Future Advice

I found the most enjoyable aspect of this class to be working with Photoshop. My best advice would be to pay close attention in class! The little steps can be some of the most important and they are not overly complicated, but it is much easier to learn them in class from someone who really understand what she's doing! Pay close attention, ask questions, and do the assignments. If you put in the effort, you will learn some interesting things about a variety of programs quickly and easily. Good Luck!

My Picture That Lies

In creating the image above, I chose to manipulate two photographs to depict a new scene. These two photographs, downloaded from the Internet, depicted completely different images and were not related when I found them. The first was of an Islamic Mosque in the setting sun, and the other of an American soldier shooting at an unidentified target. I created this picture by inserting the soldier and adjusting the hue, saturation, and brightness of that picture to appear as though he is shooting in front of the Mosque. I blurred the background image of the Mosque, along with adjusting its hue, saturation, and brightness.

This image now conveys a different message. No longer a beautiful landscape or an action shot depicting a soldier during target practice, this image now depicts war and a clash of cultures. Here is a soldier fighting with a sacred, religious icon vividly visible in the background.

I chose to create this image because it tied in with the image I chose to analyze earlier in the semester, which was that of an American soldier and Iraqi man. In that photograph, the image of the soldier was added to the image of the Iraqi citizens. I performed similar adjustments in creating this scene, along with making adjustments for lighting, etc.

Images created or manipulated in times of war are often used as propaganda, and I feel that such use is harmful. It conveys emotions that may not by true and events that may not have even occured using fabricated scenes, as is true of the fabricated evidence used in the scientific paper to falsly depict results, the image I analyzed earlier in the semester, and the image I created, depicted above. In my opinion, such manipulation is always harmful because it decieves, even if the initial intentions of the creator were not malicious.

PowerPoint Presentations

I really enjoyed all of the PowerPoint presentations we heard on Tuesday, but Aubrey and Monica’s presentations really stood out to me. Both used very creative designs, and maintained a consistent format throughout the entire presentation. In addition, these formats were fitted to the particular theme or topic of the presentation. Aubrey’s background was very colorful, which I thought tied in nicely with both the complex nature of people’s personalities and the interesting color format of the test results following administration of the personality evaluation. Monica used objects very well, employing them especially well to illustrate the various photography techniques she was showing us. I also just enjoyed the photos—her friend is a talented photographer!
Aside from the format of the presentation, both Monica and Aubrey picked specific and interesting facets of their potential area of study. By doing so, they were able to thoroughly explain this aspect rather than vaguely touching on many different aspects of a larger topic. Personally, I love photography and am always looking for some helpful tips, so learning more about framing and the thirds rule was very interesting for me. I have also always wanted to take some kind of personality test, and was curious about how the results were determined and analyzed.
Both presentations had very personal aspects. Monica used some of her friend’s photographs for her images and included a nice acknowledgement at the end. It was interesting to see the techniques applied to actual photos to illustrate how they are really used by photographers. Aubrey included her own personality test results, which were interesting to look at as an actual example.

Tips for Successful PowerPointing

I found the various articles on PowerPoint very interesting because PowerPoint has become such an important tool in many careers today, as well as a prominent teaching tool in the modern classroom. As a result, we as student have come in contact with—and will continue to come into contact with—PowerPoint throughout our lives.
In reading the links, I especially enjoyed the discussion of audience involvement. I can remember so many times when I have simply read a presenter’s slide and lost focus of his or her words because it was all repetition. In the article titled Really Bad PowerPoint (And How to Avoid It), author Seth Godin discusses the importance of emotion in presentation. This really resonated with me: a boring presentation just makes the audience automatically assume, boring presenter. I will really try to incorporate more emotion in addition to the information and logic on future presentation slides!
As the student who complains about the boring, wordy presentations I have seen both in the school and work settings, I feel the need to better my own PowerPoint ways as well as sharing what I have learned with the world. Do us all a favor when you write your next PowerPoint slide and,
· Avoid excessive bullet points and information on slides
· Do not be afraid of blank space! Do not feel the need to fill the entire slide with stuff.
· Avoid repeating exactly what is on the slide. We can read it, and we know you can too, so add something to it by elaborating or explaining.
· Avoid excessive animation or sounds. Some fancy animation can contribute to the attractiveness of your presentation, but don’t confuse the audience with tons of animation.
· Double check your formatting: a presentation with lots of colors, fonts, and pictures that don’t really relate seems confusing. Maintain a theme throughout the presentation; it looks more professional and is easier to follow.
Find more Tips!

