P2P File Sharing

   Filesharing is the activity of trading digital files with other users over the internet. Files like music, video,documents, games are a few that are shared. Users trade files by downloading to obtain them and uploading to distribute them. File sharing also involves sharing public or private sharing of computer data or space in a network with various levels of access privilege. On the other hand, Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing is a system of sharing files directly between network users, without the assistance or interference of a central server. Files reside on computers of users all over the world and are shared bit by bit between those users directly.
   BitTorrent, KaZaa, eMule, Vuze, uTorrent and BearShare are examples of P2P file sharing programs. An article titled "The BitTorrent effect" at Wired.com, talks about the develpoment of the BitTorrent program and its creator Bram Cohen. It explains the sharing and downloading that BitTorrent makes possible. "BitTorrent lets users quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than Mp3's" says Bram. The real benefits comes from the fact that it can share movies twice as fast as other P2P sharing programs, ususally minutes.

Privacy & Confidentiality

   New Media is helping to redefine the issues of privacy and confidentiality in various ways. Very few of us even those considering themselves internet savvy, understand just how much information we give away about ourselves through social media every day. Email solicitations show up in my email alot. This is becuase there are marketing companies that make deals with Internet service providers to tap into any information people send from their computers, be it a private post to Facebook, or an email to a lover. This could definitely be considered a breach of privacy. But this is how we are vulnerable at times due to new media.What kind of rules govern Facebook/twitter and should it have a constitution? These are questions we should have answers to. Because no one wants Social media to turn against them. Like the story I recently heared of a school firing a teacher because a friend posted a photo of the two of them drinking beer on a summer vacation in a different country. That situation looked like it definitely violated the teachers privacy. So it does look like new media's has many disadvantages when it comes to privacy & Confidentiality.

Creativity and New Media

   I decided to create and avatar on Secondlife for the first time. It was harder than I thought it would be to create one. I had to choose from everything like skin pigment, face detail, facial hair, nose, ear and head structure to build this character. Dressing up the avatar was the esy part.  I tried to incorporate some style in this avatar. The glasses and necklace are items I would actually purchase in real-life. The virtual world Secondlife provides many ways you can create an avatar. You can even have piercings and fangs. Here is what I came up with:




Creativity

It is very apparent that the new media technologies have created a surge in creativity. Now that the Internet has irrevocably exploded the communications and sharing medium there are endless opportunities for creativity. New media has influenced every business and organization helping to change and create new ways of working and collaborating. I think that the new communication media are stimulating people’s creativity in academia, industries, government and the public sphere. New Media have stimulated creativity throughout the public sphere however some segments of society have more rapidly embraced new technologies. New media technologies appealed largely to consumers, and thust here is greater creativity in consumer use of new media. Companies like Coca-Cola are able to be more creative and ambitious in the way they advertise due to new media. In education New media can also be seen as a flaw, with the internet creating easy opportunities to plagiarize and cheat. However, I think it does foster a tremendous amount learning; rapid access to information and knowledge is more available due to new media.
An article in the NyTimes called "Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers" is a great example of how new media is fostering creativity. The article shows us how Twitter creators are using twitter users to improve and enhance the social network. "The company watches how people use the service and which ideas catch on. Then its engineers turn the ideas into new features". This is how they added tools like re-tweet and list. This shows the impact new media can have on creativity, especially on social networking sites.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. There are many different types of virtual worlds and can be used for many reasons. There is Shared Space, this world allows many users to participate at once. There is also the Socialization/Community, these worlds allow and encourage the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods. Virtual can be use for commerical gaming, education, business use, military use, ect. Virtual worlds pros is that its more personal than electronic mail or instant messaging, or even a letter or a telephone call. It's a great social leveler, it may find a common ground across differences in age, culture, and linguistic orientation. Some Cons of virtual worlds include an inescapable aspect of social life and the formation/maintenance of interpersonal relationships. Also, Virtual worlds can give opportunities to criminals who want to take advantage of people, like sex offenders ect. Virtual worlds definitely foster creativity becuase they allow users to be and act whatever way they want to, in ways that they would not necessarily be able to. As these technologies develop further over the next several years, virtual worlds will be used for all types of purposes and I believe people will begin spending more time in those worlds, especially for work. They will probably be extremly more sophisticated and real. An article written by Dave Itzkoff in the NyTimes televison section, explains th story of a man you who rather visit a virtual lower East Side club on Vles.com, an virtual website, than to actaully get out side his apartment and walk a few blocks the real-life club. People find these virtual more convenient and surprisingly more real. Another article published by CNN.comand written by Mark tutton, tells the story of how virtual community Second life is trying to help companies find innovative ways of bringing employees together while saving money by "creating a tool that allows businesses to have virtual meetings on their own computers". It will let employees avatars meet in virtual worlds.  

