Best Advice

Hello new computer students,

First off, don't fear this class. I was terrified my first day in the class because I have never been very good with computers. It doesn't matter how far behind you are in technological skills, Ms. Belisle is a really helpful teacher. Don't be afraid to ask questions!

Also, just keep up with the homework. It's not hard, but if you don't do it, it will negatively affect your grade.

Finally, have a great time. Even if you already have a lot of computer knowledge, there is always something to learn.

Hope you have as a great a time as I did!

My Favorite Websites

All of the websites were really great, but my three favorites were the ones by Teka Nichols, Nichole McCarter, and Rory Davids. All three websites were colorful and had a great use of pictures. They were delightful to look and showed great web design.

My Website

Please visit my website at www.cs.trinity.edu/~koverman.

Surprisingly, making this website was much, much easier than I thought. I used Expression Web, and I found it was really easy to use. I'm most proud of the My Favorites page because it took so much work to make it look neat. If I could change something, I would have more pictures of my family and fiance. My biggest technical challenge is the problem of my thumb nail which I didn't save right. I had to go through the process of reinserting it and saving it again. My biggest design challenge was finding a font and color that looked good with my backgroung (it was harder than I thought it would be). I'll probably show my site to my fiance first and maybe some people in my dorm who are featured prominently on my site. In the future, I might have to make a website for a class, and I'm thankful for the opporutunity to have learned how to do this.

Pictures that Lie

My picture is inspired by some research I'm doing for a literaure class about Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. The film adaptation of the novel has become such an iconic aesthetic, and Malcolm McDowell's interpretation of the novel's main character, Alex, is so simultaneously chilling and charming, I just couldn't resist adding another image to the milieu.

First, I found a lovely antique picture of Lisbon on Stock Xchange, and I found a screen shot from the movie on Google. I magnetically lassoed Alex out of the screen shot and put him on the streets of Lisbon. I had to resize him so he didn't tower over the door frames, and I had to use the clone stamp tool around his arms and legs (which was one of the most painstaking tasks I've ever had to do).

My Picture that Lies doesn't really have a great political meaning like many of the photos we have looked at in this class. However, in researching the public's reaction to this work of art, I have been amazed how the movie still repulses and shocks people today despite the presence of much more violent (and less well constructed) films in the mainstream today. For me, this image somewhat conveys the "staying power" of the book and film in the modern mind.

In my opinion, I don't believe that this manipulation was harmful. If I tried to use it for commercial gain, it would be illegal since I don't have permission from Malcolm McDowell to use his image, but since this is just for my class project, it's just a harmless, sort of weird image that pays tribute to one of favorite directors, Stanley Kubrick. However, if I were going to make something like this for commerical use, I would obtain permission to use the picture of Malcolm McDowell.

The article I researched is titled "Computer as Accessory to Photo Fakery." It doesn't directly relate to my piece because the article deals with supposedly faked photos of POWs in China. However, the article also addresses the history of photo fakery. Before the use of computers, the article reports that "the photo manipulator...needed a mechanical pencil, retouching medium, an etching knife and tubes of spotting colors." Even though I complained earlier about the difficulty of cloning the tiny areas around Alex's arms and legs to make him appear like he is actually on the street, in perspective, using PhotoShop is so much easier than the old methods. It's amazing what lengths people went to in order to fool others before PhotoShop became so prevalent.

Browne, Malcolm W. ""Computer as Accessory to Photo Fakery"." New York Times 24 Jul 1991: 6. Web. 9 Apr 2010.

The Importance of HTML Code

I believe that is important for web desingers to know HTML code even if there is great software that helps when constructing a website. The designer should at least have a working knowledge of code so that if something goes wrong with the software, they can correct it or spot the errors. The software available might be useful, but a good web desinger should understand how the program uses code to create web sites so that he or she can have greater control over their design.

My Favorite Slideshows

All of the slideshows were great, but my two favorites were the one about the terra cotta warriors by Teka Nicholas and the one about the Spanish language by Ana Price. Both of the presentations had great pictures, really beautiful color schemes, and the presenters each fit in a lot of information in a very short amount of time. While they didn't make me want to change my major, they were very intriguing presentations that taught me a bit more about different career options.

My PowerPoint Advice

Here are 5 PowerPoint Tips that I found really useful:

1. Never use more than 6 words per slide
2. Avoid cartoonish clip art and go for photographs (they are more emotionally engaging)
3. Never, ever read from a slide
4. Have a handout for your audience which you give them AFTER your presentation
5. Avoid templates and design your own background to fit your theme and message

I hope these tips were as helpful for you and they are for me!

