Advice For Essential Computer Skills!

I am so sad this is my last post! I love this class, and I will miss Ms. Belisle so much. Some advice for doing well in this class...hmm. Well, I would start by saying that you should always turn your homework in on time, but do not just throw your assignments together--actually check them over and make sure they follow the rubric so you can get full credit. I say that because it is always nice to get a 100 on one of your assignments, and Ms. Belisle makes it possible to do so. However, do not worry if you get a bad grade because Ms. Belisle gives us a ton of opportunities to improve our grades in the class. Also, read the class notes or e-mail Ms. Belisle if you are confused. Her notes are extremely helpful, and she responds to e-mails quickly and thoroughly. When in doubt, ask her! She knows her stuff. This is a really great class that is so helpful for future classes and projects. :-)

Pictures that Lie...Or Travel to the 70's

So...I wasn't alive in the 70's. In case you did not know. But why not change a picture of my family at Christmas to a picture of us with colored hair at the disco? That sounds fun. I chose this picture because it is my favorite family picture, and I wanted to see if I could make it look weird. It was taken on a digital camera by my grandma. So to manipulate the picture: for the hair color I used the color replacement tool (I don't know if Ms. Belisle showed us how to use this, but I found it on the toolbar) to recolor the hair while leaving the same texture, so it looks slightly more natural than just painting over it with a brush. I think my mom's hair turned out especially well. I also rotated the picture using the image flip horizontal tool. It was just for fun. I recolored our shirts, as well as blurring off the images that were on my sister's shirts. Then, I decided we needed a disco background or else we'd just look like people with colored hair. I put it on a layer behind the picture. The last change, probably the most important, is that I added Neil Patrick Harris, the phenomenal actor from one of my favorite shows (How I Met Your Mother), to our family photo, as well as putting some disco dancers behind us (each person is on a separate layer). For Neil Patrick Harris, I used the magic extractor tool to put him in the picture, and for the disco dancers, I used the evil magnetic lasso tool. Oh and I gave my dad an afro with a paintbrush. This manipulation was not harmful, unless one of my family members gets offended by their hair color, or Neil Patrick Harris doesn't want to be associated with the Parsons family. But changing hair color or adding hair to someone's head can be harmful because it could technically make them look better than their natural selves...mine really is harmless though. I worked hard on this picture, even though it did not turn out quite as beautifully as I had hoped. Don't be too hard on me. :-) You can see the original picture at the bottom of the page of my blog. :-)
Now to talk about that shocking article Ms. Belisle had us read. The quote I found most shocking was that: "Doctored images are troubling because they can mislead scientists and even derail a search for the causes and cures of a disease." This is a good point. I cannot believe that someone as trusted as Ms. Roovers would make up evidence like that. It doesn't benefit our society at all! It only makes her look better...for a brief time. So pointless and out of line. It gives our society false hope. My opinion is that all of these publishing companies should check the validity of their photos before printing them.

The Fun Powerpoint Presentations!

I really enjoyed the powerpoint presentations that we've seen so far in class. I never knew that our class was filled with such interesting and unique people! It is really hard for me to choose a favorite powerpoint because I liked them all! Will Prudich's music with the photo montage of Bonobos will forever be engrained in my mind whenever I see him--and since I had never talked to him before, it was nice to finally hear his voice! Will, you have a nice speaking voice, just FYI. Anyway, I am now going to talk about the two presentations that I thought were the best so far: Daniela's and Caroline's. Both girls clearly loved the subjects they were presenting, and they were very knowledgeable about them, too. Daniela, you are great at explaining how effective the French language is! I did not know that you knew yet another langauge. I am always so impressed with people who can speak more than one language. Amazing ;-). Your slide design was really nice, too. Great job! Oh Caroline. I knew you would do something completely out there and awesome. I was right. I LOVED your script backgrounds. Those were so cool. And I liked the aspect of drama that you presented: the audition process. Very specific and clear. Well done! So, I hate just leaving all of the rest of you out, so I'm giving everyone compliments:
Will Donnan: Funny presentation with good pictures.
Aaron: I loved your topic, and those pictures were breathtaking.
Alaska: Nice job with explaining the thrill of digital photography! Pictures were AWESOME.
Cristina: Nice slide design. I loved that airplane graphic at the beginning! So cool.
Chesley: You are a great presenter! I really felt like I learned something.
Melissa: Nice presentation. I had never heard of TandemHeart before.
Grace: Great animations, interesting topic.
Asma: Nice picture effects, never knew you liked history!
Great job to everyone who presented! I can't wait to see everyone else's presentations.

