connected computers on the P2P network, usually through a P2P or torrent software. File sharing has become very common, especially through cloud based services such as Dropbox and Google Cloud

Examples of peer to peer file sharing would be programs such as Limewire or Torrent programs such as Bittorent or Utorrent. Although file sharing originally meant uploading and downloading of such files, now streaming has become more common. As shown in Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios  Instead of illegally downloading new movies on a torrent, a user is easily able to stream it off of many popular websites. This ultimately hurts everyone involved in the creation and distribution of the content. In the example of a song being illegally downloaded and shared, the band themselves, any song writers, the record label, the record label staff, management, and everyone else involved would all be negatively affected. Online piracy and theft of content is so widespread and easy to do that people do not realize the effects of their actions. With this article talking about how it effects the movie industry and how they are taking a page from the music industry in how it was effected by online piracy, the trend seems to be moving towards giving users more and more ability to stream the movies they want on their own official websites. This way traffic is diverted away from piracy sites and re-directed towards the proper channels.

BLOG: Advice

At times Baruch can feel very disconnected being a commuter school and having a vertical campus. New media could be used to connect the student body further and allow more networking between students. Baruch already utilizes social media such as Facebook and Twitter, but one suggestion would be a closed Facebook group for all undergraduate students to be able to talk and network in. Baruch posts a lot of content to their social media, but allowing for more interaction with the students in postings and hearing more of students suggestions and concerns would be another way to better utilize their social media presence. This could go even further to there being contests for free admission to concerts and events being held at Baruch, and other ways to reward the students and help them feel more unified. I would also suggest an initiative to promote Blogs at Baruch more. More and more of our classes at Baruch are utilizing new media such as blogs to tie in with class discussions, which is definitely a good usage of new media.

BLOG: Privacy

In the age of New Media, the issues of privacy and confidentiality are always being discussed. New media allows us to both be confidential, and yet at the same time it can lead to an invasion of our privacy. In the case of a wiki, you can choose to edit it anonymously or leave your credentials. In the case of editing anonymously, the confidentiality can benefit you in protecting your privacy, but at the same time it can be questionable if the editor is reliable. In the case of blogs, with constant posting and discussions going on, some of our privacy can be taken away. Social media websites can lead to the biggest invasion of privacy, with years of our content, photos, and private information all being accessible on social media by our friends and family, and also in cases of third party companies selling our information or in leaks of privacy.

Virtual Worlds

There are many pros and cons to virtual worlds. In "A Second Life on Second Life", a lady utilizes Second Life to live out all the things in life she wishes she could do or be as she is disabled and almost never leaves her house. This allows her to fantasize and be someone she is physically unable to be and she feels much happier due to her "second life" in Second Life. She finds the game mentally stimulating and liberating. In another article "I've been to that club, just not in real life" there are both upsides and downsides to virtual worlds. Through a virtual world, users are able to go into and explore areas of Manhattan's Lower East Side. They can go into various nightclubs or establishments as if they were to go in real life. The author even cited a packed coffeehouse he goes into in real life, then goes in to the same concert in the coffeehouse in the virtual world so he can experience it without the negative aspects that were there in real life. This is another pro as it allows users that may not get to experience this area to experience it remotely through the virtual world. One con is that it could take away from the experience of seeing it in person and make it too accessible so that it loses its luster.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook - Facebook is definitely more about content in bulk. Here is where you can post pages and pages of insightful thoughts on politics, lifestyle, music and more. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Facebook seems to be the most driven by "advertising", with Facebook ads being a very standard thing now. You can't scroll down your news feed without seeing ads all over your sidebar and now even in between posts. Facebook is definitely an important tool for musicians and music lovers alike though,

Twitter - Twitter moves to an alarmingly fast rate. With such short posts and many people following more and more its very easy for tweets to get lost in the mix. Sometimes photos on Twitter can really catch the users eye and pull them in to your tweet. Twitter is similarly used to Facebook, discussing anything from music to politics, however it is much harder to have full on group discussions on there. You can only tweet at one or two people at a time due to character limits.

Tumblr - Tumblr is certainly an unique site. Tumblr is similar to Instagram in that is is heavily operated via mobile devices. Much of Tumblr is "reblogging", similar to retweeting on Twitter. Tumblr has become a breeding ground for social activists of all kinds, using the websites hip users to spread the word of whatever social causes they deem important. Imagery is very important on Tumblr with reblogging, using eye catching images to gain more and more momentum behind a post and more reblogs.


Instagram - Instagram is all based on photos. Instagram is the most narcissistic of all the four social networking sites. Users publish photos of their life to Instagram - often times portraying the highlights of a users life. Some users are what I call selfie obsessed, and post many photos of themselves to attract attention to themselves, both platonic and to attract others.