Advice!

My advice for new students next year would be to not fall behind. Keep up with all your homework and class work and you will do well! Also, ask if you need help!

Favorite Websites!

My three favorite websites were done by Moira Allen, Alex Holmes, and Abby Talley. I enjoyed Moira's website because of all the pictures she had taken. The outline of her website was very interesting! I really liked how Alex did his navigation bar. It looked like he drew the pictures and then scanned them onto the computer. Abby's website was directed towards something specific. I liked how she talked about fashion, since she seemed very interested in it!

My Website!

Please visit my website at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~apatters/

Actually making the website was easier than I thought it was going to be. Certain parts of the website I found more difficult than others but overall, I did not find this assignment too difficult. I mainly used Expression Web to design my website. I am most proud of my family and friends page because it turned out well as far as how the pictures were arranged. I need to change some of my pictures on some of my pages since there pixels became distorted and are not clear. But I think that is an easy fix. My biggest technical challenge was making sure that my navigation bar worked correctly with the hotspots. My biggest design challenge was making sure that my tables were evenly spaced on my page. I plan on showing my parents and friends my website. I am sure they will be impressed! For my final project in my seminar class I am planning on making a website and I am definitely glad I learned how to do it in this class.

Pictures That Lie

I choose to take a picture of the Statue of Liberty and combine it with an American flag to represent what the United States of American stands for. I found both the Statue of Liberty picture and the American flag on Stock Exchange. To manipulate the picture, I cropped out the background for the Statue of Liberty and placed it on the picture of the American flag. Then I changed the hue and saturation for both images, and decided to add text. I thought the text would add a symbolic reminder of what our Founding Fathers wanted for this country. I decided to manipulate this photo because with the war going on, I thought this was an appropriate way of trying to remind all Americans just how lucky we are that we live in a country of freedom. I don't see that this manipulation was harmful because this picture helps to reiterate what freedom is and how all Americans should be happy for the privileges we have.

The article I choose to analyze was titled "Presidential Physiognomies: Altered Images, Altered Perceptions". The main purpose for this article was to see whether altering Presidential photos would change whether society viewed them as either more capable to run the country or less capable. Studies found that when certain parts of the faces were changed, people did respond positively to each President, saying they were more capable of being President. To me it is very interesting that just changing the face of someone can change how another person views them. This article relates to the picture I manipulated because it demonstrates how people can change their views just by seeing something they haven't seen before. The picture I manipulated can help reach someone on how lucky they are to be living in America.

Keating, Caroline F., Randall, David, Kendrick, Timothy. "Presidential Physiognomies: Altered Images, Altered Perceptions." Political Psychology 20.3 (1999): pp. 593-610. Web. 12 April 2010.

The Importance of HTML Code

All web designers should know how to use HTML code so that they understand the basics of web design. If someone just goes straight into a web designing program such as Expression Web, they are going to be limited as to what they are able to do on their website. They won't be able to understand basic steps since they have not learned the essentials to coding for a website.

Powerpoint Presentations

My two favorite PowerPoint presentations were done by Abby Talley and Alex Holmes. Both of their layouts had simple colors, but were affective for their topic. On Abby's presentation, I enjoyed her topic choice, since I was very unfamiliar with Disease Control. Her delivery and speaking was very well done. For Alex's presentation, I enjoyed how he used images and stacked them on each other. He also did a very good job of using animations.

Making the Best PowerPoint Presentation

Here are some tips for making sure you have made an efficient PowerPoint presentation:
1. Keep the slides simple. To much on one slide can be distracting.
2. Use graphics and charts. These can help visual learners and put your information in a different perspective.
3. Have transitions in your slides. This helps add to the quality of your presentation.
4. Include notes on each slide. Notes allow you to be able to deliver a solid presentation.
5. Choose fonts wisely. Have readable information that is big enough for everyone to see.

Somethings that I find annoying are when there is to much going on in each slide. I get distracted and can't focus on the main idea. Also color is good, but too much color can really hurt a presentation.

Photocollage

This is a picture of a tiger telling of his love for his new owl girlfriend!