The Power of Powerpoints

Powerpoints. I made WAY too many of these in high school. And seen too many of them done badly. Not that all of mine were good. I know that I tend to put too much text on my slides...I like to talk. ANYWAY, regardless of my experience with Powerpoint, I did learn some interesting facts when reading the articles that Ms. Belisle told us to ;-). I preferred the first two articles over that one by the sort of obnoxious "Bad Powerpoint" guy...he annoyed me a little. So without further ado, here are my 5 Guidelines for Making Powerpoint Presentations:

1. Don't EVER read directly off of the slides. I cannot STAND it when people do this. They sound like robots who have nothing else to say. Unfortunately, I have had teachers do this, too. This is oh-so-boring, so please refrain. Thank you.

2. Do not put too much text on the slides or else no one will pay attention because they are trying to read what's on the slide. I have definitely done this before. I cannot help it. Blank space to me looks like you did not put effort into the presentation. But apparently this is okay as long as you elaborate. I have to work on it...

3. Create original backgrounds. This was a new one for me. But it makes a lot of sense. Your audience gets tired of seeing the same old background over and over. It is more interesting and potentially more effective if you are creative with what you use for backgrounds.

4. Make notes for your presentation. Whether or not you hand them out to your audience afterwards, notes can be helpful for you to use when presenting because you do not have to look at the slides to cheat.

5. Do not use too many transitions or animations. While this can be a cool effect, it gets really old if you apply it to every slide. So use this sparingly.

So, if this was not clear in my entry, the quality that I think creates a bad powerpoint is when people read off of their slides. I really cannot stand it when a person reads slides to me. I can read. And I definitely learned a lot from reading the three articles, and Mr. "Bad Powerpoint" guy taught me some good tactics, even though I thought he was pretentious. Maybe I was reading the article in the wrong mindset. I apologize. I should not judge those who are trying to help me. On that note, I think I am going to end this entry. I'm starting to veer into a discussion of morals!

Oh and check out my animation! I am so proud of myself. I never thought this day would come. :-)

CLT is the Place to BE!

I was introduced to an amazing place the other day. Seriously. The Center for Learning and Technology. Did anyone know that existed?? I did not, that's for sure. What a neat surprise. Located on the bottom floor of the library, this fantastic place was created with the help of funding from AT&T. Robert Chapman, one of the workers in the CLT, introduced us to the many opportunities that are available there. To start with, CLT has both Mac and PC computers, so no arguments about which computer system the school likes better will be had down there. Whew. Secondly, there are all the latest versions of programs related to digital media installed in the computers, so we can put together really cool projects for our classes to impress our teachers (always a plus). Thirdly, there are SCANNERS down here. Yay. Fourthly, students can check out digital cameras/etc to use, which is SO convenient. Fifthly (how long should I keep this going?), the people who work in CLT are awesome--if you do not know how to use a program like Photoshop, they are ready and willing to help you out with learning the basics. That is so cool. Sixthly (now this is getting old), there is a classroom that groups can reserve for practicing presentations. I think I will come to CLT more often, especially now that I know it exists. I like to try out nice, new computers. I have a PC, so I think it would be fun to try out a Mac. Anyways, it was a lovely Thursday spent learning about CLT. :-)

I Excelled at Excel

I know, I am so punny. But seriously, I never thought I could be somewhat good at Excel. I would not say I excelled at it, but that worked for my title ;-). I'll be honest: I have never used Excel before this class, so when I list the things I've learned, it will pretty much consist of...everything? BUT the most interesting part of Excel to me was the formulas that we could enter into the spreadsheet and then drag down. How awesome is that?! A computer doing math for you without a calculator? It's like heaven for people who are not math experts (me). Also, the graphs that you can use are so neat. I wish I had known how to do those in high school instead of having to draw all the graphs. Computer generated graphs are so cool. I know that I will be using graphs like that in the future. What else? Hm. I did not know that Excel had so many different tools and functions and pretty colors. It is quite a complex system. Before this class, I thought that Excel was just some chart thing that was boring and pointless. I was quite wrong, clearly. I have learned that I was wrong in my assumption (that happens occasionally)! Oh! Another thing: that IF function is miraculous. How great is that?! You can label certain categories just by typing in a formula that's in English, not some gibberishy symbol thing you would do in computer science (no offense to people who like computer science). Excel can be used for a myriad of things (is that not the best word ever?): calculating how much you will have to pay back for loans per month, wedding budgets, showing data over the course of time, figuring out how much money you have in your account by using a running balance (I will definitely use that), and oh so much more! I could go on, but I think I am too hyper for this right now, and I need to stop before I start listing the 100 things I love about Excel. Thank you :-).