Opportunities in the CLT!

Prior to our field trip to CLT, I had only walked by the room. I had heard on my Trinity tour and read about the school’s incredible equipment available to students interested in editing video, recording music, or using professional grade broadcasting equipment, but had never learned either where this equipment was located nor how to access it as a student. I learned on our visit about the different opportunities available to all students who visit the CLT, including programs like GarageBand, video editing software, and a recording studio. I have really enjoyed learning about Photoshop thus far, and I was excited to learn that there is a classroom on campus dedicated to these kinds of programs. I plan to visit the CLT in the future as we delve further into the Photoshop program and continue with interesting photography projects. It will be interesting to compare the program we use in class—Photoshop Elements—to the full Photoshop program, and to evaluate the different aspects of each. This will be especially useful should I decide to purchase a Photoshop program in the future. Once I become comfortable with Photoshop, I hope to work with my own photos using the tools available to me in the CLT, even beyond this class
I hope to take some classes based on media and communication while here at Trinity. Video and sound recording are important aspects of such fields. It is extremely useful that Trinity provides the equipment in the CLT for students studying different forms of media. I think that I would use the programs we learned about on our visit on projects for such classes, and I think I will be glad to have learned about the opportunities at the CLT because I will have the knowledge and ability to use them!

Exploring Excel!

I have used excel in the past, but have never fully understood how to use functions or format formulas correctly. I knew how to use the sum function, but any other formulas were long and contained more information than was necessary for that particular action. Now, I know how to use a variety of functions and how to use only the aspects of a formula that are necessary. One example is the “IF” function, which I can use now instead of going through an entire data set to label various values. I am currently considering majoring in Biology, and think that excel would be useful for this field of study, especially when it comes to experiments. Excel provides an easy, organized way to enter, save, and analyze data, which is a crucial aspect of any science experiment. In addition to the benefits of using excel in a work setting, I now feel comfortable enough with the program to use excel in my daily life. The templates we explored for recording personal finances or calculating car payments are just a few examples of the ways I could use excel to help record and organize things in my daily life. Excel used to seem confusing and complicated, but now that I know how to use formulas and properly format in the program, I can see that it will be a useful tool!

Mr. Nolan's Presentation

I think I use Google every single day of my life, but have never understood why the particular results magically appear when I Google. In Mr. Nolan’s presentation, I learned about the criteria that Google has established for sources and why certain sources appear more frequently or higher on the list. I learned that the more times a site is referenced online, the higher its popularity “appears” to Google. Sites that are referenced more often, or are considered more popular, appear earlier in the pages of results that appear when I Google!

One thing that really surprised me in the presentation was Mr. Nolan’s point that not all sites are reliable, even if they are from the government (or .gov) or an institution of higher education (.edu). Sources from these types of establishments can also be biased or contain faulty information. He used the example of a student. This student could create a website here at Trinity about his science experiment, and there may not be anyone to edit or double check his information. If I do a search and his experiment results pop up and, thinking that any site with a .edu is reliable, use the content, I may be using bad information and not even be aware! His message: almost anyone can put information on the internet, so we should always be aware, even from sites that say there are from a university or the government.

