Next New Media?

It is really hard to put my finger on what would be the "next new media." Over time we've seen the movement away from legacy media to more digital and "new" media formats. We started off with newspapers, magazines, and traditional television to now using online/digital TV, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat (among many others) for our entertainment. There are many companies now that are working on developing virtual reality to enhance digital entertainment. In the future, I think new media will incorporate more virtual reality. For example: people will be able to watch TV shows and movies utilizing virtual reality so they feel like they are in the show/movie themselves, people will be able to play console or computer video games with a virtual reality option to also immerse themselves into the game world, and finally I presume there will be an easy every day virtual reality adaption for people's cell phones or glasses that all them to see things in virtual reality while they are walking down the streets (billboards, store fronts, bus stop advertisements).

P2P

1. What is file sharing?

A quick google search showed the definition of "file sharing" to be "the practice of or ability to transmit files from one computer to another over a network or the Internet" Another search on technopedia showed the definition of "file sharing" to be "the practice of sharing or offering access to digital information or resources, including documents, multimedia (audio/video), graphics, computer programs, images and e-books. It is the private or public distribution of data or resources in a network with different levels of sharing privileges."

2. What is P2P file sharing?

The term "P2P" stands for peer-to-peer, simply meaning content that is shared between two or more people. To be more specific, P2P file sharing defined now by Fossbytes is (in the 21st century) "a uniquitous technology that has proven its part to revolutionize the Internet era. P2P sharing is much praised by the pirate community, as it helps to channel digital content such as music, movies and TV shows over the Internet, without paying for it.... it wasn't intended for the purpose it has been utilized now, and the innocent P2P file sharing is being blamed for all the losses borne by the production studios and music labels." P2P file sharing has become to have a negative connotation to it, representing files that are illegally shared amongst a network of individuals, and allowing all individuals to have the files for free. 

In an article by Brian Stelter and Brad Stone of the NYTimes, "people have swapped illegal copies of songs, television shows and movies on the Internet for years... a wave of streaming sites allow people to start watching video immediately without transferring a full copy of the movie or show to their hard drive, and are making it easier than ever to watch free Hollywood content online. Many of these sites are located in countries with lackluster piracy enforcement efforts, like China, and are hard to monitor."

3. What are some examples of P2P file sharing? 

Some examples of popular P2P file sharing: ThePirateBay, BitTorrent, LimeWire, uTorrent 

Wiki So Far

I have not added any content to the class wiki yet, but I have done a lot of research in preparation for my term paper (that I was not able to use in my paper) which I hope to use to create a wiki page for. My wiki page will encompass the television ecosystem and the changes that are surrounding the industry. The wiki page will explain differences between broadcast TV, cable TV, and over-the-top TV services (online aggregators like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now). It will explain how each different method of video entertainment makes money (through licensing agreements, creating original content, retransmission fees for broadcast TV for example) and also capture any developments in the industry from the past to now. For example: in the past programming from broadcast TV was able to be retransmitted to a company's network for free, but in 1992, the US Cable TV Consumer Protection and Competition Act required that cable networks have to pay broadcasters to carry their programming. Retransmission fees eventually developed into a new revenue stream for networks that had broadcasted programming. 

In preparation for my paper, I had to do a lot of research on the above mentioned topics to get a foundational understanding of the TV ecosystem and then had to do research on how trends in the industry are affecting it (broadband is reaching more households, people are using more wireless devices and online outlets to find their entertainment, digital media is growing) and as a result, how the advertising industry is changing along with it. I also plan on summarizing how the advertising industry connects to TV. I plan on summarizing data into charts or using images from Google in order to add some more content onto my wiki page and make the data easier to digest. 

My wiki page will hope to explain a lot of the nitty gritty details that I was unable to elaborate on in my paper, and further provide the foundational research and background that anyone would be able to utilize to form an opinion on then changes in the two industries, as I have for my term paper. 

Privacy and Confidentiality

Being that new media is extremely technology enabled, there can be many issues surrounding privacy and confidentiality. Anything that is located online (photos, passwords, home addresses, personal information)  is going to be accessible to a larger audience, and by people from all over the world. Even if something is not publically posted, there are always ways for people to see it or gain access to it by breaking security and hacking for example. Additionally, anything that once existed on the Internet is probably still there on the darknet so privacy and confidentiality do not really exist. 

