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!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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'?
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'?
Monday, March 15, 2010
Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds
What are different ways these virtual worlds can be used?
As Nicole Saidi explains in her article, virtual worlds can be used to treat people suffering from autism, social disorder etc. Although no scientific proof is yet established, scientists like Dr. Volkmer have expressed confidence by getting further studies done on the subject.
One very interesting concept put in by Mark Tutton at CNN.com is the use of virtual worlds by businesses on their own networks. With IBM as a beta user, if successful, this can revolutionize how global business is done. I am sure airlines will be banging their heads against a cement wall when company executives start deciding to have a virtual meetings instead of flying to London or Monaco! A combination of various tools like file or project sharing can make a virtual meeting into a very fruitful meeting.
Another important thing to note: With this technology, a virtual simulations of war (land, air & sea) can be created to train soldiers in real life combat.
What are the pros and cons?
Pros:
- While we gather knowledge and technology about the creation of virtual worlds, as I mentioned above, there can be therapeutic advantages for people with disabilities. Something that cannot be done in real life, can be accomplished in a virtual world.
- As Alice Krueger's experience suggests (see Youtube video here), there can be virtual help rooms or discussions or groups about people's problems, where people can join in and gain knowledge without any social stigma attached.
- Another advantage (and great potential) I see is the ability to create virtual meetings.
- Entertainment is a big advantage of virtual worlds. Entertainment means involvement and business.
Cons:
- Dave Itzkoff does not like the overcrowding and the smell of stale beer at the Cake Shop. But watching that band on a computer screen is no 'rosy feet' either! Life is what it is - good, bad and ugly. Comes in various shapes, sizes and smells. You cannot avoid life!
- Humans are wired to be social with other humans. I believe too much virtuality can disrupt that wiring and create small worlds in our computers rather than in our lives leading to more isolation (Kahai Surinder in 'Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life').
- I cannot begin to describe the lack of physical activity due to this involvement in computers. The problem of obesity is well known in this country. If one is able to balance their real life & virtual life, there is no problem, but once the balance shifts in favor of the virtual world it definitely becomes dangerous.
How do virtual worlds foster creativity?
It depends on what we call creativity. Some people think cooking soup out of left-over veggies is creative, while some people think manufacturing a robot that does the cooking for you is creative. Creativity in a virtual world is confined to your mind and what you can do with click and drag & drop. But there is a definite mind set required to be able to create a virtual world or anything in it. I personally do not think myself as creative so I had a hard time navigating in Second Life. But then again, I respect that lady who learned additional skills in Second Life and got a job in real life (see Youtube video here). Now that is quite creative and brilliant! I think I would like to learn how to repair a car!
What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?
I am in a very confused state of mind when answering this. For a person just beginning to see and understand this virtual world, it certainly seems quite mind blowing. For argument sake, let us say everyone has a virtual world. Everyone will be more busy socializing in that world than being away from their chair. Would that overwhelm their real world? Would it become like Matrix where we - or what we think we are - is just an element of a program? But again, with the rapid changes happening today in technology and social thinking, it might just become a reality. Because of the ease of being able to get into a virtual world and behaving the way we want to, I believe people will start to blur that boundary between real and virtual (Kahai Surinder) .
As Nicole Saidi explains in her article, virtual worlds can be used to treat people suffering from autism, social disorder etc. Although no scientific proof is yet established, scientists like Dr. Volkmer have expressed confidence by getting further studies done on the subject.
One very interesting concept put in by Mark Tutton at CNN.com is the use of virtual worlds by businesses on their own networks. With IBM as a beta user, if successful, this can revolutionize how global business is done. I am sure airlines will be banging their heads against a cement wall when company executives start deciding to have a virtual meetings instead of flying to London or Monaco! A combination of various tools like file or project sharing can make a virtual meeting into a very fruitful meeting.
Another important thing to note: With this technology, a virtual simulations of war (land, air & sea) can be created to train soldiers in real life combat.
What are the pros and cons?
Pros:
- While we gather knowledge and technology about the creation of virtual worlds, as I mentioned above, there can be therapeutic advantages for people with disabilities. Something that cannot be done in real life, can be accomplished in a virtual world.
- As Alice Krueger's experience suggests (see Youtube video here), there can be virtual help rooms or discussions or groups about people's problems, where people can join in and gain knowledge without any social stigma attached.
