Wiki So Far

     After browsing the new media wiki, I was surprised to see all of the different information that people have contributed over the years. Personally, I am someone who enjoys keeping up to date on video games and streaming platforms and after looking at those sections I noticed a few of them were outdated. So far I have contributed onto the Twitch Page by adding the latest data on the most streamed video games as of April 2020. While browsing these specific pages, I also noticed that the information was outdated for a few of the streamers that were listed, so I made some minor edits in terms of statistics on the streamers apart of the page. One of these streamers who I edited was Shroud, who is a very popular streamer in the gaming industry. 

     My next big goal is to add a new column describing a video game that was recently released. The video game goes by the name of Valorant and it was released on April 12th, 2020. I am doing some research on the game in order to incorporate the correct information into different sections of the wikipedia. I plan on writing about what the core mechanics of the game, what it is competing against, the platforms it is currently being streamed, and its average daily viewers. Alongside this, I will update the sections on the various other video game titles that are on the page if they are outdated as well.

P2P Blog

  Through the internet, people have been given the opportunity to freely share information to anyone and everyone at no cost. This information can contain a variety of things from written documents, pdfs, and even full movies. Illegally uploading things such as movies without having the permission of the publisher is what has caused debate in more recent times and its known as piracy. This type of file sharing, or ability to transfer a files to another computer over the internet, has put lawmakers in a tough positions figuring out how to hold people accountable for their actions on the internet. According to a New York Times article, “The United States Congress held hearings last week on the growing problem of piracy, which the American entertainment industry says accounts for the loss of $20 billion a year in sales.” Piracy is a widespread issue occurring around the globe, and many policy markers are trying to crack down on this issue by enacting laws that would actually bring along a prison sentence. 

P2P or peer-to-peer sharing, easily allows for piracy to occur enabling people to send files directly over a shared network. Websites like RapidShare enable people to easily upload various files and allows others to easily download them, regardless of what they contain. Although P2P file sharing can be bad, it is also being used for good by other companies. In a different article it stated “Google is teaming up with the nation's largest peer-to-peer lender. The search and tech giant is investing $125 million in Lending Club, which gets borrowers and lenders together outside the conventional banking system.” Lending Club removes the need for traditional banks and allows peers to directly confer with each other on potential loan agreements. Not only are people able to receive loans with ease, but they are getting them at discounted rates relative to their local banks. The high level of convenience is what has brought attention to companies like their’s, allowing them to facilitate close to $1 billion in loans in a single year. P2P sharing platforms can range from either strictly file sharing to even platforms where people can acquire loans. Although governments may try to enact stricter laws prohibiting things such as piracy over the internet and attempt to limit file sharing, it will always exist and continue to expand in the upcoming future due to the high level of accessibility to the internet.

Works Cited

Peers Find Less Pressure Borrowing From Each Other May 10, 2013 http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/05/10/182651552/peers-find-less-pressure-borrowing-from-each-other

Should Online Scofflaws Be Denied Web Access?" by ERIC PFANNER, The New York Times, April 13, 2009, p. B4. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/internet/13iht-piracy13.html

Advice

If I was hired by Baruch College, I would go about improving their new media in the following order:

1. Improve their social media presence. 

  By improving their social media presence, Baruch would not only gain a larger following, but it could many other positive effects overall. Having a strong social media presence allows for brand loyalty, and this would be for both current students and alumni. It could potentially increase sales for clothing, increase admissions, and overall provide a better image for the school.

2.Increase interaction on social media.

  Alongside gaining a larger social media presence, it is also important to engage with the following that they currently have. These followers include many alumni and other important figures, all of which can help future students. Maintaining a strong relationship with everyone will provide students a better opportunity to connect with alumni and could help build future careers.

3. Improve YouTube Presence

  YouTube is a great way for people to showcase their talents. Baruch offers concerts throughout the year in the Engelman Recital Hall, so recording and uploading the concerts could be beneficial for the students and faculty who partake part in those activities. Some benefits would include potential sponsorships from companies, potential exposure for upcoming student artists, and exposure for the clubs at Baruch.

4. Ambassador Programs

  Having student and alumni ambassador programs would be good to way to capture the attention of upcoming high school graduates. These ambassadors can interact with and answer any questions that interested applicants may have, and also collect important information around campus from students. Receiving feedback is not an easy task from faculty, but if students are engaged by other students its generally results in a more honest response to help improve the school.

Privacy

With the introduction of new media, I believe privacy and confidentiality were the two most important thing that people comprised in order to have access to all the platforms available today. Platforms such as FaceBook and Google have been collecting information on their user’s that they have been selling to large marketing companies like Acxiom. As stated in article The Wild West of Privacy, “Big data brokers, like Acxiom, have developed sophisticated tools that allow them to know almost as much about us as we know about ourselves; they then sell that data to all kinds of companies that want to learn everything from our habits to our health, from our sexual orientation to our finances.” Sacrificing this data is what has enabled us to browse seamlessly over the web, but is it necessary? The data that is collected on an individual should not be allowed to be sold without the consent of the user. In certain cases, if the user wants to receive advertisements targeted towards their specific purchasing pattern, they should be able to opt-in to the program. On the other hand, if the user does not want this to happen, they should be allowed to opt-out of the program easier than it is to opt-in. One reason companies are able to successfully gather so much information on an individual is due to the long process it takes to opt out of the agreements that enable these companies to gain our information. This tiresome process needs to be eliminated and replaced as it discourages people to find out what exactly they must do in order to opt-out of these programs.

  New media has brought along many social media websites such as Twitter, FaceBook, and Instagram where people upload snapshots of their lives on a daily basis. This has made confidentiality for some people almost non-existent, leaving them vulnerable in the future. Although people may not realize in the moment, someone may always have a picture or video that could potentially comprise things such as job positions or school applications in the upcoming future. This happened to an individual named Jon Ossoff who was running as in a special election in Georgia. As stated in the article, “GOP leadership, launched an attack ad Wednesday hitting him with some unflattering college footage. It includes a clip of him dressed as Han Solo in a Star Wars parody of the school's alcohol policy.” This video was used to depict Jon as someone who was a “spoiled brat” and directly attacked his image. I believe people should always be weary of their actions as new media has allowed for information to be spread so quickly and anonymously. 

Works Cited

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/02/518136415/attack-ad-marks-new-era-for-millennials-running-for-office

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/opinion/nocera-the-wild-west-of-privacy.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=1