Soup Kitchen

How do you start off the weekend?? By waking up at 7am to serve at the soup kitchen! Father's Heart located on East 11th and between Ave A and Ave B in the east side is such an awesome ministry. They have a soup kitchen that serves breakfast to more than 600 people every Saturday! It so great to see so many volunteers willing to help out. It was at least 95degrees today so it was so hot in there. But just seeing the smiles you get from the guests as they leave satisfied is all worth the sweat. Also great was some of the basketball team in aprons and hairnets!

TGIF

The best part about Friday's is the fact I get out at 1pm in the summer. But the worst part is waiting for a crosstown bus. I took 30 minutes or more just to get across central park on the M79. Chipotle was for lunch and eating at school brought back memories. Too bad I couldn't pick up my diploma. Walking around the city in the thick humid air was so disgusting. It was a relief once you step into a store blasting the AC. Nordstrom Rack is by far my favorite store in Union Square. It seems I always find something to buy in there. And for dinner, just eating pasta at Grandmas house and resting for the rest of the night. What a surprise to be able to talk to my girlfriend in Panama. Thank goodness for free wifi. Well this is my first post since class ended and hopefully it won't be the last!

The Next New Thing

It seems like all possible inventions of new media have been made already. It's very tough thinking about what could be the next big thing. I think something involving the MTA and new media would be cool. Possibly having buses and trains send a tweet that appears on a screen at the stop letting passengers know where they are currently and if there will be any delays. I feel like the MTA is not very technologically advanced. They do have a screen projecting the waiting time for trains at only some stations. But a tweet would involve new media and would be better. (Though I just realized you don't get cell phone service in subways underground. So I don't know how the tweet would go through.)

Our Class Wiki- So Far

I have not edited or adding anything to the class wiki yet. I feel like I want to get more information before possibly adding something in. I do want to edit the sports page and also the business page. I would like to include something about the use of new media by street vendors. Street vendors actually do make decent money and have begun to capitalize on the new technology.

About My Term Research Paper

For my paper, I discussed about social networking and its various uses. This topic interested me because Facebook and Twitter are popular now and interests me. I determined whether they had a positive or negative impact. The research I did focused on the uses of these sites. I also included readings we were assigned and other sources. I learned that social networking sites are useful in that they help you communicate with others and help you market products. But, these sites are easily hackable and can be used for evil.

With these findings, I hope new media is used in the class more often. The idea of using Twitter in class would be cool. A constant stream of tweets would be helpful to gain insights on the topic. I've been to conferences with tens of thousands of people and usually they ask a question and ask everyone to comment. It's cool to see your comment next to your Twitter profile picture. It makes you feel like you're important.

Privacy & Confidentiality

New media is all around us. We feel like it is a new way to speak our minds and to connect socially to others. But, there are some major issues regarding privacy and confidentiality.

With our facebook, twitter and blogs, we reveal so much about our lives. But did you know that virtually anyone can have access to your pages? With the click of the mouse, your own page can be found and depending on what you put on your page, someone can know your birthday, address, phone number, email and where you reside. Your identity can be taken justl like that. You don't even know who actually goes on your pages so you can have someone stalking you without your knowledge.

Fortunatley, there are ways to protect yourself. On facebook, you can prevent people from going on your page if they are not your friend. Also with twitter, you can block people so they can't follow you.

You let the world gain a lot if knowledge about yourself through new media. Sure new media is what's in right now but you must remember you have to be careful. Do not post private information on your pages because it can definitely be used against you.

Advice to Baruch College

If I was hired to use new media to improve the college, I would be up for the task. I think the way we do things in this online CIS class is very reliable and not too difficult to implement. Having online classes can help us save time by not showing up physically to class. All assignments are posted in advance and you don't have a professor nagging you to turn it in on time.

If each class had their own wiki pages, there would be no need to send emails to each other. Instead the wiki page can be edited by anyone so everyone can see it. Wiki pages would be very useful in many classes.

Also, blogging should be required in classes. It will help everyone communicate with each other. I think it is cool to have everyone blog about what they learned from class so you can get someone else's perspectives.

It would be a step in the right direction to use new media in our college. It is the wave of the future and what better way to adjust to it then to use it for all the courses.