Tuesday, December 8, 2009
You're A Computer Genius, Right?
After taking the Essential Computer Skills class, I have learned that NO one is an actual genius when it comes to computers. No matter what, no matter where, no matter why, there is always something new to learn when it comes to computers and technology in general. The best way to tackle a class aimed at so much is to come in with an open mind and let the learning flow. Do your work, listen in class, and by the end of the struggle, the sun will shine, and you will be MUCH closer to being a genius than you were before no matter your stating point.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
My Picture Lies!...(or does it?)
Below is a picture of a popular glacier taken from Environmental Graffiti, a site that shows different natural elements in an artistic or "graffiti-like" style. I chose this picture because I am quite passionate about the environment but some people tend to take their passions too far and insinuate some unsual things. For instance, in Al Gore's documentary, An Inconveniant Truth, some of the pictures he showed in his presentation of receding glaciers and melting ice caps were in fact doctored beyond the actual recessions. I performed the same manipulation below:
The Original Photo:
The Altered Photo:
By manipulating the same mountainous regions on either side of the glacier and placing them throughout the bottom as if the actual glacier had receded, I have made it to look like the global temperature rising caused the glacier to melt and shrink in size. Al Gore allegedly pulled this same manipulation to raise the level of alert about global warming and its effects.
The manipulation was indeed harmful in the sense that it is exaggerating the glacier's recession. However, from an environmental standpoint, if the only goal was to raise awareness and passion about the issue, which is important in our society with how fast global temperatures are rising, then the manipulation seems morally sound. As participants in the environment who use the natural resources that seem to be dying off, it is our job to do whatever we can to help reduce the problem.
The Original Photo:
The Altered Photo:
By manipulating the same mountainous regions on either side of the glacier and placing them throughout the bottom as if the actual glacier had receded, I have made it to look like the global temperature rising caused the glacier to melt and shrink in size. Al Gore allegedly pulled this same manipulation to raise the level of alert about global warming and its effects.
The manipulation was indeed harmful in the sense that it is exaggerating the glacier's recession. However, from an environmental standpoint, if the only goal was to raise awareness and passion about the issue, which is important in our society with how fast global temperatures are rising, then the manipulation seems morally sound. As participants in the environment who use the natural resources that seem to be dying off, it is our job to do whatever we can to help reduce the problem.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Essential Computer Skills Presents!
The presentations in class this week were definetly above and beyond the quality discussed in my last post. Most notably, I thoroughly enjoyed two specific blogs for their ability to present the ideas or topics they were focused on.
Will's presentation on bonobos was light-hearted, funny, nimated, graphic, and on the whole was an intriguing topic in my opinion. Will had a strong confidence in his presentation and did not seem to be nervous at all. He also kept the audience's interest by moving around and staying dynamic as opposed to static.
Caroline's presentation, in much the same way, was very graphic and involved. Her personal connection to the theatre topic adds an important quality to the presentation that provides the emotion and strength the articles were talking about. She was confident in what she was saying and kept the topic interesting.
Will's presentation on bonobos was light-hearted, funny, nimated, graphic, and on the whole was an intriguing topic in my opinion. Will had a strong confidence in his presentation and did not seem to be nervous at all. He also kept the audience's interest by moving around and staying dynamic as opposed to static.
Caroline's presentation, in much the same way, was very graphic and involved. Her personal connection to the theatre topic adds an important quality to the presentation that provides the emotion and strength the articles were talking about. She was confident in what she was saying and kept the topic interesting.
PowerPoint Tips & Tricks
While reading through the articles about PowerPoint problems and tips for a good presentation, they started to bring back memories of all of the old presentations that I had created thus far for any number of reasons in school, at home, or just for fun. Playing with all the sounds, animations, transitions, and backgrounds was a blast and the more you threw into it the higher grade you got!
It's funny to think about listening to all of our class's presentations in retrospect because the only one awake was the one presenting at the time. Through all the laser sounds, typewriter effects, spinning slides coming into view, I never remembered what any were about as soon as I left the room. There always seemed to be a pattern of one slide filled from top to bottom with tons of words and bullet points that the presenter would just read as the clicking of the typewriter went letter by letter, and then the next slide contained a bunch of stick figure clip art people doing some ridiculous animations.
After pondering the subject for a while the main things I took to heart were:
1. No Clip Art (at least most of the time)
2. Keep it simple in everything you do, text & charts
3. Make sure to get quality photos and do not expand them for fear of pixelation
4. No crazy animations that involve annoying sounds
5. YOU ARE THE ONE THEY CAME TO SEE, NOT THE SLIDES
It's funny to think about listening to all of our class's presentations in retrospect because the only one awake was the one presenting at the time. Through all the laser sounds, typewriter effects, spinning slides coming into view, I never remembered what any were about as soon as I left the room. There always seemed to be a pattern of one slide filled from top to bottom with tons of words and bullet points that the presenter would just read as the clicking of the typewriter went letter by letter, and then the next slide contained a bunch of stick figure clip art people doing some ridiculous animations.
