My Term Project

For my research paper, I chose to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Virtual Worlds. In my first paragraph, I give a short summary of what virtual worlds actually is, as well as giving the history behind it, and how it became so popular in our world today. I go on to explain several advantages and disadvantages in the next few paragraphs of my paper. First, I state that virtual worlds allows for a creative outlet for the participant, perhaps like a home away from home. However, the disadvantage to that is the participant can potentially get sucked into a life that isn't real.

In the next paragraph, I continue with the theme,discuss advantage vs. disadvantage, or in my paper,healthy vs unhealthy. I portray that some of the healthy reasons to having a virtual world/creating an avatar, which is that they can be very beneficial to people with disabilities. But I then counter act, and talk about the unhealthy reasons to having a virtual world, psychologically.

Another advantage and disadvantage I discuss is how friendships and relationships can be made through virtual worlds, much like in social networking sites, but like we all know, there are many dangerous factors or chance of danger when it comes to issues like this.

I conclude with an observation of how a balance is needed between the imaginary world and reality, and conclude with how virtual worlds can become your "real life." I also end with a quote by one of the virtual worlds experts.

I discovered alot of information about virtual worlds, and learned alot as well, but the main conclusion I came up with, is that virtual worlds can be very unhealthy if you use it in the wrong way. For instance, to learn from others and communicate with people who share interests is fine, but my findings showed that alot of people use virtual worlds to hide who they really are, and do things that they would never do in reality. It is almost like the virtual world is their real world, and many potentially dangerous factors can come of that.

I used the Internet for some of my research but I also used three books on virtual worlds, which is where the core of my research came from. I chose the topic of virtual worlds because I found that it was most interesting to me, and there are so many ways to go about learning the topic or discussing it. My paper contributes to news media, because it is a new way that people communicate with each other. For example, instead of going to a real actual park and meeting someone and communicating, participants of virtual worlds can go to a virtual park, without leaving their house, and communicate with someone.

I contributed some information to a wiki page on virtual worlds, so if you would like to see it, the link is posted underneath this excerpt.

http://baruchnewmedia.com/wiki/Virtual_Worlds

Privacy in New Media

When it comes to certain aspects of New Media, for example social networking, the user really does not have much privacy. Take facebook, people can see what your doing, what day and time your doing it, who your friends with, who you share stories with (for instance on your facebook wall page), where you go (pictures), who your family and friends are, and if you add a status, what your doing at that exact moment. There really is not much privacy. Granted, you can choose to have privacy or not, by changing your privacy settings, or not accepting someone as a friend, or even by simply not updating your status every 10 minutes. However, once you are friends with a person on facebook, you really can see very far into their private life, and privacy is no longer private.

Our Class Wiki- So Far

Besides the assignments we have had to do on the Class Wiki, I started to edit a Virtual Worlds page. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual worlds is what my research paper topic is, so i have learned quite a bit about this subject. I went to the homepage, and added some information I thought was important in knowing what Virtual Worlds are. I discussed how virtual worlds can help people with disabilities or even self-esteem issues. I also explained about what people might do through their avatar character.

Since this has been the only page I have edited, I plan on editing others that I have some knowledge about. As it comes closer to the finishing of my research paper, I also plan on adding more information on the virtual worlds page that I have already edited. I will probably discuss some of the disadvantages of it, since there are not explained anywhere on the homepage.

The Next New Thing

Many of us love shopping online. It's easy, fun, and always exciting waiting for your merchandise to be delivered to your house. Well, what I would like to see, which I guess you could say is a type of "new media," is something like a virtual closet. You can download a full length picture of yourself, and attach the clothing, shoes, jewelry, etc. to the image of yourself, and see how you would look with it, before you decide to buy it. I know from experience, that there have been times where I ordered clothes, and they didn't fit right, or just didn't look good. This is a chance, to virtually see how the clothes may look on you, and help your decision alot more on what you want to buy. It may sound a little far-fetched, because of course trying something on your actual body is better than trying it on virtually, on a clothing website, but I still think its a fun idea.

Advice to Baruch College

On top of tuition, books is just another thing we have to pay for when going to school, and they can be quite expensive. What I would like to see Baruch have is a e-books link on their website where all class textbooks are available to read. Students can just click a link and have the textbook right on the screen in front of them, instead of having to purchase it at high costs at a bookstore or carry all these heavy books to class (and all over the city) when usually most teachers ask to leave the textbook at home. And since there would be no cost on paper or printing, the e-books can be cheap or possibly even free.

My New Media Class- So far

As the semester has went on, and we have learned more and more about New Media, we are becoming very familiar with it's technologies. Some of these technologies that are part of the new media are flikr and picasa which took over photography and youtube which took over film. There are podcasts replacing radio and blogs replacing journalism. There are also e-books, hypertexts, and wikis replacing books. There are social networking sites that are part of new media such as facebook, myspace, twitter, and badoo.