 

 

Social Networking Sites

Social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, myspace, or LinkedIn are increasingly likely to provide value to nonprofits looking to have online conversations and reach new constituents. The sites are fairly different from each other, however – Facebook is particularly good at promoting discussion and events with friends and others, while Twitter is particularly good for connecting with like-minded people and the media and LinkedIn provides an interesting way to network with potential new supporters or employers.
Facebook allows you to set up a profile, and post updates, links, conversations, events, photos, videos, petitions, or even collect donations online. Users who choose to “like” you can see updates without needing to navigate to your page. Facebook has seen a huge boom in popularity and attracts huge general audiences.
Twitter lets you send out a stream of short messages called “tweets”. For instance, updates about what you’re doing, or links to resources of interest. People can choose to “follow” your tweets, and if they particularly like one they can “retweet” it. Twitter is particularly good for connecting with like-minded organizations and the media, asking questions, and providing very frequent updates.
LinkedIn is an interesting site that falls somewhere between social networking for the general public and the niche social networking sites described below. Each person sets up a profile which is similar to a resume, and can then link to other people.
Lastly, MySpace was designed to be a general interest social networking site, similar to Facebook. However, MySpace has a large emphasis on music and musicians, and today can essentially be considered a niche social media site with a music focus. It’s worth checking out, because you might still use it to reach a very specific group of people.

Social Networking

    Beyond advertising on Facebook or Twitter, companies are using social networks to build teams that solve problems faster, share information better among their employees and partners, bring customer ideas for new product designs to market earlier, and redesign all kinds of corporate software in Facebook's easy-to-learn style.
    For instance, NyTimes article "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks" sheds light on fact that Obama's campaign in 2008 used social networking applications under the banner of a movement. "They created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans." This definetly shows how new media is also in Politics.
     Another article called "whats next? your future in social networking" tells the story of an IBM Internet division manger and his beliefs about social media. The manager speaks about how "online social networking is pointing the way to new new forms of communication and that its creating new ways of doing business".

     The benefits a social networking for a business includes the opportunity to facilitates open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery.It also helps to improve business reputation and client base with minimal use of advertising. If social network did have a darkside it would be that it increases the risk of people falling prey to online scams that seem genuine, resulting in data or identity theft. Another concern migth be the overwhelming sharing aspect of it. Even the most cautious and well-meaning individuals can give away information they should not. It also can cause people to loose touch with reality and real human contact.

     In my opinion, the social network will continue to grow and many more applications and platforms of it will develop in the near future. It time might come where everything we do; from work to play is connected and operated on networks. We are all just waiting for the next big innovation that will send us in to the new social media.  

 

  

Blogs V.S Wikis

      Blogs, are online journals maintained by a person or a team with regular updates. They are typically meant for general consumption and are arranged in a chronological manner with the most recent blog posts on the top. Blog posts can also have the provision for readers to leave comments. Blogs are usually more informal and chatty.
      On the other hand, In the simplest form, wikis can be imagined as a notepad of easily editable website pages. Each wiki can have a specific purpose and a bunch of wiki pages that are maintained by the users of that Wiki. Wiki pages typically have comments that can be used for collaborating around that page/topic. Wikis can be used for a variety of purposes like documentation, knowledge management or just a team repository of information.
      Nytimes Business section recently wrote an article called "Walmart Taste makers" It explained how walmart now encourages it merchants to speak frankly about the products the chain carries on blogs. This type of blog, where people can rant about gadgets within a company is known as corporate blogs. Walmart wanted little-known buyers to give advice also on there blogs to help other consumers by sending out quick feedbacks of merchandise.
     Another Article in the the Nytimes Media & advertising section called "An internet Wiki" states that even in a United States embassy in Rome Wiki's are now being utilized. An assistant there writed thats its extremely efficient and saving paper is a huge reason why they incorporated the wiki system they call Diplopedia.