As you probably know, last week the east coast faced one of the most devastating storms we’ve seen, Hurricane Sandy. I live in Brooklyn, New York and throughout all the boroughs, our transportation system, the MTA was shut down. Little by little the trains and busses have been put back into action, but due to the suspensions, Baruch College and most other schools were closed.

On Monday, November 5th, I received this message from the school:

Of course on that day, Baruch College Facebook pages and groups flooded with complaints including work obligations, travel inconveniences, religious obligations and much more. How do they expect every student to be available on these days? After all, we set up our schedules for certain days and times for a reason.

But we have to get the amount of education we paid for right? So what’s the solution? NEW MEDIA!

There are many new media options we can use to overcome this problem. In my opinion, a couple of online lessons would be a great alternative to coming in on the extra days listed. Professors can utilize our class organization platform, Blackboard, to post YouTube video lectures, assigned readings and use the discussion board function for class participation. This way, we will be provided with the information we would have learned in class and interact with the professor and other students, essentially gaining the same knowledge we would receive in person, while preventing the interruption of our previously scheduled obligations.

What ideas do you think would help?

New media has certainly made things far more convenient and efficient, but nothing’s perfect and new media is no exception. One of the major issues that comes with the rise of the internet in particular is privacy and confidentiality. Some agree that it may be TOO easy to share information, files and ideas online.

One of the major mediums where copyright issues are prevalent is YouTube.com, especially within the music industry. According to the New York Times, many amateur musicians upload videos of themselves singing or playing songs that are owned by big corporations. These corporations often force these videos to be taken down due to licensing issues, aggravating fans and others, but helping to implement the law.

Another industry where this is an issue is image sharing. For example, Pinterest, a virtual pinboard that lets you share images you find interesting online, is constantly criticized for their lack of copyright law implementation. Many companies complain about people sharing images on their profiles, many gaining tons of likes and shares, but nothing linking back to the source.

How do we resolve these issues? Some say we should crack down on violators, and others say we should become more flexible with the laws. One solution is to have a site that allows owners to share things that they don’t mind other people sharing, with the rules spelled out in plain english. One example of this is Creative Commons.

The common consumer also faces privacy problems. Many consumers are concerned that their email addresses and other information are being shared without their permission through social networks, companies sharing and buying email lists, etc.

What solutions do you think will help solve these problems?

When it comes to storytelling, which is already a creative process, it doesn’t get any more creative than this. Imagine a place where hundreds of people can create one story together, fostered by new media technology. Yes, this place exists, at Qwikstory.com. Similar to a “giant game of telephone,” as Mashable puts it, a user begins the story with 1000 words or less and any other user can continue the story.

Qwikstory is collaborative, team oriented and also fun! It’s a unique spin off of traditional social media like Facebook and Twitter, mostly because of the creativity and uniqueness involved in how one participates. In my opinion, this site has much potential for being used in education and business.

My favorite thing about it, besides the fact that it’s fun and easy, is that when you go to read a story, it actually looks like a storybook, online!

;

Try it and let me know what you think!

;

I’m not sure exactly who said this but, creativity is not creating something new but finding new ways to do something old. This is especially true in new media.

It can be argued that new media is nothing more than old media, done in a new way. Hulu is television + technology. Blogs are journalism + technology. E-mail is literally mail + technology. In new media, technology is the key driver to fostering “creativity.”

One interesting way technology in new media has played a part in creating something interesting is with mashups in music. The New Yorker defines mashups as “new uses for current digital technology, a new iteration of the cause-and-effect relationship behind almost every change in pop-music aesthetics: the gear changes, and then the music does.” One of the most popular mashups is “The Grey Album” by Danger Mouse, which is a blend of “The Black Album” by Jay-Z and “White Album” by the Beatles.

Businesses have benefited greatly by this stir of creativity. One way is through crowdsourcing. New media, such as Facebook, blogs, Twitter and websites have allowed the common consumer to open up and express their ideas on how to improve businesses, and businesses listen. For example, according to a NY Times article, “‘Twitter’s smart enough, or lucky enough, to say, ‘Gee, let’s not try to compete with our users in designing this stuff, let’s outsource design to them,’ ‘ said Eric von Hippel, head of the innovation and entrepreneurship group at the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. and author of the book ‘Democratizing Innovation.'” Did you know that Retweets and Lists came from user ideas?

What exciting, creative things have you done with New Media?