- Another advantage (and great potential) I see is the ability to create virtual meetings.
- Entertainment is a big advantage of virtual worlds. Entertainment means involvement and business.
Cons:
- Dave Itzkoff does not like the overcrowding and the smell of stale beer at the Cake Shop. But watching that band on a computer screen is no 'rosy feet' either! Life is what it is - good, bad and ugly. Comes in various shapes, sizes and smells. You cannot avoid life!
- Humans are wired to be social with other humans. I believe too much virtuality can disrupt that wiring and create small worlds in our computers rather than in our lives leading to more isolation (Kahai Surinder in 'Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life').
- I cannot begin to describe the lack of physical activity due to this involvement in computers. The problem of obesity is well known in this country. If one is able to balance their real life & virtual life, there is no problem, but once the balance shifts in favor of the virtual world it definitely becomes dangerous.
How do virtual worlds foster creativity?
It depends on what we call creativity. Some people think cooking soup out of left-over veggies is creative, while some people think manufacturing a robot that does the cooking for you is creative. Creativity in a virtual world is confined to your mind and what you can do with click and drag & drop. But there is a definite mind set required to be able to create a virtual world or anything in it. I personally do not think myself as creative so I had a hard time navigating in Second Life. But then again, I respect that lady who learned additional skills in Second Life and got a job in real life (see Youtube video here). Now that is quite creative and brilliant! I think I would like to learn how to repair a car!
What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look like?
I am in a very confused state of mind when answering this. For a person just beginning to see and understand this virtual world, it certainly seems quite mind blowing. For argument sake, let us say everyone has a virtual world. Everyone will be more busy socializing in that world than being away from their chair. Would that overwhelm their real world? Would it become like Matrix where we - or what we think we are - is just an element of a program? But again, with the rapid changes happening today in technology and social thinking, it might just become a reality. Because of the ease of being able to get into a virtual world and behaving the way we want to, I believe people will start to blur that boundary between real and virtual (Kahai Surinder) .
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Social Networking
How can social networking technologies be used?
I am in absolute agreement with Frank Langfitt that "professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technologies". An initial step in the right direction for both the recruits and the recruiter, this method of searching is gaining popularity and acceptance. I believe this way of looking for potential job candidates is very modern, innovative & informed way. Not only you get the brightest people, you get people with a wide presence and recognition in the circle, industry and society. At least that is a good start instead of browsing through paper resumes! The same benefits go for the person with this LinkedIn profile.
I have always been a proponent of rotating employees in a company (on a temporary basis) so that they understand the very basis of other people's jobs and learn about the pillars of the institution they work for. Reading about Nissan's initiative to create N-Square is parallel to my thoughts(Hall, Kenji). Creating N-Square is a very thoughtful idea. Imagine knowing about your colleagues beyond the vicinity of your cubicle, the problems they face, the solutions they look for, the knowledge we can share. A company can benefit greatly from this hidden knowledge well and tap into new ways to boost morale, productivity and overall results.
Benefits to the society
There can be several examples of this kind of innovative thinking. But the bottom line is the advent of Web 2.0 and these various tools with which social networking is possible on a personal basis and now even on a professional basis. Find a friend you always thought of, or maybe never thought of, from Facebook or Batchmates.com. Recommend a past or present colleague on LinkedIn. And get recommended. Update your resume without applying to any job and still get searched by potential employers. Social networking is not only to update your status or poke someone, it is the real world where jobs change, thinking change, people change and eventually a change in society happens. It happened drastically during the wars and industrial revolution, but today we are peacefully and gradually changing through technology and networking.
News travel fast - the cousin in New Zealand had a baby, or a friend in Nigeria just informed about riots breaking out in Abuja. Information travels fast and reaches the desired audience fast.
"Dark side"
Like all things in life, there has to be a 'dark side' of this. Although I am no authority on technology, I fear that people rely on these networks too much to forget the actual human element of life. The hosts of these networks can manage to know all your private information (Vogelstein, Fred) and use it in ways the end users would never realize. What if this data is lost or stolen? I know Facebook has repeatedly been in trouble with various authorities around the world regarding privacy issues (Zee news). I still find it hard to trust any of these websites.