Photoshop Trial Run

This is my photo tribute to my favorite building on campus, the Dicke Art Building.

Chris Nolan's Presentation

Chris Nolan’s presentation explained a few things I had never realized. The most interesting new fact I found out about was Google Scholar. I have heard people talk about it, but I had never used it. Now, I think I can use Google Scholar as a good starting point for my research projects. Also, Google Books sounded very interesting as well. I love when writers make parts of their books availabe—it always makes me want to finish the whole book. So, for books in the public domain or small samples of recent works, I think this will also be a good resource.

What surprised me the most was the last website we visited, martinlutherking.org. It was a clear, dramatic example that any one can make anything look legitimate, so it’s always more than worth it to check your sources before you use something or recommend a site to someone. The saddest part was that if you didn’t really look closely, the website looked like a site a middle schooler might use to get information for a report. That the site looked like it was geared to lure in unsuspecting kids was disgusting and shocking.

Pictures that Lie

The image I chose was called "Trotsky's Elimination Image." I'm fairly ignorant of what exactly one can do to photos, but in this image, Communist party officials have "erased" Trotsky after he lost the party's favor. Somehow, the Soviets erased Trotsky's image and added a dark spot so that maybe people would not notice that he had been in the original picture. I think this is very harmful becuase this was used as yet another piece of propaganda in the Soviet era. The Soviet officials were interested in rewriting the past, and with the ability to edit pictures, they could give "proof" of their interpretation of past events.

My CLT Experience

Today, we visited CLT. I found it really informative because I didn't really know what the purpose of CLT was or how it could be helpful to me. However, after today's class, I have a much better understanding of CLT.

I learned that CLT has computers and software for video editing as well as for music editing. There are both Macs and PCs there as well as scanners. There is also a work station for publishing web sites. Also, at the information booth, you can check out equipment like digital cameras if it is needed for a class.

In the future, I may use CLT when we start web design in this class. I'm sure I will have questions about it, and the staff there seemed very helpful.

Copyright Law

Today, I learned about copyright laws from Jason Hardin, the Manager of Access Services. I'm going to look at the issue of downloading music from a service like LimeWire.

According to federal copyright law, it is illegal to download from these illicit file-sharing sites. Under federal law, if you want to download music, you should use a recognized "pay site" like Itunes. Downloading and sharing illegally can be very costly. The industry can prosecute those who choose to illegally download.

On the other hand, people who approve of this often justify their actions in various ways. They think, "If I bought this CD, why can't I share it online?" Or they think that it is absurd for the music industry to charge $16 for a CD that cost very little to make. Whatever the reason people use, illicit file sharing is a prevalent problem among music consumers.

Personally, I believe that it is immoral to download music you have not paid for. When this occurs, it is like stealing from all those who worked to write, record, and produce the work.


Copyright Law by Kayleigh Overman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

My Trinity Network Diagram!

The tour was really interesting. I had no idea that so much work went into simply connecting to the internet!

Above is my diagram representing the networks of Trinity University.

Kayleigh

My Top Tech Tip

Of all of Joe Hatch's excellent advice, the tip that meant the most to me was, "Always use CCleaner a few times a week." I think this will help to keep my computer running well.

My Comments

Reading everyone's introductions was really fun and informative. Here are the two blogs I left comments on:
www.alexasoto.blogspot.com
www.kbrightwell.blogspot.com

Kayleigh

My first blog post ever!

My name is Kayleigh Overman, and I am from Conroe, Texas. I'm a transfer student from Lone Star College Montgomery in the Woodlands, Texas. As of this semester, I am a junior and a freshly declared English major. This is a dream semester for me because I am taking three English classes, and it feels so great to start working on my major. I'm also taking Russian classes. Secret Fact: I'm learning Russian so I can read Dostoyevsky in the original.

I'm a Christian, and my relationship with Jesus is very important to me. Also, I am engaged to my college-sweetheart and plan to be married in 2011. In my free time, I enjoy reading (Russian novels, Joyce, or anything from the Lost Generation) and watching movies.

To be honest, I'm terrified at the thought of this class. I've never been very proficient with computers, but I hope that this will change by the end of the semester. Also, I didn't realize when I registered that this class focused on design, so I'm doubly nervous because I've never been artistically inclined either.

Thanks for reading my very first blog entry ever! If you want, you may email me here.