About my Project

The topic of my project is "The power of Social Capital". My main goal was to summarize the benefits arising from Social networking to better understand its power and impact it may have on our society. I gave examples of how Social Networking may bring any kind of social group together in one place and let them co-operate, get information and gain knowledge. Individuals and professionals commonly use it to benefit in many different areas/disciplines of life, which I described in detail. I described main characteristics of Social Networking and provide some interesting real life examples. I also discovered some disadvantages that I did not hesitate to mention in my work. I learned a lot during the process and became aware of or better understand new technologies that are part of our new media now. I Chose this topic because it fascinated me how Social Networking became so popular and significant in almost every aspect of our life.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Online privacy and confidentiality draw significant attention these days, especially when it pertains to children. All Web site operators must be aware of the COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, to obtain parental consent in connection with the collection of personal information from children under 13 years old.

Another practice raising privacy concerns is so called “ advergaming”, the provision of marketing-driven interactive games. The purpose of such games is data collection, like user name, mailing address, sex, age, etc.

Class Wiki - So Far

I have started contributing to the Class Wiki recently since it took me a while to figure out how to work this out. Therefore I did not offer a lot in contributions so far, but I am working on it.

So far I have been making some small changes, which stand for grammar and space corrections. They are reflected in different pages created on our Class Wiki. I am in the process of editing the Glossary and New page I created about Microblogging. I also added a link to the article related to the issue. I will continue working on those next week.

ADVICE TO BARUCH COLLEGE

Second Life offers a variety of new and exciting possibilities for teachers and students.
The idea for Baruch College is to deliver a wide range of courses and educational events using an on-line virtual world. Avatar-based virtual world education is very effective and highly interactive experience. Students would most gladly attend the virtual classroom. The biggest benefit of Virtual Education would be:

1. Thousands of students can be in the same class at the same time.
2. Students can watch the professor write on the electronic white board
3. Students can post questions during class time to smooth the progress of learning.
4. Immediate after class Web-based testing
5. Chat rooms for after-class discussions on the presented topic
6. Students can learn from the best instructors and experts
7. Student flexibility – individual learning style

Implementing this idea would give new opportunities to studying moms and students with disabilities who have limited access to education. This would make the learning process more interesting and exciting. Having said that, I also believe that this would encourage more people to apply and gain college degree.

THE NEXT NEW THING!!!

Digital Touch - Screen Kiosks: in airports and other heavily trafficked locations where consumers can plug in a flush drive and instantly download movies and other content. Please check the below link to read the whole article.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3i8ef233d9d2bed355990b13091a51365b

My New Media Class So Far

The new media technologies are web-related communication technologies, such as blogs, wikis, virtual worlds, online social networking, and other. New media are characterized by collaboration, creativity, convergence and communication. An access to and use of the Internet have become a normal aspect of everyday life in the world and it is continuously improving the way of communication in society.

Social networks are used widely in all aspects of our life. For example: Networking became a critical skill in the job search process. Thousands of jobs are now listed daily over the Internet. Internet is so called "door - opener" and it's hard to imagine our life without it. To continue on the above idea - we also have "Linked in", where you have an opportunity to present yourself to a very professional environment, make connections, and put your foot in the door by making a good impression and get recommendations.

In conclusion, it is not a surprise that new media are replacing old media, however we also need to remember of the fact that " the old media were once new". Media consumption habits are quickly changing followed by technology innovations. The biggest difference between new and old media is the level of communication and collaboration needed to be successful.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. The virtual world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments. There are many different types of virtual worlds. All off them allow many users to participate at once and interaction takes place in real time. The world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content. The virtual world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.

Virtual worlds have been created for many different purposes. Commercial gaming worlds tend to be the largest and most common type of virtual world that are strongly influenced by fantasy, science fiction, and anime genres of literature and film. Those gaming worlds consistently follow formal conventions such as character-focused avatars, progression through an interactive narrative storyline, and a series of competitive events.

Some virtual worlds have been created for educational purposes. Academic institutions or nonprofit organizations mostly sponsor educational worlds. Forms of Educational worlds include 3D recreations of museum and gallery spaces, computer programming tutorials, virtual libraries, and meeting spaces for online university courses. Similarly, IBM’ idea of creating virtual world for employee trainings may be very attractive to young employees. This makes people “more willing to take risks and more flexible in their thinking”. (Ed Frauenheim)

In addition to the above, there are many commercial community-focused virtual worlds that put emphasis on socializing rather than gaming. These worlds are strongly influenced by the cultures of text-based chat rooms. Participants are there to socialize with others and, in many cases, create and decorate a personal space such as a home, room, or apartment. Social worlds tend to use settings based on idealized versions of reality. Most provide some basic building tools and the ability to host activities and events that revolve around a wide variety of topics.

Social Networking Sites!

Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information. The most popular social networking websites that are being used regularly by millions of people include:


FACEBOOK - Users can add friends, send messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region.

Facebook’s features:

1. Wall - a space on every user's profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see,
2. Pokes - allows users to send a virtual "poke" to each other; a notification then tells a user that they have been poked.
3. Photos - allows users to upload albums and unlimited number of photos.
4. Status - allows users to inform their friends of their actions.
5. Wall is visible to anyone who is able to see that user's profile, depending on privacy settings.

