nicole sambat: to venture more than expected.

New media has certainly changed people's expectations of privacy, especially when things become digitized. Lots of celebrities and social media influencers have been thrown under fire and bashed for past tweets or posts they've once said. But even if they delete it, once it's on the internet, it'll stay there (as there's always a chance someone will screenshot and post the picture or repost an upload in a different site). I think there are many repercussions that come with the convenience and entertainment of new media. Nowadays, it's easy to say convenience often comes with a price, especially when it comes with the internet. For instance, when purchasing items from your favorite website, you can input your credit card number and make the purchase. For the sake of convenience, you may choose to save your credit card information with your account for easy and quick purchases. But with that ease of purchase, that convenience provided by the website, comes...

Since we're in a highly technological era, constantly developing as more ideas flourish by innovators, it's important to integrate new media into our institution and education.  Something that's quite prevalent is the use of mobile apps by students for convenience. There are plenty of apps out there that allow students to create their own schedules with the times and dates and input their assignments and due dates. However, there are plenty of students who don't want to bother inputting every time stamp and having to add in every future assignment listed in their syllabus. In addition, it is time-consuming to input all the future homework and class information into an app and even more aggravating when the app turns out to be a complete flop after using it for a few days. What I propose is an app made by Baruch that is specifically catered to the institution's system of communicating classes. The app can allow for widgets on the screen to make it easier fo...

I believe new media has allowed for platforms that encourage and enable people all over the globe to interact and create communities or you could even refer to them as "clubs," that allow people space to produce and bring to life their ideas and imagination. The same way Second Life allows a literal virtual world for users to step on and interact, roleplay groups allow for a similar experience. Generally speaking, roleplay groups have the following formula: a setting, characters, and a plot (be it casual or heavy). And unlike Second Life, roleplay groups provide a lot more liberties but require a lot more investment. Roleplay groups often rely heavily on imagination or, if you have a handful of artists willing to put some work into it, some self-made maps or background art for specific places in their imaginary world. These roleplay groups can be based off on the creator's original world or an existing world derived from an existing franchise. For instance, there are ...

New media fosters creativity by opening opportunities for people to pursue interests or hobbies with other people online and to the next level. There are many examples of this online and can be found through social media sites like Twitter or sites specifically tailored to a specific interest. For instance, young people who enjoy writing may expose their creativity and stories to like-minded communities by posting it on platforms that welcome written fanworks or original stories. They provide categories and tags on the site to make it easier for people to search for a written fanwork or "fanfiction" and use filters to specify what kind of genres, pairings, ratings, and other requirements they're looking for.  Another fun example is, there are many entertainers on YouTube, often called "Youtubers" and often times, their fan base actually create fanworks of the entertainers! This can range from artwork to animations! It helps people get acquainted with li...

Nowadays, virtual worlds are often associated with games, especially MMORPGs. MMORPGs stand for massively multiplayer online role-playing game. MMORPGs allow the user to create and customize a character and interact with other characters (owned and created by real people) in a virtual world. These games are often associated with younger audiences, ranging from children to adolescent to teens to young adults — all depending on which game you decide to play. Although games often have a bad rep for being “wasteful” or encouraging procrastination in kids, they provide a platform for those who may have a harder time socializing or adjusting in the real world. This may be due to mental or physical disorders, trauma, surgeries, accidents, and so forth. These virtual worlds allow these people to socialize, speak, and even establish organizations for a cause that they may relate to. In Nicole Saidi's article "'Naughty Aunties' battle autism with virtual interaction,...

I think first and foremost, a Twitter discussion is a lot more convenient to be a part of than a Blackboard discussion and especially an in-class discussion. To be frank, in our fast-paced world, there is little time or effort people are willing to make for discussions, especially those that are mandatory, rather than voluntary. All three platforms are similar in which they enable conversation and discussion. One person speaks while a bunch of other people raise their hands or take turns to reply to the matter at hand. However, I believe there is an order in hierarchy of which platform is more inconvenient and a pain to attend or partake in, for all kinds of people. In-class discussions require multiple people to be present a set time on a set date. People may have work at certains days and hours or appointments they must attend to, and taking time out of their day for a discussion may be quite a pain for them. In addition, not everyone is at outspoken as the most actively par...

The four social networking sites I will be observing today are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. Facebook’s main colors consist of an unsaturated navy blue, light greys, and off-whites. When you launch the website, the first thing you’ll be directed to is the Home page. On the left-hand side are easy shortcuts for the user to click on to immediately go to the part of Facebook they’ve most often used or most likely interested in. The first is always “News Feed,” as that’s where you’ll receive new and updated content from your peers or Liked pages you follow. Underneath that, (or at least for my Facebook page), are a bunch of Messenger games I play with my friends. Underneath is the Explore tab, where Facebook will take me to a random page of whichever category I click. For instance, if I click on “Groups” it will show me the groups I’ve managed and I’ve been a part of in Facebook. A new button they’ve added to the “toolbar” is “Create,” where you have the choice of creat...