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.