My Term Research Project

In my term research project, I spoke about copyright infringement and how new media has effected this field in many ways. In the presentation, I spoke about how the emergence of new media, mainly the internet, has given people the opportunity to use P2P file sharing as well as just downloading programs like limewire and kazaa in order to receive both movies and music and then try to sell them illegally. Copyright Infringement is extremely illegal and could be punished by huge fines as well as possible jail time. Despite this fact, many people all over the world continue to use P2P file sharing in order to receive their movies and music and they think nothing of it as if it was completely fine. Many television as well as movie companies have begun putting up their shows and movies on sites like hulu.com in order to compete with P2P file sharing. On these sites you can watch perfect quality videos as opposed to the ones off limewire that aren't to great in quality and all that changes is that there is one or two thirty second commercials. By putting these videos onto these websites, they would still be able to make a profit from the advertising as opposed to limewire and kazaa where they make no profit at all. The companies were forced to give in and conform to the changing times and start allowing viewers to watch their shows on the internet. Copyright Infringement has effected people in numerous ways. No matter whether they are positive or negative effects, the effects are visible.

The Next New Thing

The next new thing that I think would be very beneficial to society is wi-fi internet availability as well as cellular phone service in the subway systems of the major cities. This form of new media would be very good because it would allow people to connect with other people in numerous ways in a place where currently there would be no way of reaching that person. It would also be very beneficial in crisis situations. For example in case of a terrorist attack or even a natural disaster, people that are underground would, for obvious reasons, currently be considered sitting ducks because they probably wouldn't even know about an attack. On the other hand, if they were to have cellular connection and internet connection, they would be able to find out what was going on and what they can do to avoid any danger. If people were to have this service, it would be very beneficial for them in todays world.

Presentation Outline

Copyright infringement
- the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works
- using something that is legally and officially the property of someone else without their consent

Examples of copyright infringement
- People selling “bootleg DVDs in the street
- Illegal Downloading
- P2P File Sharing

Penalties for Copyright Infringement
Up to 3 years in prison
$250,000 fines
Repeat Offenders face up to 6 years in prison

New Media
- Has mad it much easier for people to commit these crimes and have made it a much bigger problem because everyone has access to it and can do it on a daily basis

Social Networking Sites

I personally have accounts with both Facebook as well as Myspace. Over the years many of my friends have had accounts with numerous social networking sites and they all seem to fade out or be outdone with the “next best site” that is introduced. I enjoy going on facebook because it gives me the opportunity to keep in touch with friends that are away at college ort pretty much everyone that I don’t see very often. For the most part, it easy to join these sites and, for some, they become a little addicting where people find themselves checking the sites more than they check the news or the weather. Social networking site have become so popular that a month ago even my mother, who barely knows how to use a computer, asked me to make her an account on a Russian social networking site called odnoklassniki.ru. It is a site for people who went to school in Russia and it connects them to there old classmates. Just like any other networking site it allows you to upload pictures of yourself and my mother found many old classmates that she went to school with back in Russia. Social networking sites will continue to grow and expand. I can only imagine what the social networking sites will be like in ten years.

Advice to Baruch College

I personally am content with the extent to which Baruch College is technologically advanced. I think that technology is very important in the educational world for both the students as well as the faculty. It allows both groups the ability to reach out to a broad audience and communicate with an entire classroom with greater ease. The only real thing I would look to change or modify is the blackboard online system. I believe that there are many alternatives to blackboard that would work a lot more efficiently and are much more user-friendly for the student as well as the professor. Other than that I believe Baruch is, for the most part technologically advanced.

Old v. New

The way to distinguish new media from old media is by analyzing a few main characteristics that the form of media has. For one, the way a person would go about receiving the form of media has a lot to do with distinguishing the two forms of media. One of the main reasons that the new media is so revolutionary is because it is so easy to access it through the internet in addition to other ways, that more people have embraced it. On the other hand with old media, though it is not difficult to access it, there is still some effort that has to be made in order to retrieve the information that the person wants. In addition, much if not all of the new media is digitalized and can be retrieved in the comfort of people’s homes. As opposed to old media like newspapers which only last one day and must be bought at local stores.

Effect of New Media on Society

New Media has had many effects on society ever since it was established. I think the main effect that it had on society was the amount of ease it offered people to accomplish goals both big and small and it also brought people closer together by way of social networking sites like facebook and myspace as well as blogging sites like blogger. With the establishment of the internet, people don’t have to leave their homes to shop for pretty much anything and everything. From clothes to cars to everyday groceries, anything can be done through the internet and there is no longer a need to go to actual stores to buy things they need. New media has greatly affected society for the better though many have argued that it makes people very lazy. That is possibly the only negative effect that the emergence of new media has had on society.