Advice to the College

You are hired by the College to use new media to improve the College. What are some suggestions you would make using new media?

I would suggest educators use new technology such as social media to stay in contact with students and keep relevant class related information updated. 

Instead of using sites such as blackboard and communicating through emails, professors can encourage students to make their own classroom facebook page or a twitter account for example. These social websites will strictly allow students to upload posts relating to the class, socialize with fellow classmates, upload photos that fosters bonding and communication and the professor will have full access to the pages to instruct the students. 

Also, I would encourage the use of Ebooks instead of hardcover copies and to limit using paper. The professor can also create a blog site or a website designed for students to upload their work without going through the usual CUNY systems. It would be less time consuming and low cost effective because the information is easily obtained and the students are kept up to date by the instructor.

Creativity and New Media

I like to learn and read about astrology; so I created a tool where I can personalize my zodiac sign based on my personal information and birthdate. The website I used then generates my personal horoscope.

Shawnnasia Floyd Personal Birth Horoscope 

Sun in birth horoscope

Sun in Gemini: You are a nonconformist and an extrovert. You let yourself affected quickly and get mad. Learn to relax.

Sun in 11th House: No matter what happens, you always get the help of friends or acquaintances who share your original ideas. You are interested in the world`s problems, but you often happen to forget the needs of individuals.

+ Sun conjunction (0°) Moon: You are blessed with a happy life and a good wife.

+ Sun conjunction (0°) Mercury: You have a bright mind that you use in artistic or scientific activities.

Moon in birth horoscope

Moon in Gemini: Once a thought comes to your mind you immediately express yourself. You get involved in a variety of things with reckless energy.

Moon in 11th House: You gather around you a circle of friends who share your concerns for a better world.

+ Moon conjunction (0°) Mercury: You display a number of enviable qualities including common sense, a bright mind and an excellent memory.

Mercury in birth horoscope

Mercury in Gemini: You draw conclusions in a logical way based on your objective perception on the things that surround you. You show interest in anything and display a great capacity for understanding.

Mercury in 11th House: Your work focuses on the exchange of ideas with friends. You don`t have a preset goal in life but you are concerned with the idea of a better world.

I was able to personalize my horoscope on signsbystars.com

Here is the website's URL where you can create your own
http://www.signsbystars.com/personalized_birth_horoscope-en-5-0.htm

On this page it explains my personal horoscope in depth; I am a Gemini
My compatibility horoscope, daily horoscope,
numerological compatibility, and etc.

Creativity

New media fosters creativity because it allows people to think of new innovative ideas that can expand technologies to a higher level. For instance, people/inventors of different social networks, applications, music, websites, video games, smartphones, etc., are always looking for ways to increase new media and enhance technology. 
The result of new media changing rapidly allows people to think more creatively and then it is implemented within our society. It's why apple iPhones are so popular and everyone feels as if they should own one. Each time when the newer version of the older version is released there is a different and more upgraded spec about the device. 
Also, we see this way of technology changing and it becoming popular within our social networking sites. 
According to the online article  'Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers", by  CLAIRE CAIN MILLER, "

Companies big and small monitor Twitter to find out what their customers like and what they want changed. Twitter does the same.....

           It started two years ago as a bare-bones service, offering little more than the ability to post 140-                    character messages. Then, it outsourced its idea generation to its users. The company watches how              people use the service and which ideas catch on. Then its engineers turn the ideas into new                            features. In the next several weeks, Twitter users will discover two new features, Lists and Retweets, 

           that had the same user-generated beginnings." 

The article goes on to explain how it's twitter followers helped to create new ideas to enhance and/or improve the social networking site. Many companies use its consumers to help implement innovative ideas. The article states, "Technology companies have been the most active in relying on others to innovate for them. This is in large part because the Internet lets people exchange ideas easily and rapidly with large groups, and computing tools let people design new products cheaply." 

As long as ideas will continue to be easily shared throughout certain mediums, new media/technology will be created and new ideas will be implemented within our society that we will follow.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional environments in which you can interact with others and create objects as part of that interaction.Virtual worlds can be used in many different ways, and not just for gaming purposes. They can be used for educational purposes or in the workplace. There are many positives regarding the use of virtual worlds; such as enhancing people's social lives by allowing socializing in a virtual world to grow and building relationships with people all over the world. For educational purposes, virtual worlds can be used in academic institutions for virtual libraries, museums, or computer programming. 

According to an online article on www.cnn.com, "Going to the virtual office in Second Life", By Mark Tutton "As travel budgets are squeezed and slashed in the recession, companies are increasingly seeking innovative ways of bringing employees together for conferences and meetings remotely." The use of virtual worlds is saving companies money. Also from the article, "According to Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, more than 1,400 organizations -- including large companies, educational institutions, government agencies and even the U.S. military -- use Second Life to hold meetings, conduct training and prototype new technologies more efficiently."

According to an article on www.washingtonpost.com, "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide", A Linden Labs worker put on her nicest black suit and her most formal pair of wings this morning, to help run a congressional subcommittee hearing about online virtual worlds that was broadcast simultaneously in the company's own virtual world, Second Life." The employees are welcoming the idea of conferences being held through virtual worlds, and it allows the everyone to complete their tasks. 

However, the disadvantage of virtual worlds, more so in the workplace can also be training because the downside of that is someone may be well at completing tasks in the virtual world but fail at completing that same task in the actual real world. 
Also, the idea of escaping the real world  is common among those that use virtual environments and people often live in the virtual world instead of dealing with the real one. 
Lastly, just like with any computer or functioning program there are always potential hardware malfunctions that can also impact the use of virtual worlds and cause technological malfunctions.