In an article by Rebecca Greenfield from the Atlantic, privacy settings on Facebook are getting more and more complex, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the settings work. Randi Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg's sister) had posted a photo of a family outing on Facebook and indicated that she only "wants her friends to see the photos that she has posted. But the way Facebook works, friends of your friends tagged in a photo album also see the entire roll, unless you choose otherwise in the settings of the alum posted." The photo was then shared by a friend of a friend, who was merely admiring the family photo stating it "seemed so fun and normal." Though seemingly harmless, Randi was taken aback because she thought she was keeping her photo private by only allowing accessibility to friends, but it had gotten into the hands of a friend's friend, which she saw as a violation of privacy. Privacy and confidentiality also becomes an issue because it is considered differently depending on the person. 

Advice to Baruch College

I was hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the college. Here are some suggestions I would make using new media. 

• Recommend for Baruch's clubs and organizations to continue utilizing their Facebook and Instagram pages to keep students updated on what is going on (through event pages, photos, videos) 
• Recommend for more clubs and organizations to also utilize Snapchat or YouTube to stay connected with students through visual entertainment
• Professors and classes to hold discussions on Facebook through class group pages or class group chats, it takes away hassle for students who need to log onto different platforms (like Blackboard) when they can just continue their work on the media platforms they are already on 
• Film and put more videos showcasing the students and faculty at Baruch on the school's webpage, also format videos so they are compatible with other social media platforms 
• Put more content (digital flyers, links to YouTube videos, photos) into emails to students 

Creativity and New Media

Snapchat is a new media platform that is growing in popularity and use. It is a platform that allows people to take photos and videos of different things that disappear after a short time span. Over time, Snapchat added a feature that allowed people to put different filters on their content. Brands also started to create filters containing advertisements. Recently, I discovered that the platform also allows for people to create their own avatars using an application called Bitmoji.

Bitmoji is an avatar application that is compatible with Snapchat. Users are able to customize an avatar version of themselves (they are able to change facial/body features, hair, clothing, and accessories) and use them when communicating with others on Snapchat. I like to use Bitmoji because it is easy to work with and I use Snapchat very often.

Currently, my Bitmoji is an accurate representation of myself (as seen below).

  

From the last two photos above, one can see that Bitmoji allows me to pick from different face shapes and hairstyles to fit my needs. The application also allows me to choose my eyebrow shape, add makeup on my avatar, and change my eye shape among other features.

   

I also have the option to change my avatar's outfit. If, for example, it is football season, I can change my avatar to represent my favorite team. If I am in a period of my life where I am feeling super confident and professional, I can throw a suit onto my avatar. On the other hand, if I am ever feeling goofy, I can also throw on a costume for my avatar and make myself look like a unicorn.

Snapchat and Bitmoji also creates different stickers that showcase the avatar in different situations or displaying different emotions/sayings.

   

Although there is no way for me to control my avatar and make it perform actions, it is still a way for me to be creative because I am able to change the way that a fictional version of myself looks like. I can try different make up looks, hairstyles and outfits to see what I like or don't like.

Creativity

How does new media foster creativity? 

In an article by Brooks Barnes from New York Times, titled "Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of Its Critters. But Why?," Disney was reported to tolerate YouTube videos that turned Bambi, Simba and Winnie the Pooh into rap stars. The video was made by "editing together snippets of animated movies and TV shows. The finished products look like music videos in which the cartoon character do the singing." Users were able to draw together different videos from different sources, use a software or program to cut and put together the different snippets, and display the end product on YouTube, which many people now use to get their source of entertainment. 

According to Google, new media is defined to be "a means of mass communication using digital technologies such as the Internet." YouTube is a great example of how new media fosters creativity. As a means of mass communication, viewers of the media are many and varied. As a result, it would take a lot more to create content to capture the attention of all of the viewers, so creators need to be more creative to put out original or different content. There are also more creative minds behind creating the new content because the process of publishing and distributing is a lot easier. The creators get more of their work out to the public and more easily, so the creativity is always going.