War Time Propaganda

I chose to look at this photo created by Brian Walski and discussed by Harry Fanid. I chose it because I think photographs of war and conflict are altered frequently, and that such alterations often exaggerate events, are not completely true, and are harmful. This photograph was created from two different photos, one of the British soldier, and the other of Iraqi citizens. It appeared soon after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The British soldier is advising the Iraqi citizens, and a man and his child stand immediately to follow the soldier’s instructions. Walski claims that the photograph was enhanced in order to alter the “composition,” as though the composition of the photograph is altered so that it depicts exactly what he wants to discuss. I think it was altered in order to make a more striking image, depicting the authority of soldiers among civilians. In the altered image, the soldier has control of the situation, indicated by his gesture, posture, and possession of a weapon, while the citizens appear subdued. I think this alteration is harmful because it is completely fabricated: this situation may have never occurred! It is propaganda intended to depict the role of soldiers in the Iraq War, illustrating complete control and a good relationship between citizens and soldiers, which may not have been the case at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This kind of alteration is harmful because it doesn’t just change aspects of an image, but creates a completely new situation!

Find this photo and more!

The Concerned Streamer

In Jason Hardin’s lecture on Tuesday, September 22, we briefly discussed the website called YouTube with regard to how it is used and whether or not it could be considered a copyright infringement. On the one hand, he argued, the information made available on YouTube in the form of movies, music videos, or simple song recordings, could be considered one, giant copyright infringement. After all, many people posting this information did not make—and do not own the rights to—the works being posted. However, Mr. Hardin also mentioned that the idea of streaming, as is usually the case on sites such as YouTube, is not necessarily copyright infringement. Although YouTube users are able to stream—or view—the material, one does not usually have the option to “download” or “save” it. In other words, those of us streaming the music video are not necessarily committing copyright infringement because we are not taking it. After listening to the lecture, I agree with this conclusion: those posting to YouTube are committing copyright infringement if they post copyrighted material that is not their own, but people streaming on YouTube are not because they don’t save or download it—they are only able to view it. Should a user download or save, however, I would consider that to be copyright infringement.

My Network Diagram of Trinity's LAN!

This is my diagram!

Joe Hatch: Mac Safety First!

The part of Joe Hatch's talk last week that I found most interesting was his discussion of Internet safety and identity theft. I have heard that Macs are safer than PCs with regard to viruses and identity theft, and accepted it without considering why or how this was true. As Joe Hatch discussed the importance of installing Sophos on all computers here at Trinity, he mentioned that Macs are not as safe as some people say. After the lecture, I thought about how much of my personal information could be at risk because of that false sense of security. I now realize the importance of installing Sophos while I'm here at Trinity and always remembering to be safe on the Internet, even when I'm on my Mac!

Hello, My Name is Ellee!

This is my first semester at Trinity University, and I am a long twelve-hour drive from my home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was born in Santa Fe, and have lived in the same house for my entire life. I am an only child, but have supplemented my two cats for siblings. In Santa Fe, I enjoyed playing volleyball with my high-school teammates and city league teams, eating fajitas on the Santa Fe plaza with friends, and working as a hostess at a local restaurant. I attended a tiny high school—my graduating class included just fifty-five students—and was a member of my high school’s volleyball, swimming, and track and field teams. I have not decided what I want to study yet, but have considered pursuing a career in nursing.

During my first week at Trinity, I have attended several events at Laurie Auditorium, including the Hypnotist, and an event sponsored by Intervarsity Christian. I look forward to becoming more involved at Trinity in the near future, and intend to explore many of the opportunities offered on campus, including on campus employment, intramural sports, and TUVAC.

My experience with computers has been fairly basic. I took a computer class in high school, and learned about Microsoft programs including Excel and Word. I look forward to learning more about these and other programs this semester, and hope to apply this knowledge throughout my years at Trinity and in my future career.

A secret fact about me is that I ride Missouri Fox Trotters, which are a breed of horses certified for demonstrating a specific gait.

Feel free to contact me on facebook, or by email!

ecook1@trinity.edu

Email Me!