My New Media Class - So Far

In today's world, New Media has made a huge impact on society comparing to old media. Certain types of technology that are part of new media are web cams, cell phones, ipods and mp3 players. New media associated with the internet are streaming movies, radio, TV shows, videos, and music online, banking online, and shopping online. Cell phones are also considered new media especially those that are equipped with the internet and contain a GPS chip. With cell phones you can also take pictures and videos and upload them on you computer. The internet plays a huge part with new media as most new technological devices are connected through the internet. Everything connects to the internet since the internet is the main source for all the information and provides ways to make use of your new technology. Social Networking Sites have played a huge part of new media as it has helped bring people together form all around the world and help maintain relationships. New media is replacing and enhancing old media in many ways. One way is that everything is now done online instead of on paper. Instead of mailing letters, you have email, instead of printing pictures, you have digital photography. People can now do their banking online instead of physically going to the bank. New media requires little effort from people to get things done, where with old media, so much effort was required of people to get things done. New Media is replacing old media because it is a lot faster, easier, time-efficient and convenient for people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/technology/personaltech/04basics.html?emc=eta1

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-01/st_thompson

Blogs vs. Wikis

A blog is a diary where people share their ideas and opinions and the material is posted in reverse chronological order. A wiki on the other hand is a collaboration in which people share information on a website. A blog differs from a wiki in many ways such that in a blog, you can see older posts where as comparing to a wiki, all you see is the updated information. A wiki is based on a collaboration of people where as a blog is just solely one person. A blog is also more opinionated than a wiki. A wiki is usually based on facts, the majority of time. In today's networked world, convergence plays a very important part. Having blogs and wikis open many opportunities to many people young and old, rich or poor, any race or ethnicity and helps bring them together so they can work together in unison. A way blogs can be used for collaboration was shown by Wal-Mart in an article entitled "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog." This article shows how Wal-Mart used blogs in collaboration with employees and customers to get a birds-eye view of products. A new way in which a wiki can be used is with a tourist website. The website can have interesting and amazing attractions of places in New York City. People can then update the site if they would like to add more information about he tourist spots or add new places in New York City.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html?_r=1&sq=unbound%20wal-mart%20tastemakers&st=nyt&scp=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331

http://www.cio.com/article/336818/More_on_How_to_Build_Your_Own_Wikipedia

Checking Out Some Social Networking Sites

Social Networking sites have brought many people together virtually from all parts of the world through the internet. Two very popular sites are MySpace and Facebook. These two sites have been around for many years targeting users of different age groups. MySpace targets users of a younger audience in their early teens. Myspace also gives users the ability to create their own layouts, while adding music, and photos to their profile. Facebook on the other hand, is targeted more to college students and more professional people. Although it does not allow you to create your own layout, it does allow users to upload photos, and music to their profile. Hi5 and Friendster are two other social networking sites in which users create profiles and communicate with others throughout the world. Friendster offers blogs, forums, 3D Scenes in which you can create your own virtual world, as well as the ability to upload music, photos, and videos to your profile. Hi5 also allows users to upload photos, videos, music, and mostly group oriented. Hi5 also has a wide variety of games.

What is New Media?

New media is the evolution of media becoming digital, computerized, and can be based on a network of collaboration through a community online. New media refers to the transformation of printed media becoming digital media. It also describes the evolving communication between consumers and producers that was once done through printed papers but can now be done virtually through the internet. New media is shown greatly in today's marketing industry as today, advertisers promote their products with more demographics, and try to make their customers interact with them to get a better feel of their business. This is done in various ways such as blogs, free trials that can be downloaded online, etc. This allows consumers to interact with the business and their product. This was not the case with old media. With old media there was not enough resources that could have been used for such a relationship to take place and this is one of the greatest advantages of new media from old media. New media has also transformed radio, television, newspapers, movies, bank statements, shopping, anything you can imagine to the convenience of one click on your computer instead of physically getting around to do such things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj8ZadKgdC0

Term Project Description

For my term project I will be writing on how open source software can benefit the economy, make it better for democracy, and establish peace in today's society and the advantages and disadvantages of open source software as it is termed as being new media technology. Open source software is a powerful item used widely as new media in the world of technology. It provides users with flexibility, convenience, and affordability that can help them with their various needs. In my project, I will be discussing how open source software has helped bring people together by establishing peace through its advantages and also making it better for democracy and the economy. I will also discuss the negativity of open source software as it has also impacted greatly on society.