The Next New Thing

One of the downfalls of all this new media is that it requires some sort of interface with an electronic device, portable or otherwise. But what if that was no longer the case? Following the trend of biochips that are increasingly implanted and used in people, imagine a new media that lives on a chip, in your body, that directly interfaces with it.

This chip can be used to get instant brain notifications from Facebook or Twitter, or even to communicate with hospitals should there be some emergency medical situation that it has sensed in your body. What about a log of your thoughts and emotions for your psychiatrist to access, for more intensive and accurate sessions with him/her? Perhaps it comes with a function that will allow your eye to act as a bar code scanner, allowing you to instantly place an order for an object in front of you. The possibilities are endless!

Our Class Wiki - So Far

As an editor for the page on how new media has affected business, I've been doing a lot of research over the past few months on this topic. My term paper was of course a more focused version of this (real estate specific), but I've also been adimently searching all the professional publications, newspapers, etc, for any interesting articles. There have been quite a few, needless to say.

I'm looking forward to seeing a more finalized page of content, for which I can use my research/acquired knowledge to edit and contribute to my classmates own knowledge and research on the topic.

About My Term Research Paper

I did my research paper on how new media has changed the way the real estate industry conducts business. As someone who works for a real estate company in midtown Manhattan, I've seen firsthand the shift to new media and how it impacts the industry as a whole.

I focused my paper on 2 main areas, real estate marketing and property management. I already had a good knowledge base to start with. Our marketing department receives many figures and professional articles/content on various aspects of digital marketing - from websites, to mobile apps, etc. Using that as my base, I continued my research via database searches on the Newman Library website. I did not realize until after all my research was complete just how much mobile and tablet devices have become the focus for many marketers. There were so many more digital marketing solutions than I had previously anticipated.

I am fortunate enough to work in the Residential Management dept of our company, which has afforded me many years of first-hand experience to the changes in property management technology. From my knowledge of service providers, I began searching professional magazines and journals online, and also via the Newman Library website/databases. In researching social media websites and solutions, I learned a great deal on how important it has become for residents. From my standpoint at work, I usually see it from the perspective of the building owner and manager. It was interesting to be able to see it from the resident perspective, and how much these residents have come to rely on such communication tools.

One of the most important results of new media on the industry is that it has helped level the playing field so to speak. Smaller companies can compete just as effectively as the large, with sophisticated, low-cost tools. Residents have also put themselves in a position of power by becoming more active and influential within their communities. The greatest effect of new media across all industries and areas of life is the wider audience and greater influence an average individual can affect.

Privacy & Confidentiality

New media poses numerous threats to a person's privacy and/or confidentiality. With new media allowing for such numerous user-generated content, it makes it difficult for someone to remain completely private. One such example (though horrible and resulting in a morbid consequence) is the Rutgers University student who was videotaped having sex without his permission. This video was then put on the internet for everyone to see. As a result of such easy video/web access, this was unfortunately broadcast much faster and to a much wider audience than old media has ever allowed.

Another aspect is easy access to various interactive websites and databases filled with user information. Facebook and other social media sites, including website dating services, are filled with user information that anyone can access. Someone can easily post your pictures or information without your knowledge, and it becomes instantly accessible across the web. Furthermore, now with such easy and constant internet presence that most people have, it is much easier for people to do Google searches or use services of internet background search providers for an in depth look at almost anyone. This includes credit checks and financial history.

While instant access and global reach is one of the greatest developments arising from New Media, it has definitely come at the cost of our privacy.

Advice to Baruch College

Baruch College, like many colleges and universities, is trying its best to stay on top of new media, and use that to foster education and community among its students. That's certainly no easy task.

Blackboard is certainly a useful tool for interactive and self-sufficient learning. Unfortunately, it's already outdated. It lacks the scaleability and modularity that many new media have. There are limited widgets and interaction with other types of services. Baruch needs to take Blackboard to the next level, or rather have Blackboard help them take it to the next level.

As an example, there is an enterprise CRM solution currently available for companies, called Salesforce. Now, this is not specifically tailored for the needs of education, but has the functionality and scaleability that I think a college would need moving forward (though it ultimately could easily be scaled for university use). It has adopted Facebook's messaging service into their Chatter feature, which looks and functions just like Facebook essentially. That is something we need to have within our online classrooms. Instead of having to manually add our classmates on our Twitter or blogs, etc., it'd be great if we could easily link the two.

Salesforce also integrates with Google apps and docs, to increase functionality. Taking advantage of the biggest, and low-cost or free providers of document and application solutions would be very beneficial to Baruch. Unfortunately, it seems Blackboard has limited capability, or at least takes a rather large investment of time and effort to allow such functionality.

Salesforce also runs a platform that allows for quick and easy deployment of custom solutions. It seems that Blackboard does not. I am not a programmer or database administrator, but yet even I was able to create custom solutions on the Salesforce platform for my work needs. Imagine the flexibility and efficiency that professors could have if they could easily deploy and customize templates/solutions for their classes, based on their specific needs. A social sciences class template, with customizable widgets, applications, etc. A different template and modules for the CIS classes, and so on and so on. Each of those templates can have Facebook and Twitter modules built in, Google Docs and Apps built in (like Google Scholar), and free modules or apps created from university users around the country (or globe) that other colleges and universities can easily use.

Finally, if we could take all that and make a mobile app that will work on iPhones, Blackberrys and Android marketplace, that would be ideal. Students on the go could easily check pertinent information on their classes while on the go.

Scaleability, easy customization, advanced functionality...all things that Baruch needs to address moving forward. Without it, it's IT systems will be in a constant (and expensive) cycle of trying to catch up with technology and the latest trends.