David Mathew's Blogs

I would like to see a new media invention (an app) that tells you the name of random strangers you are conversing with. I know this is probably creepy but a lot of times I meet people, I forget their name. Hopefully this app can fix a problem like this. This app would also protect people's personal information, only giving out their names. This can't be too bad..right?

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...

Virtual worlds are changing the technology environment at a rapid rate. Our reality is also being shaped by the use of virtual worlds. Virtual worlds can be used as classrooms, conference facilities, field trips, gaming, exploration hubs, etc. There are many pros and cons to this. The pros are that they make life so much more convenient. In the article "I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life", Dave Itzkoff talks about his experience of going to a music club to listen to a band and not being able to stay because of the amount of people and the smell inside the club. So he went home, turned on his computer and went to the same club, but this time virtually. Talk about convenience! Here, Dave was able to enjoy through a virtual world. Now although this is a pro, this can also be seen as a con. The con is that he loses real-life interactions with human beings. It no longer feels real anymore. And personally, I would probably go insane with no human interactions.  Anoth...

Twitter discussions is different than Blackboard discussions because of the convenience twitter offers users to upload and read information at a quick pace. Twitter has an easy interface to use and this results in more interactions among friends and even strangers you don't know. Twitter discussions are open to the world if you are public, versus Blackboard discussions which are limited to your class.  Twitter in comparison to in-class discussions is totally different simply because you are behind a screen. You lose the face to face interactions which makes things less personal. For me, I am not a big fan of that. Also since twitter is on the internet, information can be checked, double checked and triple checked. In-class discussions do not offer that.  To compare these, all three discussions are ways to interact. And this is important. Hearing and learning from the view point of others help grow your knowledge a lot! 

My impressions on: Facebook: THERE ARE SO MANY ADS. The first thing I notice when I log on to Facebook is the amount of ads. When I watch a video, the first thing that pops up is not the video but rather the ads. This can be frustrating at times. Moreover, I realize that Facebook targets an older age group than college students. I use Facebook to stay in touch with all my uncles and aunts so for this purpose I enjoy it! Twitter: I find it so interesting to read peoples' tweets. You can understand someone's day by their tweets/retweets. There is so much interactions going on, on twitter. Everytime I refresh, something new comes up and it goes to show how many people are using twitter! Although it is not an in person interaction but real-time conversations are still able to take place! Instagram: This by-far my favorite social networking site. I love seeing pictures. People are so creative and fancy and its amazing to see! I find myself being on Instagram for hours. This pl...

Social Networking has revolutionized the media world and it shows no sign of slowing down. Everyday new improvements are being made to enhance the social networking world. People prefer convenience and the convenience of social networking is what has made it so popular. Social Networking can be used in many ways but one way is through job recruitment. In the article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting", Frank Langfitt mentions how LinkedIn has served as a platform to connect thousands of professionals together. Through LinkedIn, professionals are able to stay connected and have the freedom to explore opportunities.  I would say the dark side to Social Networking, specifically Facebook, is the privacy feature. In the article "Facebook Privacy is so Confusing even the Zuckerberg family photo isn't private", Rebecca Greenfield talks about how outsiders were able to retrieve personal information from Randi Zuckerberg. The issue was that Randi...

Blogs are a platform for an individual to share their personal news. It is also a platform to exchange views/perspectives amongst viewers so that it becomes a two way street. A community of bloggers can inspire and motivate each other through interactions. A Wiki is a collaborative platform where users can edit, delete or update content of other users. Shared content in wikis' are constantly changing but it is the best way to get work done together. In the article, "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia", Margret Locher talks about how wikis' make it easier to gather and share information as well as record discussions about a subject. This has become a valuable tool for managers in business to collaborate with employees. Furthermore, in the article, "Brooklyn Blogs Helps Lead to Drug Raid" by Michael Wilson, shows how blogging was used as a form of collaboration among neighbors to crack down on a suspicious drug dealing home. Because of the blogs of vari...

This research study has been an area of interest for me for a long time now. We live in an age where technology is growing at a rapid rate. These advancements have brought many changes to world especially the social media world. The age group I want to focus on is 14-25 year olds, as these are the key time periods in which these individuals form a sense of identity. And as my title suggests, I believe the social media has a big impact on ones' personal development and identity. One specific point I would like to tackle in my project is the development of comparison among these teenagers and young adults. One thing I notice in society now a day is the detrimental effect of comparison. This causes these individuals to have poor self-esteem and to not fully develop into who they're meant to be! And social media plays a big role in this! For my project, I intend to find scholarly articles of this topic to support my argument.