The Next New Thing

Social media has been dominating in these past couple of years.  Many kinds of new media began to pop up.  Things such as video blogs, live streams, gaming streams and more started to gain in popularity.  Even ways to share music gained popularity.  Things like Pandora and Spotify were invented and changed the way we listen to music.  I think music sharing can be taken to another level.  User created music is all over YouTube, but YouTube is not a dedicated site for sharing your own music creations.  I would like to see a site where a user can create a piece of music and post it on the site where another musician is able to download the track and add on his or own spin onto the track.  For example, a guitarist can play a soothing medley which he uploads onto the site.  A pianist then picks up this track and adds some piano onto the track.  This music track then goes back to guitarist for approval.  If the add on is approved, it gets sent out to the site again where another musician may pick up the track and add their own spin on it.  This continues until all participating artists are satisfied with the final piece of music.  The song is then placed on the site where other users can listen, comment, and rate the song.  This provides a whole new world where artists can come together, collaborate, and create beautiful music.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

Since the Wii U was announced last year,  much information has been released on it.  We now have the specs on the system and a release date of when the system will be released. (Holiday 2012).  I have updated the wiki to what was rumors and concept of the Wii successor, with factual information straight from reliable gaming news and Nintendo.  Since the unveiling of the Wii U, pressure has been put on Sony and Microsoft to produce their own systems.  Now rumors are starting to spread about what these two companies are doing for their next generation consoles.  I will create two new sections for these two new consoles.  In other gaming news, MMORPG Diablo III is set to release on May 15th will it's controversial auction house.  I will be updating the MMO section with that and explain how this auction house can change MMORPGs forever.

P2P File Sharing

The creation of the internet allowed the sharing of files to be extremely easy.  Instead of old fashioned mail, we have e-mail that allows us to send a message across the world in an instant without leaving the house.  As the internet and technology grows, larger files are being easier to share such as movies.  This is where file sharing becomes a problem.  File sharing is the act in which a user shares a file with another person.  This file may be their own personal created content or licensed material.  P2P stand for peer to peer.  This kind of sharing allows users to share their files to others online.  As long as they keep their upload online, other people are able to download and access the file.  A movie can be transferred from one peer to another peer through file sharing programs such as torrents.  Torrents have become a huge problem for the media industry as a huge chunk of views on movies and shows have come from either streaming sites or torrent downloads.  In the article "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios", Stelter states how the popular show "Heroes" gets downloaded 5 million times when it averages 10 million American viewers each week.  Although file sharing has lead to an easier way for user to share files, it has created a headache for the media.

Article Referenced
 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/media/05piracy.html?_r=1

Privacy

With the introduction of new media, it has become easier to share information with others.  This does pose problems though.  One of the main problems is privacy.  Putting information on new media puts your information at risk.  Although it is an easier way to share information, there may be some people whom you do not wish to share with, but are able to access it.  Just knowing this scares people from using new media to its potential.  A personal video on YouTube or a private picture on Facebook may be leaked out into the world.  Social media sites do as much as they can to combat the theft of information but it still happens.  For a user to be totally safe from threats against their privacy, they are best not posting any personal information on these new media sites at all.  Some users are infuriated when their personal information is leaked.  This can sometimes be due to the lack of care that a user takes when using social media sites.  When using new media sites, take caution on what you post as it may harm your privacy and confidentiality.

Advice to Baruch College

Baruch College does not integrate a lot of new media in their classrooms at this present time.  In this recent semester, Baruch offers only one online class.  This is the new media class.  Baruch already does have some sort of new media in place, such as Blackboards discussion board, but in my 4 years here, I have rarely used it.  If classes are to be integrated with new media, they would need to use a new media that students are already familiar with.  This way they will not need to learn a new tool that may hinder the learning experience.  YouTube videos of lectures could be put up, Facebook groups can be created, and even live video streams over physical lectures can help.  Signing into the video stream chat room can be considered the attendance. 

Creativity

This is the age of user created content.  Social media is dominating the internet and most of the content on these social media websites are user generated.  Ideas are sprouted and shared around the world through the internet where new ideas grow.  Being able to share content with others through new media springs "what if" questions and leads to individuals or groups creating their own ideas to share with the internet.  In the article "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why", we see the birth of a widely popular mash-up on YouTube.  Being inspired by the rap song, the creators probably thought to themselves "what if" Disney characters were to rap and dance like they do in the rap video?  This further led to many other parodies showing up on YouTube.  Many other animated character have been part of the soulja boy mash-ups.  As new media continues to allow users to share their ideas instantly around the world, more people will continue to speculate on these ideas and begin to create their own.

Creativity and New Media

As I mentioned in my last post, the game Minecraft is the definition of creativity.  Like second world, you have an avatar and you interact with others in-game.  The difference is you not only control your avatar, but you create the world around you as well.  The screenshot below shows just a glimpse of what me and my friends have built, block by block.  Now that's creativity.
http://imgur.com/pDIjk