About My Term Project

As this is an online class, I find it quite appropriate to obtain my research from the internet instead of the traditional method...books from the library. Although, for me, the library will never be replaced, we live in a day and age of modern technology where information can be easily accessible. You can now access the Britannica Encyclopedia online on whatever subject imaginable. Instead of trekking around these heavy books, you can print the information out, copy it as a document so you can open it anywhere with access of a computer.

I "googled" and "yahooed" information on Shutterfly or anything relating to digital photography in order to obtain scholarly articles as well as information pertaining to my project. Additionally, I went onto Shutterfly's website to view their company profile along with other information in support of my paper. Additionally, I felt that the best way to further understand first hand about Shutterfly, I interviewed friends and relatives who have had used their website from the initial beginning until now. They provide good feedback to why they use this site along with other similar sites and inquired what keeps them interested in using these sites.

As a photography enthusiast, I thought it would be great to understand how far photography has come from using a film camera to now using a digital camera. I grew up using a film camera in which you would have the roll(s) of film developed by a photo lab and/or print shop. Back then, you can store pictures by keeping the negatives but now, you can store the pictures on memory cards or any other methods. Of course, by shooting with the roll(s) of film, I am very conscience and conservative on what I do and do not take. However, the fascination with a digital camera is the ability to take as many pictures as possible and still have the ability to immediately view them and easily delete them if not acceptable. Plus, I have the accessibility to upload them onto a camera and quickly sent to friends and family for viewing. Not to say that regular roll(s) of film can do that now if you request it.

Digital Photography/Processing must be considered new media as it has and continues to evolve with the times. Shutterfly started as merely as a storage site for photographs, and now, not only can you store photographs, but you can interactive within the site (i.e., upload songs, videos, provide comments, etc.), print out photographs, make albums and send them to whomever you like with the click of a button...in the comfort of your own home.

Privacy

A major part of New Media discussions is the issue of privacy and confidentiality. Social networking sites and blog sites are in particular the center of attention at the moment. Children and young adults are in particular vulnerable to the dangers that lie and wait on social networking sites. Children don’t think, period. They post personal details, photographs and intimate details that should really only be shared with very close friends. People who wish to do them harm use false names and details pretending to be of similar age to the child. This then leads them into a false sense of security and it’s not uncommon for a child to arrange to meet this stalker in person. The ease of internet access makes it much harder for parents to keep track of their child’s online activities.

Wiki So Far

So far on Wiki I have completed the required assignments but have yet to put anything of my own. To contribute to our ever growing class Wiki, I have plans to do something in the sports section. I follow a lot of sports and in particular football (soccer) and golf. I will look at the effect new media has had on them and what the benefits are for the fans.

The Next New Thing

I think a cell phone with cable capabilities would be an excellent new media for all those TV junkies out there. Perhaps the phone could be equipped with a longer battery lifetime as you can have the ability to watch your shows live. If that is not an option, perhaps the cell phone will have a “DVR” like capacity where it will have a large enough memory to record your favorite shows which could then allow you to play them back at a later time. Instead of reading a book, they can watch live or recorded shows either on the subway or bus. This would allow people to utilize their time better, and not spend so much of their evenings in front of a TV.

Advice to Baruch College

If I was hired at Baruch College to improve their new media, the first thing I would do is get rid of blackboard and set up Baruch’s own communication board. The blackboard seems to create so much traffic that it crashes all the time. In doing so, it affects the way the students need to utilize it. By creating Baruch’s own board, there should be some program in which Baruch’s board will be linked to the student’s e-mail where they will be periodically notified should anything be updated or given to the students by their respective professors. Hopefully, in using Baruch’s own board, it may minimize on the system crashing as students can easily and quickly check for any upcoming deadlines should they need to defer to the board.

Additionally, in order to maintain the emphasis on “being green,” all assignments, syllabus and any other handouts should be distributed and/or obtained via this system. Yes, it is similar to what we have right now with blackboard but the key factor is that Baruch should be able to maintain and manage its own database instead of having an outside source do it for them such as CUNY. Furthermore, I would also make sure that all professors use the system and not just some. The reason being is that we are living in an age where computers are becoming more and more accessible for everyone. For students who may or may not own or carry portable devices that can readily provide them the necessary information, I suggest that additional kiosks should be available in various locations so students can have the opportunity to check their e-mails and/or board.

My New Media Class So Far

In today’s society, new media is a commonly used term and applies to a lot of things we now take for granted such as Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Shutterfly, Twitter, etc. Technology is also part of the ever changing world of new media. Digital TV, DVR ("digital video recorder") boxes, computers, computer software programs (i.e., Adobe Photoshop) and digital cameras are just some of the technologies that we now use on a daily basis.
The internet is a major factor in making most of the new media possible. Without the internet, things such as blogs, emails, search engines and home shopping cannot exist. The world has now reached a stage where it can no longer operate without the internet and therefore we rely on it heavily. Having all these new technologies have now seen a decline and slowly a decline in old media. Newspaper sales, for instance, are no longer like they used to be. Unlike twenty years ago, people can now have access to any number of sources in which to get the latest news instead of waiting to the following day to obtain the news. With obtaining news online, you can instantly get the latest news. Post offices have also taken a hit as emailing someone takes seconds to arrive unlike a written letter which can take days and therefore is now referred to as “snail mail.”
Old media is slowly, but surely being edged out. Take TV for instance. Earlier this year, all TV stations have changed to digital as it is not possible to receive a signal through the old analogue aerial. Will radio go the same way? The disturbing thing now if the internet stops working, then the world is going to be set back many years as we all rely so heavily upon it. This is not a good thing. “You can watch the TV while you are using the internet, picture and picture, another section of it, you click on picture and picture and a little box appears in the corner, you can be chatting away or whatever and you can watch telly at the same time, you are not missing anything really.” Irish Communications Review Vol 9 2003.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Modeling reality with virtual worlds could be used by certain companies to give an indication of how the end product may look like. Take, for instance, a building company may want potential investors to finance/buy into. In order to do so, these companies may lay out a visual idea of how a finished project may look like. If it is potential hotel financiers, companies might want to give them a virtual tour around the hotel. They may provide the layout of what the front desk may look like, location of the pool, fitness center, how many rooms (small or large) there will be in the hotel and anything else that might draw these potential financiers in. This is a great way for companies to sell themselves without having to use a sales agent. The dark side to this would be that not everything you see in this virtual world will turn out as planned in months to come. There may by an unexpected situation or disastrous consequences that may not allow the company to complete the project as planned.

Aside from companies utilizing this virtual technology, there are people who go on to these virtual sites using characters that they have designed to interact with other virtual users. These "virtual" users are then realistically interacting with others in these virtual cities. What is normally done in real life can now be played out in these virtual worlds too! In this "virtual" world, you can be whomever you what to be. If you are a man and want to live and act out as a woman, it can be easily done in this virtual world.

An article in The New York Times talks about life in the virtual world which, to be quite frank with you, is quite frightening. When I read that a multimedia artist who was interviewed states that "you've experienced it as if it were real, because, in fact it is real" (NYT). Would you agree that this world is becoming a sad and pathetic place when people want to sit at home and pretend that they are at a bar instead of actually being in a bar socializing and interacting with other "real" people!?!?!? Where is the sense of joy and excitement in that? Or the thrill to be able to really sit next to someone and feel them and look directly into their eyes instead of pretending you are doing so in these virtual worlds. The real world can be difficult to deal with, but that is what makes us human. is it just me or is this world becoming a place for total one-dimensional losers!?!?!?