As for the professional side, due to the fact that even the president can see N-Square at Nissan, I believe the employees might be more than reluctant to put in their true thoughts and problems. On the contrary if the company culture encourages it, there might be open discussions also. But rarely that is encouraged by the upper management. Can the opinions you express on N-Square be used against your promotion?
I am in absolute agreement with Frank Langfitt that "professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technologies". An initial step in the right direction for both the recruits and the recruiter, this method of searching is gaining popularity and acceptance. I believe this way of looking for potential job candidates is very modern, innovative & informed way. Not only you get the brightest people, you get people with a wide presence and recognition in the circle, industry and society. At least that is a good start instead of browsing through paper resumes! The same benefits go for the person with this LinkedIn profile.
I have always been a proponent of rotating employees in a company (on a temporary basis) so that they understand the very basis of other people's jobs and learn about the pillars of the institution they work for. Reading about Nissan's initiative to create N-Square is parallel to my thoughts(Hall, Kenji). Creating N-Square is a very thoughtful idea. Imagine knowing about your colleagues beyond the vicinity of your cubicle, the problems they face, the solutions they look for, the knowledge we can share. A company can benefit greatly from this hidden knowledge well and tap into new ways to boost morale, productivity and overall results.
Benefits to the society
There can be several examples of this kind of innovative thinking. But the bottom line is the advent of Web 2.0 and these various tools with which social networking is possible on a personal basis and now even on a professional basis. Find a friend you always thought of, or maybe never thought of, from Facebook or Batchmates.com. Recommend a past or present colleague on LinkedIn. And get recommended. Update your resume without applying to any job and still get searched by potential employers. Social networking is not only to update your status or poke someone, it is the real world where jobs change, thinking change, people change and eventually a change in society happens. It happened drastically during the wars and industrial revolution, but today we are peacefully and gradually changing through technology and networking.
News travel fast - the cousin in New Zealand had a baby, or a friend in Nigeria just informed about riots breaking out in Abuja. Information travels fast and reaches the desired audience fast.
"Dark side"
Like all things in life, there has to be a 'dark side' of this. Although I am no authority on technology, I fear that people rely on these networks too much to forget the actual human element of life. The hosts of these networks can manage to know all your private information (Vogelstein, Fred) and use it in ways the end users would never realize. What if this data is lost or stolen? I know Facebook has repeatedly been in trouble with various authorities around the world regarding privacy issues (Zee news). I still find it hard to trust any of these websites.
As for the professional side, due to the fact that even the president can see N-Square at Nissan, I believe the employees might be more than reluctant to put in their true thoughts and problems. On the contrary if the company culture encourages it, there might be open discussions also. But rarely that is encouraged by the upper management. Can the opinions you express on N-Square be used against your promotion?
Monday, March 8, 2010
Check Out Social Networking Sites
All social networking sites are my worst dream come true - in terms of navigation and content! But I will still try to convey my feelings in the best possible way here. I have accounts with MySpace, Facebook & LinkedIn. I had stopped using MySpace a long time ago (too many junk friends requests) and had a hard time resetting my password to get info for this article.
Navigation:
It is a nightmare for me to navigate on either one of these sites with all the apps lurking around in the sentences/posts. So many people are into so many things - reading the wall posts makes me dizzy. Browsing through the information posted on the wall (some times about 50 of them), I come across maybe one item that will catch my eye - an old photo of the school cricket team. I guess that is time well spent dodging the bullets of people's rants and raves. This happens more on Facebook than MySpace. Not many people I know are on MySpace so it is quite alien to me (and everyone else). But I believe same things can be done there too.
Information:
I realize there is so much information on one page that it is quite cumbersome to decide what to do or get a good idea of the application until you spend some time on it. I compared the 'Events' pages of MySpace and Facebook. Facebook has quite a good layout of the events and seems to be more popular than MySpace. Event listing on both sites were more commercial in nature than an actual group event set up by an actual person, although Facebook seemed to have more of a personal touch to it.
One thing missing from both sites was the ability to find local events. I believe that means you can RSVP in an event happening on the other side of the world, but cannot get any clue as to what is happening locally.