Searching the Internet with Chris Nolan

Chris Nolan came in our class Thursday to discuss searching the internet effectively. Once we discovered that every single person in our class uses Google as a search engine, Chris showed us that we were not abnormal: Google is the most commonly used search engine by the general population by a landslide. Yay! I'm normal. Anyway, we then proceeded to learn how Google worked. Apparently Google gathers and lists results according to how many times the words we put in the search engine appear on the webpage, and how many times other websites link to the website being questioned. The websites with the higher numbers in both categories are then listed as the most relevant to our search. I had no idea that Google was that...general? I guess I always figured that Google was a genius that just knew what the legitimate websites were. Apparently not. Some of the most relevant results are from completely untrustwothy sources! Well that is definitely disappointing. And did anyone know that when you click "I'm Feeling Lucky" on the search engine Google goes to the site for what it thinks is exactly what you're looking for? I had no clue. But, my favorite piece of information was probably pretty obvious to anyone else: what the ".com" and ".gov" and etc meant! I just thought websites picked which one they wanted. I never knew that they meant anything!! Sad...so apparently ".com" means that the site is meant for commercial use, ".gov" means that it is a government site (most of the time it is a federal government site), ".org" means that it is for a non-profit organization, and ".edu" means that it is an educational website. This is mind-boggling to me. I also never knew that we could do an advanced search on Google?! What a thrill. Seriously. Thank the Lord for Chris Nolan. :-)

You're Kidding Me. Seriously??

Okay, does anyone actually believe that that is Oprah's body?? Anybody? Because I am not buying it. And you know what is really sad? That is a real body...just not Oprah's. It actually belongs to actress Ann-Margaret. And to top that off, it was used without permission. I chose this picture because, as you can tell, it has quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. Not only is it manipulated, but it blatantly puts Oprah's head on the body of another woman! It is bad enough to edit a picture to make someone look skinnier, but to use another person's body entirely?! Horrible and inexcusable. This was done in very poor taste. The original photo of Ann-Margaret was taken in 1979 and then used again ten years later in this Oprah cover on TV Guide. That means the cover editors must have really been desperate. I mean, to go back ten years just to find a picture of a different body? Wow. So I think I am clear when I say that this was manipulated to make Oprah look skinny, it was done by using the body of another woman, and it was definitely harmful because not only is it one big fat lie, but it used a picture of another woman without permission, thinking no one would notice (FYI: they noticed!). I just went back and read this entry, and it looks like I'm a little worked up about this. Wow. Never knew photo editing could get a girl mad. Looks like I'm going to need some chocolate to calm down. Oh darn. :-)

You're Not Going to Copy, Right??

I have always been an ethical person. Probably too ethical. I like to follow the rules and not break the law. What's so bad about that? Jason Hardin says that I am a great person...well, not in so many words, but that's what I got out of what he said today.
All joking aside, I actually learned a lot from Mr. Hardin today about the issue of copyright. I did not realize that this issue has been around since 1790! That's a long time...like over 200 years (I'm not a math major so I'm not going to waste the time doing the math...but I think it's like 219 years if we're going from 1790...I guess I couldn't leave the question unanswered!), which really amazed me. Here on campus, our university librarian is in charge of copyright, so if anyone violates copyright law, our librarian is obliged to give information to the copyright officer (who sends the librarian a take-down notice when this happens). I think that this would be a difficult situation to be in: to be the one obligated to tattletale?! I would find that challenging, especially if it was someone I knew who copyrighted property. Of course, I still believe that the librarian should turn everyone in who copyrights because it is, you know, illegal, but I am just saying that it would probably be a hard job (and that our librarian should be respected for it).
Another issue I was thinking about is one that is common to everyone: sharing music. And I was thinking more about sharing music by burning CDs (the old school way), rather than using filesharing software like Limewire. This is a major issue because it cannot be monitored as well over the internet. And yet, according to what I learned in Mr. Hardin's lecture, it is illegal because only one person has paid for the music that they have shared with all their friends. This means that Taylor Swift is not getting paid a fair amount for her new single on iTunes (no, she does not have a new single right now, but just go with me). And we would not want to hurt Taylor Swift, would we? She deserves to get paid for the music she makes, as do all other artists. So even though it can be an easy way to get that song you've been wanting, it is not a legal activity to burn someone else a copy of a CD you just bought.
There are so many other things I learned in this lecture, but I feel like I'm writing too much again...we were only supposed to discuss one issue, and I already discussed 2 so... ;-)

