The Next New Thing

The interactive weather man

I recently had an idea before I left my home to work. Since NYC is such a problematic location when you think about weather, personally I check the weather every day at morning before I leave the house. Many times the Weather App on my iPhone is advising that the weather should be nice, however when I go outside it turns out to be cold and windy. So my suggestion for a new media tool is an interactive app that will ask people in every zip code what’s the weather like. Then, when other people will see that someone is currently outside and is confirming that it feels like 60 degrees and nice, they will have a better idea of the weather. It’s enough that one person will cooperate and share his thoughts on the weather in that zip code and you already have a better feel of the weather.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

So far I have edited “New media in Music” by adding graphics to the way music is distributed section, and by adding more information on Raphsody vs Spotify. I intend to do more research on distribution and the collaboration of social networks with music sites.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing

File sharing is the exchange or sharing of files using the internet.  It covers both uploading of files and downloading of files using the internet. Using filesharing it is possible to share every kind of files, software, videos, pictures, and music. In addition, it develops a feel of community among users.  

 

P2P File sharing

P2P File sharing lets every computer in a filesharing network act as a client or server for other computer. By allowing that, it provides direct access to files without having a need for a central server. It is possible to set up a P2P network at home, business or Internet. These networks are mostly used for sharing audio, video, and programs.

Per the The BitTorrent Effect it “lets users quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than a single MP3. Analysts at CacheLogic, an Internet-traffic analysis firm in Cambridge, England, report that BitTorrent traffic accounts for more than one-third of all data sent across the Internet.”

 eDonkey, BitTorrent and Gnutella  are very commonly used however, Shareaza offers a powerful search engine able of joining popular multiple P2P networks. In addition, it detects corrupted files and has no ads.

  Work cited:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/bittorrent.html

Creativity and New Media

As I wrote in my recent post, one of the ways new media fosters my creativity is the use of soundcloud. It is a website for non contract musicians to upload music tracks for global use. Soundcloud has created a diverse community of musicians which share their creations, therefore it encourages me to create, record, and share my sounds while getting feedback from my followers.

Here is my recent recording of Dubstep, Psybient, Electronica, Down-tempo, World music and Electro House for dessert! Notice that if you click on the blue bar, you can comment on every part of the track.
Dubstep Electronic Madness by Dj Carmel

Creativity

There are many cloud based platforms which encourages creativity, and since one of my hobbies is being a DJ the one that I would like to concentrate on is sound cloud. It is an amazing simple cloud based platform which allows musicians to collaborate, promote and distribute their music. I feel that it fosters my creativity since I feel that by using this platform, somebody can actually listen to my music without me having to distribute cd’s. I can directly record myself through the website or just upload a file and then people can like and share my music and even comment if they liked a certain favorite second in the track.

As I read in the New Yorker, many artists are using different softwares and platforms to record their mashups and remixes and subsequently distribute it online. That is their only way to survive in this world.  “You don’t need a distributor, because your distribution is the Internet. You don’t need a record label, because it’s your bedroom, and you don’t need a recording studio, because that’s your computer. You do it all yourself.”

Here is my latest track- mainly progressive end electro house, feel free to comment on parts you like:
 

Work cited

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/10/050110crmu_music

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. There are many different types of virtual worlds such as shared space that allows many users to participate, immediacy where interaction takes place in real time, interactive world allows users to develop and customize content, and the socialization world encourages the formation of social groups like teams, clubs, and neighborhoods.

Per “I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life”, it seems that the socialization world can sometime be a good alternative and is accelerating especially in New York, where there are a lot of packed clubs that are not always pleasant to stay at.  

A very interesting virtual world that has rapidly developed after the recession in 2009 is the business environment virtual world. As companies where cutting travel and conferences budgets, they were seeking innovative ways of bringing employees together for remote meetings.

Virtual community Second Life was developed as a new tool which allowed businesses to have virtual meetings on their own computer networks. The big advantage in the virtual world of the business environment is the ability to cooperate effectively using virtual tools as that technology offers more options than video conferencing, for example a range of environments, from auditoriums to parks for friendly conversations.

One of the things that a virtual team does not offer is the ability to share national and organizational cultures, and the difficulty to see things from their fellow workers’ point of view. Another issue is that it is very difficult for virtual teams to take advantage of real life face to face chilled conversations, such as talking about sports, news, or the weather.  

There is no doubt that occasionally a virtual world can be a nice alternative, however the lack of human contact can lead to feelings of isolation, and an unreal collaborative environment. It seems that the virtual worlds are a great tool but must be kept in proportion as we still need human interaction; therefore the future of virtual worlds will have the function of what we all choose to make in our real world as long as we put it in its proper place.

Citations:
Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life, CNN.com: Nov 5, 2009 http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html
"I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life" by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/arts/television/06itzk.html

Blog about Twitter

First, twitter limits the user to 140 characters so the message the student shares must be much focused and to the point. In blackboard or in class, you don’t have any limitation so you don’t have to think twice of every word.
In addition, I think that twitter is less intimidating than regular class participation as you don’t have any competition, you post the message that you want to deliver with no distractions or self confidence issues.
As a result, all students are active in the class and not just a few leading students. Lastly, twitter’s interface is very nice and easy to use as you can add a post as a favorite, reply to a post, retweet, and easily search for tweets.