The Next New Thing

I think it would be amazing to have a way of conducting transactions in DMV through a system that allows customers to avoid long waits to be attended. The system I talk about would allow interaction of a DMV employee face-to-face with a customer through a computer camera. To verify the identity of each individual, a password can be created. The picture can be taken with the camera in the computer. The interaction can be done for identification purposes only. The form to apply for an ID can be filled out previously. After the interaction, the customer can print out a DMV coded temporary ID until the new one arrives. In this way, DMV will reduce expenses and the most important thing, customers will be happier. I thought about a DMV system because I recently went to renew a DL. I waited for 4 hours, making the line to get the ticket number, waiting for the picture to be taken, and waiting for my ticket number to be called. I know you can request an ID renewal online, but the process takes like 2 weeks to get it. And if you moved, the online transaction cannot be done. This type of systems can be used for many governmental agencies, and bank institutions.  

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I have contributed to the session on “How Businesses are Benefiting from Social Networking Sites”.  I added a paragraph that explained how business analyze and decide on what social networking sites, they will be promoting themselves.  Also, I added information on “Types of Social Networking Used in Business” I specifically added i-Meet, which is one of the social networking sites for planners and suppliers. In addition, I created a section about a recent news of employers checking Facebook accounts, called Employers asking for Facebook log in information- Is it a violation of privacy?. These are my contributions in wiki, so far. However, I will add more information focusing on the negative side of business using social networking and employees privacy.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is the distribution and access of digital information available in the web, such as videos, programs, images, documents, e-books, etc. Illicit file sharing represents a problem for the economy and entrepreneurs that the digital information is taken from. In the United States, millions of dollars in sales are lost from illegal file sharing; piracy is one of the biggest issues of file sharing. As David Choi and Arturo Perez mention in “ONLINE PIRACY AND THE EMERGENCE OF NEW BUSINESS MODELS” In most cases, piracy is illegal; in all cases, it is unquestionably unethical.

P2P file sharing stands for Peer-to-Peer file sharing. As its name refers, it is the sharing of files between peers. It is done between people who are part of a network and they can download and see files posted by members of the same network. People, who use P2P, to post music, movies, e-books, etc. are often using a technology called BitTorrent, according to B. Stelter and B. Stone in their article “Digital Pirates Winning Battle with Studios” The New York Times.  But there are several P2P websites, besides BitTorrent, P2P file sharing is done through Napster, Morpheus, Gnutella, Freenet, Skype among others.

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy is the right of one person to control, and timing how and in what way he/she shares personal information or activities with others. Confidentiality is the protection of someone’s privacy. Unfortunately, privacy and confidentiality are affected with new media. The internet does not protect its users. The information shared on the internet can be easily accessed and read by anyone. Even email accounts that are supposed to be secure by a password can be hacked, which means the violation of our privacy and confidentiality. New media is definitely advancement in technology but other things, like our private information, are put in jeopardy. With the social networking sites, the privacy issue is increasing along with the popularity of these websites.  Many people do not know what type of information to post online, and they make the mistake of exposing their lives in public to everyone in the online community.  

Advice to Baruch College

My ideas for Baruch College to use new media will be:

1.       A new Facebook like page can be created for Baruch Students only.

2.       Students can offer their textbook for sale, tutoring services and other activities.

3.       With the Baruch page, the different Departments can start participating in the new website.

4.       The Writing Center will have a change on the online sessions, making easier the understanding and interaction between tutor and student.

5.       The Advisement and Counseling Department can start making appointments online, instead of having to call multiple times to be attended.   

6.       Professors and students can meet online, when the Professor cannot make it to the school.

The changes, I propose, are based on the new website that would create a new way of interaction for everyone.

Creativity and New Media

I decided to create an avatar second life. The reason why is I had no idea of the existence of these avatars, before this class. It has been a very exciting assignment. Although, it may not be the coolest avatar, It was a challenge to me.

Creativity

Creativity is the constant way of creating and experimenting new things. New Media has created a revolution in many aspects of people’s lives. It is presenting life in a different way, making people to have the necessity of adapting to these changes. Therefore, people are pushed to develop a new mentality-creativity- to go along with the constant changing world. New Media and creativity have a tight connection because people use creativity to reinforce New Media. Plain and simple, It means creating new way of doing things, like the article 1+1+1=1 by Sasha Frere-Jones refers to the revolution in music. Computers have allowed d.j. and other musicians to create new ways of mixing music or putting notes together to have a better sound. Effects in music, like this, were not possible before the digital technology and new media revolution came into the picture.