Network Diagram Time!

Joe Hatch Pays a Visit

Last class, Joe Hatch came to talk to us about the Trinity computer network. Ms. Belisle mentioned that he was the go-to guy when it came to computers here, so I wanted to pay particular attention to what he had to say. First of all, that annoying Clean Access thing actually helps us by scanning through our computer registry and looking for specific registry keys (doesn’t scan the whole computer), such as what operating system we are running. It also ensures that we have enough security applied to our operating system and it makes sure we have a specific Anti-Virus product. The most important thing I learned was that CCleaner is the best tool that ever existed for computers. It helps us to clean (no kidding!) out old files and cookies from our system so it can run faster. Joe showed us how to download it in case we didn't already have it, and then he ran it on Ms. Belisle's computer to show us just how many cookies it can collect. He suggested that we run it about twice a week on our computers. I ran it the other day, and I was amazed at how many GB of cookies that the CCleaner collected. I learned a lot about how a computer can run more effectively, and I owe it to Joe Hatch. Thank you ;-)!

I Know a Song that Gets on Everybody's Nerves

Hello everybody (everybody meaning the 8:30 Essential Computer Skills class at Trinity University on Tuesdays and Thursdays)! My name is Noelle Parsons, and I am from Austin, Texas. I do go by the name Noelle because I think it is a lovely name, if I do say so myself. I went to St. Michael's Catholic Academy for high school, where currently my mother is Head of the Science Department and my sisters, Anna and Kira, are juniors. So yes, you guessed it: St. Michael's was a very family-oriented place for me. I actually had my mom as my Biology teacher both freshman and senior years of high school, and I really enjoyed it. My dad, alas, does not work at St. Michael's, but he is an Ethics and Compliance Officer for Freescale. Whew. Long title.
If you haven't caught on already, I am very close with my family. It was difficult to leave home to come here, but I am glad that I did. I do talk to my family every night, and here's a word of warning: do not talk on the phone on your balcony for too long or else you will have so many mosquito bites on you that you continuously find new ones. Not fun.
The reason I titled this post with the most annoying song title ever is because I love music. No, I am not a prodigy who can play multiple instruments: I don't play any. And I do not want to become a music major or minor; I just love music. I am always singing or humming or thinking about a song I heard recently or not-so-recently. As a result of this, I am sometimes unware of when I am humming too much, so stop me if I get annoying (which I do get annoying). More things that I love and hope to continue while here at Trinity include drama, learning new things (sounds cheesy, but I legitly like school...), talking to anyone who wants to talk to me (I talk WAY TOO MUCH), checking the mail (I am always checking my mailbox here haha), watching funny movies, going to church and participating in youth group, and so on and so forth. I am so excited to be at a new school and to have the opportunity to take these unique electives.
So on the sticky note I decided to admit something slightly embarrassing about myself: I used to be afraid of the ending credits of movies. Nowadays I just get a little apprehensive when it comes to the movie ending and the credits playing with no exciting videos on the side to distract me, but when I was little, I remember running out of the room if someone didn't turn off the movie soon enough. The Little Mermaid 2 is pure evil. I'm just saying.
I am not a computer genius. In fact, I am surprised that I get by on what I know. My sister Anna is a genius at this stuff--I don't know where that came from, but I did not get that part of the gene pool. I have never taken a computer class, and I never formally learned how to touch type. I'm not too shabby though. I am really excited about this class. I'm not sure if I need to put my e-mail in this or not, but I will just in case: nparsons@trinity.edu. And thank you to everybody who managed to read this whole post because I know it is LONG. :)