You Got Skills

The best piece of advice that I can give to incoming students is to try -- that is how you learn about computers. Initially you just have to sit there until you figure out what to do, I know it sounds difficult, but in a few weeks I learned how to find my way through Microsoft Office. Because computer programs have interfaces that are similar, you can apply processes that you learn in one program to another. After a while anyone can develop a "computer sense" that can guide them through new and powerful applications. Persistence pays off, you just have to try.

Some Awesome Sites

I was amazed at how well everyone in the class picked up Expression Web. From looking at the many different website designs, I am encouraged to try out some different things the next time I make a site. There were three in particular that caught my attention, each of which had some design elements that I am definitely going to have to incorporate:

Brittany's site was the only one that had sound clips, a feature that distinguished hers as a fun and interactive web site. I remember searching through Expression Web to see if you could add sound, and I must have missed the option that allows you to upload audio. I will have to ask her how she did it, because there are a lot of web pages on the internet, and having a way to distinguish your site is always a good thing.

Brittni Scruggs also did an awesome job on hers. Specifically, I liked the balance between fun and work that was prevalent throughout her site. It is often difficult to portray an academic subject matter in a way that is interesting and that does not make you look like a geek. I will say, she did this well by including pictures of her family and descriptions of her interests. It induces the person visiting her site to learn more about her, which will also give them the opportunity to read about her research.

Max had a good "theme" going on, the "Houston theme". It is hard to come up with a unifying factor between school and one's hobbies, but he did so by using his home town. Max had enumerated on his resume some of the positions he has held in the city, which brings up the question of leisure. The Houston Rockets and the Houston golf course answer the question as to what a hard-working young person does with their free time in the city.

If anyone wants to see my page again, just copy this link into your browser: http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~agill

You Can't Get Away From the Code

You know that song "We Built This City on Rock and Roll"? Well, what if I told you that "we built this website on HTML"? It's the same principle: that no matter what, you should not forget the basic tools that you need to create something great. Those who know the code, and thus how websites are constructed, will be able to be more flexible when creating their website designs. Flexibility in computing skills is integral because computers are often unpredictable; if for some reason there is a malfunction or a complicating factor in an HTML editor, a programmer must have another way of delivering the finished product. HTML code provides a reliable way to fix and improve even the newest website creator programs, programs that will always require fine tuning so that they can function optimally. For this, it is far easier to replace segments of code manually than to scrap an entire web page because of compatibility issues or errors. Think of it as parachuting out of an airplane: you would not go without a reserve parachute would you? Well guess what -- HTML code is that reserve! It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Powerpoint Professionals

There were many great presentations, I was really surprised how many people came out with some impressive stuff. A couple, however, ran away with the show. My favorites were Alisa's Pompeii presentation and Max's Supreme Court slide show -- the images that they chose were excellent. Max had the best photographs, he seemed to get all of the best pictures of those Justices into one place. I have always heard a lot about the members of the Court, but have never really been able to put a name with a face. Such a representation worked well for Max, because the pictures really spoke for themselves and so he did not have to fill up the slides with text or elaborate excessively in his speech. So content wise, Max really had the "a picture is worth a thousand words" thing working for him.

I admit, I am biased, I am a history major. So I had an instant appreciation for Alisa's slide show when I found out that it was historical in nature. Along these lines, I found the content interesting and informative -- the eruption in Pompeii is a historical record the significance of which is not widely appreciated. The background image, a painting of a violent Vesuvius, was the best background in the entire series of presentations. It gave the presentation a sense of visual context for the pictures that complimented the pictures in the show, but was not overly distracting. Well done everyone!

Some Power Points

The articles definitely agree on one point: simplicity rules. Many people think that everything in their presentation must also be represented on the slides -- this is not so. I like to think that power point slides are like note cards that you prepare for a speech, basically a list of key terms and concepts that help pull you through a presentation. Your audience will appreciate not having to read extraneous details, and it will make for a more effective presentation. The most annoying presentations are those that end up looking like a children's story book, with slides that are overflowing with pictures and short sentences. By just following a few guidelines, making a presenation in power point can be easier and still really impress the audience:

1. Power Point is not a word processor -- do not write lenghty sentences. Big blocks of text are always more confounding than helpful.
2. Pick themes that match the tenor of the subject matter -- make sure that importatnt slides are not compromised by sloppy or inappropriate formatting.
3. If you are going to use pictures, pick good ones.
4. Make a manageable presentation -- the audience can only keep track of so many slides.
5. Be sure to inlcude citations as necessary in your presentations

Google is....Great!

Chris Nolan was good to point out that all search engines are not created equal. Using the right one can save lots of time and produce better information, and so in class we took a look at some of the best search engines currently available on the web. Truthfully, I have always been more or less apathetic when it comes to searching the web, but after his presentation I realized just how important a search engine can be. For example, I did not know that different search engines used different algorithms to find requested material. Because the programs are different, they will always come up with different search results. Even among the most similar search engines, Yahoo! and Google, there are a number of features that distinguish Google from Yahoo! that can make all the difference in a important search. Google caches more web pages than Yahoo!, and has an advanced search option that can adds a high degree of precision to any search. Given that college students often have to search for meticulous terms and hard-to-find materials, Google honestly has an edge on the competition because of its speed and accuracy.

Copy Cat

Today we learned about "Orphan Works", copyrighted material with one catch -- the author or owner cannot be located. It seems paradoxical that a person who went to the trouble to get their work copyrighted would not establish some sort of contact to maintain the rights on their work. Over a period of time, however, people die and businesses fail. It sounds terrible, but it happens, leaving copyrighted material that is in many respects useless because there is no owner to dictate the terms of use. To remedy this situation, some think that "orphan works" should pass into the public domain. In this way, such material would at least be able to benefit society in some way. Although this is an attractive solution, is it reasonable to assume that the author would be OK with this? A copyright is still property of the owner, and many think that giving the public access to it is a trespass on the rights of ownership.

This predicament reminds me of something that I learned in Business Law class about the abandonment of property. An owner of property, either realty or personalty, has the right to abandon their right to ownership. There are a multitude of reasons why a person would want to get rid of something, but without getting off subject, property that has been abandoned is legally up for grabs. I think that in some cases, it may be reasonable to assume or to prove that a copyright has been abandoned. In those cases, in my opinion, the material should pass into the public domain.