Chris Nolan's Presentation

I found Chris Nolan's talk very informative and I learned a lot of new things. For one, I did not know that Google ranks the websites by how many times the word appears in the document or how often the cite is linked to other cites. Another thing I learned about was Google Scholar. I knew you could search for academic sources in the library, but I always thought that Google was for more popular or media based websites. But with Google Scholar you are able to look for academic articles. What surprised me was how little I actually knew about Google. The different search tools will help me on papers and projects from here on out.

Pictures That Lie

I choose the magazine picture of the seven Marines that had a story about soldiers going AWOL. I picked this picture because I thought it was relevant in today's world with the war going on. This photograph was found on a Harper's cover. The problem with the picture is that the soldiers that are in photograph are associated with the AWOL article when in fact none of them had suffered from this. Getty Images, who took the photograph, said that the cover was not a representation of the story that was supplied in the magazine. I believe this picture could be harmful to some soldiers because it puts a stereotype for soldiers to be mentally damaged after war.

CLT Visit

As a class, we visited the Center for Learning and Technology. I had never been to this part of the library so I was very interested to see what it was all about. Robert Chapman is who showed us around, he is one of the people in charge of CLT and also he runs TLearn. He showed us some of the different features that are available to the students. Some of the things I found interesting was how students have the ability to reserve a room so that they can work on group projects. These rooms are equipped with certain equipment for editing video, audio, and many other things. Students have the ability to use and rent digital cameras if they wish to do so. Also TriniTV is filmed and run through CLT. I can definitely see myself using CLT in the future for editing my video or audio projects. As for computer class, I can see how I would be able to use the software provided on the many computers in CLT to help me with some of the projects we will have to do in the future.

Jason Hardin's Talk

Jason Hardin's talk about copyright and plagiarism was very interesting to me. I have a general idea of what the two topics mean, but have never really understand the true meaning of the two words. My understanding was that they both had similar meanings, but I found out that copyright pertains to the law while plagiarism is more academic. One thing I found interesting was when copyright was actually started. I had no idea it was formed in 1790, when the Constitution was written.
The other topic I knew some about but not extensive amounts was the campus base file sharing. They send us e-mails about sharing music and things but I never knew how serious it could get. Some kids have been sued for having illegal files, and sometimes Trinity can't do anything to help them. I can see how some students may find that sharing music isn't a big deal, since a lot of people do it. You never think you will get caught. However there are alternatives to sharing music such as the higher opportunity act that obliges colleges to provide an "alternatives for illegal downloading". This is something new, but useful to students who are at universities. I believe that students should not share files, since it does not follow copyright laws and also since it could damage your computer by getting viruses from other people.


Jason Hardin's Talk by Amanda Patterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

My Trinity Network Diagram

So here is a picture of my network diagram. I really enjoyed the tour of the server room as I now have an idea of how our network works here at Trinity.

Top Tech Tip!

I enjoyed Joe Hatch speaking to us about computers and what we can do to protect them in regards to viruses. The one thing I am going to start doing for my computer is the CCleaner application. Sometimes my laptop starts to run slow and I never know how to get it to work faster. Now I can use the CCleaner to help with this problem and its free!

My Introduction

My name is Amanda Patterson and I am from Arlington, Texas. Living at my house is my Dad, Mom, brother, Ben, who is a sophomore in high school, and my Old English Sheepdog, Millie. Over my life I have moved into four different houses but none have ever been away from Arlington. I went to the same school from PreK-8th grade and then the same high school, Nolan Catholic, for all four years.

I enjoy playing or watching any kind of sports, going shopping, hanging out with my friends, listening to music, or watching my favorite show "The Office". Here at Trinity, I am on the basketball team and hope to get more involved in other groups. I am not sure on what I want to major in, but after Trinity I hope to go to school to become a physical therapist.

My secret fact is that I have ten cousins which include a set of twin girls who are twelve and triplets who are eight. Crazy times at Christmas!

During high school, I took two computer classes and also had classes when I was in elementary school. In this class, I hope to learn new ideas about the different programs. I am also excited about learning how to create my own blog.

apatters@trinity.edu