A small piece of advice...

For those students taking this class in the future, have fun with it! As long as you come to class and stay on top of the homework, it's not difficult. Some of the assignments can be time consuming..but don't let yourself fall behind and it'll be just fine :)

Favorite Websites

One of my favorite websites is Leslie's. I love everything about it! The background is simplistic yet eye-catching, the colors and designs go together perfectly and the pictures are amazing. Another website I really enjoyed is Peter's. It is incredibly unique and it's always more fun to spend time browsing a website that's creative! Tommie's website was also very well done. Her navbar was especially impressive and I thought it was a really nice touch to have a different background for each page.

My Website

Please visit my website at www.cs.trinity.edu/~lamsler
The program I used to make my website was Expression Web, which I found to be the easiest to navigate. The idea of creating my own website from scratch seemed overwhelming and extremely difficult. However, once I actually began the design it wasn't too bad. Yes, it took a lot of time but I had learned and mastered all the skills that I would need. Looking back at my site, I don't think I'm particularly proud of one page. I'm actually most proud of my navbar specifically, which I designed in photoshop. I think the black and white color scheme is simple yet appealing and the combination of images and text makes it easy to know which page you are clicking on. If I could change one thing, I'd make a more complex design. It's all very simplistic which is generally ideal but for this assignment I wish I'd experimented more. I struggled with making tables, a lot. And re-sizing pictures to fit in the designated space while not appearing too pixelated. I also struggled with some design aspects, mainly the background. I didn't want it to be tiled but luckily it's not as apparent with the design I chose. I don't plan on going around and showing my website to everyone - however, maybe i'll show it to my roommate because I mention her on my Friends & Family page. Creating a website was a great skill to learn and I hope I get to make another one in the near future, particularly when I start a job. It would be a great advertising technique!

Larry Hechler

I really appreciate the fact that Larry Hechler came in to share his knowledge with our class. There was a lot about computer care that I did not know! Mr. Hechler recommended Dell laptops over other brands, which I thought was very interesting. Luckily, I happen to own a Dell but I was considering switching to a Mac. He informed us that Dell offers a 4 year complete care plan - replacing your damaged laptop no questions asked. He even told us a story about how his son "accidentally" broke his Dell laptop and the company not only replaced it free of charge, they gave him a newer version. Another tip he shared with us was about laptop batteries which, before Mr. Hechler arrived, I had no idea required special care. I learned that the best thing you can do when using your laptop on battery power is to run the battery it all the way down before before charging it back up again. He recommended to do this at least once a month, if not once a week. Good to know!

My picture that lies..

Initially, this was just a photograph of an empty attic which I found on Google images and chose to manipulate because it's so simple that there are endless possibilities for altering the scene. I decided to go in the direction of a haunted attic and added an image of a man which I altered to appear as a ghost. I used the magnetic lasso tool to remove the man from the picture's original white background. Then I dramatically reduced the opacity and saturation to create the transparent look of a ghost. This photograph merely gives off the impression that ghosts exist which is not particularly harmful, unless an individual is overly superstitious of paranormal activity like ghosts.

"Editors breach ethics as well." News Photographer 62.5 (2007):54-55. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 November 2010.

The above article discusses the ethics surrounding picture manipulation, but specifically for images that actually affect the public's perception on incidents. While I would say altering an image of a natural disaster causing more/less damage than it really did is unethical, my manipulation isn't on such a large scale. It does not harmfully mess with how people view the world. Therefore the alteration of the above image is not unethical, but I do agree that some editors do cross the line.

My Presentation

As a sociology major I had a wide range of possibilities for my powerpoint. I decided to narrow it down to the effect that violent television exposure has on juvenile crime, because I think criminal activity is one of the most interesting aspects of sociology. I liked the pictures that I stacked on top of each other because it was an appealing visual break from the textual slides. I also had just recently learned how to do that and it was fascinating watching it all come together so well. When putting together this presentation I learned a lot of general statistics on the amount of violent exposure that kids get from television in addition to simply figuring out how to use powerpoint more efficiently. I discovered how to work with transitions to make everything fit together nicely but one thing I might've changed would've been to include some more creative transitions or possibily insert a sound to make my presentation a little bit different.

I especially liked Leslie's presentation because of all the color and beautiful pictures. Each slide was well put together and it not only was it appealing to look at but I learned a lot! She included simple, brief amounts of text which were a nice addition to the presentation without getting in the way. I also really enjoyed Spenser's presentation. It was a very narrowed down topic and straight to the point. She kept my full attention the entire time and I particularly loved the animated GIF that she included on one of her slides. It was very creative.

Chris Nolan

After listening to Chris Nolan speak to our class about Google, I was surprised at the amount of things I did not know. I had thought that I was pretty familiar with all that Google had to offer. I had no idea that the links on the right hand side are sponsored links, in fact I have always been curious what they were doing there. They also aren't necessarily the most relevant or the best, so in the past I have typically ignored them. I also didn't know that about all the little tricks that you can type into the search engine to get better results like the minus symbol to exclude a word. One of the hints that I was particularly surprised at was the ".countrycode" at the end of any search to get results from a specific country sources. I didn't know countries even had codes that you could look up, let alone be able to use that information in a search engine like Google.

Powerpoint

In a powerpoint presentation, there's nothing worse than:

• Agonizingly slow animation
• Too much text
• Text too small to read
• The speaker reading word-for-word off the slides
• Too many things squished on to one slide

When I think of a really good powerpoint presentation, it's important that it's not way too long. It should also be well designed, with good visuals to go along with brief text. The powerpoint should not be the whole presentation itself but simply an asset to sum up the important pieces of information.

