The Next Thing

Lavalife and Harmony.com have a long way to go. Virtual reality dating is the wave of the future. Picture this: An avatar based on your real life pic coupled with virtual reality setting. You can go to dinner, movie, a show, a walk in the park without leaving your living room. The key would to a success rate is for the person to tell the truth about their characteristics and scan in a real and recent picture of themselves that would be converted into an avatar for the purposes of the simulation. The point of virtual reality dating would be to test drive the first date without the insecurity of meeting a complete stranger. This idea might sound weird but I know that someone out there is pondering on how to monopolize on this.

Advice to Baruch College

It would be great if Baruch had its own official blog. Although each department has its own website, not all pertinent information is listed online. The blog would be made available to students, faculty, and alumni only. Everyone would be able to log in with their Baruch id card. This would be a centralized area for getting information. Baruch does send out emails about upcoming events but not everyone actually checks their Baruch email. Most people only check their Baruch email only as means to communicate with their professors and other students in their classes for that current semester. This would make the Baruch atmosphere a little less like a commuter campus.

Old vs. New

According to Wikipedia, "new media is is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulatable, networkable, dense, compressible, and impartial." New media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and Friendster to name a few are all used to collaborate, network, and the exchange information among users. New media is also known as web 2.0. Web 2.0 encompasses the user interfacing with technology. On the other hand, web 1.0 is used to describe old media which is characterizes by technology that were used merely as an ends to a mean. It is a top down approach. There is no real interaction or collaboration with the use of the technology, the creators, and/or other users.

Web 1.0		Web 2.0
Double click		Google Adsense
Ofoto		Flickr
Britannica Online		Wikipedia
mp3.com		Napster
Personal websites		Blogging

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_1.0

Will Facebook Haunt You From the Grave?

I found an article that you can use for class discussion. Someone in the evening class had asked a question about Facebook's policy for deceased users. Facebook used to memorialize the deceased user's site by making it accessible to people that are confirmed friends and relatives. The powers that be at Facebook decided that it was against their policy to completely remove the account. In the case of William Bemister, his sister Stephanie Bemist sent a letter to Facebook in addition to a death certificate to request that her brother's page be removed. Facebook was adamant about their policy until they received many inquiries into Stephanie's case.

The former policy: "Per our policy for deceased users, we have memorialized this person's account. This removes certain more sensitive information and sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or find the person in search. The Wall remains so that friends and family can leave posts in remembrance."


I wanted to see for myself what the new policy on deceased users would be. So, I went to help center under "Profile" , but it only gives you an option to permanently delete your account or to report a deceased user so that you can memorialize their account. In the terms and privacy of their site, there is no updated information that states that they will remove the deceased user's account permanently. Below is a sample of the form that one has to fill out in the event that you would like to memorialize an account. Is removal of an account considered to be an unrelated inquiry? Stephanie's case brings about the issue of whether or not social network site users should include in their will what to do with their online accounts so that there is no debate with these companies.

IMPORTANT: This form is solely for the reporting of a deceased person to memorialize the person’s account. Please note that unrelated inquiries through this form may not receive a response.

Contact email address:
Full Name: on the account
Date of birth:	Month:Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Day:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Year:2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900
Account email addresses: which may have been used to create the account
Networks: which the person may have been in (e.g., the San Francisco, CA regional network)
Relationship to the person:	Please select:Immediate family (parent, sibling, child)Extended family (grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin)Non-family (friend, co-worker, classmate)Other

Nicole, Kristen. "Facebook changes policy on deceased users account." http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-changes-policy-on-deceased-users-accounts/
Popken,Ben. "Facebook Won't Let You Remove Dead Relative's Page, Per "Policy"." http://consumerist.com/5157481/facebook-wont-let-you-remove-dead-relatives-page-per-policy

Social Networking

Social networking has been interwined with both the personal and business facets of our lives. Facebook is a prime example of this. Many use the site as a means of catching up with old buddies while some may use it to advertise their businesses, like parties and promotional products/services. The user is able to execute their purpose more efficiently and quickly than previous methods. Can you imagine how many phone calls it would take to reach an old high school buddy? Or how many fliers/mailers you will have to post before a business gets one bonafided buyer?

