Privacy & Confidentiality

Discuss how the issues of privacy and confidentiality are related to new media.

As we continue to share more information with other online users, the presence of privacy issues and confidentiality lurks in the shadows of the Interment. Social media sites are used for online users to obtain or share content with friends and family members. But, we fail to understand that everything we post on those sites are being recorded or monitored and being stored onto their databases. Ready to be sold to third party advertising organization for marketing purposes. In the article, The Wild West of Privacy, by Joe Nocera, he explains that many companies are using the sort of practices to generate information from online users to help the marketing industry. Online users have no idea that these companies are engaging in this business practice without your consent. The biggest security threat is that if these social media sites have your personal information, cybercriminals can exploit their security network and steal your information. Huge data breaches can occur if their security infrastructure are not adequately secured to mitigate any security threats. It's important for strict policies to be in place to prevent and vulnerable threats from unauthorized individuals from accessing highly vital information. People should be informed about what these companies are doing with your information and demand to be notified at once. Furthermore, to continue to remain safe online, sites social media need to address their system infrastructure to prevent any leakage of sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands.

Advice to Baruch College

What are some suggestions you would make using new media?

1. I would love to put a professor teacher evaluation system at Baruch College, to allow students to rate their professors according to their performance. Over the past several semesters, I've noticed that student on "RateMyProfessor.com" are not rating of these professors correctly. Many students are not telling the truth about the way professors are not teach. Based on my opinion, there are some lousy professors teaching here on this campus. On some occasions, I needed to withdraw from some of these courses. Students need to be more truthful about their evaluation with some of these professors because it's the only way you can learn from someone who is passionate a about their field of study and not just simply reading from a PowerPoint.

My new teacher evaluation system will have the following criteria:

a.  Passionate
b. Clarity
c. Understandable 
d. Rating (1-10) 
d. Difficulty
e. Participation
f. Additional Comments

2. Another suggestion that I would like to see happen is for professor to engage their students through the Discussion section on Blackboard. I've noticed that many of these professor lacks the enthusiasm of providing help for students or tacking their progress throughout the semester. In this case, the professor can tell the students if he or she will need to withdraw from the course. Likewise, professors can use it for a learning tool for students to ask questions.

 3. I would suggest that Baruch should have more online classes and be taught their Skype. It would be a cool experience of interacting with your professors and others. I would help students who have trouble of traveling to this college. It will also help students to become more connected to their professor such as having a conversation about a particular subject that the student didn't clearly understand.

4. I would love to scrap the entire Connect system because it sucks...lol !!!

Creativity and New Media

This this is my gamer account on Xbox Live. If you own an Xbox console, your welcome to kindly send me a friend request. My gamertag is shown throughout the pictures. I took several pictures from my phone to show my fellow classmates, the capability of creating an avatar or profile to your own preference. Xbox Live gives the ability to work on my designer techniques to make my avatar to look like a billionaire. I tend to be a fashion guru such as wearing name brand clothing or accessories and I want to show it off through my avatar.


In the first picture, it displays all the different functions that I can do to my own avatar.
I'm allowed to create my avatar to my preference. Xbox Live gives the ability to work on my designer

In the second and third, it shows that I'm able to change his appearance such as skin, color, hairstyles, eyebrows, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, chins and many more.

In the fourth  and fifth picture, demonstrates that i can change his styles, such as changing his headgear, shirts, pants, shoes, dress outfits, earrings, wrist-wear, rings, glasses and many more.

Creativity

Discuss how new media fosters creativity?

It's pretty easy for new media to foster creativity just based in the generation we live now. Everyone is out looking for the next biggest or hottest trend in social media. For an example, we have the technology to basically edit any type of videos and design it to our preference. In the article, Disney Tolerates a Rap parody of It's Critter. But Why?, by Brooks Barnes, she illustrates how we can create mash videos from our content and develop the next hottest trend. The technology is there for access to all individual to do what ever they want. Some individuals would prefer to work on new projects such as edit snippets of mash up music videos or animated movies and incorporate their favorite cartoons into it. At the end of the project it results to cartoon actually doing the signing or dancing part. This allows the users to become creative with their idea and probably leading to the next big thing for viewers to share the content across the globe. It creates a new culture for online users to become comedians or just do it to get laughs. Nowadays, YouTube is covered with these type of mash-ups content, and it's a constant reminder that anyone can do it and you just need to put your mind to it. 

