Someone Else's Term Project

I am commenting on Jennifer Wong’s presentation about ‘The Practice of Gold Farming in Online Games’. Her presentation showed how gold farming has become a big business online and the negative and positive impact it has on individuals. She outlined that players in third-world countries are employed by entrepreneurs to collect as much gold as possible in the games, which are then sold to players around the world. The business of gold farming has under aged individuals employed and most of them drop out of school and leave their family in order to work extended hours to collect the gold. This is all to the advantage of the entrepreneurs who are gaining the income from this.

I must say that this was a really good presentation and topic because it gave me a new insight into online gaming. Also, the issue of child labor, enslavement and human trafficking were all highlighted in this presentation. Gold farming has more negative than positive impacts on individuals.

Our Class Wiki - So Far

I have taken on the job of being an editor for the wiki and so far I have been working on new media and health care. Also I’ve been editing the social networking in business section since I did research on that topic for my presentation. I was able to find information about the advantages and dis-advantages of social networking in business and the impact it will have on everyone in the future.
Hopefully all goes well with my ambitions for the class wiki, it has definitely been a bit tedious but I have learned a lot about using the application.

Presentation Summary

Social Networking in Business:
Better or Worse than the Real Thing?

It is important to have a network of individuals or clients in order to get ahead in any business today. Social Networking has created a platform which helps to bring professionals together for such a purpose. Like any other forms of communication in business, social networking has its advantages and disadvantages. I was able to examine the positive as well as negative attributes of social networking compared with the idea of meeting in person.

There are Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking in Business
Advantages Disadvantages
- Low overhead - Time Consuming for Managers

- Viral Marketing - Mix of Business and Personal

- Building Social Capital - No interpersonal Relationship

So, is it better or worse….I dare say that it is better than the real thing because most of your possible clients are going to be online anyway and this form of new media has being growing rapidly over the last few years. It is a good way to reach customers and build your reputation as a company.

ADVICE TO BARUCH COLLEGE

In order to improve the college I would recommend the use of blogs for a number of reasons. First, to get feedback from current students, because a lot of schools want to make sure that the institution creates an environment where students are satisfied with the service they paid for. It would not just be for the sake of blogging, but being able to use the information to implement changes, there are only so many that the student government can advocate for.

Also, there are alumni who would like to know what is going on at their past college. Faculty would be able to use this platform to inform other faculty members and alumni about new ideas and projects that they might have. Alumni will probably be more willing to give back if they know what’s happening in the school.

These implementations should serve the purpose of helping to improve the college.

OLD vs. NEW

We can distinguish new media from old media by taking a look at what is obsolete and what is not. New media involves all the applications that allow users to multi-task and even communicate with others at the same time. Of course, there are some old media that allowed us to communicate with others such as regular mail and newspapers, which by the way are still being used. New media on the other hand is less time consuming and you can have access to more than one component at a time. With new media, users can have access to information at their convenience as long as they have access to the internet.

Most of what is new media today is found on the internet, so if something is not on the internet it is pretty much considered old media. New media also enables communication, collaboration, community, creativity and convergence; I’m not sure how much community and convergence one can create with a newspaper.

Modeling Reality: Virtual Worlds

A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds are used by many people for different purposes, including personal and professional use. Gaming is one way that virtual worlds are used; the gaming world being strongly influenced by fantasy and science fiction occupy most of the large virtual worlds that exists today. Virtual worlds are also used in education; some examples are museums and gallery spaces. Some other ways that virtual world are used include military training, political expression, rehabilitation and of course for socializing and building online communities.

Ed Frauenheim in IBM Learning Programs Get a ‘Second Life’ outlines how IBM can benefit from virtual worlds, he states that “The idea is to expedite orientation, as well as improve mentoring relationships. IBM has found a way to make their training process more appealing to employees and stay updated with new technology at the same time. A virtual world encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods. Individuals who have problems interacting with others face to face are able to meet people in these environments under less pressure. People with disabilities are also able to take advantage of virtual worlds. One individual with autism says that “The graphical representations of real people create a "comfort zone" that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others” in 'Naughty Auties' battle autism with virtual interaction by Nicole Saidi.

One problem that might occur as a result of a virtual world is the fact that more and more people are going to limit themselves to socializing on the internet. There might no longer be a need to meet friends face to face since people will be confined to a computer. I can see virtual worlds being used for online classes in the future, which would be interesting.

Social Networking

Social Networking has been one of the major developments in what is considered ‘new media’ today. There are a number of services involved that focuses on creating online communities where individuals can meet others who have the same interests and even find new things to do. Social Networking has been used by companies in order to network with potential and even existing clients, also to have ongoing interactions between employees. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn gives young professional the opportunity to meet others, possibly in the same field of work, and even find jobs that they are looking for. In Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, Frank Langfitt states that “such sites also help job hunters market themselves online by setting up profiles, listing work history and specific skills”

On the other hand, social networking is also for personal use. Facebook allows users to stay connected to their friends around the world, to plan and share upcoming events, share photos and even re-unite with old buddies. Social networking is also used for games and even medical/health purposes; people usually have accounts on different networking sites. One major benefit of social networking is the access you have to resources and information with the help of others. For example on twitter you can post question and get instant response with links to the information you were looking for, be sure to have people following you though. Another benefit is being able to market yourself to others without meeting them face to face.

The dark side of social networking is usually brought to light often as a result of occurring issues. Issues dealing with privacy breach, not everyone using a social networking site protect their information from possible internet predators. Also recruiters are now checking applicants’ profiles in order to find out who they are hiring, so what was just for personal use could cross over into your professional life. The rate at which things are going now makes me wonder what’s next, but I can see social networking more integrated into our lives and people having less of their life as private.