Virtual worlds foster creativity because it allows someone to have control of themselves by creating a virtual person. It can build confidence for people too because socializing and interacting in virtually is equivalent to a shield from the real world. My example of this is perhaps someone is too shy to speak to people in their everyday life creates a virtual character and becomes socially fluent and builds relationships by doing so. 
It can create its own personal network for employees and companies and allow bonding amongst those specific employees/companies. 

In the future, I believe the use of virtual worlds will expand, so I believe it will look more common and more realistic. It may be hard to distinguish virtual reality to actual reality and I believe everyone will have some type of access to virtual worlds. Whether that'll be in the home, on the phone, in public, schools, workplace, restaurants, and etc. Virtual worlds will become more common and as mentioned in the online article, "Going to the virtual office in Second Life By Mark Tutton, "Even in this era of remote collaboration, it seems that we still need human interaction -- even if it's completely virtual."

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Istagram all are commonly known as popular social networking sites.
Facebook allows its users to post whatever is on their mind, upload pictures, videos-both prerecorded and live, like or love a post, add friends, block friends, follow friends, and etc.
Twitter allows people to tweet 140 characters or less and hashtag their tweet to begin a larger conversation-- as well as add followers and follow people.
Instagram allows people to use different filters and effects when uploading their pictures and videos. Followers can click a heart icon to love/ approve the photo or video. Instragram also allows people to direct message for more privacy.
YouTube helps people gain recognition by uploading personal video, tutorials, sharing videos of already famous people, or gaining the most views.

All four social networking sites allows a single person to connect with several individuals at once; especially instagram and YouTube. There is a term called "instagram famous" it is used for people who are regular day-to-day people who have a massive group of followers- sometimes reaching into the millions. These people are instagram famous because of the attention they are gaining through their account.
YouTube helps possible future perspective celebrities gain recognition through video posts. Whether it is discovering the next big musical artist or the next big comedian. In general, many people crave attention and these social networking sites are the perfect platforms to gain the attention desired with the hopes of becoming the next big thing.
These social networking sites are used to exploit common people and can become addictive. For instance, there are some people who are subscribed to all four social networking sites. My impression of these social networking sites can sometimes become overbearing because I often question how private is my privacy? Although there are settings that can control privacy issues on these sites, I believe one or two social networking sites are enough.
However, with the easy access we have today to use one or more of these sites, people of all ages are subscribing and becoming involved with social networking. Mostly everyone has a social networking related app downloaded to his or her apple or android device. It allows us to always feel inclusive and to remain in the loop of things. Simply, social networking is the everyday norm of our society--especially when using the four sites I've mentioned.

How does a Twitter discussion compare to a BlackBoard Discussion? To an in-class discussion?

Social Networking

Social networking is the common way we communicate in today's society. It is the "norm" and many of us either hold facebook accounts, twitter accounts, snap chats, Instagram, and so on. However, do we every stop to think how the use of social networking impacts our everyday lives within our society? Can it benefit us? Or can it affect us negatively? 
According to an online New York Times article, 'Tweeting Your Way to a Job', by  Laura M. Holson, social media experts are building careers based on their knowledge and 
usage of social networking. She writes, "The position of social media specialist, introduced by companies like Comcast, General Motors, and JetBlue Airways, has become the hottest new corporate job among the Twitterati. To marketers, it seems, personal relations have become the new public relations." She explains in the article how corporations are using social networks like twitter to extend their customer service and relations with customers to help resolve problems. So, in this aspect, social networking reflects a positive outcome for possible job opportunities. 
However, on the flip side of things social networking involves us constantly uploading posts and details about everyday moments, and we often lack privacy and wonder if the social networking sites are secure. For instance, some things we post on social media can also cause us to not have a job opportunity. Corporations invest probable perspective employees and it includes investing such things as hid or her twitter account or facebook page. So, then we question how much privacy do we really have on these social networking sites? 
According to an online New York Times article, ‘The Wild West of Privacy’, by Joe Nocera, The United States is soon approaching a privacy crisis. He writes, "Google, Facebook and other big Internet companies collect information about us, which they deploy in the service of advertisers." The information we are providing such sites as he discussed targets our society to give out information to advertisers. He explains, "Big data brokers, like Acxiom, have developed sophisticated tools that allow them to know almost as much about us as we know about ourselves; they then sell that data to all kinds of companies that want to learn everything from our habits to our health, from our sexual orientation to our finances." The information we use on everyday websites can be harmful and impact us negatively. As far as finding a job it can also affect us negatively too; Nocera writes, " It’s not just data brokers that need to be more transparent. It is every entity that collects data. People should be able to see the information that is collected on them. For instance, there are companies that compile scores about people — risk scores, or health scores, or fraud scores. Those scores should be known to the people who are being scored because it can affect everything from their ability to get insurance to their chances of landing a job." He argues that we should have the right to know about any personal information used against us. The issue of our privacy is a serious one because the sites that we use are like tracking devices. 
In my opinion, I believe in the future there will have to be some sort of data tool used to let us the consumers be aware of how we use social network sites, and how we are monitored. Since social media is evolving and is a major part of our society, there will have to be newer measures created to ensure our safety online. More job opportunities will be created, and corporations should not be allowed to follow our social media to determine a job offer without certain protocol. 

References 
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/opinion/nocera-the-wild-west-of-privacy.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/fashion/21whiz.html