Ad or App?:
I sometimes cannot tell if a certain thing is an ad or an app. I usually realize after clicking it and when 3 other windows open or I lose sight of the main page. My life is not that complicated and hence, all these apps or ads on one page make things more cumbersome than necessary. But it seems many of my friends/acquaintances are actively involved in these Apps. For example, I get requests for becoming a neighbor on 'Farmville' (an app that creates virtual farms). With some apps I had to sign up for something using my phone number. Then I got a $9.99 charge on my bill next month for some service - not by Facebook. I wonder if these ads or apps just present their catch phrases in a way that appears to have been send by your friend! Whatever maybe the case, I stopped clicking and signing any of them from that point on. I had a hard time getting that $9.99 removed from my bill.
Contents:
Without going too deep, my first impression of MySpace was that it seems to gear more towards dating and that sort of thing. Facebook however focuses on connecting and that seems to work more for a social network rather than a dating network. I have received more junk friend requests on MySpace than Facebook - be it when I actually online or offline by email. I understand you can set your preferences but then what is the point of social network if you are going to keep the door closed. I know it does not work that way, but I would rather be friends with a stranger I have met than a stranger on Facebook or MySpace. I believe in eye-contact more than wall-posts.
What do I like?
I like something professional and something that can create value. I do like the fact that many companies have their Facebook page. That is a great way to keep a following, inform the followers of the most current news or promotions, and more importantly gain feedback on a personalized basis. I like LinkedIn for my professional side. But I do feel some restraint when 'connecting' to the superiors on LinkedIn. If I am unable to connect in real life, I might not be able to connect online. Call me old school, but that is how it works for me! From personal experience, I have gained more knowledge from connections on LinkedIn than MySpace and Facebook combined.
Navigation:
It is a nightmare for me to navigate on either one of these sites with all the apps lurking around in the sentences/posts. So many people are into so many things - reading the wall posts makes me dizzy. Browsing through the information posted on the wall (some times about 50 of them), I come across maybe one item that will catch my eye - an old photo of the school cricket team. I guess that is time well spent dodging the bullets of people's rants and raves. This happens more on Facebook than MySpace. Not many people I know are on MySpace so it is quite alien to me (and everyone else). But I believe same things can be done there too.
Information:
I realize there is so much information on one page that it is quite cumbersome to decide what to do or get a good idea of the application until you spend some time on it. I compared the 'Events' pages of MySpace and Facebook. Facebook has quite a good layout of the events and seems to be more popular than MySpace. Event listing on both sites were more commercial in nature than an actual group event set up by an actual person, although Facebook seemed to have more of a personal touch to it.
One thing missing from both sites was the ability to find local events. I believe that means you can RSVP in an event happening on the other side of the world, but cannot get any clue as to what is happening locally.
Ad or App?:
I sometimes cannot tell if a certain thing is an ad or an app. I usually realize after clicking it and when 3 other windows open or I lose sight of the main page. My life is not that complicated and hence, all these apps or ads on one page make things more cumbersome than necessary. But it seems many of my friends/acquaintances are actively involved in these Apps. For example, I get requests for becoming a neighbor on 'Farmville' (an app that creates virtual farms). With some apps I had to sign up for something using my phone number. Then I got a $9.99 charge on my bill next month for some service - not by Facebook. I wonder if these ads or apps just present their catch phrases in a way that appears to have been send by your friend! Whatever maybe the case, I stopped clicking and signing any of them from that point on. I had a hard time getting that $9.99 removed from my bill.
Contents:
Without going too deep, my first impression of MySpace was that it seems to gear more towards dating and that sort of thing. Facebook however focuses on connecting and that seems to work more for a social network rather than a dating network. I have received more junk friend requests on MySpace than Facebook - be it when I actually online or offline by email. I understand you can set your preferences but then what is the point of social network if you are going to keep the door closed. I know it does not work that way, but I would rather be friends with a stranger I have met than a stranger on Facebook or MySpace. I believe in eye-contact more than wall-posts.
What do I like?
I like something professional and something that can create value. I do like the fact that many companies have their Facebook page. That is a great way to keep a following, inform the followers of the most current news or promotions, and more importantly gain feedback on a personalized basis. I like LinkedIn for my professional side. But I do feel some restraint when 'connecting' to the superiors on LinkedIn. If I am unable to connect in real life, I might not be able to connect online. Call me old school, but that is how it works for me! From personal experience, I have gained more knowledge from connections on LinkedIn than MySpace and Facebook combined.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
