The Next New Thing

        If I had to suggest a new type of "new media," I would suggest an app that causes a user's phone to randomly vibrate in their pocket throughout the day. A few seconds after the vibration, the phone will automatically begin to record. However, there will be a feature that allows the user to disable the app from automatically recording if they want. Once the app begins recording, it will record for a little under a minute. Throughout the day, the user will have an accumulation of these videos and they will be threaded together to create daily stories. The user will be able to upload the videos and allow other users to view them. The purpose of this app would be to show a pure, unfiltered version of a person's day. Of course, no video would be posted until the user gives their consent. The random vibrations will disable the user from being able to put on an act and create a fabricated experience that they want to portray to the individuals on their contact lists like they often do on other social media sites. The name of the app would be called "Surpreyes" because people would be able to see your unfiltered life from your perspective.

P2P File Sharing

        File sharing is the act of sharing files (consisting of eBooks, music, pictures, etc) between different computers. P2P file sharing, or rather, peer to peer file sharing, entails the exchange of files (such as the examples listed above) between individuals who are equals in regards to the amount they benefit from the sharing of the files. For example, a company "sharing" an eBook with an individual for a certain price is not considered to be peer to peer sharing. However, if an individual shares said eBook with another individual and obtains no benefit from the exchange other than the joy of having shared an interesting book, then this is considered to be peer to peer file sharing. According to the NMA staff in their blog entitled "Content producers should take advantage of P2P, not fear it," an example of P2P sharing is the exchange of their film entitled "Steal this Film" over the "P2P site The Pirate Bay." This exchange involved individuals sharing their film to other individuals at no cost. Many platforms, like The Pirate Bay, are considered to be dubious, shady sites because they allow individuals to obtain copyrighted files at no charge, which directly undermines the original creators of the files. However, many individuals see such platforms as a useful, generous service.


Website Mentioned:
https://econsultancy.com/nma-archive/56421-content-producers-should-take-advantage-of-p2p-not-fear-it

Our Class Wiki - So Far

    In regards to our class wiki, I have began to edit the sports section. In this section, I began talking about the impact that virtual reality has had on sports, specifically football and the NFL. What I learned throughout my research thus far is that there are two main ways that the NFL has used and plans on using virtual reality. The first way that they have used and continue to use virtual reality is that they provide players with headsets that allow them to transport (virtually) onto the football and physically see the field as well as their teammates and other game-related scenery. This allows the players to feel like they are on the field no matter where they are. Another way that the NFL is planning on using virtual reality is that they plan to make such a technology available to fans so that they can experience the game from their homes or other locations that are not physically in the stadium. There are many ways that they can use virtual reality in order to heighten and enhance the experience for fans. Although such a service is not available to fans yet, the NFL plans on possibly making it available before the end of the current football season. There is also a chance that they have some sort of virtual reality-based experience available for fans during the Superbowl. Although I did not finish my wiki yet, I plan on going more in depth about the information stated above.

Privacy & Confidentiality

    As new media expands, so does the vulnerability of new media users' privacy and confidentiality. There have been many situations in the past where individuals using some form of new media had their privacy breached. For example, there was a massive Snapchat scandal where hackers obtained pictures of users by hacking another application that allows individuals to store Snapchats that they took screen-shots of. We live in a society where virtually every aspect of our lives is documented in one way or another. Private information is a tremendous aspect that new media corporations are constantly trying to both obtain and protect. There is an exchange of private information virtually every time an individual uses a form of new media. For example, many social media sites require you to use an email address in order to sign up; Uber requires you to turn on your location every time you use its services; Google and every other email application stores your emails. With the exchange of private information comes the risk of having that information accessed by others or leaked online. There is an inherent risk every time an individual uses any form of new media. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to completely negate such risk. Therefore, new media corporations constantly have to update their security in order to keep their users' private information confidential.

Advice to Baruch College

        If I lived in a hypothetical world where Baruch College just hired me in order to use new media to make improvements to the college, there are a few suggestions that I would make. The first way that I would use new media in order to improve the college is that I would set up both a blog and a Facebook page where individuals would be able to post their opinions about the college. These would also serve as forums for students to make suggestions themselves as to how the college could be improved. Next, I would set up a twitter account in order to advertise certain things going on around the school. I assume that students would be much more inclined to check their twitter accounts more frequently than their emails, so I would post things on the Baruch twitter account that would both inform and motivate students. For example, if a large company was partaking in a workshop at Baruch, I would post that to the account in order to inform students about an important event that they would be able to participate in. New media is a vital tool that could be use to educate and inform students on significant things going on around the school. It can also be used in order to voice their opinions. By serving as a platform for students to voice their opinions, new media would essentially be strengthening the relationship between the student body and the college itself.

Creativity and New Media

The above picture is a Bitmoji that I created and use on Snapchat. It allows me to represent myself and also allows me to represent what I would like to be doing at a given moment, despite whether or not it is possible in that moment. For example, I sent this specific picture to a friend while in class in order to demonstrate my desire to be home watching a football game. It allows me to physically show what I would like to be doing at any given moment.

This second picture (above) is a picture I took during the last presidential debate. I used Snapchat in order to alter the picture. Here, Snapchat enabled me to alter Donald Trump's face and then share it with others. New media allows me to alter virtually anything in life in order to express my creativity and allows for the exchange of unique materials, such as the pictures I shared above. 

Creativity

        When an individual thinks of new media, there are many aspects that may come to mind in regards to the creativity that new media fosters and facilitates. One example of a creative output that is generated through the use of new media is parody videos. Brooks Barnes, in her New York Times article entitled "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?," discusses the emergence of YouTube videos that involve the voicing over of Disney movies with rap lyrics. She draws attention to a video where a Winnie the Pooh cartoon was dubbed over using lyrics from Soulja Boy's "Crank That" song. What this really is an example of is how new media was used in a unique way in order to produce comical variance from the original cartoon. YouTube essentially enabled the creators of the parody video to create something entertaining. However, there are hundreds, if not thousands (or even millions) of other ways that new media facilitates creativity. There are even ways that we may not even notice or think about. For example, Snapchat enables its users to create cartoon characters of themselves using an app called Bitmoji. This allows individuals to send pictures to each other with cartoon versions of themselves doing unrealistic, comical things. It allows its users to place themselves in an alternate dimension where virtually anything and everything is possible. This is the very definition of creativity.