Advice for Computer Skills...

At first, I really did not want to take Computer skills because I thought it would be boring and that I wouldn't learn very much. But, after being in this class, I really have learned a lot of useful things. So, my advice to you would be to really do the homework and pay attention in class because you can get a lot out of it if you put in the effort. Also, skipping homework assignments can really add up points against you. Try to do them because most are easy and don't take very long!

Awesome Class Websites!

I have to say that everyone's website were amazing, but there were a few that I really liked. Kendra's webpage was really hilarious, especially with the all the links to things you don't like. So funny! Alison's website was very well organized and creative. I really like the details she put into it such as the photoshop suitcase with links to all the places she'd been. Natalie's was also very detailed. She did so many amazing things with all her links so that you could have spent hours there just browsing them all!

You can see my own website at: http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~shill1

Second Power Point Presentations

Like last weeks, all of these presentations were very good. They all had really interesting topics, such as pirates or dance. All were very impressive and kept me thoroughly entertained!

My favorite Power Point Presentations

It is very had to choose just two favorites because I was very impressed with everyone's presentation. All were creative and catchy, but my favorites were probably the presentations of Lachlan and Allison. I think I liked them most because of the topics they chose which really intrigued me. They also had very catchy pictures and colors which coordinated well throughout their entire power point. They also had personal experience or stories to tell about each of the topics which was very interesting to hear! Overall, everyone's presentation kept my attention and was really awesome!

Power Point Advice

The articles were very helpful in providing more than the obvious guidelines for power point. They also made points, especially about pictures in the foreground and background, that I had never thought to try before. My 5 guidelines for making a power point presentation would be:
1) Try to use a theme with complimentary colors and fonts ( probably a serif font that is at least 28pt.)
2) Try to use as few words as possible and rely on your narration to explain facts. Also think of the text on the slides as a reinforcement of your explanation, not a repetition.
3) Use pictures in the slide, but make sure they are emphasized appropriately. Also, photographs catch people's attention better than clip art.
4) Using video clips can give a concrete example of your point as well as keep your audience paying attention.
5) Always aim to make your power point interesting by keeping the attention span and things which appeal to your audience in mind!

My Excel Experience...

I personally knew harldy anything about Microsoft Excel going into this class. I learned a lot about basic principles and even more complicated things which I could definitely use in a future job or even my personal accounts. For almost any job you will probably have to present, organize, or calcuate figures and data and excel is an excellent tool to accomplish all these goals. I definitely feel more prepared for jobs and future classes because most businesses or upper level classes expect at least a basic knowledge of excel.

Field Trip to the CLT!

I had never known before what the purpose of the CLT was. I used to think that it was a place to work with a computer where you could as questions and get help, but I had no idea that it also gave you access to software and hardware for programs like photography, creating websites, or even video and audio editing! For our computer skills class, I can go there for help when doing our photoshop projects which will be very handy. I can also use it for classes, such as my seminar, where we will be filming a video for our final grade. I will definitely make use of the CLT to add cool things to my video and edit it.

The Martin Postcard

I chose the picture "the Martin Postcard" as my false picture to analyze because it caught my interest and was humorous. It was made by "Dad" Martin and the Martin Postcard Company in 1910. In the picture, the fish is extraordinarily large compared to a man who is perched on the fish's back wielding an ax. It was manipulated for a humorous effect to get the attention of future customers for his business. I do not believe that it is a harmful manipulation because it is blatantly unrealistic and is also accompanied by a sarcastic statement on the bottom of the postcard which specifies that it is for a photography company. Anyone could understand that the picture is only a joke and is just in place to further advertising efforts for the Martin Postcard Company.

Chris Nolan Presentation

Something new I learned in Chris Nolan's presentation was the criteria which organizes your search results after searching for something on Google. The websites that come up first have the most exact phrase you typed in, Google also uses how often this phrase appears in the source, whether it’s it in the name of the source, how popular the source is, or the quality of the site. Something that surprised me about Google was how advanced you could make your searches to make the search results appear even by website type.

Copyright Laws

Before our librarian spoke about copyright laws, I had no idea that everything that you’ve ever written or documented in a fixed tangible medium (including even computer files, programs, saved digitally, or papers) is automatically protected under copyright laws. I had always been curious about when you were allowed to use the ‘©’ symbol, but now I realize that it is for any work which you create in a fixed tangible medium. I also didn’t realize that a copyright lasts for seventy years after the author’s death. I found it very interesting that it started as a bill encouraged by Disney and became the Sonny Bono Act. But, even this extended copyright will soon expire in twenty years, leaving the Disney characters, music, and the basic income for the Disney company left up to the public domain. On the other hand, law is law, and the Disney company should be no exception, seeing as many other cartoon characters or other copyrighted materials have expired and aused a loss of income for their owners. I, however, think that Disney, instead of sponsoring another extension of the copyright laws, should sponsor a law to protect all companies whose livelihood depends solely on copyright laws, or something of that nature. It would be really sad to see Disney World go!

The use of Facebook in college

I use Facebook all the time, mostly to stay in contact with friends since we all went our seperate ways to college. But, it has been especially useful for knowing whats going on within Trinity as well. After joining clubs at school, you are often also invited to join the facebook group which keeps you updated with new things going on and allows you to respond as to whether you will attend those events. As far as academic usefulness, I often responded to invitations for study groups and used facebook to contact classmates to understand assignments last semester. It is a very useful and convenient resource for a college student to have.

Here is a link to an article about facebook:http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html

My Experience with Word

My previous experience with word has been pretty basic: I've written papers, made a resume, created fliers, or other necesseties over the years. Things I would like to review in Word are creating inventories, creating specificly sized tab stops, using subscripts, using columns better, and changing the size of the paper. There are probably many other things that I need to review in Microsoft Word, but I am sure I will do that through my computer skills class!

About Me

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I'm excited to expand my limited knowledge of computers beginning with this: my first blog! As far as my background, I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, although both of my parents are English.
Check out this link to my hometown here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-17.828912,31.040572&z=10&t=h&hl=en
I have subsequently lived in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas and am very excited to now call San Antonio home! I belong to a family of four with one younger sister who is a sophomore in high school. I love to travel and I also love the outdoors. Some activities I attempted in high school were cycling, scuba diving, hang gliding, but I also love just lounging in the sun. I love trying knew things so, in my freshman year at Trinity, I have participated in the A.C.T./Rotoract club which is a community involvement and volunteering organization. I'm also trying out Intervarsity and am excited to travel to Washing D.C. this spring break with the Alternate Spring Break organization to help homeless people in the city. I really have no idea what I'll be majoring in, but hopefully I'll figure it out by next year!

My secret fact is: my family is British but I lost my accent after we moved to America when I was five.

I've never really considered myself 'computer savy,' but I'm hoping that this computer skills class can help me out. I have had no more than basic experience with computers: taking the required BCIS class in high school, writing in word documents, email...etc. So, I definitely could learn a lot from this class!

You can always contact me at: shill1@trinity.edu