Friday, February 26, 2010

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.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

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.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

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...