New Media

What is new media? Wow, this question is almost philosophical. Sort of like the question 'what is time?' Some people think time is an invention and others believe time is--wait where was I? Oh, new media. I am sure there is a simple answer out there but as I searched my brain I had difficulty finding one. So I checked out wikipedia (a product of new media) and found a decent definition of new media. Wikipedia states, "New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century." Pretty good definition, I wish I thought of it first.

New Media by Bella Buchanan
In the last 20 years we have witnessed vast developments in technology. New media is the term used to describe the products, services and ideas that sprung out of these developments. New media is the digital world around us. Every area of our lives uses new media in its daily operation. Whether it be news, entertainment, education, law, etc. New media is the new web 2.0. The Internet moves faster than ever before. The development of user friendly social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter are products of new media. People are now able to communicate on a global scale without difficulty. Education has been transformed by new media. Within the last 10 years we have witnessed an emergence of accredited online college institutions. A person can get a degree without leaving their house. They can buy textbooks and download them to their computer. New media has also impacted politics. In the recent presidential debate, websites posted polls, retrieved data, and presented their conclusions to the public at lighting speed. Facebook teamed up with CNN and brought coverage of the inauguration to our computers. This created a platform for friends, colleagues and family to watch and share comments in one place. We have also witnessed a new trend of news channels using comments on Facebook to share public opinion. New media is everything around us. It connects people, places, events and ideas. Communication mediums have changed. Cellphones are no longer simply cellphones. Take the iPhone for example, it is an MP3 Player, organizer, web browser, and messenger. It has an endless list of applications and capabilities. New media is the offspring of unprecedented technology and new ideas. New media is the future.

Take that Wikipedia!

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media#Concept_and_definitions

New Media Project

Group members: Chanie and I

Topic: Business Law
We will look at:
How new media affects law.
How New Media can help lawyers.

We are open for any other suggestions!

My Wikipedia Contribution

I made changes to the wikipedia page discussing Khalil Gibran: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran. I added an excerpt of one of my favorite poems from the talented poet. It is under the 'Art & Poetry' tab.

This is what I added:

Excerpt from Khalil Gibran's 'The Prophet":
"And a man said, "Speak to us of Self-Knowledge."
And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always know in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.
And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals."

Yapta.com- Don't fly without it!

Yapta was created to make it easy for you to find the best flight at the right price. They do this by helping you find flights based on your personal preferences, tracking prices on these trips, and alerting you when prices drop so that you can purchase tickets when they're most affordable. They alert you when award seats become available and you can use your frequent flier miles to book a flight.
Even after you purchase your ticket, Yapta continues to track its price. If the price drops below what you paid, and you're eligible for a refund or travel credit from the airline, Yapta can help you claim it.

Retailmenot.com- Find coupons for more than 20,000 stores

How To Use RetailMeNot.com

Background
Did you know when buying items and services online there are often great discounts readily available?

During the payment process many online stores will have a field to enter a coupon or promotion code. Entering a special code will give you a discounted rate or free extras.

Instructions
STEP 1: Make a note of the online store you are buying something from. For example:http://www.amazon.comOr even just:amazon.com
STEP 2: Visit http://RetailMeNot.com
STEP 3: Enter the address from step 1 into the box and press the "Get Coupons" button
STEP 4: You should now be presented with any coupons available for that store. Make a note of them.
STEP 5: Click the 'use it' link next to the coupon and proceed to enter your coupon code when asked at checkout.
With any luck you should now have a great discount or bonus!

DailyLit.com- DailyLit: Sparking your mind and imagination with great books and ideas under 5 minutes a day.

To use the site, you choose a novel from DailyLit’s catalog of over 1300 novels, many of which are free. Each book is broken up into dozens (or hundreds, depending on the length) of installments, each of which is supposed to take around 5 minutes to read. You can tell the site exactly what time you’d like to receive each update, which can be sent either via Email or in an RSS feed, and how many chunks you’d like to receive at a time. And if you just can’t wait to see what happens next, you can also immediately download the next section of a book using a link at the bottom of every Email.

Tired of Registering for Websites?

Check out BugMeNot.com

BugMeNot is an internet service that provides usernames and passwords to let Internet users bypass mandatory free registration on websites. Started in August 2003 by an anonymous person, later revealed to be Guy King[2], it aims to allow Internet users to access websites that have registration walls (for instance, that of The New York Times) without the requirement of compulsory registration. This came in response to the increasing number of websites that request such registration. Many Internet users find this to be an annoyance at best and a potential source of spam e-mail at worst. BugMeNot itself used to parody these sentiments in its own fake registration form.

BugMeNot allows users of their service to add new accounts for sites with free registration. It also encourages users to use such fake e-mail account services as Mailinator and Spamgourmet to create such accounts. However, it does not allow them to add accounts for pay websites, as this could potentially put BugMeNot in legal trouble. BugMeNot also claims to remove accounts for any web site that requests that they do not provide accounts for non-registered users.
To help make access to their service easier, BugMeNot hosts a bookmarklet that can be used with any browser to automatically find a usable account from their service. They also host extensions for the web browsers Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer (the extensions were created by Eric Hamiter with Dmytri Kleiner and Dean Wilson, respectively). There are also other good uses for BugMeNot, in the form of a BugMeNot widget for Opera, or UserJS scripts along with buttons, which makes it fully browser integrated.

Polyvore.com

Another cool website worth mentioning is polyvore.com
Express your style. Mix & match products from your favorite stores. Shop looks created by the web's largest fashion community.

Kiva.org- Loan To The Working Poor

I came across this really cool website Kiva.org.

What Is Kiva?

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.
Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Hello All,

I am super excited about this course. It is original and creative. My major is Finance. After completion of this degree I am off to law school to study corporate law. I fell in love with finance working in operations at a hedge fund. I recently left the hedge fund and am now working for a non profit. I work in the finance department doing actually more accounting than finance, it's pretty cool. Besides law, I also plan on opening a few businesses. I have a million goals to complete in a few hundred units of time. To quote the great Robert Frost, " I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep."

I invite you to check back every now and then and comment on anything you see that feeds your interest.