Thursday, April 23, 2009
My Presentation
I did my presentation on social networking and whether it is better or worse than face-to-face communication. I discussed many of the features of different social networking sites and the "real life" features of those sites. The blurbs I recorded from each site provided some insight into the people that use the sites and how they use them. The conclusion was that face-to-face communication will always be necessary and will always be held above social networking sites. That is not to say, however, that social networking sites are to be forgotten at the wayside: Many still view social networking sites as a necessary backbone of their daily lives.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Old vs. New Media
The definitions of old media and new media are dynamic and can be quite vague. It is necessary to define them in terms of examples since new media today might be old media tomorrow.
Examples of old media include basically anything that does not involve "user-up" control, meaning users do NOT have direct control over content and layout. Old media include TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, websites with limited user content and scholarly journals, among others. New media include technology that is primarily user-controlled and offers many ways of customization or variation. New media are often web-based and include such sites as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, flickr, delicious and digg. Concepts and uses of new media include blogs, social networking sites , wikis, video posting and the like. While social networking and bookmarking are the main components of new media, cell phones, for example, can be considered new media due to their ability to transmit old media in new ways. Many cell phones now have access to live, streaming TV and include applications that use Facebook, Twitter and flickr.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
Second Life allows users to create avatars of themselves or of anything they want and "live" in a virtual world. The avatars can basically do anything humans can on Second Life, and more. The avatars can fly and users can create an unlimited number of areas in which to play. This is an exciting way to network with people who have similar interests as the different worlds cater to different hobbies. IBM uses this technology among its employees. The purpose of it is for employees to be able to network across the country and to cut costs in areas such as training, which can be held on IBM's version of Second Life. This is one of the benefits of virtual worlds sites. Another benefit is the sheer enjoyment people get from going on these sites and "living" through them. Many people "hang out" with their friends on the actual site, making it an easy way to communicate. The article about IBM's version of Second Life is found here.
The dark side to virtual worlds sites is the probability that users will become addicted and rarely get off the sites. This is documented in a CNN article showing how people with autism on Second Life rarely log off. While it is a nice icebreaker for those with autism, autism sufferers should eventually learn how to communicate effectively in human to human contact. The article is found here.
This technology might evolve into training programs for many national and international companies, much like IBM's program. Another way virtual worlds might evolve is through training for situations like terror attacks, overcoming deep fears and disseminating up-to-the-minute information through social interaction, like Twitter.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Social Networking
Social networking sites are not only used by college students, but by many other, seemingly unnoticed users and for many other purposes. Most noticeably are those who use LinkedIn. This is a social networking site where users post their resumes and other relevant information in hopes of getting hired by a company, getting noticed in a certain industry, or simply networking with these companies by meeting various people.
In certain companies social networking sites are used to both spread knowledge and effectively intertwine resources. For example, Nissan recently implemented a social networking site modeled off IBM's version. The CEO started the program so employees could more easily disseminate information in the company. The result is a full-fledged site where ideas about product development are shared, employees make connections to others through ordinary blogs and postings, and employees are getting around normal, otherwise bureaucratic standards. This was discussed in a Business Week article by Kenji Hall.
Society, in many ways, has become more closely knit through social networking sites. Before anti-technology folks harangue me for this, let me explain. On Facebook, I can request to friend someone on each continent with a click. If he or she accepts my request, I can see information that I might find useful. He might find information on my profile useful, such as where I like to hang out in New York. He might relay this to his friends, who are planning a trip to New York. In this case there is an almost instant connection and usefulness that might not be possible in other media.
The dark side to social networking is often a focus. This is Internet stalking, child predators, and the like. While sites like Facebook and MySpace try to eradicate this through privacy tools, it occurs nonetheless. The sites are getting better at monitoring and preventing this, however. MySpace turned over the names and profiles of convicted sex offenders not too long ago and Facebook has introduced detailed, specific privacy settings to its users.
I think we are already seeing how social networking is going to evolve. Recently, Facebook updated its layout to better match Twitter, which has gained much popularity. Facebook hopes the up-to-the-second updates lure in those who are loyal Twitterers. This is how most social networking sites will evolve. Users want immediate updates of their friends' statuses, even if they are about what they had for breakfast and where their dogs threw up.