6. News Feed - appears on every user's homepage and highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays of the user's friends.
7. Tag, or label users in a photo - user can tag the friend in the photo. This sends a notification to the friend that they have been tagged, and provides them a link to see the photo.
8. Chat - allows users to communicate with friends and is similar in functionality to desktop-based instant messengers.
9. Gifts - allows users to send virtual gifts to their friends that appear on the recipient's profile.

MYSPACE - anyone can customize the layout and colors of their profile page with virtually no restrictions; it allows users to customize their user profile pages by entering HTML into such areas as "About Me," "I'd Like to Meet," and "Interests." Users also have the option to add music to their profile pages via MySpace Music, a service that allows bands to post songs for use on MySpace.

MySpace’s features:

1. MySpace Records - artists can upload their songs onto MySpace and have access to millions of people on a daily basis.
2. Bulletins - posts that are posted on to a "bulletin board" for everyone on a MySpace user's friends list to see. Bulletins can be useful for contacting an entire friends list without resorting to messaging users individually. Bulletins are deleted after ten days.
3. Groups - feature which allows a group of users to share a common page and message board.
4. MySpace IM - an instant messenger. Users who use MySpace IM get instant notification of new MySpace messages, friend requests, and comments.
5. MySpace TV - similar to the YouTube website.
6. MySpace News - displays news from RSS feeds that users submit. It also allows users to rank each news story by voting for it. The more votes a story gets, the higher the story moves up the page.

FRIENDSTER - allow users to contact other members, maintain those contacts, and share online content and media with those contacts. The website is also used for dating and discovering new events, bands, and hobbies. Users may share videos, photos, messages and comments with other members via their profile and their network.

LINKEDIN - LinkedIn allow users to connect professionally and build relationships with people. It also allows users to research companies with which they may be interested in working. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections.

• A contact network is built up through direct connections, second-degree connections and third-degree connections. This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact.
• It is used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network.
• Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

BLOGS vs. WIKIS

1. Blogs vs. Wikis - SIMILARITIES

• Easy to set up and edit
  Access to anyone in the world
• Unable people to express their own ideas
  Link to other websites
• Insert photos
  Place to collaborate on projects
  Public form of communication

2. Blogs vs. Wikis – DIFFERENCES

BLOGS: Usually single author; Usually personalCollaborative; Reverse Chronological order; Newest entry at the top; Only blogger can update the post;Each post followed by signature; External Links.

WIKIS: Collaborative Authoring; Usually objectiveMany people edit the page; Structure determined by content and users; Allow open editing; Anonymous posts; External and Internal Links.

IDEA: I think students and teachers should use both Blogs and Wikis more often as this would allow them to communicate more effectively and become a place to collaborate on projects. They both are generating different types of discussion and may successfully suit educational purposes if used properly by individuals. “Wikis excel at collaboration” and “are intended to maintain a series of unique documents as their content evolves” as stated in “How to use Wikis for Business” by Ezra Goodnoe. He explains that Wiki can centralize all types of data, such as spreadsheets, Power Point slides, Word Documents and other extensively used by students on everyday basis when working on group projects. Collaborative format of Wikis would be a central location where shared documents can be viewed and revised by students when working on a particular topic.

Old vs. New

”Old Media were once New” - Media consumption habits are quickly changing. Most technologies described today as "New Media" are digital and networkable. The use of digital computers has transformed the “old” media into digital television and online publications. Internet replaces the "one-to-many" model of traditional mass communication with the possibility of a "many-to-many" web of communication. The use of Internet news sites, Blogs, or Social Networks is the most widely used form of media lately, where Blogs and Social Networks are considered the fastest growers during the past few years. The usage of old media is declining since Books, Radio, Television, Newspaper, Magazine and Journalism are being transformed into new forms such as: eBooks, Wikis, Blogs, Pandora, podcasts, You Tube.

Research Project: THE POWER OF SOCIAL CAPITAL - Values That Social Networks Add To/Take Away From Our Real Lives.

Social networking has become increasingly popular component of our lives nowadays. It brings every kind of social group together in one place and let them co-operate, get information and gain knowledge. Individuals and professionals commonly use it to benefit in many different areas/disciplines of life.

As opposed to physical capital, social capital is the measure of our connections with others. Social networking has some positive and negative effects on society. For Example: Social networking sites like :" Facebook" offers the opportunity to create a positive self-image and connect with people with similar interests and goals. On the other hand, professional networking site like " Linked In", builds credibility and give us an advantage in the job market. In conclusion, social networking is easy, fast and fascinating way of communicating; However, we need to examine some of the disadvantages of social networking such as lack of anonymity or invasion of privacy.

What is New Media?

New Media Technologies include any digital, computerized or networked information and communications. Examples of New Media include: eBooks, Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, Social Networking, mobile devices, Internet, electronic games and more. There are five critical characteristics of the new media technologies: communication, collaboration, community, creativity, and convergence. Interactive digital media, such us Internet, are replacing old media such as print and television. Randall Stross explains expansion of New Media as "less text, more videos, less reading and more watching , online or offline." Due to online and digital ways of receiving information, content with mass appeal is provided and everyone is a potential consumer and provider so the interaction is two-way.

Welcome to my New Media Blog!!!!