Internet is essential to new media because it is where all of the above mentioned and more are taking place. In order to read a blog, you need to be on the Internet. To be able to catch up with friends on facebook or myspace, you need to be on the Internet. Everything I mentioned has to do with the computer, and being on the World Wide Web, as well call it.

I already explained how new media is replacing old media, but why is old media being replaced? Old Media is being replaced because technology is changing and being updated every day. We are finding out all new ways to accomplish things with using the computer and Internet, and since they are very important components to our world today, people use them for almost everything. So old media is becoming a thing of the past, hence the word old, and all of the new media technologies are more accessible on that thing we use everyday called the computer.

Cited Readings: Friedman, Linda. “Old Media, New Media.” 2009. Baruch College.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

I think that Virtual Worlds is a great place for the imagination and one's creative outlet. It gives people a chance to use their imagination and do things that one cannot do in "real life." For example, fly. It allows you to open up a world for yourself that you may not have or be able to have in the real world, but through imagination, it can provide similiar satisfaction. For example, In the Youtube video "A second life on second life," the woman describes what it is like to have a disability, and creating an avatar for herself in the virtual world, allows her to do things that she physically cannot like walk, dance, jump, etc. This is another reason how virtual worlds can help people. This woman learned more about her disability and shared stories with other "avatars," with similiar disabilities and different ones as well. Virtual Worlds allow users to explore the environment and interact with other people and information. Like social networking, its a place where people can communicate and share ideas by developing their own simulations and models. These virtual worlds allow players to create individuated characters with unique identities, and sometimes be someone they want to be but are not. By saying that, I'm not trying to imply that being your own person is wrong, because each and every individual should find happiness within themselves and who they are, but with societies pressures, people are constantly trying to be someone there not. A virtual world in a way can help an individuals self-esteem, as crazy as that may sound. By acting through avatars, players take on a role distinct from yet related to their own identity. This allows players to create public characters who think and act as members of a community, rather than just being a private individual like they may be in real life. Also, The avatar can choose to behave in ways that the avatars creator might not.

The only dark side that I can see a virtual world having is similiar to the above, basically having to do with psychology. A person may get great joy from creating an avatar because of the many reasons I mentioned earlier, but in some cases it can lead to a false sense of reality. The person might be come so wrapped up in their " second life" on the computer, that they neglect importants aspects of their real, actual life. They can become so fascinated with their avatars character, that they forget who they are. This is probably a rare case for most people, but it is possible and one of the negative aspects I could see virtual worlds having.

Virtual worlds create a community of people and the participants can learn as much from eachother as from talking to any official source of information. Just like in social networking, it can bring to the surface a world of new ideas and evolve people's commitment to a better community.

Social Networking

Social Networking technologies can be used in a numerous amount of ways. Here are some of the ways that these technologies can be used and their benefits. Many use it to keep in touch with old family or friends or get reacquainted with someone from their past. Big companies or small business advertise there merchandise, services etc,to the public (their target market) and can draw in more clientèle and/or business opportunities. Others share their ideas with people and get feedback which can help them put those ideas into something real and tangible. Some people even start charities or organizations to help others in need, and many people provide advice on something that they are somewhat of an expert about to others looking for that specific information. Musicians use to it to promote their music in hopes of getting gigs or one day making it big. Social Networking is huge, and whether its corporate or personal, it can be very advantageous. Like the youtube video, Social Networking in Plain English, you can get free customer reviews without advertising and give yourself the chance to do what you want and say what you want thanks to blogs, podcasts, and video sharing.

However, there can always be a dark side to these technologies as well. For example, Facebook and Myspace. Of course, its a good way to keep in touch with your family and friends or share your opinions and views on different things, but there is also sexual harassment issues as well, which was stated in the class lecture notes. Due to facebook/myspace comments, you can have people leaving inappropriate comments or inbox messages to you which isn't what you wanted when you signed up for these sites. Now with everything in this world, there are pros and cons to these sort of things, but sexual harassment can also lead to stalking and rape. There have been several cases of young women being stalked on facebook which can lead to a number of dangerous outcomes. And yes, many will say that there are privacy options one can make on facebook and myspace and yes, its your choice to accept someone or not especially if you don't know them, but its still an important issue that should be taken into consideration, especially with young children.

What I like about these technologies is that anyone can put their ideas into writing or videos and show the world what they want to be done or changed. These ideas can start as just a thought but can become something so huge and lead to many good things. There are some down points to it, but you have to take the good with the bad, and social networking can put a whole new twist on technologies that can only help it evolve into bigger and better opportunities for society.