My New Media Class - So Far
The technologies that pertain to new media are largely Internet-based, although some new media does not require the Internet. Some of these technologies include social networking programs (Facebook, Twitter), eBay, YouTube video networking, Flickr photo sharing, blogging, wikis, and the like. The Internet is quite important to new media since it basically ensures we are able to enjoy new media. This class would not be possible without the Internet. New media consists of a lot of networking tools, so something like the Internet is essential.
New media is enhancing old media through a variety of means. Primarily, old media is being converted to new media. For example, the New York Times now offers free access to all of its articles published in the physical version of the paper (for which you'd have to pay). The New York Times also offers a new free service called TimesPeople which is a social networking tool with the primary function of sharing news stories across the site. Another example of old media converting to new media would be the adaptation of gaming. Now, platforms like Microsoft XBox and Nintendo Wii have markets for online gameplay and actual social networking through XBox live, for example. Many have predicted the end of old media. While this is somewhat conceivable, old media will always exist as long as there is such a thing as new media. In 1992, a New York Times reporter predicted that the end of books would come, thus wiping the physical book from the planet. If the reporter, Robert Coover, were writing on this topic today, he might say products like Amazon's Kindle are doing just that, slowly ending physical books. The fact is, however, many people prefer having something physical to open and would not like reading something on a digitalized screen.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Blogs vs. Wikis
Blogs are a formative way of getting across important, relevant, and up-to-the-minute news on the Internet. Certain blogs, however, are satirical or they are made purely to make people laugh (nothing wrong with that). For example, failblog.org displays recent items in which people have 'failed.' Most are funny, comical looks at the way people behave. Blogs are an incredible source of focused information, as well. USA Today has a blog called "Today in the Sky: Airline News and Airport Blog." There are many focused blogs on many topics. The advantage to blogs is that they include many posts and people can comment on these posts. On most blogging sites there is no limit on the number of posts a user can make. Blogs' interfaces are largely configureable, meaning a blogger can make different backgrounds and content can appear differently than on other blogs. Blogs have the ability to influence a large number of people since a lot are opinionated. One blog in particular takes that to an extreme because the people moderating it are WalMart employees, and they do not hide their identities. The New York Times highlighted this in an article entitled "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog."
While most blogs are opinionated and offer discussion about specialized interests, wikis are largely negatively viewed if they are opinionated in any way. Wikis are generally collections of information that users collaboratively add to whenever new or relevant information comes along. Wikis, too, can and usually are focused on a specific subject, but they do not offer 'stories' on the subject, rather they have one article with subsections on this one subject. Most everyone has heard of or used Wikipedia. This is the most famous wiki. There are more, less famous wikis that other people get much use from. The State Department has its own wiki, which is hidden from the general public, but State Department employees take part in it. The New York Times detailed much of the goings-on in its article "An Internal Wiki That's Not Classified."
Wikis are most likely the easiest and most convenient way to collaborate on a project, but blogs do have some collaborative capabilities. If a blogger leaves a post about lung cancer for a science project, for example, his group members can comment on the post, saying what should be changed, added, or removed. If all group members have the ability to moderate the blog, the blog can perform similarly to a wiki. Blogger has the ability for users to change or alter a post after it has been posted initially. This functions like a wiki in a sense, but once other posts have been made and the original post has been 'pushed' off the page, it might be difficult or annoying to find it again and change it. Also, a blog does not necessarily track changes like a wiki would.
