What is your name?

What would my name be?

Wiki So Far

The topic I have chosen for class Wiki is 'How Business is Using Social Networking'. I work full time and have some familiarity with the corporate world and culture (nothing to brag about here...). Although my company has blocked all social networking sites, I have active profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook. I have also heard about companies taking part in social networking within the company. All these topics make an interesting subject to research.

So, when I first saw the Wiki page, I was a bit shocked by the content that was already there. Poor grammar, poor format and sometimes incorrect choice of words. I will have a hard time editing that content. But I do not want to lose the issues that have been raised by previous authors. So, while keeping the ideas, I need to format it all to have a flow of information.

To achieve this purpose, when we were first assigned to choose a topic, I printed out the entire article thinking I would try to edit it and then type it online. But due to various flying topics and bumpy grammar, the task kind of went to the backseat after other important topics like the term paper. I moved a section up on the page and I plan to introduce the topic of basic social networking to start the article and then edit it into the business related material that is present on the Wiki.

The article can be found here.

Next New Thing

Everything I can think of is probably already done and implemented, if not used in the main stream. But I haven't seen or heard anything about using holographic images.
Today, we can receive a call from a friend and make his/her picture appear on our phone screen or even associate a specific ring tone. How about associating a holographic image of that person so that one feels like they are talking in person? I wonder if the conversation would be more interesting or just too spooky. We use hands-free devices right now in our day to day life and can combine it with holographic images to make it more real. Additionally, if emotions were also to be programmed in, it would be funny to have a fight with your significant other over the phone!!!
If nurses come together to train on Second Life, maybe moving holographic images technology can help bring people together also and possibly take business meetings to a different...err...holographic level. Say, an informal family conference can be had this way or a business meeting can be conducted with everybody present...virtually. A simple phone conversation would have a lot more meaning than just a conversation when the users are in a geographically distant area, as with my parents and relatives. A moving image, even though just a hologram, of loved ones can lift your spirits beyond any measure.

About my research project

Initially my focus was on a website Meetup.com and the impact of new media on the hiking community around in the NY metro area by the use of this website. I chose this topic because it is my favorite past-time. And in recent months, if not years, technology has helped get many previous non-hikers indulge in hiking. Part of the reason is social networking. Also, for many regular hikers, new media, social networking and technology has changed the way a hiker participates or organizes an event. I know this from the view point of a regular hiker and as an organizer. So i thought this might be a good topic to write about.

But as I went on to explore the research (scholarly, academic, commercial etc) in regards to new media and hiking, I turned up with nothing. It seems nobody has ever thought of this as an important topic or transformation. However, my focus shifted a little bit on all the new technology that Meetup.com had introduced in recent months. I also realized how Meetup.com is not just for hiking, but used for a variety of groups more focused on local geography than a global one as compared to Facebook or MySpace. The most important thing that jumped out to me was the emphasis on 'face-to-face' group meetings. Again, no real research is available in this area since Meetup.com itself is a pretty new company. Hence, I am combining Facebook related research (plenty of that available), introducing new media features of Meetup and comparing various features and usage.

For this purpose, I have used Google Scholar search, accessed Science Daily from Ebsco host databases available through Baruch library website and explored features of Meetup.com. I also did a couple of interviews with organizers of groups on Meetup.com.

Advice to Baruch

Baruch is a commuter college. So apart from various family & job responsibilities, students do their best with the responsibility of getting good grades. They also struggle to fit in their required subject in whatever schedule allows them to do so before or after business hours. New Media is one class that is offered online and a great relief to people like me who work and take 3 subjects at college. Baruch should offer more classes online. The college already has an awareness of technology and the students are well prepared generally to adept in new technologies. These technologies are embraced with zeal and creativity. So why not foster a learning environment by keeping in terms with the current trends?

Platforms like Blackboard and especially Discussion Board can be greatly updated. I have noticed - during this New Media class and one past class - how students have opened up their views & ideas on these electronic discussions. For those other students who have trouble learning the subject matter, discussion board has helped widen their thinking and ask questions to fellow students without any shame. I say this from personal experience.

Many students have benefited from video tutorials - especially Calculus class. Although the tutorial was not professionally made, it helped tremendously. If only like Youtube, students were able to discuss some more about the topics covered in a particular video or about a particular problem in the chapter exercise. These tools will also facilitate networking and we all know there is no better tool than networking when hunting for a job!

Privacy

At every step of the way in life today, we sign off our privacy on those 'fine print' legal stuff without thinking or even glancing at the headings. Who reads that stuff anyway? Quite a few new media creations are like that too - Facebook, Yahoo etc which require you to go through the gazillion words and click on 'I Agree' before you open an account.

We could be anyone on the net and express ourselves like we have never before. But so is true for the other people who do not have honest intentions all the time. We have come to know & use the technology too fast, without fully realizing the consequences - good and bad. While Facebook, chats or twitters (on internet) can be great for communicating with friends and relatives around the world, the medium of internet is an organic open road, prone to any hitchhiker. New media and its relative components are a great advancement in technology, communication & lifestyle, but like every other invention in the past, it has to be approached with proper information literacy education to the users.

There are apparent dangers in publishing our information online. A recruiter can search by your name and find out your activities, affiliations & comments from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs etc. A stalker can put together pieces of information and find out where & what you are in real world. Many a times, people invite trouble just by putting all personal info for everyone to see (I know at least one person who does that). While in today's age, much of our activities including paying bills & communicating happens online, we need to be extra careful in understanding what is it that we are signing off on those papers & be always skeptical in putting our personal information online.

My Twitter Experience

03/17/10: I put in a question about the usefulness of job search on twitter
03/17/10: I answered to someone on a tweet about "pointless babble".

I posted and I replied. But things got complicated as more and more people started to tweet. There were a bunch of topics flying around, someone advertising a product, someone mentioning about politics, etc. It simply was a chaos for me without ever saying anything meaningful or getting anything meaningful out of it.

Class discussions or even blogs are my preferred way to discuss something. I think blogs are best to really pour down your thoughts at your own pace. The writer and the reader can submerge themselves into the topic. Not so in the ocean of messages on Twitter. I guess I am an old fashioned kind of guy who needs to take a deep breath, write and listen. I appreciate the 'instant' aspect of twitter, but honestly I do not care if you sell cheap jewelery, or if there is a great new product in the market.

Ah, and not to forget the Tweet lingo! What is up with all the '#' and '@' and all other 'b4' (read 'before') kind of language. English, English people! Isn't life 'Tweet'?