It is not just about updating your status with a quirky statement. It is a culture within itself. Within all of the social networking sites there are many options to choose from. You can choose options to make your site more appealing, block/allow entry to certain or all users, upload pictures of pratically anything, etc... It might take days or moments for some to get used to tricks of the trade for each networking site. No matter which site you use, the main purpose is to draw attention to oneself. This single purpose is one that professors at Michigan State University are saying is an indication of an ability to "bridge social capital" at a higher rate than individuals who were not active on social networking sites.

Their research has shown that increased social capital is created as an individual increases their network which in turns gives one access to more "information and diverse perspectives". This occurs when the individual reaches out to more and more individuals than he/she did not originally know. This sounds like a very profound statement but a network is just a network if it is not cultivated. If there is no connection between the members of the network then the network is just a collection of people. The idea of increasing social capital makes sense if the user is actively maintaining contact with members of their network.

As with everything in life there is a positive and a negative. Twitter is an example of a negative. I find Twitter to be a nuiance. Why did I need to know what you are doing every five minutes? It just does not make sense, but the world does not revolve me and the many other that agree with me. Twitter has brought a fascination to comment on just about any and everything. No thought seems to be private. Social networking is going to introduce a big debate on privacy. It has already started with employers using Facebook and Myspace to screen potential and reprimand existing employees. Self-censorship should be taught at a workshop, because whatever is posted online is public information.





Stephen J. Dubner. "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum". http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/is-myspace-good-for-society-a-freakonomics-quorum/?emc=eta1

Alessandra Stanley."What Are You Doing? Media Twitterers Can’t Stop Typing".http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/arts/television/28twit.html?_r=1

Blogs vs. Wikis part 2

A blog can be used in many ways to collaborate with other users. The structure of the blog was set up to allow users to comment freely about each other's posts. I was surprised to discover that there are actually three different kinds of blogs: open invite,collaborative, and invite only.

The open invite blog is as it's name states. The user does have to register to gain access but there are no restrictions and/or waiting periods to post comments. It appears that this method is the best one to use to avoid spamming since anyone can log on and deter derogatory information that does not pertain to the blog. On the other hand, invite only blogs are structured in such a way that the administrator of the blog either selects a set few users to have posting rights.

"A collaborative blog is a type of weblog in which posts are written and published by more than one author. The majority of high profile collaborative blogs are based around a single uniting theme, such as politics or technology. 1" Here are a few examples: http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/(blogs created by women only) and http://chicagoist.com/(blog about the Windy City).

As you browse the web, you can see that there are more and more uses for new media everyday, particularly blogs. I suggested to my sister who is a high school senior to create a blog about her college campus visits. It would be very time consuming for herself and my mother to visit the 20 colleges that are on her list. I explained to her that sometimes a brochure is not enough, especially in this case where her college campus experience could be live changing. A blog would allow her classmates and other high school students to express their ideas, comments, and experiences with the college application process, the staff at the schools, and more importantly their opinions on such things as the reputation and curriculum of the schools.

As new uses of blogs are developed along with other new media, people will function differently and more efficiently. The convergence of new media that is available has allowed us to interact with more people to collaborate ideas/opinions on business projects, health care issues, and even personal pet peeves like hair or offering advice to new moms on irritable babies. Before accessing and sharing information was time consuming and costly. We can share images with one another from across the globe within a matter of seconds. Convergence has ultimately enabled collaboration of the minds and has created a thirst for information with a "like yesterday" mentality.


Courtesy of:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_blog

Blogs vs. Wikis

Difference Between Blogs and Wikis:
Blogs:		Both:	Wikis:
*entries are made in journal style and are displayed in chronological order		Websites	allows its visitors to add,remove,edit and change content as well as linking to multiple pages
Better than Wikis At:		User-generated	Better than Blogs At:
		Allows Users to Comment
*quickly sharing new information			*archiving information for easy access
*starting and maintaining a dialog between publisher and reader			*gathering informatiion from a group of people

Courtesy of: http://mplictechtrain.blogspot.com/2007/04/what-is-difference-between-blog-and.html