Check out Social Networking Sites

Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, and Linkedin are all social networking sites that pretty much have the same thing in common. They are all a place where you can make connections with family, friends, old friends,future clients/employees, business opportunities, etc. You share information about yourself, make friends, and view information about other people. You can get reacquainted with someone from your past, or catch up with someone you haven't been able to speak to as often because of life's busy schedules. You can even advertise your business or talents, and make connections with people doing the same thing or possibly looking for your services. Each of these sites plus others that are out there all do these things, and the best part about it, is its free and can still open up a world of opportunities and new adventures and friends.

Blogs vs. Wikis

What is the difference between a blog and a wiki? Well, a blog consists primarily of multiple essays or excerpts presented in chronological order, last written, first read. A blog is usually personal, with little collaboration, and the posting is owned by the poster. A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify the content. A wiki can be personal, but it is open to collaboration. A blog is not open to direct editing by the readers, and if it is edited by the author, earlier versions are not retained like in the wiki. A blog has archives by date and possible category, and a wiki rarely has archives. There is a much broader range of contributors (authors, editors, researchers) that share in the wiki, then in a blog. Wiki pages almost always appear separately, not in a stream, and in a blog, each passage is written one after the other, in a stream. There are several other differences between blogs and wikis as well.

I feel that blogs are already somewhat used for collaboration because people can comment on what the blogger contributes to their page, and others can view those comments. However, if society wanted blogs to be a more informative type of collaboration, we can make blogs more open to the public like the wiki, where people can contribute their ideas to the blog topic, instead of just have a commentary page. They can even put up external links on the blog where it can bring the reader to a poll whether they agree or not with the blogger and what they feel can be useful information to the blog topic. This can make it a little bit more collaborative because people aren't just commenting, but having their own links to share their ideas.

In society now, there are always new products being made, places to see, and things to do. A wiki could also be used as a place where people can find out new things to do and/or how to go about doing it. For example, a vacation spot. A family wants to find a new place to go but doesn't know much about it. They can go on the wiki, and see what other people have to say about it and things to do and places to go at that specific vacation spot. It can even have links to nice hotels or restaurants for the people to plan their trip. This way instead of searching site after site on places to go, you have it all in one on the wiki.

The importance of convergence in today's networked world is because it is a new concept that is growing day by day, and will continue to grow in the future by combining and incorporating existing media forms. Eventually, it can create a whole new media.


Cited Articles: Elaine Plybon. "Blogs and Wikis in the Classroom" (2008)

Old Media vs. New Media

New Media is just a transformation of already established and existing media, aka old media. Its a change, an innovation, a revision some even like to say. To me, it is like taking one thing and enhancing it to be the same yet different. Different types of Old Media are TV/film, radio, magazines, books, music, photography, etc. Now TV and movies have transitioned over to youtube, radio to podcast, books to wikis, and ebooks. Music to pandora and mashups, photography changed to Flickr, Picasa, and photoshop. People don't even read the newspaper or magazines as much anymore because there reading blogs and what the world now calls "ezines." Everything has been enhanced to some other version all to be seen and used on the Internet.

How News Media Effects the Entertainment Industry

The topic I chose for my research paper is How News Media Effects the Entertainment Industry. Before I explain what I will be writing about and the approach I am going to take, I figured I'd start off by adding a personal note.

Today, entertainment in whatever form it may come is everywhere. On TV, in magazines and newspapers, on the radio, we are constantly hearing about celebrities and the gossip, movies, music, etc. We all watch TV, we all listen to the radio at some point while driving in our cars or shopping in a store, and yes believe it or not, we all occasionally take a glance at the magazine title of Us Weekly or People. This may be Old Media, but it all becomes New Media once we read it or look it up on the Internet, or socialize about it on Facebook or Twitter.

This is why I thought this would be an interesting topic to research and write about. I am going to talk about how News Media plays such an important role into the Entertainment Industry and how it effects the lives of the entertainers and the viewers/listeners.

What is New Media?

According to Wikipedia, New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Also called social media, the new media are internet-based technologies that characterize what we call the “5 c’s.” The “5 c’s” are communication, collaboration, community, creativity, and convergence.

Some kinds of technologies that are part of the new media are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Badoo, etc. Many of these technologies are how people connect with one another and/or socialize.

Internet is very important to the new media because is basically like the motherload of it all. Without the Internet, none of the previously mentioned would be possible. Everything is done on computers now, you can even order a pizza online these days.

New Media is replacing old media, because everything that is and was tangible is all on the Internet now. Journalism is turning into blogs, radio to podcasts, film to youtube, photography to flickr, photoshop, and picasa. These are only a few of the many replacements of old media to new media.

Citings: Friedman, Linda. “Old Media, New Media.” 2009. Baruch College. 7 Sept 2009. http://bbhosted.cuny.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_187392_1%26url%3d

Just a little something that I watched and thought was pretty funny. Those who grew up around music, whether singing or playing an instrument, will most likely relate to this guy. And if you didn't, it's just a good laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM