New Media Learner: Omar B.

                With the advancements of technology in new media, it's hard to imagine what new major break in new media will come out. That said, with the little of imagination I have, I still believe that immersion is the next step in media growth. For example, augmented reality has been pairing up with virtual reality to create things that were once impossible - I believe a new media platform will be mass collaborative softwares - such as fully virtual enterprises previously experimented with by companies such as Google's Hangouts, Slack and various other attempts to virtualize enterprise. I believe that as people become more familiar with the software they work with, they will take these softwares to new heights. Personally, I believe there is a lot of untapped potential in Intranet software. Companies are very slow to adopt cutting edge technologies because of previous infrastructure. Something that my company has been experimenting with a ...

Whether it be nostalgia or not, I have a deep fascination about how the Wild West era (less structure and privatization) of the Internet affected the modern Internet we know today. Before the advent of CSS and Javascript, websites were mainly text, and looked ugly but were nonetheless functional. Websites nowadays are the heart of organizations, companies, forums, blogs, video hosting pages and everything else imaginable. Everything from Google.com, as barebones as it may look, is a website with its own reason of being. (1) I want to study the evolution of the website and how creative individuals took a text editor and created something out of nothing to revolutionize the way the Internet connects. My research thus far have included the introduction of HTML 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, how websites of the past matched their demographic and how the advent of the CSS, JavaScript, PHP and SQL led to the mass technological feats of today's modern website. I want to highlight the most important...

At its simplest definition, file sharing is the transfer of any file, whether it be text, audio, video or project, from one individual to another. In application of the digital age, is the practice of distributing or providing access to media between individuals. (Definition based off of Wikipedia). What makes this idea so controversial in the modern age? The practice has come under scrutiny because the sharing of files can lead to the loss of revenues for many companies and of course, being companies filed litigations against various entities during the maturity of the Internet - the problem being, "Do we have the right to share files that are not 'ours' ". The definition of ownership has come under question, do we own the MP3 files of CDs that we spent our hard earned money on? Companies argue that we only own the privilege of using the files we purchase on an INDIVIDUAL BASIS and thus are not entitled to share the files with other beings. The most heavily attacked ...

One of the ways Baruch College can improve the university experience for its students is increasing the community atmosphere and community engagement within the university. Because Baruch College is tainted with the reputation of being a commuter school, many students become disengaged with the community of the school. Therefore to remedy this, the school can launch initiatives with new media mediums such as social media to increase awareness of social events and other aspects of college social life. They can also create initiatives for classroom settings that allow faculty and students to engage in subject matters more in depth and increase the overall academic aspects of the university setting. The Internet has invited Baruch College and the rest of universities to live online, providing a more intimate relationship with its student body and can continue to cater to students in a way that increases the benefits of the student body.

          Privacy in the modern landscape is a pressing issue - due to unmarked territory and a lack of precedence. Cameras are everywhere and you are unable to determine your privacy outdoors, a privilege that was once taken for granted but has since been commoditized and sold against our intentions at heart. For example, companies such as Google has been able to monetize our privacy and tendencies to sell to advertisers. In today's society, the definition of privacy is changing with our norms according to a blog posted by Daniel Reed. He argues that the physical aspect of privacy is becoming less relevant as the Internet is taking over our virtual lives. Many of the companies that we sell our privacy to do a poor job of protecting our information. Take for example, the University of Maryland security breach, who exposed 300,000 records of students, faculty and staff dating back to 1998. Mass aggregation of information poses this risk and ultimately harm the p...

I really felt bad for my pet chickens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKl1gSDrF5I

One of my favorite things to follow online in Internet culture. It's fun. Give someone a media platform like Youtube or Adobe Premiere, and they'll take it and make their own - People are artists after all; one should never underestimate the power of boredom either. I had the opportunity to read the article of music mashups - an interesting method of artistry for music composition. The article "1+1+1=1" from The New Yorker depicts musician Jeremy Brown, as he experiments with the rhythm, instrumentation, and song beats of a plethora of genres. He was able to mix Indie, classic rock and avant-garde music with contemporary feels of pop and hip-hop. He mixes artists like rap mogul Jay Z with British Invasion phenomenon group the Beatles to create new music. New accessible technologies in music fosters musician creativity and make platforms such as music mashups.

Virtual Worlds are an exciting media medium that can have many real world applications for problems. In the article "'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction", virtual world software Second Life has given people with autism the chance to re-represent themselves. Second Life is a software that acts as a sandbox experience, allowing people to make virtual avatars and interact with an ever changing environment. Communities are being created on these virtual worlds and can attribute to one of virtual's worlds biggest strengths. This strength is immersion, it allows people to experience a new interactive world. Another one of the virtual worlds' pros is unlimited creativity and applications. We are already saw massive virtual worlds such as Second Life, VR Chat  and Minecraft spark massive creative communities. For example, various articles including "Going to the virtual office in Second Life" all hint at Second Life's impact on the r...

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit I chose these 4 as I use these 4 on a daily basis. I fit the trends of most social media usage - I seldom use Facebook, only for connecting with distant relatives and for event confirmations on campus. I don't use Facebook messenger and I don't like reading people's posts because it's either highly political or ads/spam. I don't like Facebook but I keep it in order to have the ability to connect to anyone from my past and present. Facebook in my honest opinion is used for posting pictures, and general conversations on people's walls. I see Facebook as a place for people to fight and argue about meaningless stuff. As for Twitter, I began using it about a couple of months ago. I only follow certain friends and a bunch of global politicians. For me, Twitter is basically the wall portion of Facebook but more focused. It's for companies to be alive and for people to share memes and the newest jokes. Instagram is anoth...

The differences between a Twitter discussion online and a Blackboard Discussion can be broken down to the differences in both Twitter's and Blackboard's purpose of being. BlackBoard is primarily a communication platform between professors and students, where students can supplement their in class environment with an external presence - hence the name "BlackBoard". Twitter is more broad - it is a platform for anyone with a twitter handle to have a voice on global internet conversations. Although BlackBoard is a more intimate environment, Twitter is more direct: everyone has a unique page, with a unique handle picture and background. On top of this, they have a post history that anyone can search. This makes @people ("at"ing people) more personal, it's like two people talking in public. This is the primary difference between the two platforms.

What are some ways (corporate and otherwise) that these technologies can be used? What are the benefits of these technologies to society? Be specific. Is there a "dark side"? Make sure to include your opinion of the way these technologies might evolve in the future. Social networking has been shown to have both positive and negative effects on today's modern cultural landscape.  Thanks to social networking, companies can feel more alive than ever. For example, a company can create a livid community for its customers and personify their firm to increase outreach to consumers. For David Klonke, CEO of Right Hook Branded Merchandise, he created a community to increase his firm's visibility . For us, everyday users the benefits of social networking is apparent on the daily. We are able to rekindle friendships, stay connected instantaneously. There is an inherit dark side with social networking - the invasion of privacy. The invasion of privacy is the biggest threat to o...

With the introduction of the affordable microprocessor in the late 20th century, personal computers or PCs revolutionized the way we interact with information and each other. It paved the way for mass globalization of the late 20th and early 21st century, as well as introduce a plethora of new technologies for us to experience. One such technology is Virtual Reality. Thanks to the efforts of companies such as HTC and Oculus, a new world is being created - one that we can freely enter from the comfort of our own homes. Applications of the format are already being discussed and researched in fields of education, medicine, psychology and robotics. My goal will be to examine the possibilities and advancements of various fields that virtual reality will enable or at the very least assist in. My research will seek the positive benefits to society the technology will bring. I also want to compare the medium against negative impacts - such as privacy - and weigh the two to determine if the for...