After pondering the subject for a while the main things I took to heart were:
1. No Clip Art (at least most of the time)
2. Keep it simple in everything you do, text & charts
3. Make sure to get quality photos and do not expand them for fear of pixelation
4. No crazy animations that involve annoying sounds
5. YOU ARE THE ONE THEY CAME TO SEE, NOT THE SLIDES
Thursday, October 22, 2009
CLT - More Like HOT
The Center for Learning Technology, or the Hub for Overly-fantastical Technogear as I like to call it, looks like the place to be if you ever get in a techno-jam. Before today the giant room with the gaping door just looked like a place for only really intense techno-savvy students really in depth in Audio/Video editing and other sorts of high-gear technology projects. But today I was enlightened, awakened some may say, to not only the true power behind the HOT in the basement of the library, but the easy accessibility AND user-friendly programs and staff located there.
I realized thanks to Robert Chapman that I can use the Center and its vast and varied resources to do practically anything I need to technology-wise for any class throughout my time here at Trinity. Not only can they help with the photo-editing software we will be using in Ms. Belisle's class soon, but any media class I may take, or any class for that matter where I may need to produce something, ANYTHING involving technology they can lend their time and knowledge to help me through it. Since I will probably be majoring in business, they will be able to help with my presentations and group projects throughout my classes. Especially since they offer this really amazing room that sets up an environment just like a classroom where a group project will be presented, technology and all!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Excel Overview
When I was about 8 years old, my dad showed me how to add numbers on an excel spreadsheet. For about the next two weeks, it became my project to see just how high the numbers would go if I just kept adding the sum of my last equation to itself. It looked something like this:
Those two weeks were the time of my life! I loved adding those numbers and seeing how high they got. I even went so far as to actually memorize the sequence I had created (which went into the billions by the end of it)! It actually happened just because I spent so much time looking at it, not even because I intentionally meant to memorize it.
If only my 8 year old self could see my excel abilities now...
With how much I have learned about functions, charts, cell references and all the different kinds of formatting you can do with spreadsheets, I would have spent 24 hours a day just playing with all the numbers I had created and making them go higher then ever imagined! I would have been able to make them different styles or apply different themes to my spreadsheet that really would have made it stand out.
In the future, I plan to use excel to the best of its abilities whenever possible. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the program and all of its new artistic as well as functional qualities. At the moment I am planning to major in business so I am sure I will return to this program at some point in my career here at Trinity, as well as my career beyond the University in order to create spreadsheets to track sales, marketing quotas, and performance reports just like the ones we have already worked on in class. I cannot thank the class as well as our professor enough for teaching me all these wonderful tricks in Excel.
Those two weeks were the time of my life! I loved adding those numbers and seeing how high they got. I even went so far as to actually memorize the sequence I had created (which went into the billions by the end of it)! It actually happened just because I spent so much time looking at it, not even because I intentionally meant to memorize it.
If only my 8 year old self could see my excel abilities now...
With how much I have learned about functions, charts, cell references and all the different kinds of formatting you can do with spreadsheets, I would have spent 24 hours a day just playing with all the numbers I had created and making them go higher then ever imagined! I would have been able to make them different styles or apply different themes to my spreadsheet that really would have made it stand out.
In the future, I plan to use excel to the best of its abilities whenever possible. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the program and all of its new artistic as well as functional qualities. At the moment I am planning to major in business so I am sure I will return to this program at some point in my career here at Trinity, as well as my career beyond the University in order to create spreadsheets to track sales, marketing quotas, and performance reports just like the ones we have already worked on in class. I cannot thank the class as well as our professor enough for teaching me all these wonderful tricks in Excel.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Search the Web? For Class? What?!
Chris Nolan, second only to the Head Librarian at Coates Library came into our class on Thursday and taught us a thing or two about searching the World Wide Web. Contrary to my prior beliefs and teachings, there is actual credible and scholarly information to be found from searching Google, Bing, Yahoo, and the like. After a lifetime of being told this myth of unreliability, Chris Nolan visited our class to correct it.
Through narrowing a search down to only the essential or most "relevant" pages, a student can actually retrieve useful and acceptable info from the Internet WITHOUT using only library databases. Whereas Benjamin Harris enlightened us on the use of the library website and its valuable and varied databases, Chris Nolan opened our minds to the whole Internet, and its literally billions of resources out there for us to take advantage of. Google Scholar, and search engines of the like with a specific aim, can filter out the irrelevant information and provide a student with what they need to succeed. Thanks Chris!
Through narrowing a search down to only the essential or most "relevant" pages, a student can actually retrieve useful and acceptable info from the Internet WITHOUT using only library databases. Whereas Benjamin Harris enlightened us on the use of the library website and its valuable and varied databases, Chris Nolan opened our minds to the whole Internet, and its literally billions of resources out there for us to take advantage of. Google Scholar, and search engines of the like with a specific aim, can filter out the irrelevant information and provide a student with what they need to succeed. Thanks Chris!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)