The Next New Thing

With the trend in research and development in both the medical and technology field I believe it is not too far into the distance future that we will be able to use unmanned mobile robots. Sort of something like from the surrogates movie with Bruce Willis. Like virtual worlds users can use them from the comfort of their own homes to interact and to carry out assignments. This technology can also benefit those that have disabilities. For example, a person may have a leg injury in which they cannot pick up their kids from school, instead they would use these mobile suits. Everything that these mobile suits see the user can also. Everybody would be given their own identification number and they can be rented out just like zipcars, all you need to do is have a membership. I envision there would also be stations to charge these robots and they would be placed even in international locations, so that even if you miss a flight for an important meeting you can substitute your presence with one of these robots. They can also be used to report in hostile locations.

Our Class Wiki So Far

I will be working on the New Media & MMORPG's section of the wiki as a contributor. Although I'm not an avid gamer I would like to learn more about this genre of gaming. I have been researching on the Psychology behind MMORPG's as I am a psychology minor. It has been of some interest to me because it has come to the media attention how gaming can become an addiction and the cognitive processes that occur. I have also been looking into adding onto the History of MMORPG's.

About My Term Research Project

I'm glad that I choose YouTube as my topic because it sparks my interest. I found a lot of my information using the Baruch Database, thank god. I also found information off of Google Scholar. The databases I use to do my research include LexisNexis, Ebsco and Jstor.

I found information regarding artists and their success stories. YouTube may seem like just a video sharing website to most of the general public. With this research I learned more about the marketing aspect and the opportunity of exposure it provided for its users. With such a broad range of ages that use this website the amount of information that it spans is amazing.

I choose this topic because when I'm at home I find myself on YouTube a lot. I figured why not learn more about this site that I visit on such a frequent basis. I spend a lot of time watching Wong Fu Productions and musicians. I love music and with the abundance of genres and originals it keeps me busy.

As mentioned earlier, during my research I found that YouTube is certainley one of the best tools to use for an aspiring artist, musician, and video blogger. This site is the new medium for talents to show case their abilities. Also for videos to become viral they not only need exposure from YouTube but also other outlets such as Facebook,Twitter, and Myspace. All in all I really enjoyed working on this paper. :]

Privacy & Confidentiality

Technology has made our lives easier in the way we can find, post, and contact friends. This has also made it easier for other people to follow our every moves whether for good or bad intentions. By doing this we have already given up a bit of our privacy. This can include simple things such as finding out what network we are from, school of attendance, birthday etc. Sure we have privacy settings but in some cases it becomes a task to choose what we want shown or hidden. Facebook provides a very long list of options making it more of a chore and you're bound to miss one or two options. For users that constantly twitter about what they are doing makes stalking so much easier and no I'm not talking from experience. This can also be done on the Iphone Facebook App in which you can use the phones GPS to publish a post of your current location. Lets not forget the companies that may scour the internet finding dirt on potential companies. One to many pictures of you being a rowdy party goer could mean the difference between getting an offer or not. All we can do is just to remember to be as careful as we can be to protect our private information. No one wants to have their credit card information stolen or be stalked !

Advice

With all this talk about virtual worlds I wonder how the idea of having Virtual classes would be like. That would cut the travel time that it would take for commuters. Just thought it would be really fun and cool idea, however it would be too costly. At least our lungs would be saved from all the secondhand smoke from all the smokers around VC and the library buildings. I believe that if we had an online newspaper that more people would actually read it or it would be a green initiative. I have witnessed many times the stack of papers that the janitor would have to throw out because rarely does anybody pick them up. One other major problem I have with Baruch is the e-sims. I'm sure some of you students feel my pain when you're all excited that a seat is free but as soon as you try to pick it up e-sims will say that the section is closed. The website needs to be updated more often at shorter intervals. My e-mail is constantly filled with spam from Baruch or student life and i think it would be so much easier to consolidate it onto a blog. This would keep my inbox happy and students who want to read up on Baruch can just visit a blog !

The first thing that came to my mind when i read the words Virtual World is WoW otherwise known as World of Warcraft. Although I have never played it I hear a lot about it from friends and randomly in the media. This game fits under the genre of a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). There are Millions..yes MILLIONS of Players subscribed on WoW. It is literally another world in which players can tune out reality and live through their characters. Just like in real-life you can run, walk, talk and even meet people online since it is basically one big community. Virtual Worlds have revolutionized gaming which was once done at home playing on a console system and having friends over. This whole new world lets us interact with other people. Virtual Worlds can also provide convenience. As mentioned by Dave Itzkoff's article "Ive Been in That Club, Just Not in Real life" he tells us about how he went to a packed music club called the Cake Shop on Ludlow street being fed up with it he decided to go home and log onto his virtual world where he went "back" to the Cake Shop. I was shocked to hear about this because I am from the Lower East Side and makes me curious to check out my neighborhood in the Virtual World..its just mind blowing ! Like the saying "too much of anything can be bad for you" Too much internet usage may lead to bad health. In fact it can be easy to lose track of time when you're rummaging the online world fighting demons or flying around. Day turns to night the next thing you know you've skipped 3 meals for the day and now you're headed back to bed. Virtual Worlds can also be addicting, I mean online you can be anybody you want to be and some people may just feel ignored or non existent in the real world. I am also amazed at how much detail is put into designing and making these online worlds. It seems almost too good to be true. Upon reading this article I thought about how Dwight Schrute from The Office had a second life account and in it he was also a paper sales man and to make matters worse he was twice removed from the world. I love Dwight this man just gets me somehow. Its not hard to see how some people may substitute the real world with a virtual one. In our virtual we can be literally the best that we can nearly perfect. As seen in the video there is a good side for those that have disabilities in real life they can do things in the virtual world which they cant in real life such as, throwing a ball, running, swimming, walking, laying in the grass, even flying etc. The next generation of children will be introduced to technology at a far younger rate than our parents, who knows what direction that will lead. We have become so dependent on technology that when I leave my cellphone at home I feel like I am forgetting my arm, I am sure that I am not the only one !! Movies like surrogates make me fearful of the future. Will there be a day that we will fear to walk out of our homes, wash the car, walk the dog, or lay in the sun ? With that said, Good night folks !

"I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, January 6, 2008

Social Networking

In the world we live in today the internet is one of the most widely used and important functions of business and personal life. Social networking websites obviously let us easily connect to the people that we often don't get the chance to see. Its accessibility has often led me to spend a lot of unnecessary amount of time "snooping" around Facebook, reading my friend's updated statuses or new pictures. What some of us fail to realize is that friends are not the only people observing on our Facebook statuses, uploaded pictures and our marital status. It may come as a surprise, but it has become increasingly popular that companies do background checks and may extend forms that are unconventional, i.e. Facebook. Not only do we have to watch out what we upload we also have to watch out the information that we put on our profiles and/or posts. If controversial or unprofessional information is found on your profile it may prevent you from getting a job, so next time you think about putting up pictures of you partying or wasted you should think twice. In the article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" by Frank Langfitt's it mentions a situation where someone was offered a job from LinkedIn . Alfred LaSpina was offered a job for Osram Sylvania, when a recruiter reviewed his profile. With that said, the lesson is to always keep your online image as professional as possible to prevent potential conflict in the future. :]




Sources:

Langfitt, Frank. Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting. NPR, March 16, 2008.