The Next New Thing

The next new thing would be like eHarmony but for everything in life and not just dating. Users could fill out a very extensive questionnaire and then it would match them with friends with similar interests, ideas for vacation, ideas for shopping, etc.

It would serve as resource to advise you on every aspect of your life based on questionnaire which explores the deepest parts of personality, therefore the connections would not be based on superficial interests you list, but based on your innate traits.

Evidently, this would require the use of very complex algorithims, however in a few years, I certainly see it as being possible.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I have not added any content to our class wiki, however I do have plans for what I want to do. As editor of "New Media in Entertainment," I want to make sure the page is coherent, organized, and visually appealing. In addition, I will read through the wiki page and check it for grammar and other errors.

Also, after reading an interesting article. I want to add a wiki page titled "Mobile Phones and New Media". I think smartphones is a very big part of our generation and would be an interesting topic to discuss as part of our class wiki. I've started my research by looking at the evolution of cell phones throughout the years and how new media technology has changed the cell phone industry.

About My Term Research Paper

My term research paper discussed the positive and negative effects of social networking on society. Positive issues discussed included easier cultural diffusion, quicker communication, and easier facilitation for business outreach. Negative effects included privacy and identity theft issues, decreased face to face interaction, and unethical business practices.

I chose this topic because social networking is considered the “in thing” in today’s society. My sources used throughout the paper include newspaper/magazine articles, scholarly journals, and organization websites. I began my research using the Baruch database system. My scholarly sources came from the EBSCOhost database and a few others that Baruch offers students access to.

In my research paper, a brief history of social networking was also discussed. I certainly learned more about the history and development of social networking sites. For example, I learned that SixDegrees.com which launched in 2007 was the first recognized social networking site.

Based on my research and own experiences with social networking, I believe the positive effects outweigh the negative. Social networking provides much more benefits that it does pose risks. Though issues such as privacy pose great dangers for users, when the right precautionary measure are taken, users can minimize this risk.

Privacy & Confidentiality

As if identity theft wasn’t an issue already, new media is like identity theft on steroids. New media makes communication and collaboration faster, but with this faster transfer of this “good” information, there comes the faster and easier transfer of the information you’d prefer to keep private.

I think a lot of the responsibility is on the user. The user needs to be more aware of what they are putting on the web. For example, a lot of social networking sites give user's the option of certain privacy settings; It is then the user's responsibility to select the best options depending on the amount of information they want to share with basically...the whole world!

On the other hand, for those users who do take precaution in what they post online, there are people who use new media unethically. For example businesses prey on potential hires, specifically looking for "dirt" and invade their privacy. Also, cyber criminals prey and hack into sites gathering information on their victims to steal their identity. There needs to be stronger internet policies that prevent this negative transfer of information and protect users.

I do believe that privacy and confidentiality in new media is certainly an issues. However, I am firm believer that is a joint responsibility of the user and new media information policy creators.

Advice to Baruch College

I must say, I think Baruch in recent years have been trying more and more to include new media to improve the experience of its students. Besides Blackboard (which is a great tool), Baruch also posts updates on Facebook and Twitter. 

I would certainly advise Baruch to include more online classes in their curriculum. As a student who is taking 5 classes and working over 30 hours a week, I found it extremely helpful that one of my classes was available online. This class proved that blogging can be a great way to interact with students and classmates and I think it would be essential in helping students become more "internet savvy". Yes Baruch does provide a similar forum with Blackboard, however blogs allow for better customization and interaction from a wider range of students.

In addition, something I've heard being discussed by the current USG is a potential Student Government app. This made me think of the creation of a Baruch app. As the popularity of smartphones increase, I think it would be very exciting to have a Baruch application that informed students of all the important events and dates for registration, club events, etc. Rather than students having to go on the Baruch website or read through countless emails, important dates would be easily accessible on their smartphone.

Movie Bonus: The Social Network

The Social Network was certainly entertaining! It was very interesting to literally watch the creation of one of the biggest raves of today's society, Facebook. For the whole time I sat in the theatre, I couldn't stop thinking to myself "Why didn't I come up with this idea?"

The movie touched on a lot of interesting topics, including intellectual property and friendship. It really sparked my interest in intellectual property and understanding what it is. It just reinforced how secretive we have to be in today's world, especially with our ideas and potential business ventures.

The quote featured on the movie banner said, "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies". This was certainly evident throughout the whole movie: Though Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) would get more successful in terms of Facebook, he did so at the expense of his relationships including his girlfriend and best friend. The friendship theme really stood out to me, because I'm a firm believer of the cliche, "Never forget where you came from." It was interesting to see what success and money can potentially do to a great friendship. I found it very symbolic when the movie ended with Mark requesting his ex-girlfriend. It made you wonder, "Is fame and fortune worth losing those you care for?" Ideally of course, there was another way, and Mark could have certainly been successful without hurting his relationships in the process.

Nonetheless it was a great movie with good acting! I think it is certainly a must-see for today's generation!

Twitter v. Blackboard Discussion

One of the major differences with Twitter discussions and that of Blackboard, is the amount of words you can use to express your idea. Each tweet allows a maximim amount of 160 characters, whereas on Blackboard you are not limited.

With Twitter, responding to someone's tweet is time sensitive, because withouth a retweet it is hard to follow a discussion. However, on Blackboard, your response is easy to follow, because it creates a thread under the original post.

Twitter significantly differs from an in-class discussion, because it is much easier to express thoughts in person rather than through text. Also, just like Blackboard, with an in class discussion, you need not express your thoughts in such a concise manner as twitter requires.