Term Research Project

My presentation was about New Media and how it affects children. The reason why I chose this topic was I taught in an elementary school for many years and I had a passion for teaching children. It is important to be familiar with the kinds of social environment children are in and how they react to them. Over the years, children adapt to new technology and new media more rapidly then adults. They learn to educate themselves through the Internet and different electronic literacy. Most children found dependency on video games, computer games, Internet, television, and other electronic devices. What happen to the days where children go to parks, play board games, and read books? Some children expose themselves to new media excessively and many parents try to limit the time their children spend among new media. As a parent in the future, I would try to help my children maintain a balance exposure toward old and new media. As for my performance that day, I was extremely nervous. =) Hopefully I got at least part of the information through.

The Next New Thing

Unrealistically speaking, I was hoping that somehow we would be able to establish a "Time Machine". I'm not an electronic expert therefore I don't know how the mechanics and science will work among this new creation. As everyone say, time flies by when you are having fun. Maybe this machine will enable people to relive certain happy moments in their life. But then again this idea is so futuristic.

Old vs. New Media

There isn't a clear distinction between old and new media because new media evolve out of old media; therefore, new media will always contain some characteristics of the old media. As marketers and people find new ways of approaching certain contents, that is when New Media emerges. Everyday, people are thinking of how to do things faster and efficiently, ideas flourish and innovations become New Media. Old Media such as reading books, newspaper, plays, and broadcast television. All this can be done using the Internet these days because it contains a bigger storage space. What if a reader wants to find an article from last week's paper? How often do people usually keep newspaper in their house for more than a week? By going the newspaper's website, articles could be found using the search tab with a click of a mouse. Also, people find new ways of getting in touch using the internet. Instead of using a home telephone or mail, people uses instant messagings, cell phones, and e-mails. Electronic experts and users are constantly searching for new ways to create and use new ways to do things.

Advice to Baruch College

As a student at Baruch College, one of the most difficult thing I have come across so far is trying to find out what classes I need to take to graduate. The college should have a system where each student can set up a list of classes that includes the correct number of credits for graduation. So each student can have checklist of what they took already and what still needs to be taken. The DegreeWorks at Baruch work similar to what I have just described but I felt like it isnt reliable. That is because it takes the college a long time to update it.

The Effect of New Media on Society

New Media has affect society in so many ways and within so many areas. Depending on what area an individual is most expose to, he/she will know what kinds of new media has impact their lives. For instance, I'm a student and I felt that New Media affected education with advance applications and strategic techniques to assist students with their learning experience in or out of the classrooms. There might be a possibility that students would not have to go to class anymore but take online courses or have virtual classrooms where students disguise as avatars (since the MTA might plan to increase fare again, transportation going to be expensive). Another area which I'm also familiar with is New Media has also affect the marketing and advertising sectors of business. With the Internet, marketers have so many ways of reaching out to potential consumers. There are pop-up ads, contests & sweepstakes, promotional ads, and flashing banners. One way or another, they are trying to attain your information so they can bother you in the future.

Checking out some Social Networking Sites

Wow, I never knew there were so many social networking sites out there! Does that mean I'm outdated since I'm only register under 1 social networking site which is Facebook. I also visited MySpace, Friendster, and Moli (a new one for me). I found these social networking sites very similar to each other. By using these sites, users can stay connected with old friends, make new friends, share personal profiles, add applications of interest, and customize your page. There are so much you can do on these social networking sites because the creator(s) provide users so many applications (music, art, accessories, message boards, etc.) that a person can have endless amount of things on their page. Also, I notice that promoters for that social networking site try to make personal privacy a major concern when trying to get new people to join. For example, the slogan for Moli is "Control Your Privacy". With so many scams and frauds floating around the Internet, people need to feed safe about sharing and putting up information about themselves. As for which one is better, I can't judge because people have different criteria when choosing which ones suit them more. It is like choosing which brand of clothing (Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch) to buy while they both carry the same styles and from the same company.

Social Networking and Virtual Worlds

As an individual who lives in a time-poor society, I think social networks and virtual worlds became one of the many necessities for online users. People use social networks and virtual worlds to communicate with others and expand self-interest. A person can meet someone just by adding a friend on Facebook for MySpace and talk or interact by sitting in front of a computer screen. It is that simple. Whereas back then, people meet by scheduling in advance and taking time to travel to meet that person. Through social networking, people can meet more people faster as well as exchange information efficiently. Business people use social networking to hire workers or obtain information through connection of another worker. Some companies don't have time to wait or go out and find people that have the skills they want; therefore, they use the Internet to their advantage by looking through people's profiles in search of the skills they want. As for virtual worlds, companies can use them to arrange meetings or promote products to consumers under 3-D environments.

There are definitely beneficial factors to social networking and using virtual worlds. As I've mentioned before, it saves time to communicate over social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. I don't see more than 1/2 of the people that are my friends on Facebook in person due to work and school. But with Facebook, I can get a glimpse of what they are up to through their Facebook page. In social networks people can easily find others with common interest and share information along the line of that subject. Remember, no one is alone in this world. As for virtual worlds, people are allow to expand their imagination and explore places things you want to do in real life. People are free to do so much with their avatars in the virtual world then in reality.

Is there a "dark side" to social networking and virtual worlds? Yes. The main thing about them is they can be fake. But who can judge whether something is fake or not? No one. People who uses these social networks and virtual worlds should be careful about who they meet and what kind of information is being exchange. Similarly with what was being asked in the article "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide" on WashingtonPost.com, "Could Second Life be used as a place to launder money? Are children safe in online worlds? Are there churches? Are you making any money?" All these questions are debatable. This means that there are still some uncertainties in using social networks and virtual worlds.

