Powerpoint perspective!

Powerpoint can be an extremely useful tool; however sometimes it can be extremely frustrating when there is a bad powerpoint presentation.  There are a few things when watching a powerpoint presentation that can be extremely distracting.  When there is too much animation, I feel it definitely takes away from the information given.  It can also prolong the presentation if they animate each little thing.  Another thing I dislike about powerpoint presentations is when there is too many images.  In addition it can be extremely boring when there is no images at all.  The creator should find a balance between the two.  Another pet-pieve of mine is when there is too many words on the powerpoint.  There is so much information that I tend to zone out after only a few words.  The last aspect of a bad powerpoint presentation that I dislike is when there are too many colors.  If there are too many colors then the powerpoint doesnt seem consistant, and it is easy to get lost.  Powerpoint can be extremely useful in the classroom or business setting.  One example of a well used powerpoint is in my Trinity principles of marketing class.  Professor Davis gives us a powerpoint with a few blanks and then in class we can follow along with the completed powerpoint she presents.  Her powerpoints only include the important information, and I'm always intrigued by the information in the powerpoint and what she has to say that goes along with it.  I'm excited by learning more about powerpoint through this class!

CLT visit

I was unable to make it to the CLT visit with the class; however, from my own experience as well as from reading other peoples blogs I have learned to discover many new things about CLT.  The few times I have been down to CLT, I needed to watch movies for my classes and I was unable to watch it on my personal computer, so I headed down to the CLT to watch.  The people at the desk were extremely helpful.  My headphones broke as I was watching the movie, and I found out I can rent a pair of theirs.  They not only have PC's down there but Macs as well.  This is very helpful to me since I am a mac users, and now I sometimes find it hard to navigate on a PC.  I heard that the class scanned an image for the assignment.  This is really great, since I don't have a printer or scanner in my room.  I usually go to T3 to print things, but the other day when I needed to scan something for class, I had to ask around all my friends to see if they had a scan.  It's good to know that I can now just go to the CLT to scan something if I need it.  I also heard there is a HD video chat room, which can be good for conference calls and such.  The CLT seems to have many resource for us Trinity students to utilize, and I'm so glad that in our class we got to learn how to better take advantage of these resources. 

Image Manipulation

I chose the digitally altered photo of O.J. Simpson, because it was the most striking picture to me of the bunch. This picture originated as a mug shot of O.J. during his trials. The picture on the left shows an unaltered version that Newsweek uses; however, the right side has altered version by Time magazine. This picture is altered to be a bit blurry and darker with a higher contrast. Time magazine was “accused of manipulating the photo to make Simpson appear darker and menacing;” however we do not know the true intentions of the editor. I do agree that this picture does appear to be more ominous though. He seems more of a criminal in the second photo, than a real person. This manipulation could be harmful to O.J. Simpsons case, because human being are naturally biased people and if the see someone who “looks” like a criminal they are more likely to think he is a criminal, even though they don’t know any facts. I would not want my image altered without my permission, especially in this way. It is harmful, because almost violates his rights.

I chose this youtube photo shop of Jennifer Anniston, because I thought it was an interesting twist that goes along with the O.J Simpson image. The ultimate message is things are not always as they appear. It is natural for us to just accept photos as true; however, in this day in age technology allows for us to manipulate picture in a way that is deceiving to the viewer. This photoshop shows the beautiful Jennifer Anniston transformed into an old lady. Maybe whenever there is a photo that is altered like this a disclaimer should be included, so the viewer isn’t mislead to believe something that isn’t true.

Excel Experience

I have really enjoyed my experience with excel so far. I have learned many useful and interesting tools that I feel will really help me with future assignments. I was pretty inexperienced with excel, so many of the assignments are completely new to me. I find the different arrows the most useful tool. You can just type in a formula into one box and then drag it down with the black cross to bring the formula to the rest of the boxes. Theme and cell formatting will help me in future classes, because anyone can make a plain excel worksheet; however, now I can set myself apart and enhance my excel worksheet with a design element. Sometimes I help my dad with taxes and he uses programs that are based around excel, this helps me better understand how the formulas work. I dislike how excel is different on a mac, so I have just been doing my homework in the computer lab, since I am now more familiar with a PC, I finish my homework faster this way.

Jason Hardin Copyright Lecture

            Jason Hardin’s lecture on copyright is a very imperative topic that every person, especially college-aged students, should hear.  I feel it was important that we were listening to this lecture in our computer class, because much of the copyright issues stem from the rapid changes and development in technology.  These issues have not only increased but have become more complex with time.  I’m not sure how most people view copyright, but one thing I was intrigued by was the fact that Hardin kept on bringing up that copyright is ultimately a good thing.  Does our society not view it that way?  It was created to protect our rights as individuals, not to hinder them.  Our founding fathers used copyright as an incentive for people to be creative and inventive knowing that there work will be recognized as their own.  I also find it interesting that Disney has had such a pull on the copyright law.  They were able to lobby to increase the copyright law by 20yrs.  I feel Disney’s efforts are legitimate, because Disney is a huge company in our economy and whatever affects them, could have a huge impact on our economy.

            One of the most pressing issues with copyright is the illegal downloading of music and movies.  This is a very common trend among the college-aged demographic.  There are two extremely influential sides to this argument.  The first side is the creators right to the music or movies.  They have these items for sale, and since they created it, they own the right to it.  However, the other side is that of the illegal downloader.  In many cases these downloader’s mean no harm.  They are generally good people, but need a cheaper option to listening to music or watching a movie.  It is only a few clicks away to get exactly what you want to watch or listen to.  This is wrong though.  I side with the creator of the music or movie.  They worked really hard to create this entertainment and we are dimensioning it by buying it unlawfully.  It is the consumers duty as ethical citizens to purchase products lawfully. 

One way we could work towards changing this problem, is educating more people about this problem.  If more people understood what they doing and the impact of downloading illegal, they would try not to.  Also, the music and movies industry way of handling the copyright issues aren’t good either.  They should get retribution for having their products stolen; however, the way they go about it is wrong. Because they go after only a few people, and charge them an obscene amount of money, others feel there is a slim chance this could ever happen to them.  The consequences are too small of a chance to actually make a change.  Hopefully as technology increases and copyright issues become more complex, they become easier to enforce as well.  

Jason Hardin Copyright Lecture by Autumn Goodin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Network Diagram

To diagram the our Trinity network, I focused on the Wagon Wheel metaphor to create a visual representation of the network.  I put all the aspects that go into the network around the wheel with Ruth Taylor as the core.  I hope this diagram can help you better understand our network in an informative, yet interesting way! Thanks!

Trinity mystery spot

This location has become very important to me this year.  Every morning I wake up and walk through this area to get to my classes.  This is also a place where I have been able to accomplish much studying.  I prefer to study early in the morning here, because at night there is much traffic throughout this area, so it can become quite noisy and bothersome to study.  I altered this photo by boosting the color.  I thought the boost color effect really highlighted the Trinity red brick.  I also added an arrow to show the way I travel.  The heart is there to express my joy that this place is close to my room!