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.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

With the advancement of technology, it is quite simple to live in another world. The virtual reality world is your great escape from the torture of present life.

When parents hear the words video games, they think it is all bad. I mean virtual reality fits into that category. But it is not all that bad. According to the CNN article, Naughty Auties is a site that helps those with autism. It creates a world where they can interact with others with the same condition and also learn more about it. It helps get those people out of their comfort zones. Also, virtual reality allows you to communicate with others. This is just another tool of social networking.

Virtual reality does have cons to it. You may be in reality but your brain may be in virtual reality. You may do things that you wouldn't do in reality like beat someone or say something inappropriately. Another issue with virtual reality is the fact that dangerous predators can communicate your kids. Webkinz made the creation of avatars easy for kids. But what is dangerous is the fact that they can communicate with some pervs. Parents must keep close watch.

The virtual reality world will phase out soon. "The Sims" isn't even popular really anymore. Whae is so cool about virtual reality is the fact the makers are so creative. The places look so real. It made me want to enter this fake world. But, thank goodness I'm not a gamer and will not enter this world.

Social Networking

There are various uses for social networking in our daily lives. From the article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting," companies are using these social networking sites to find future employees. Linkedin is a site that allows you to connect with others in the corporate world and creates them to take a look at your resume you post. I don't have a Linkedin account but I heard everyone somehow has one which is kind of scary.

Facebook is another social networking site. I'm sure it is the most popular social networking site. It allows you to connect with old friends, post pictures, and update statuses. I think that is a positive. I, myself, connect with my friends from elementary school. But on the other side, it is negative. Many people nowadays are deleting their facebook accounts. From the article "Facebook Exodus," people believe the site just sucks you in. Once you start an account, you are instantly addicted to it causing you to forget about anything else in your life.

In the future, I believe there will still be social networking sites. Not that there will be new ones, but the ones that are present right now will continue to grow in popularity in the future. I don't see an end to these sites. I know once I get older, I might not use my sites that often, possibly deleting them. But once I delete mine, I'm sure that those in the younger generation will then start one. How much more innovative can you get to create a new social networking site is to be determined.

Check Out Social Networking Sites

So I've had facebook my whole college life. I go on it everyday. At first it was cool because I was able to keep in contact with old high school friends and actually speak with new college friends. You can post comments on other people's walls, post pictures, update your status, and just connect with anyone. But now that I am busy, I don't care much about facebook. I still go on it, but I don't really speak to my friends through it. There have been a couple of changes made to facebook but it still does its job at stalking others haha.

I never had a myspace account. I was not too into social networking sites back then except facebook. In my opinion, myspace is quite similar to facebook. They both do the same things. You can post pictures, comment on someone else's profile, and again, stalk others.

I have heard of friendster but don't know anyone with an account. I did create an account but I felt that there were too many steps. Now that I skipped all the steps, the homepage looks very foreign to me. But after observing it, I see that it is similar to the rest. There are so many varieties of social networking sites but none of them stand out more than the rest.

Blogs vs Wikis

The news used to be given to you by professionals. But now in the 21st century, they can be professional and personal meaning even you and me can give the news on our own blogs. We can share news about anything from sports, weather to what's going on in your life.
Blogs are websites organized by blog posts. This is equivalent to articles in the newspaper. The posts will be in reverse-chronological order. The key button is post in blogs. Other people can also comment on your blog posts. Blogs can connect so many people as it can be read, quoted or linked together. I guess that is how blogs are collaborated in a way. It is not as easy as editing and saving like a wiki but still has a sense of collaboration.

Wikis are also online based. The main difference between wikis and blogs is that people can actually collaborate to edit articles. The two important buttons with wikis are edit and save. With the click of those two buttons, you can instantly change anything you want. You can also add links in your wikis which creates a new page where anyone can edit and save changes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki This site definitely explains wikis.
There is much collaboration within wikis. Anyone can edit a page. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html?_r=1
It has gotten so easy to edit wikis, they are now limiting the editing of famous people.

I think wikis should be used more with shopping centers. Too often I go to outlets to find a store I really want to go to. But then, when you go, the store is closed. It would be nice to have shoppers go on the wiki and edit the store listings so I don't find myself shocked the store is not there.

Old vs New Media

Old media consists of books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, telephone and film. This was how it was back in the day. But now, that new media is taking over the world, there have been advancements made. Basically, new media is a more advanced and better improved form of old media. There are ways to distinguish between old and new media.

Books used to be a physical item you had to bring with you to read. You had to actually purchase the item in stores. But now, there are new ways to get your books. eBooks are a new form of books. You can now buy books online and not have the physical book itself. Instead, you have these online texts you can read on the computer, print it out, or have it on your Kindle.

The news was something you could get from watching television or listening to the radio or reading the newspaper. I guess it was more like you are given the news and you yourself was not able to update it even though you knew it changed. That is why now in the days of new media, you can no get the news online from different blogs made by anyone in the world. People can now change the news. You can also read articles on different newspaper websites and comment about them right then and there.

If you missed your favorite television show back then, you were out of luck. You would not be able to watch that episode until the reruns appear after the whole season finishes. But today, that has definitely changed. While we are in our night classes or hanging out, we may sometimes miss our favorite television shows. But now worries! We can watch the show online whenever we want on television channel sites or on Hulu.com.

New media is just a form of old media that is more advanced. Basically, the difference is that we can now be involved in media in different ways thanks to advances in technology. The internet has definitely helped and I can't imagine living without it.

Social Networking

I will be focusing on social networking sites because they are so popular now. I will talk about how they are being used in different fields such as education and sports. I will go more in depth with each social networking site and how they are needed by everyone. I know a lot of NBA players got fined for using Twitter during halftime. That's interesting to me. I hope to find a lot of information on facebook and twitter in different newspapers and books.

What is New Media?

New media is all around us. But, what exactly is new media? Back in the day, media consisted of the basic newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Nowadays, these types of media take on a new form. Newspapers are no longer just bought pieces of paper bought at the corner store. They now have their own websites which may be accessed by anyone for free. All television channels have their own site in which you can actually watch full episodes of your favorite shows. The New York Times article, "Who needs a TV, I'm Watching on a Laptop" is an example of watching tv shows online. You are not always free to watch tv shows so it's a great thing to watch shows online. Hulu.com is a great site for this.
The rising of new media was caused by technological advances. Back in the day, the internet was non-existent. But today, we use the internet all day long, whether it is on our computer or even on our smartphones. The internet has helped the newspapers and television channels. The advances of the internet has also led to the rise in blogs and other social networking sites. Facebook and Twitter are just two examples of these sites that help people update their statuses. You are always in the know with these sites.
With the advances, people can use their computers for much more than just typing. They can send emails to each other instead of talking on the phone. Also, people can now even teleconference through a webcam. This saves so much more time because now people can speak from the ends of the earth without meeting up in a room.
You can see how important the internet is to the rise in new media. The replacing of old media is just something that was going to happen eventually due to the technological advances. It is obviously better because it saves a lot of time in certain situations. It is easier to access. The new media takeover is great for our generation.

SNOW DAY

I thought there would be a lot more snow outside. I mean when was the last time NYC schools actually shut down for snow. But nonetheless, I am glad to have a day to rest at home. And now I'm creating this blog for class. I've read blogs before but I have never made my own. Lets see how far this blog state lasts...