The Next New Thing

Wearable fitness trackers have exploded onto the scene in recent years and are now popular as ever. Brands such as Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone and more all offer individuals the ability to track and record their data on their own specific databases. Some even offer the option of connecting and sharing progress with friends. However, there is no platform that connects the people wearing these technologies with doctors. I envision a universal platform where users can connect their wearable technologies, no matter the brand, and their data can be tracked and viewed with healthcare professionals who can monitor the data, provide help/feedback, and more.  

Wiki So Far

The semester has been going by so fast that I haven't even gotten the chance to contribute to the class wiki the way I would have liked to! Going forward, I'd like to further my term paper by adding articles that tie into my topic. I'd like to piggyback on and add to my classmates' contributions that I find interesting, and I'd also like to link to articles/websites that I think would be beneficial to the class for studying for the final.

P2P File Sharing

Google defines file sharing as the practice of or ability to transmit files from one computer to another over a network or the internet. P2P, or "peer to peer" file sharing, deals with the transmission of files from one end-user's computer to another's through the internet, without using an intermediary server. In his article, "The BitTorrent Effect," Clive Thompson addresses just how prominent P2P programs have become, providing statistics as "BitTorrent traffic accounts for more than one-third of all data sent across the internet," as of 2006. Using P2P file sharing platforms can be an efficient way to share large files with others, but users must take caution, as certain files can subject users to viruses, spyware, and even identity theft. Examples of P2P sharing platforms include well-known ones as BitTorrent, Napster, The Pirate Bay, and lesser known ones such as P2P lending platforms Lending Club and Prosper, mentioned by Wendy Kaufman in her article, "Peers Find Less Pressure Borrowing From Each Other."

Privacy & Confidentiality

In today's IT-driven, surveillant society, privacy and confidentiality issues arise with regard to the use of new media. Privacy and surveillance issues are primarily concerned with about personal information. It is practically impossible to operate online without being tracked in numerous ways and by numerous entities. Electronic records have broken through physical restraints, and they are easy to create, store, maintain, manipulate, search, and more. The distribution of information can take place with or without the knowledge of the person whom the information is about. Norms with regard to appropriate or inappropriate kinds of information and distribution of information are both formal and informal, and changes in information norms are often triggered by a change in technology. Helen Nissenbaum's account of privacy as contextual integrity states that when information norms are violated, an individual's privacy is violated. One of the main features of IT-configured activities where ethical issues seem to arise is in its distinctive identity conditions. Anonymous posts are not always anonymous. Internet-based communication is mediated, and anonymity is contextual and relational. The degree of anonymity one has in any situation depends on the ways in which information can be linked with other information. In the end, the flow of information through platforms fostered by new media shapes organizational practices, and these practices powerfully affect the lives and experiences of individuals.

Advice to Baruch College

If I was hired by Baruch College to use new media to improve the college, I'd start by immediately looking into a couple of the school's flawed features. First, CUNY Blackboard either needs to be modified or replaced all together. While Blackboard is a great avenue through which professors can get a notice out to a large number of students, it is very much a one-to-many means of communication. Blackboard does have a discussion/comment feature, it is scarcely used, in my experience. The idea would be to either update the design of blackboard with the intention to highlight those features in order to encourage discussion among classmates, or to replace Blackboard with another platform that can allow professors to get announcements out to students while also functioning as a many-to-many means of communication. And secondly, I would change the appointments policy for student-help offices such as the Center for Academic Advisement, Registrar, and Bursar. While some things require a students physical presence to be processed, I would have a team whose sole purpose is to handle "online appointments." Being that Baruch is a commuter school, it is unreasonable to require students to make the trip to school and be physically present for something that may be able to be handled in just minutes over the internet (Blackboard or another program would be used for these online appointments).

Creativity and New Media

Creativity

In an IT-configured society, information flows quickly, easily, and in a variety of directions. New media serve as platforms for individuals to communicate their information/ideas to the public almost seamlessly. We live in a copy-cat world. It’s very difficult to come up with a great creative idea/invention from scratch. Instead, people see something that has already found success, and they piggyback off of it in an effort to make it better. New media fosters creativity in this interconnected world by allowing content of all kinds to be viewed, modified, compounded upon, and shared with the world. “Mashups” are an example of using new media to put a creative new spin on already-established ideas. Mashups are generally recordings created by combining and synchronizing two or more songs. Characteristics of each individual song are still meant to be kept the same, but the idea is that when put together, the end product has a completely new look and new feel. Sasha Frere-Jones, in her article, “1+1+1=1,” talked about some popular mashups. DJ Reset, as Frere-Jones explained, successfully took elements of Beck’s song “Debra,” and combined it with parts of Jay-Z’s “Frontin’,” to create “Frontin’ on Debra,” a mashup which he posted on his own site and was eventually made available on iTunes. Frere-Jones sums mashups up, explaining “mashups find new uses for current digital technology, a new iteration of the cause-and-effect relationship behind almost every change in pop-music aesthetics: the gear changes, and then the music does.” Mashups are just one of the many ways through which media encourages creativity.