David Mathew's Blogs

I plan to be a contributor to wiki and my topic is on the subject of Marijuana. I have been researching the positive and negative effects of it. Marijuana is legal in several states in the U.S. Marijuana is considered a drug and often misused, particularly in the teenage age range. Personally I do not agree with the legalization of marijuana but I am doing research on what was the process of getting it legalized in some states already in the U.S.

File Sharing is the ability to distribute or access the digital media over the internet or different networks. Peer to Peer file sharing is the sharing of media content between two peers. Examples include the sharing of shows, movies, music and much more! Furthermore, according to the article "Peers find less Pressure Borrowing from each other", Wendy Kaufman mentions an example of how peer to peer sharing has revolutionized the banking world. Instead of going to banks for loans, individuals are able to borrow money from lenders such as the Lending Club at a much lower interest rate. This is a product of peer to peer sharing and it has had a positive impact on the consumer and producer. Peers Find Less Pressure Borrowing From Each Other May 10, 2013  http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/05/10/182651552/peers-find-less-pressure-borrowing-from-each-other

Privacy and confidentiality has become of big concern for the new media world. It seems like once you post something online, it is there forever. In the article "The Wild West of Privacy", Joe Nocera makes some interesting points such as: internet companies collect information about us, which they deploy in the service of advertisers. They know as much about us as we do ourselves. As a user of new media, this concerns me. Upon reading this article, I will be more conscious on the content and information I post online. The biggest problem is when others are able to use and manipulate information about you which can cause a whole bunch of chaos. Users should be more aware when using the media and take efforts to protect their information as much as they can!

If I were to make some suggestions to new media at Baruch College one thing I would like to implement is virtual spaces. As technology is growing, I believe this will be a great addition to the college. I would hope this opportunity will soon develop into virtual classrooms where students and professors can have interactive lessons. Through virtual classrooms, I believe productivity will increase, students will be more active, possibly save more money, and it will be extremely flexible.  I know this will be a difficult process of implementing but I believe it will be really beneficial for the college environment! This will give students a different feel to college and hopefully their success through virtual classrooms will reflect that!

I was able to create an avatar on secondlife.com I was amazed at the creativity capabilities on this website. Attached below will be an avatar I made. I even got a horse to ride on to get me to places quicker in this virtual world. :)

Advancements in new media has fostered creativity over the past decade. In the article "Creators, Audiences, and the New Media: Creativity in an Interactive Environment" the author says "the need to create art requires humans at every stage to utilize the technology to express information" (Pg 47). Technology has been growing over the past years and this growth has resulted in new forms and new possibilities of communication. One example of this seen prominent today is through personal video blogs (vlogs). Creators of vlogs are able to post videos of their daily life but also include interesting content that catch and keep the attention of viewers. To listen to an individual talk for a certain period of time may be difficult but creators, through the use of new media technology, are able to insert various creative forms of art into their videos to impress viewers. Many years ago this was not possible but now new media has engendered creativity to up-incoming 'cr