Our Class Wiki - So Far

So far, I have not added any content to our Class Wiki. However, I am working on an update for the category that I created, "New Media and the Environment." At first I found it hard to find sources for this category. Through all my searching, I only found one link related to new media and the environment. But then I realized that I wasn't thinking outside of the box. I had planned on writing striclty of how new media has affected our Earth and wasn't thinking about other related topics. But I see that there are already two posts under this topic covering a related issues. Therefore, my content will focus on the impact that new media has had on the environment and the role it has played in helping to support different causes.

Edit:
Just added some content to the Environment page. More to follow later.

P2P File Sharing

If asked to describe what file sharing is, I would say that file sharing is the distribution and harboring of information through the internet. This digital information can be uploaded by one person and downloaded by another.

P2P file sharing is an advanced and streamlined method of file sharing. In P2P file sharing, one can download a program such as BitTorrent and use this network to download files. A program like this allows many users to distribute files to each other, hence, "Peer-to-Peer" file sharing. This is more convenient and faster than the former practice in which thousands of users downloaded a file from one server. BitTorrent "breaks up a large file into pieces and spreads these around users [on the network] who download them and upload them to others at the same time." File Sharing Joins the Mainstream, Nuttall

Another example of a once popular P2P file sharing site is Kazaa. in 2006, Jammie Thomas was the subject of the first file sharing copyright infringement lawsuit by downloading 24 songs from Kazaa. Her case continued for years through appeals and in November, 2010, damages were determined by jury to be $1.5 million against Thomas. Seems a bit unfair since millions of people illegally download data. $1.5 Million Fine for Downloading 24 Songs

Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy and Confidentiality have always been a big issue in regards to new media. There have been both positive and negative outcomes that stem from this problem. One popular argument is that social media platforms such as Myspace and especially Facebook infringe upon one's privacy. If privacy settings are not strictly controlled, people that you may not be friends with can view your profiles, pictures, and comments. Instances have happened where people have been fired from their workplace, students have been rejected from school admissions or arrested for things they said online. Even teachers have been fired for their comments about students on Facebook, comments that they thought were private.

Though most people are now aware of these privacy issues, some still neglect to block their social media sites to people they do not know. Even after blocking on Facebook, the new privacy settings now either let all your friends see what you write on other people's walls, or block them completely and makes your own wall unavailable to others to write on. For those who know what I mean, that can be a very annoying setting as you can no longer adjust the privacy settings to your personal liking as you once were able to.

However, at times, there is a benefit to these privacy shortcomings. When teens run away, their Facebooks or Myspaces can give clues as to where they are. They might be communicating with their friends and police or parents may try and go onto these sites to ask the child's friends for help. Parents can also go onto their kid's sites to try and monitor their activities. Police have also been using social media platforms to catch crooks by similarly monitoring suspects pages and that of their friends. Although these people may have privacy settings enabled on their pages, I'm sure there is a way that law enforcement officials/task forces may get access to restricted areas from the providers of these social media sites. In closing, privacy and confidentiality are very closely related to social media in both good and bad ways.

Advice to Baruch College

If hired by Baruch to improve the college using new media, I would suggest a wiki addition to each class, in addition to Blackboard. I think a class Wiki would be useful. Professors could use it as a tool to teach as well as a tool to disseminate information. A wiki can be a teaching tool by having students research and incorporate class content to the site. Students can cross check each other while the Professor can review and point out any corrections. Deadlines can be kept for certain assignments while others can be left to students to complete at will, as long as it is before the end of the semester. This may encourage learning if students can complete assignments at their own pace due to varying schedules. Professors could also use this wiki to post up certain information. For example, a Professor could start an assignment by first posting some information on the topic. The class could then sign on to read this information and complete the remainder of the assignment on their own. I don't think a class wiki should replace Blackboard though. For example, the "My Grades" tool in Blackboard is important and cannot be replaced by posting grades on a wiki.

About My Term Research Paper

My term paper is titled: "The Impact of Social Media. How and Why We Use It." When I was doing my bibliography for my paper a few weeks ago, I really wished that I had chose another topic. It seemed harder to find information because what I was looking for could not be searched for directly. I kept thinking that if I had picked a topic that had been widely written about, I wouldn't have as much difficulty researching. Rather, I kept brainstorming possible different examples and searched for all of these. I had to read many articles, some very long, until I finally found 10 good ones to use. Once I got my bibliography down, writing the paper became much easier as I already knew which sources I would be using and what I wanted to cover. In the end, I'm glad I had to do the bibliography and outline beforehand because it really made it a lot easier when it came to writing the paper. I picked my topic choice due to a class that I had taken previously. That professor was really into the topic of Cuba and blogging and now whenever I think of blogs, I think of the Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez. I couldn't get her out of my head when I read the assignment so I decided to incorporate her into the paper.