Wiki So Far

So far, for our class wiki page, I've contributed to the New Media in Advertising. New Media in Advertising caught my attention because it included social networks, which I am very familiar with and use actively each day. I have the most interest and experience in this section so I decided to contribute a subtopic about LinkedIn as a social network.

In this section, I spoke about the History and Background of LinkedIn including it's purpose, mission, and more about the co-founders. From there I spoke a little more about how vast the company has grown as well as the uses of this site and it's influence on people, companies, etc. All in all, LinkedIn is a useful tool that has become a vital tool for job search in today's age.

I also plan to continue contributing to the Advertising category as well as Entertainment, Music, Marketing, and Social Networking. So far, these seem to be the most interesting topics to me and I believe that I will enjoy research and writing more on them.

P2P

With all these new media outlets, the internet has expanded far beyond what it was originally intended to do. With the help of the internet, people can interact with others without actually physically being there. Not only can they communicate through messages, people can also utilize file sharing. File sharing is where users can transfer files from their computers through the Internet. In the same sense as file sharing itself, peer-to-peer file sharing is when users share media files such as movies, books, music, games, and much more through a P2P software on a P2P network. A user can search for a media file and a list of matching file results will appear that other users uploaded online. These users can then download the file from anywhere.

Peer-to-peer file sharing is a very useful tool for many people, especially since we can share all the media we like. However, P2P file sharing can actually be bad in the sense that it is hurting the content creators because of piracy. In the article, "Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Studios," Brian Stetler and Brad Stone tackle the issue of piracy and the fact that the amount of money the movie producers make from film productions come from DVD sales. This shows that piracy deeply effects this industry and P2P file sharing can actually cause a downfall. Piracy can also be found in the video game industry, music industry, and book sales as well. Although individuals generally believe they are helping others out by P2P file sharing, it is actually unfair to others who work hard to put the content out.

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy and confidentiality are valuable to people especially when it comes to new media. Privacy is inevitable for users and companies who use new media or the internet. When companies have priacy policies and terms of use agreements written out for its users, it clearly states what the company can, can't, will, and won't do with your information and data collected. As many people can relate, more than half of the users that encounter these privacy policies tend to skim or skip them. This is a vital key because without reading them, most users do not understand that some of their information can be recorded and distributed to other companies.

Confidentiality is almost an agreement between two parties to acknowledge that a person's identity will not be revealed. Privacy and confidentiality are related to new media because users can be anonymous on the internet and share their opinion but most of the time, they have a public identity and input a great amount of information about themselves.

When Target was under great pressure after a security breach, they acted fast and spent about $1 million to expedite their advanced chip-credit cards to ensure their customers that they are working to improve privacy and security. Customers value things like this so it was very important for Target to act fast. In new media, with such advance technology that some of us cannot keep up with, there is always a worry that our information can be stolen or breached by hackers. Privacy is always a risk, for companies and customers alike. All in all, privacy and confidentiality are two of the most important aspects of new media and should be taken seriously.

Advice to Baruch College

When the world is constantly improving and technology is advancing such as new media, it is no surprise that we must keep up with it all to stay relevant. Baruch College could really utilize new media with its courses to improve student learning. Ways that Baruch can do so is by incorporating blogging and posting blog posts as a means of getting a discussion going even outside the classroom. With over 100 students in some classes, it may be easier for students to communicate and get their voices heard.

Although we have Blackboard as a means of communications between students and professors as well as students among students, it isn't as efficient. The average user does not check Blackboard on a daily basis or even weekly as much as they check their social networks. Potentially creating Facebook groups for courses can encourage class participation and interaction. Facebook is a networking site that many people are comfortable with using and by getting ease of access to it will increase student engagement.

Another suggestion would be to use YouTube, which is a very popular video sharing site. Professors can create a private profile on YouTube and upload and lectures that students may have missed or would like to study for the exam. YouTube has an easy interface that students love to go on and watch videos, it would be very convenient for them.