Baruch New Media - Our Class Wiki - So Far

Unfortunately, I have not submit any work into the class wiki yet but definitely will. My job is to contribute to the business portion of new media, specifically Marketing and Advertising. People use a variety of techniques and applications from New Media in the Marketing and Advertising industry. I am currently reading a book that describes how marketers use American Idol as a stand to promote their products (Coca Cola, Ford, AT&T). These companies saw that the show was very successful and they as sponsors want to collaborate with the producers to promote their name. This was a very interesting study that eventually got out of hand when the producers decide to rig the show thinking that they can get more voters to participate. One thing led to another and it ultimately affect not only their viewers but their sponsors as well.

Blogs vs. Wikis

I'm pretty sure that many people out there assume that blogs and wikis are similar applications...although, there are some differences! Blogs are usually use by a single author who wants to express his/her ideas or thoughts in journal form. I experienced an example of a type of blog when I used Xanga.com to customize my own Xanga webpage. I update my Xanga by posting new entries every now and then and then so people who reads my entries can comment on it. But it is dead now since I haven't use it for years. As for wikis, they are use by more than one author (aka. collaborators or contributors) who wants to expresses addition ideas and thoughts or make changes to certain information. Blogs are usually a more personal form of writing and wikis are more impersonal because other people have permission to changes the writing. As for the information that are given in these writings, blogs are more vague and opinionated where as wikis are more accurate and informative. For research purpose, it is easier to obtain information from a wiki than a blog because the information is put together all in one place. But blogs can be use for collaborations as well when interest groups get together to promote ideas/products. A group of people with the same views in a blog can give its readers a stronger sense to join the group or persuade them buy the product. I found a very interesting quote from the article "An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified" by Noam Cohen from the New York Times: "someone has to be prepared to be the first to write something, and deal with having those words changed by a complete stranger." This is the problem with wikis, there has to be people out there that take initiatives to write something that can be overwrite by someone else. How many people are willing to do that? How many people are open to the fact that their hard work can be easily erased and rewritten?

Convergence is important in today's networked world because it brings different people with different views, opinions, and thoughts together (aka. collective intelligence). From this idea of collective intelligence, people can put together innovative ways of networking that can be suit their interests better. New and old ideas need to come together or intersect at some point of time for something better to evolve.

My New Media Class - So Far

There are numerous new technologies that can be consider new media. One of the biggest one is probably the World Wide Web and all the networks within it. Billions of people visit the Internet on a daily basis. People can interact with each other within seconds across networks (AIM, virtual worlds, & social networks). In the article "What's Next? Your Future in Social Networking" Chuck Hamilton said "Virtual worlds are quickly becoming a powerful tool and a driving force to what many are calling the 3D Internet – one that is open, immersive, innovative, and social." With these different applications, people saves money and time in their hectic schedule to do other things. This makes the Internet a very important contribution to the new media because of the massive number of participants/users and their active role in creating the Internet. The world would be in total chaos if the Internet shut down all of a sudden one day. Another new technology would be television that contains cable. Viewers have a larger variety of channels to switch among beyond the broadcast channels (NBC & ABC).

New media is enhancing old media in both positive and negative ways. On a positive note, people are using collective intelligence to come up with new technologies and applications to improve their quality of life. With new technologies, people are able to work on tasks faster and effectively. On negative note, people take advantage of new technologies and take easy way out of everthing.

The Effect of New Media on Young Children

My project will focus on how young children these days adapt to the New Media and how New Media changes the ways children used to be a few generations ago. I want to research on how New Media affects children’s cognitive and social development. Children nowadays spend more time indoor in front of a computer or television instead of outdoor playing active sports that involves interacting with other children. Children who try to escape from reality sometimes find it easier to associate with a computer or television than another human being. Children who have the least amount of authority in a society can gain that power from controlling what they want on their computer and television screens. We must not forget that New Media has not only affected adults and teenagers but also smart, innocent young children.

New Media & Children

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I'm going to share some amazing obervations with you that I collected over the summer working as a counselor at an elementary school. Everyday of the summer I saw 95% of the 5th graders playing with a Nintendo DS in the morning, during lunchtime, and snacktime. The remaining 5% are those who doesn't own a Nintendo DS but they didnt mind watching and advising those who are playing. Their eyes were glued to the screens as long as they have one in front of them. I wished I had photographed it.

In a friendly conversation during dismissal time I asked one of my student (2nd grader) what he was going to do once they get home. He told me he was going to play with his computer. So then I asked him what he does on his computer. He told me he watches videoes on YOUTUBE.COM! I was pretty speechless.

It is amazing to see how much technology affects our daily lives! New Media is like a potion that consists of many digital ingredients we have to consume daily to stay alive. Here is just a funny cartoon I found of a kid asking his mother if he was downloaded.

LITTLE MISS LAUREN

As I said in my introduction I'm am a dog lover. Well, here is my precious pup, Lauren. She just turned 1 year old this month. She is a cocker spaniel/jack russell mix. She loves being in the center of attention so people can pet her. She is very playful and contains a lot of energy. Raising her is like having my own kid- potty traning, checkups, and daily feeding/exercise. It is a lot of work but I love her to much to care. All of friends agree that I spoil this dog. The first picture was taken when she was about 9 months old. The picture was taken when she was still a puppy (2 months old).