Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and wikis have similarities and many differences. They are both created by users. They both can be viewed by anyone who is interested. They do have plenty of differences though. A blog is created by one user and that person puts in there whatever it is they want. Then other people can read it and post their comments on whatever was posted. A wiki is less personal. A wiki is less opinion and there is nowhere to comment. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone but it is a bit more controlled. As the CNN article "Wikipedia: No longer the Wild West?" stated, Wikipedia has decided to get volunteer editors who would double check select articles on people who are still alive to verify the accuracy of the information. Blogs do have their uses for collaboration. If one person has a blog about a specific topic, another person could have a blog about something similar and they could get together, through their blogs, and do things together. An example that comes to mind is in the collaboration of music writing. People can fuse their creativity together. In trying to think of a use for wikis, this has probably been done but maybe if a group has a research project that needs to be done everyone could collaborate and build the project on the wiki. Everyone can see what has been done and they could plan accordingly for what is needed. If anyone notices a mistake they themselves can fix it. Blogs and wikis may have their uses but they are equally important.

Old Vs. New

I have a hard time describing what new media is compared to the old but I can definitely identify them. Old media tends to to be static, it is what it is and you get what you are served. New media is more than that. To put it simply, to me it means the next step of our means of delivering content to the world. For example, back in the day a book would be the way to deliver your creativity to others. Now we dont even need a physical hard copy, we can just download it into an e-reader and have a bookshelf's worth of literature in our bag. Communicating with others has also taken massive leaps. Before, one would have to hand write a note and give it to a messenger and he would carry this note to the person in needs to be delivered. This was then upgraded to the postal service which was essentially the same thing but with a better and more efficient system. Then we got the telegram, the next step. A message could now be sent over wires from one location to the other and the other person just had to go to the place where the message arrived and get it. Then came the telephone, which made a direct link between people and they could transmit their voice to each other. Fast forward to now and we get what we are calling new media. We can send messages to as many people as we want very quickly thanks to the technology available to us now. E-mails can be sent to people instantly, massive texts can be sent from your mobile phone so one doesnt even need to be home to send a message to someone. Then you can step into the magical realm of social networks. There one can connect with virtually everyone you know talk to them instantly if they are logged in, send everyone a little message, organize events and even meet new people. Dont know how accurate this is but to me new media is that which takes us a step further as a society, that which transforms forever the way we do things, let it be communicating our thoughts, ideas, and creativity to another or to the world. New media is always fresh. Old media is just there, it is what it is.

Project Description

For my project for my New Media course I have decided on "Impact of Video Games on Violence and Criminal Activity." There have been many claims recently that violence and criminal activity in video games is a cause for real world violence, I don't buy it. From what I have seen these claims are made by people who do not have an understanding of how games work and are just judging video game media from the outside and not really trying to see it for what it is truly worth. For this topic I plan on gathering information on court cases in which the defendant has blamed violent video games for his/her violent action. I also intend on gathering information on people who stand on both sides of the debate to compare their opposing views. Finally I will look into whatever research has been done to prove or disprove the claim.

What is New Media??

New Media is taking this world by storm. It is quickly replacing all that is old. But, understanding new media is a little difficult since it is a very broad thing. There are so many technologies that are an important part to what is new media. New media can be found mostly on computers and on the cellphones of today and other sorts of gadgets. What really sets new media apart from anything else though is this magical place called the internet. It is such a powerful and the driving force of new media. It is what made all these connections possible, it is what lets us interact in ways no one would have even been able to imagine 40 to 50 years ago. New media is replacing the old because it offers so many new opportunities. One great example is this fad of e-Readers. The old ways were to buy a book, read it, and put it away. Now, with these amazing little devices, one can connect to the internet and browse for the desired book, read it, save your progress, and once you are done with it you can store it in the device. As much as I hate to admit it Tweets are an excellent example. It is the best way to stay completely connected with others by posting short simple updates, people can stay in touch. Wikipedia has changed how a person can gather trivial knowledge forever. For the most part Wikipedia can be relied upon for information about anything. If you want to know anything about something, wikipedia is the first place to look. Who in their right mind would buy a giant collection of encyclopedias which will eventually become outdated when wiki is free and constantly updated at all times? New media is an amazing thing, one may think that what we consider new media will be old eventually but truly the concept of new media I believe is that which is fresh and innovative the new media of today will not be the same as the new media of 20 years from now, but I am sure it will be just as amazing.

just to show how dead books are:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/coover-end.html