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used? What are the pros and cons? Be specific. How do virtual worlds foster creativity? What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?

There are many ways these virtual worlds can be used. They be can be used to create new innovation of technology and develop an outlook of the real world. It also can be a place to foster creativity within these virtual worlds in order to expand their knowledge about the world. In the article After Second Life, Can Virtual World's Get a Reboot?, Diane Mehta mentions that "Minecraft is a virtual world" that helps kids to expand their imaginations to connect with others and create or build new things. They have the ability to build upon their thought process to become a better critical thinker. Virtual world's gives us the opportunity to collaborate with others. It can be used as a platform of economic ventures to provide growth in different industries on a global scale. Most of these virtual worlds have many advantages. One of these advantage is that we allow these online users to continuously explore the virtual world to obtain some sort of "entertainment, social connection, and learning." Virtual worlds allows developers to construct their view of the world. They can gather pictures of different types of environments and texturing the pictures to make it what they want it to look like. After the process, there is enormous emphasis of brainstorm collaboration within this groups to understand how will the avatars interact with their surroundings. Likewise, one of the major disadvantages of virtual world is that they don't posses no future goal advancement in the business world. No one has been able to become creative enough to think outside the box or to go beyond the limits of the virtual world. Virtual worlds still isn't capable for "a full monetization plan" to provide funds towards this project.

Virtual world's do foster creativity for individuals that have a disorder. It can promote social interaction to break away from their shyness. In the article, iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction, by Nicole Said, describes how virtual world can help people you have autism gain the ability to become more creative. By walking into this virtual name "Naught Auties" created by David Savill, a virtual resource center for those with autism you encounter several avatars that help others with autism to help cope their fear with the conditions. They are allowed to find more information about the condition and spread the awareness through this virtual world. It creates a "comfort zone" for others to become comfortable to speak with others with the disorder. It generates them to break out of their shells and allows them to be themselves.

In the future, virtual world will continue to evolve and become a huge influence on our daily lives.  Virtual world will begin to push beyond the boundaries of the human body and become acquaint with the real world. You will be able to live inside this virtual environment. The brain will be to smell, taste, touch, hear around your surroundings.

Social Networking Sites

Many of these social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube have similarities and differences of functioning on the Internet. Individuals that rely on social media have their own preferences to obtain that latest trend or information. Facebook it contains a friendly interface in which it's a simple layout and it's easily to understand for the non-tech savvy person. You're allowed to share links for different websites, videos, blogs, post videos or pictures, and interact with family and friends. LinkedIn useful intention is directed at the professional commodity to obtain a job position in a organization or to network yourself. You're allowed to post resumes and apply to job postings. It gives you the ability to connect with professionals to seek advice. But, I believe you need to act in a serious robotic professional manner to interact with others. Twitter is somewhat similar to Facebook because it invites users to collaborate with across the globe. But, Twitter tends to get clutter with non-sense garbage that has significant meaning. Twitter strictly allows you to use only 140 characters to process your thoughts or feelings. I believe that Twitter has become somewhat in the past couple of years a hostile environment because users are using offensive behaviors and remarks to prove a point. YouTube allows billions of individuals to discover, watch and share all various  videos. You're given the advantage to watch videos to your preference and have the ability to comment on them. But, overall you can only brand yourself through only visual and that is somewhat a downfall because LinkedIn allows you show off your professional skill sets. Furthermore, out of the four major social networking sites, I believe Facebook standout as being the world's best fundamentally sound website to grasp various amount of information to your preference.

Blog about Twitter

Twitter and Blackboard discussions are two different entities. Twitter is usually used for to engage with random users online. Likewise, Blackboard discussions are generally focused within the classroom and your classmates can have access to the discussions. Twitter can become quite confusing because it's open to the public and eventually you can't keep up all the posts that's being sent from various Twitter users. In contrast, Blackboard discussions can be easily traced back to the student. Also, Blackboard discussions can become productive to voice your opinion or to ask for advice on a particular subject. Some of the Twitter discussion can generate a hostile environment in which users can be highly offensive by using foul language and inviting trolls to continue the tirade of aggression. I believe Blackboard discussions are more beneficial for students to learn or generate new ideas. There is a presence of an actual person monitoring these discussion, so intolerant behavior is not welcomed. Furthermore, Blackboard discussions contains an unlimited amount of characters that can be used to freely speak your mind. In contrast, Twitter is strictly uses 140 characters to post a response and I believe it's not enough.