Advice for Future Computer Students

Hi I'm Abby Talley. If you're taking this class, you obviously want/need to learn more about computers. This class will teach you alot. My advice to you is to always keep up with your homework, and STUDY for quizzes. Also, don't miss class, because you can miss alot in a day. Good luck, and have fun!

Abby the Fabulous
P.S.- Travis deleted half of my blog; it used to be much better :(

Class Websites

On Thursday, our class presented the websites we created. My three favorites were Travis Halff's, Moira Allen's, and Alex's. Travis's website was extremely humorous, and incorporated an amazing navbar into the homepage. Moira's page was composed of original photos that were absolutely amazing. The navbar was very creative ("Music I DIG" was my favorite.) Alex's page had a ton of handrawn cartoons that made up the navbar and future plans page (very creative!!)

My Website

Please visit my website at:www.cs.trinity.edu~atalley

We have just finished creating our own websites in my computer 1300 class. The process was easier than I thought, as I used Microsoft Expression Web. I am most proud of my Apparel 1920s-2000s page: it contains a hotspotted graphic which I created on PhotoShop. This page took the most time, as I had to edit the pictures, compile them into a graphic, and link each hotspot to a separate page. If I had known how to, I would like to have added music on the main page. My biggest design challenge was formatting the different tables on my pages. My biggest technical challenge was properly hotspotting my pictures. I will show this page to my friends and family. I would like to create another website for a different class, but I now know how detailed the process is!

HTML Coding

HTML coding is a good, basic skill for all web designers to have. Though there are many programs available that make this process easier, it is important for designers to be familiar with hand coding. If something were to malfunction in the website, or an unknown problem resulted from using a coding program, it would be hard for the designer to fix it without knowledge of HTML coding. Additionally, it is hard to fully appreciate the complexity/what the computer is actually doing unless one knows how to HTML code.

Project Self-analysis-Pictures That Lie

I chose to manipulate a picture of a swimmer in the ocean.I altered the image to include a shark fin, and thus made a point about swimming safety.The photo originated on a flickr account (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1202/1356504891_71eb4407fd.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/mfaisco/1356504891/&usg=__mhF5z5M1hmAsVouKnMfmKdgaCP8=&h=319&w=500&sz=100&hl=en&start=39&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=1j7zhoemYZnClM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dswimmer%2Bocean%26start%3D21%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D21%26tbs%3Disch:1)as a set of photos by Manuel Faisco. The photo was changed into the black and white scale in order to match the inserted fin. The shark fin was taken from a resized photograph on a blog by dholman (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://dholman.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/howard-sokol-shark-fin.jpg&imgrefurl=http://dholman.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/surfing-jaws-and-the-search-for-truth/&usg=__yH-rabYhnVKIRGbDIH2AAMZ992U=&h=300&w=400&sz=17&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=4hYk7QBlRZ6CAM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dshark%2Bfin%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ndsp%3D21%26tbs%3Disch:1). The background was erased around the shark fin, and the shadow and edges of the shark fin were blurred. A text layer was inserted in a specific shape meant to mimic the movement of water in the photo. This text layer was made less opaque, and was colored red in order to contrast the black and white photo.I manipulated these photos in order to make a point about safety when swimming at the beach.The manipulation was not particularly harmful, as it could prevent shark attacks or other injuries in the ocean. However, it could also scare the viewer, and could hurt tourism to oceanside towns.
In the article I read, alot of information was given about photographs that had been manipulated in a harmful way (damaging reputations, editing history, etc.) This manipulation that I created was not particularly harmful, though the photo is not 100% truthful. I would comment that photo manipulation is not always a bad thing, as it can be used to make a dramatic point about things like safety. However, if the photograph can harm reputations or manipulates the viewer's emotions, it is probably not a beneficial alteration.

Works Cited
Casimiro, Steve. "Seeing Is Not Believing." Popular Science 267.4 (2005): 70-98. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Apr. 2010.

PowerPoint Presentations

Last week, our computer class gave power point presentations on our preferred area of study. My two favorite presentations were given by Travis and Larissa. Travis's presentation on the Shake Weight had great sound effects and an attention-getting layout. He presented in a very convincing manner, and really held the audience's attention. Larissa's presentation had a very clear layout, was very informative, and contained great photographs. These two presentations stood out because of the presenter's unique style and their great content.

