Privacy

When anyone decides to use social media to communicate with others, privacy goes right out the door.  I view the internet like the galaxy, just open air space where information is sent and is up for grabs once sent out there.  It's so important to monitor what we decide to let others know about us through computers.  We have to be careful what private information we transmit online as well, such as credit cards, social security numbers and credit accounts, etc.  I believe that there is some huge data base out there that keeps every single piece of information that has been sent by any individual over the internet. 

One of the social medias that has me nervous at times is Skype for work.  Using Skype in most companies comes with the Outlook software and many people use the instant messaging feature since it's much quicker than sending an email and waiting for a response.  However, I do think sometimes there are those that use it to chat with other employees about private issues, and other topics that you wouldn't want your boss to ever know.  Reason this media makes me nervous is because I'm unsure if there is a huge database that has stored every single conversation that I've had on it (lol).  I'll admit, there are some things I perhaps shouldn't have written using it, but hey, what's done is done and let's keep our fingers crossed that I'm never under investigation for gossiping, lol.

People also perceive individuals based on what they expose about themselves, whether it be visual or through our words.  So it's important on what information we put out about ourselves using social media.  It's bad enough that we have all types of miscommunications when we speak, imagine what occurs visually (shakes my head).  In any case people shouldn't expect any one to not have some type of access to them once information is transmitted through social media.  My motto is, if you don't want it to be known, then do not put it out there.

New Next

If I had the opportunity to create a new form of media, it would have to be an interactive radio for children.  What this radio would be able to do is translate what's going in media, meaning world and local news, according to a child's understanding capability.  Most schools encourage that children to know how to read the newspaper at an early age so that they will be well informed.  I personally believe that the news on TV is a bit harsh for children's understanding.  Why not have our children be well informed at a young age at a much basic level where violence is removed from their learning.  This form of media would be developed for children the ages of 9 and up.  The parents would control the settings to how long the child would have daily to interact with the radio.

Honestly I haven't given it much thought as to what this device would be called, however this radio would inform the children of what the stock market is and which stocks are dominating, etc.  It would inform them of the voting processes and who the nation's President would be and what their job entails.  It would also inform them of what is going on in our world as far as policies, trades, laws, etc. I know, you're probably thinking, "what is the internet for?" or "how is it different?"  Well, you have to somewhat have heard the information initially to want to log on to the internet to want to do research on the topic.  However, with this "radio" the information would be broadcasted to your child informing them of daily events in all aspects around the world and teaching them at the same time. I would've liked something like this growing up it would've made my social studies classes much easier to get through.

Advice

So, many colleges have been using social media to keep their institutes informed of what's current on campus and to recruit new students.  Here is some advice to colleges that are using social media to keep followers informed:

Using new media an educational institution has to be careful as to what information they  release via social media.  You have to be certain of what message you want to convey to your readers since words and ideas can be misunderstood.  Not to mention you can be sued, who wants that?  The college also has to be careful with the security of their passwords so that no one hacks the college's social media accounts.  You want to reach followers through using pictures and captive vocabulary that will retain a followers attention. Followers love exciting news and visual stimulation.  You want to keep them coming back. I would use a media platform that I know would reach the students effectively.  Most college students are on Facebook, Twitter and now the trending Snap Chat. It's effective for the college to hire a social media team that can manage the output of information and pictures that they would like their followers to view.  It isn't difficult to captive the viewer's attention with words and pictures. Keep it current and exciting!

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

According to Google, "a virtual world or massively multiplayer online world (MMOW) is a computer-based simulated environment populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities and communicate with others".

Virtual worlds are known to be primarily used for game purposes, where characters are created along with neighborhoods and scenarios on how they interact in a falsely created world.  A perfect example of how a virtual creator captured and contained a memory of the Hotel Chelsea in New York City is remarkable for those who live there after the hotel went through a major renovation.  You can read this article on: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/nyregion/thecity/03virt.html.

Virtual worlds can be used for multitudes of reasons.  Education, Science and medicine, government military, real estate and animations are just some ways in which virtual worlds can be used.  An article titled 'Naughty Auties' on CNN's website shows us that virtual reality has allowed for some affected by autism to be able to sit comfortably behind a computer in their own space allows them  the comfort of communicating with others about the condition and allows for them to be themselves.   It also for them to get answers to questions some may have about the illness.  You can read the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html#cnnSTCText .

Most of the fields listed have already been already been using virtual worlds to ease their work for some time now.  When a student can log into a program and see what a planet may look like or a doctor can view and study an organ prior to surgery, etc. those are ways that they are using virtual worlds.

According to Karolina, G on http://karolinagper9ra.weebly.com/advantages-and-disadvantages.html, some advantages and disadvantages to virtual worlds are as listed:

Pros:

• Socializing
• Education
• Political Expression
• Military Training

Cons: 

• The cost of hardware (it is still so expensive)
• Training on how to use it 
• Escaping the real world 

With virtual worlds you can create anything that comes to mind, from people, cars, buildings, animals, planets, and the list can continue. In the future, I imagine learning institutes using more virtual worlds to teach students in the younger years as well higher education.  As I've previously stated many institutes, architects and science institutes have already begun using virtual worlds to create situations that can be manipulated in order to get answers to questions they have or to create new buildings for our world.  It will only improve and become more available and affordable to the public in time, look at cell phones and computers.

