Privacy & Confidentiality

Privacy has become an increasingly problematic issue as new media has grown. As I discussed in an earlier post, new media has enabled more information to be made available to the public. With more information comes more challenges to maintain certain information people might regard as private.

Especially in regard to social networking sites privacy is an issue. The problem with these sites is that people agree to share a tremendous amount of personal information with people they consider their friends. For years people had to made the decision of which friends to trust and once in a while a friend would promise not to say something and then say something, breaching the bond of trust. When people post information online the social networking sites they are not only trusting their friends, but also the sites. The sites do a decent job of protecting information relative to the about of information they hold, but there are endless stories of people's information being compromised in one way or another.

One of the most prevalent ways of this happening is in the field of employment. Whether someone is in the interviewing process or employed by a company, the company always wants to know as much as they can about the individual. There have been stories of people being fired or not hired as a result of something the company found out about them online. While safeguards have been put in place to stop this from happening, it still occurs. The ideal solution would be to increase morality in society so no one will look at anything they are not supposed to, but that is far from happening.

Advice to Baruch College

Baruch has done a decent job so far, especially in relation to most colleges, in using new media to advance its goals and curriculum. Blackboard in itself is a combination of many new media tools and has been integrated pretty well. If every teacher understood how to use blackboard everyone would be much better off, so the first thing I would do is have a seminar for all teachers so they can learn blackboard inside and out.

The next thing I would do is have every class recorded and posted online. The main advantage in this is obvious in the fact that kids would always be able to access the information taught in their classes. A secondary advantage, which could end up being more important, is that it would hold teachers much more accountable. Often teachers don't want to be there or teach just as much as the students don't and the class ends up being nothing short of pathetic. Teacher accountability is of utmost importance and the only way to drastically improve our system of education.

Modeling Reality With Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds are fascinating in the sense that they are the most realistic model of the real world in existence today. Due to that closeness they can be used in many ways. Similarly to social networking sites, virtual worlds allow users to interact with each other, although these interactions seem much more real since there is a stronger visual aspect when seeing someone else's character. This can have the same drawbacks as social networking sites in the sense that it is still not the same as real interactions and so, in my opinion, does not contribute to strong relationships like those that development during real life interactions.

Virtual Worlds also allow people to act in ways they might not be able to in real life. Any mental or physical limitations that people have in real life can be forgotten in the virtual world. This could work as a pro or a con. These people are able to experience things they cannot do in real life, which can either help them feel relieved that they are finally doing the thing or possibly even more frustrated and angry that they can't do it.

A final possible way for virtual worlds to be used that I will discuss is in the business arena. Mark Tuttin writes in his article "Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life" about how companies are now using virtual worlds to hold meeting and literally do work in a virtual office. While this could be a pro because their is much more flexibility as to where employees have to live and the amount of office space needed by a company, I think it is ultimately a con. In my opinion people work most efficiently in an office environment where everyone around them is working. In a virtual office people can be sitting at home distracted by a tv or by their kids. Also the relationships that develop between office workers would most likely not be as strong.

I think with the advancements in 3D technology the future of virtual worlds will be even more realistic than they are today. However, I think the business spectrum will shift to video conferences as opposed to virtual conferences, also due to 3D technology. Imagine an office meeting where everyone is there via video feed and everyone looks 3D...amazing.

Social Networking

There are many ways in which social networking sites can be used. Most networking sites were started with the intent of connecting people most efficiently. Years later we can look at whether they have succeeded or not from different perspectives. On one hand people are now able to interact much more easily and frequently with more people more often. On the other hand these interactions between people tend to be less personal. In Stephen Dubner's article 'Is Myspace Good for Society?', prominent professors and journalist debate whether social networking sites are good for society or not. Some, such as Steve Chazin, believe that even though there are some negative effects, social media has ultimately changed our lives and society for the better. Others, such as Nicole Ellison, couldn't understand the appeal of people disclosing personal information and seemingly wasting time doing something that she does not feel is productive. There are also some who don't this there is enough information to decide one way or the other. William Reader comments on the issue from a psychological perspective saying that it is difficult to answer the question with any certainty at this point. I believe that it is ultimately an issue of quality vs. quantity. My experience with social sites is that it creates an idea that it is better to have more friends than better friends. The balance between quality and quantity is important to find and I think people that overuse social networking sites tend to throw off that balance in favor of quantity.

Another way social sites are used it by businesses. The pros are that it allows recruiters to find and connect with potential employees more easily. However, this can also act as a con. Businesses will analyze people's profiles (regardless of legality) in order to gain as much information about an individual before hiring them. This, in my opinion, creates issues of trust in society and something I am not particularly happy about.

I think social networking sites are here to stay. There was a debate early in its existence as to whether it would just be fad, but after years of growth and popularity in societies all over the world it seems that it has become part of our culture. Soon video chatting capabilities will be integrated into social networking sites and I believe that will help curb the growing problem of quantity over quality.

Social Networking Sites

Of the three main social networking sites I am most familiar with facebook. I have been a member for years and use it daily. I think that because it began as a site tailored towards college student I feel that the site fits me better than myspace or friendster. My impressions of myspace are that it is less professional, although facebook has become less and less professional as time has passed. In fact, linkedin has become the premier professional social networking site something that the main 3 social networking sites seem to has accepted. While I don't have that much experience with friendster, I recently joined as get the impression that it is similar to facebook. The biggest difference I see between the two comes in the form of advertising. Friendster seems to have larger, more graphic advertisements from big companies, while facebook earns its revenue by tailoring advertisements from companies of all sizes towards the interests, gender and age range of the individuals. Myspace has gained a reputation for its popularizing artists. The fact that individuals can post their songs on their pages allows for artists to be discovered on myspace, as well as fans to listen to their favorite artists on their pages. Facebook also took a little to long breaking into the international markets, allowing for friendster to enter those markets and main a legitimate name for itself. It is clear that friendster still has catching up to do in the U.S. market.