Wikis would be a great way for doctors, nurses, or anyone in the healthcare field to collaborate. Such a breadth of knowledge would be a benefit to practitioners and patients alike. Doctors would be able to detail the success or failure of a certain procedure, surgery, or drug. Nurses would highlight the importances of certain life saving techniques in the ER. Pharmacists would discuss warnings about drug interactions. All of this information would be linked together through different articles and it would make the healthcare field regulated and in-tune with the current necessities of the sick.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Checking Out Some Social Networking Sites
Without a doubt, Facebook is the college student's go-to website. Facebook has everything from people's wall postings to interesting 'applications' like Organs (yes, people exchange pictures of organs virtually, much like the Gifts application). Upon logging into Facebook I am presented with a barrage of data (I would call it information, but little of it is important to me). This is called the News Feed: It is Facebook's once controversial home page that updates based on one's friends' activities. When Facebook introduced this feature, users virtually screamed and cried foul on Facebook executives through groups since the News Feed was less private than the previous format. In blogs and messages to users, Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg, calmed the masses by suggesting users would get used to the format and thus understand how Facebook should be used. He also added more privacy features for the News Feed. The News Feed of course still exists in an almost unchanged format since its debut. Facebook has changed into a place where people interact through different methods. Friends can play games on Facebook applications, they can record videos on each other's walls, they can share links of videos and pictures, they can upload and tag people in pictures, they can join groups, become fans of celebrities, politicians, and companies, and they can message each other privately. I have many friends on my friends list that I would definitely not consider friends in 'real life.' This seems to happen frequently with most Facebook users. It seems that Facebook has become the background of young people's lives, if not at the forefront of an entire generation.
Twitter is a social networking site that I had heard of before this class, but only that it was basically like the status update feature on Facebook. Upon hearing a little more about it in the news I became curious. I signed up about a month ago and have since learned quite a deal. It really is a lot like Facebook status updates. The essential difference, however, is that these updates can be seen by anyone with an internet connection (provided the user hasn't made his or her account 'secure.') Twitter users, or Twitterers, are supposed to answer the question "What are you doing?" whenever they please. Answers, or tweets, range from what the user is literally doing-watching TV, washing dishes, driving to work-to what the user is thinking or finds interesting-stimulus bill thoughts, football game results, an airplane landing on the Hudson. I follow mostly news sources that will have breaking or developing news in an area in which I am interested. Twitter trends can be found on twitscoop.com, among other sites, where a live 'cloud' displays what Twitterers are talking about the most. I think Twitter is useful for breaking news and gauging public opinion. It is much more public than Facebook, but Twitterers have less variety in what they can do on the site. It is also great for voicing one's opinion to the world. The New York Times made an interactive map that shows what Twitterers were saying and how much during the Superbowl. Click here
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What is New Media?
'New media' is easier defined by example than by definition. New media include sites such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Wikipedia, Hulu, YouTube, Second Life, Blogger, Delicious (social bookmarking), and Google Maps. Simply put, new media can be any website or online tool that might have existed in some other form in 'reality,' but is now more user-oriented and perhaps user-controlled. It is important to stress that the user create or otherwise influence the content for it to be widely considered 'new media.' The comparison can easily be drawn between analog TV and YouTube, for instance. Viewers of YouTube can comment, rate, suggest, video reply, and make their own videos, whereas viewers of analog TV can do little to interact with fellow viewers. An awareness permeates users of new media; they often understand the concept without the ability to fully explain it. For example, someone who used an entire (physical) library of encyclopedias when she was younger now uses Wikipedia and even updates pages that fall within her interests. This internet user is aware how much encyclopedias have evolved and can thus strongly identify with the term 'new media.'
'New media' is loosely defined, but easily understood and identified in a culture where up-to-the-second information is critical to its advancement. This is evidenced on sites like Twitter, where users essentially answer the question "What are you doing?" as frequently as they wish. Other 'Twitterers' will receive updates on their Twitter homepages; and if they so desire, Twitterers receive text messages every time someone they are 'following' updates his or her status.
References
Friday, February 13, 2009
Finally, a use for Twitter
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Term Project Description
Online Social Networking: Better or Worse than the Real Thing?
As sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn gain considerable popularity, seemingly archaic methods of social networking are nearly lost and forgotten. Gone are the days when a college student networked solely at parties and club meetings. Here are the days when a college student networks through Flickr photo streams and Facebook groups. In researching the differences between face-to-face networking and online networking, I hope to discover the social capital acquired in both realms. In other words, I will examine people's resulting quality relationships from both face-to-face and online networking. I will further identify how online social networking relationships progressed, whether to face-to-face meetings or to purely online "meetings."
I will use these articles, among others, in my research.
Monday, February 9, 2009
New Media
Hello,
My name is Robby and this is my blog!
On here I will post many things, mostly pertaining to my class on new media. Looking forward to it!
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