What's Next?

Having gone through what most of my course-mates had to say about this topic, I found something very common in their discussions, so I decided to make my own research on that one thing "Virtual reality" technology, VR for short. Without any doubt, this is one technology worth mentioning and we need to watch out for; it's a wonderful innovation, a computer engineering that tends to incorporate virtual objects into real world and vise visa. The concept is pretty straight forward and is definitely going to dominate the technology world. For example, leading corporations from gaming and high-tech industries like Sony, Samsung, Apple etc. have come out with their own ideas of VR technology; the most common concept for now is the VR headsets gears. 

Our Class Wiki - So Far

Sincerely speaking, I haven't really contribute to "our-class wiki" page. Still trying to figure out how and what exactly to do that would make my contribution(s) unique. I mean, since this class is all about new media technology and ideas, I'm kind of thinking outside the box; not really sure if this would really work out because it's definitely going to involve back-end admins.. What about wiki apps for BYODs? rather than adding or edit, I might want to suggest this useful proposal; otherwise, I might need to communicate with other course mates and ask for their thoughts.

Peer-to-Peer "P2P"

File sharing basically allow individuals, end-users from private/public corporations to store and share small amount of data like musical and video files, office applications, documents, photos etc. amongst their peers/colleagues. Prior to internet technology, the most common forms of file sharing were diskette, peer-to-peer or a centralized Ethernet network that provides shared network drives and maybe USB flash drives; However for P2P, which can also be referred to as "peer-to-peer" is a web-based application that allows individuals to share, transfer and download files VIA the internet. P2P; itself is an internet technology. From Security and IT perspectives, P2P can be very evasive, prone to misuse, uses excessive bandwidth, and comes with various vulnerabilities such as spyware, malware, and threats. P2P technology as it is, can be very disruptive and there are several concerns whether or not it helps promulgate internet crimes such as privacy, infringement and copyright. As a matter of fact and based on personally experience, P2P applications are denied on most network, be it a private/public company or even in schools and this is simply because of its characteristics. There are several peer-to-peer tools available out there, the popular ones are 'BitTorrent', 'Torch', 'Napster', 'Kazaa' etc.. According to the article Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access? by Eric Pfanner "PARIS — Is Internet access a fundamental human right? Or is it a privilege, carrying with it a responsibility for good behavior? That is the question confronting policy makers as they try to bring Internet access to the masses while seeking to curb illegal copying of digital music, movies and video games."

Baruch and New Media

From IT point of view, I think there's little we can integrate social media into educational environment because of its nature. I've read several articles and news about student/teacher relationships, so to stay away from those kind of issues, there's always a need to separate and differentiate both. ;however from a broader view, new media technology can be used to improve and enhance communication between students and faculty. Essentially, new media technology are supposed to facilitate communication, so based on personal experience, I would suggest that they implement mobile apps which are accessible off-campus. Just as internet is the backbone for new media, so it's paving ways for wireless technology. New media technology like airplay, miracast, air-server can actually allow professors to projects lectures from their IPAD/IPHONE without being physically connected to any computer. For instance at BMCC where I work, we have just implemented an air-server application on campus that allows professors to project from their smart devices. Also some mobile apps that can help students/faculty find their classes, books, online classmates, campus map and room locations, and finally check for labs with free computers. So basically, students can get more and adequate information even before they get to the campus.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Privacy and confidentiality has and will always continue to be one major concern when it comes to new media technology. As the name suggest, it's all about interaction and feed-backs. Nothing stays secret on new media; if you don't want the world to know about it, then stay off it. As I've mentioned severally and folks using new media technology especially social media shouldn't be surprised that corporations nowadays and even government parastatals can actually monitor and track what people do on social media. Also videos, pictures etc. posted by individuals are almost accessible by anyone; although, you can actually restrict who can do what based on your preferences but then.. people who posts stupid things shouldn't expect any privacy and confidentiality because they gave room for that; in other words, as they present themselves, so they shall be treated. Lastly,as the world is going through radicalism, some people would agree it's a good idea for government if necessary to track people subconsciously on social media while others would reject completely. So privacy and confidentiality would always remain a hot debate around new media. Currently, I don't think anyone's privacy/confidentiality is guaranteed. Let me quickly share a story... I was at my barber's place over the weekend and I heard a customer said to my barber that FBI came to his house to investigate him about a particular comment or comments he made on Facebook; although, he didn't tell us the content....and what does that suppose to mean?

Creativity and New Media

Like I mentioned in my previous blog, technology such as internet, www, and web 2.0 have really made creativity possible for new media because they are designed for user-generated innovation. So basically what I did in order to experience virtual world, was to first create my own username "dortmund323", select my avatar and I chose to explore the Social Island. For those of us who play games, we might not really see much difference;  however, the most intriguing part of it, is the fact that I was able to customize certain things like selecting people to chat with, my destination etc..Also, I met couple of new friends on the Island. Still on "user-generated innovation", as user, I was able to create and customize content in a way that soothes me unlike the regular games where everything is predefined. Below pictures depicts my experience with virtual world while exploring the unknown Island.


My SecondLife "dortmund323"

Creativity

Being creative is the ability to recognize one own ideas and not afraid to explore. Creativity is standing-out from many and make difference. Creativity is empowering others. Creativity is originality, innovation, individuality, imagination etc. Bill Gate and his partner Paul Allen redefined software industry by building the world largest software "Microsoft" .  Steve Jobs revitalized, made significant and positive impact in information technology by inventing Apple; in 2003/2004, Mark Zuckerberg changed how the entire world socialize by launching Facebook; thanks for their ideas and innovations. Without any doubt, yes we can say that new media has really helped foster creativity because they provide a kind of platform that helps users/individuals to create, share or even customize contents. From real life to virtual world,  social media, online gaming, eBooks, podcast, miracast, airplay; new technology such as internet, www, and web 2.0 have really made creativity possible because they are designed for user-generated innovation. According to New York times article..Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers by CLAIRE CAIN MILLER  "Technology companies have been the most active in relying on others to innovate for them. This is in large part because the Internet lets people exchange ideas easily and rapidly with large groups, and computing tools let people design new products cheaply."