Social Networking Sites

Initially Facebook was great for connecting with friends and family members you've lost touch with, however, we've discovered that there are tuns of things you can now do with with Facebook.  Besides finding people, you can find jobs, help with the promotion of business sites, purchase or play games, conduct business, etc.   Facebook is used by the subscriber who journals their daily activities, life or pictures.  It's also by the user who uses the application as a platform to store pictures of events that they either would like to or not like to share with friends, family or the public. Facebook is now also a platform that many businesses are using in order to promote and conduct business with public over the Internet.  Businesses can now also make direct sales with customers on the app. 

Twitter is a more popular application, as we can see Donald Trump lives off of it (haha).  It allows for users to interact in live time with other users of Twitter, and you do not have to necessarily be following that person's account, sharing their thoughts and/or views.  You can interact with hundreds of thousands from your mom to a popular celebrity.  The streaming of information is always current, it's posted as it's thought of or as it's happening.  The only limitation on Twitter is that you can only type up to 140 characters per tweet.  You can post links to videos and pictures on Twitter.  Clicking or tapping on a hash tagged word in any message shows you other Tweets that include that hashtag making it easier to search for other tweets that have relevance.

What Instagram does is visually stimulates a subscriber.  Once either a picture or video is added the application allows the user to add a brief explanation or comment of what the pic is displaying.  Just about a year ago Instagram allowed the user to tape short videos with the length of about one minute in addition to picture on the app.  IG allows you to post comments, and like other user's pictures and or videos.  It also allows for you to share a posting to a friend who follows you.  It's used by many businesses for advertisement and exposure to those who may not be familiar with their products or services.  Using hashtags on Instagram quickly takes you to other users who have posted about the same topics, the relevance of the matter.

You can easily get bored with Snap Chat if you're not into the social scenery and don't really like to be seen.  I would think that this application is more for the individual that wants you to share their experience or their events as they are occurring.  With Snap Chat you can take a picture and attach a phrase or short description to it.  I will admit that it is user friendly.  It also gives you the opportunity to message back and forth with who you follow as well as your followers in regards to the video or picture they've posted.  Chatting back and forth is also a feature on this app, however it feels limited.

TWITR:Blog About Twitter

Blogging, Tweeting and having in class discussion all have their advantages in regards to getting your point across.  I prefer both Tweeting and in-class conversations because of the immediate interactions although they each have their disadvantages.  Looking at Twitter, and now blogging more frequently along with the interaction with some classmates below are my observations of some of the pros and cons.

Pros to Twitter: 
> Direct contact quicker access with your followers and even celebrities
> You can post videos, pictures, links to other websites and follow popular hashtags
> Millions of followers on Twitter

Cons to Twitter:
> Limitations of only 140 characters per tweet
> Over exposure


Pros to blogging:
> One view, of the writer
> Allows for the followers to leave feedback from your post or other comments
> Can post links to other websites for reference

Cons to blogging:
> Most of the content is only from the writer
> Longer wait for response
> Not a direct response like Twitter or in person
> Comments cannot be re-posted like Twitter conversations can
> Not so many people will respond or comment on blog topics

Pros to in-class discussions:
> Engaging of all students with participation from the professor
> Live reactions to suggestions and comments
> Sharing information of websites and other resources
> Opportunities to ask many questions and have them responded to accurately

Cons to in-class discussions:
> They can drag for hours
> Your discussions can go off topic
> You're not as liberated to say what you really want in a class setting

Some people are not comfortable communicating in a certain platform, therefore I recommend using whatever method works best for the individual.

Blogs vs. Wikis

I prefer to blog several different topics over maintaining a wiki page any day.  On a blog, I can freely express myself about any topic of discussion and others can weigh in with their opinions or feelings.  Unlike the wiki, information has to be factual since it's used as a reference page by most.  A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style and a wiki is a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users.

As Linda Weiser Friedman, professor of the Department of Statistics & Computer Information Systems at Baruch College in New York City, states, on pg. 14 of her paper on New Media, because of the convergence of media the world can access information so much faster than ever before with a variety of technology, from Smart TVs, Blogs, Twitter, the Internet, etc.  At the speed that news happens in the world, it's important that people have access to and receive information as it occurs. 

It would be interesting to see Blogs evolve to where two people can blog as an online conversation in blog format of course.  In order to achieve this blog sites would have to open the editing lines so that two writers instead of one can contribute to an article, not like someone commenting on the blog, however, like instant messaging is formatted. 

Until taking my New Media class I had never explored all the parts of Wikipedia.  Honestly, it's remarkable as to how many people can contribute to information on any topic.  I didn't know that there were so many other compartments such as a Community Portal, Help Desk, Reference Desk, sort of like a virtual library- who knew.  They also have a Site News page that updates on news happening around the world daily.  What I found most interesting is Wikipedia's "Village Pump" page, that allows for contributors to discuss Wiki itself and includes areas for technical issues and policies.  With so many portals of exploration and accessibility to information, I don't think there is anything at this time that Wikipedia lacks for its contributors, readers, etc.