Powerpoint Tips

As our class is giving powerpoint presentations on Tuesday, I have five tips to give the presenters.
1. Limit the amount of transitions and animations. Don't distract from the powerpoints purpose.
2.Speak loudly and clearly.
3. Don't stare at the slides on the computer screen or at your notes.
4. Show interest in your topics!
5. Make sure to cite all sources.

I designed my picture as the poster for a horror movie. Two semi-opaque photos are superimposed on a third background in order to give a ghostly effect.

Google Scholar

In Tuesday's computer class, we were visited by Mr. Nolan. He talked to us about Search Engines, and researching techniques. The most useful thing I found out about was Google Scholar. Google Scholar is a valuable tool for finding scholarly articles. Since Mr. Nolan's talk, I have already used the search engine twice for various research papers. The most surprising thing I learned about was how many criteria Google uses when organizing results from a search. Additionally, I learned that one should carefully evaluate every site they look at. Not all websites are trustworthy, as we saw in Mr. Nolan's activity.

Pictures That Lie

I chose the picture of the mythical jackalope. I had never heard of this fictitious animal, and at first thought it was real when I saw this photo! The picture originated from a Colorado postcard. Antlers were added to a photo of a rabbit to achieve this effect. It was manipulated in order to "create" a new species of animal. This manipulation is not harmful as long as the viewer knows there is no such animal as a jackalope, and that the picture has been altered.

Center for Learning and Technology

On Thursday, our computer class visited the AT&T Center for Learning and Technology. We were given a tour, and learned about many of the aspects of the center that we could use for our courses and personal projects. I thought it would be very helpful to use the Studios to learn how to use a Macintosh computer, as I only know how to work a Windows. Additionally, I realized I could use the photo-editing software for class projects and my own projects. Finally, I thought it was beneficial to learn that the Media Presentation Lab could be used to view and critique projects. I could use this in a lot of my classes if I had presentations to do. Overall, the tour on Thursday was extremely helpful, and helped me become familiar with a part of the library I did not know very well.

Copyright Laws

On Thursday in computer class, we were visited by Jason Hardin, the Manager of Access Services at Trinity University. Mr. Hardin talked about copyrighting and file sharing on a college campus. One of the issues which Mr. Hardin discussed was whether or not copyright laws stifled or encouraged creativity.
Copyright laws encourage creativity by guaranteeing security to an individual when they come up with something new. One does not have to worry about sharing their ideas, as they are protected by government recognition. This makes people more likely to share their new ideas because they will not be stolen. Others can then benefit from the newly introduced ideas and come up with their own original thoughts.
Some might argue that copyright laws are stifling, and make people nervous that they might "get in trouble" if their idea is too close to someone else's. Though this might discourage people from sharing their ideas, I think overall copyright laws are beneficial and necessary. Without them, no one would be able to be responsible for or in control of their ideas.

Copyright Laws by Abby Talley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at abbytalley.blogspot.com.

My Trinity Network Diagram

This Tuesday, our CSCI 1300 Class went for a tour of the Trinity Server Room. The tour was very interesting and informative. Above is the diagram I created to illustrate the Trinity Server, and how information is passed to and from various locations on and off campus.

Top Tech Tip

Mr. Hatch's lecture was extremely informative, and taught me many new features and safety precautions for my computer. I thought the best tip that he gave was downloading ccleaner. This program sounded very interesting and useful. I looked the product up after class and found that it not only clears the History and Recycle Bin of a computer, but also cookies, unused programs, and temporary files. I will definitely use ccleaner, as it allows a computer to operate faster.

Introduction

My name is Abigail Talley, but I prefer to be called "Abby." I am from San Antonio, Texas, and have one sibling, an older sister named Samantha. I also have a 13-year-old dachshund named Gretchen, who is a vital part of our family. Gretchen might be the only dachshund in the world who not only gets a daily walk, but also a daily ride in the car!
When I am not acting as my dog's chaffeur, I enjoy acting, dancing, shopping, and watching horror movies. I attended ballet classes for thirteen years, and was a cheerleader for two years. Additionally, I have learned to play the violin, guitar, and piano (though not particularly well.) I also love to do volunteer work. My three favorite volunteer experiences so far have been working in the Recovery room of a hospital, walking dogs for the Humane Society, and mentoring.
Though I love horror movies, I can not stand to watch any that involve clowns. My secret fact is that my biggest fear is clowns. I think this might be due to the fact that I watched the movie "It" at a very young age.
I do not possess any particulary special computer skills, but I have become comfortable with making graphs in Excel, and with Microsoft Word. I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about these and other programs during the course!
Abigail.Talley@trinity.edu