CLT Visit

CLT is located on the 1st floor of the library and to be honest, I had no idea it was even there until our class visit. I was really impressed with everything that CLT had to offer to Trinity students. There were both PC and Mac computers, scanners, an audio editing room and a video conference room to name a few. I can imagine it would be very useful, especially for our class where we are learning how to work with computers and computer programs. From simply uploading a video to editing the audio, CLT provides the tools to do it as well the equipment to check out if needed. I could see myself spending time in CLT for other classes as well if I was working on a very large project because the computers in CLT can handle larger file sizes than other computers on campus.

Pictures That Lie

This photo that I chose of a shark attacking a U.S Force helicopter began appearing all over the internet in 2001. The original image depicts the helicopter simply hovering over the water but it was manipulated to appear more dangerous by inserting a shark attacking the helicopter. I chose this photo because while a lot of altered photos circulate the media, there are few that change the scene entirely. This one particularly caught my attention because it was manipuated in such a dramatic way - to go from a picture of a hovering helicopter to that of a shark coming out of the water, seemingly feet away from a person dangling from a rope ladder is in no way a small alteration. This photo is harmful because it messes with people's emotions. It portrays a very scary scene, one that would make viewers shocked and fearful over an incident that never even occured.





I chose this video because it not only showed the before and after image but also the actual process that was undergone to make this woman "billboard worthy." It's also the commercial for the Dove campaign, and this relatively short clip conveys the powerful message that our societal view on beauty is not only distorted, but literally impossible to achieve without photoshop tools.

Excel

I've enjoyed recently working with excel because I've discovered a lot of new things about the program that I didn't know before. I have found the "auto-fill" technique to be extremely fascinating and it certainly saves me a lot of time. I learned about the millions of different ways to format and sort data as well. The use of formulas is another handy piece of information that will especially come in handy outside of class. If I ever need to keep track of my payments, or any sort of account balance, in the future I can make a table in excel and easily keep track of everything. I like how simple excel is to use, and I haven't yet discovered something about the program that I truely dislike.

Copyright Presentation

I took a lot of valuable pieces of information from Josh Hardin's presentation on copyright laws. Before his talk, I was very unfamiliar with the regulations surrounding copyright and what exactly a violation entailed. While I knew copyright infringement was illegal, I had no idea that when 10 or more copies and/or a value of over $2500 is involved, a seemingly small criminal offense turns into a felony.

There are many issues surrounding copyright, and one in particular is still highly debated about. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a necessary law to have because it protects us from dangerous piracy and counterfeit scams that are becoming more and more prevalent today. While the ACTA exists for the right reason, for the safety of individuals, it is very controversial for several reasons. Not only are the terms in the agreement not clearly defined, but there is a high level of secrecy when it comes to discussion and voting. I think the benefits of the ACTA greatly outweigh the potential concerns, and while there could be some major tweaking especially in the vagueness and democratic aspect of it, I firmly believe that it's in place for a good reason and it's benefitting us.


Lisa's Blog by Lisa Amsler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

My Trinity Network Diagram

Before the systems administrator, Jared Pack, gave us a tour of the server room inside Halsell I had no idea that it even existed, let alone how it all worked! Working on this network diagram helped me more clearly understand the Trinity network and how complicated it really is. Now, I realize the efficiency of the network services here on campus and I won't ever complain about it again.

Mystery Spot on Campus

I chose this mysterious location because it's a relatively secluded place that every student encounters daily, but they don't necessarily know it. I used Picnik to alter the image just slightly. I applied the polaroid effect which framed and tilted the image to give off the appearance of a polaroid picture. Then I used doodle sketch to change the composition and I faded the overall color. I wanted to alter the image in a way that would make it look like an actual polaroid picture in the process of developing because I like the real-life aspect of it. Can you guess where this mystery spot is?

Best Tech Tip

I really enjoyed having Joe Hatch come into our class and teach us a variety of computer survival skills. I learned a lot of relevant tips, such as how to keep my computer running smoothly. He mentioned the benefits of a program called CCleaner and the importance of running it after every browsing session. I had no idea how quickly junk accumulates and how easily hackers can access my stored personal information. I intend on erasing unnecessary stored files and my browsing history to avoid putting my computer at a greater risk of getting attacked.

Hello My Name Is...

I am Lisa Amsler and I was born and raised in Redmond, Washington. While I did enjoy living there, I must say that this sunny, Texas weather is a nice change of atmosphere. I grew up with an older sister and an older brother so I'm the baby of the family. My siblings and I are really close, but we all moved far away from home to go to college. Therefore, I like to spend as much quality time as possible with them when I can. Aside from that, I like swimming, jogging, reading and decorating.

I am a Sociology major here at Trinity but I have a variety of interests including communication management and urban studies. On campus you'll most likely see me "studying" at Java City, cheering in the stands at sporting events and being an active sorority member of Gamma Chi Delta. I hope to study abroad next year in Ireland or Australia and pursue an internship with a non-profit event planning organization.

As far as my computer background, I am familiar with how to do simple tasks like word documents and slideshows, but i've never been taught any advanced skills. The most recent computer class I took was back in the 5th grade so, needless to say, my experience with computer skills is lacking. While I have been able to get by knowing merely the basics, I am excited to expand my knowledge and gain useful experience with computers that I can implement into my daily life.

My secret fact is that I have a huge phobia of needles.

Please feel free to e-mail me at lamsler@trinity.edu. I'd love to hear from you!