Advice (...last blog entry)

To anyone taking CS1300 in the future:

• pay attention and follow along in class (it helps tremendously)
• do the homework assignments (yes, all of them)
• don't miss class (you get behind really quickly)

This is a fun and low-stress class as long as you are willing to put in the effort. Good luck!

Student Websites

These were my top 3 favorite student websites:

1. Katy Silva - I absolutely loved the layout, background, color combo, etc. It looked very professional, but also very visually appealing.
2. Laura Husband - There's a really nice contrast between the black and white checkered backgrounds and the yellow font. It's simple, yet very tastefully designed.
3. Katie Whittaker - The layout wasn't complicated or difficult to navigate, and the pictures used are awesome (very vivid and clear, and with appropriate subject matter).

...but everyone else did a great job as well! It's really cool to see the variety in design preferences when clicking through the websites, because no two are the same. 

Webpage Assignment

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

I enjoyed this assignment, but it was definitely harder than I thought.  I didn't realize how so much as one little detail (such as changing the page properties from percent to pixel) can completely alter the website's appearance in a browser.  I tried to use Kompozer from my laptop to work on the assignment, but it was different enough from Expression Web that I had trouble with it, so I ended up downloading Expression Web from the Trinity network.  I really like my navigation bar because I think the pictures I chose make it look clean and simple, but the colors and styles work together so it looks nice. 

I would have liked to maybe add more pictures and personal touches to the website.  I really wanted to add some music and animations, but I had such a difficult time just making sure the pictures and text were set up correctly that I didn't have time to figure out how to do that.  My biggest technical challenge was getting everything to appear in the browser the way I wanted it to - I had to resize and re-center almost everything to get it right.  My biggest design challenge was trying to make sure everything appeared balanced (text vs. pics, colors, etc.).  I'll probably end up showing my site to my mom and my roommate.  Depending on the situation, I may end up making another website for another class in the future. 

Larry Hechler's Hardware Lecture

In my opinion, the most important thing that Larry Hechler shared with our class is the importance of backing up files.  He told us a few horror stories about students who had put in countless hours of work on projects that were stored on their laptops, and when their laptops crashed or were damaged, they lost all of their work.  Those stories really made me think about how valuable some files are - essays, music, pictures, etc. are all things that are difficult (if not impossible) to replace.  So I'll definitely be backing up my files from now on... He also shared some useful computer cleaning tips.  For example, you should never use any kind of cleaner with alcohol, acetone, or ammonia in it.  It may seem like common sense to more tech-savvy people, but I've definitely been guilty of wiping my laptop down with Lysol wipes to kill germs.  He suggested that we use a rag moistened with water and a mild detergent for cleaning off our computers.  Good to know.  Also, while he was telling us the stories about students who had not backed up their files, he mentioned that Dell is the only brand that offers complete care on laptops - that includes up to four years of protection that includes free repair/replacement if something happens to it.  After that lecture, I'm definitely thinking that my next laptop will be a Dell (and that I will be consistently backing up my files from now on!).

Pictures That Lie

I chose to do this picture because I find it amusing that the majority of Trinity students don't consider it "weird" when strange things happen on campus.  For example, the other day I saw a random guy just scale a tree outside of Murchison.  He just ran right up the trunk! Nobody stared at him or looked confused.  It's Trinity. Everyone is involved in their own schedules.  Anyway, I find it amusing. So I found a picture of the fountain that I had taken last summer and found a picture of a zebra off of the stock exchange website.  I placed the zebra in front of the fountain because I thought it would be hilarious for a student to walk by something like that and continue on with his or her business.  I don't believe that this manipulation was harmful because there isn't an agenda behind it.  The pictures on the photo fakery website were manipulated to look either better or worse to the public (depending on the situation).  If the photographer wants to make a political statement, the photograph will most likely look more dramatic and/or tragic, and if someone wants to make a person "look better" to a particular audience, the photo will be edited so that the subject appears "more attractive."

The article that I found was not related to the ethics of photo manipulation, but rather detecting the fraudulent image itself (although it is clear in the article that the author feels it is wrong to submit fake images as real news stories).  The author says that the biggest giveaways for detecting fraudulent images are inconsistencies in light (especially reflected off of people's eyes) and sloppy copy/paste jobs.  I thought that the article was interesting because generally, nobody discusses how the fake images are discovered; people hone in on the scandal of the pictures after they are exposed.  Using this article, I'm more aware of the image manipulations lurking out there... and a little more self conscious about the quality of my own manipulated picture!

Farid, Hany. "Digital Image Forensics." Scientific American 298.6 (2008): 66-71. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.

In-Class Powerpoint Presentation

My powerpoint presentation was on the Blood-Brain Barrier.  I had a bit of a difficult time narrowing down my topic - my major is neuroscience, which is technically a branch of biology, but since it's an interdisciplinary major, it's formed by the overlap of biology, psychology, chemistry, and medicine.  I liked the topic of the Blood-Brain Barrier, personally, and I hope that the class found it at least somewhat interesting, but I understand that some people may not be as interested in science as I am.  But I guess if I had to change something, I would add more information and fun pictures and try to rely less on verbally addressing the audience (which didn't work out as well as I wanted it to because I was sick).  I was also concerned about the length of my presentation, because it seemed a lot shorter than everyone else's, but upon further consideration, I think I kept it in the 2-3 minute range, which was what was required.  So I would keep it about the same length (maybe a little longer) and add more visuals and effects.

Unfortunately, I missed the second day of presentations, but out of the presentations that I did see, I was very impressed by Langston's Tectonic Plate Boundaries presentation and Kayvon's Multi-Lingual Doctor Presentation.  For Langston's, I really enjoyed the animations; I thought those were very effective, especially for his topic.  He seemed very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic, so it was interesting to watch.  Kayvon's presentation was definitely emotionally appealing.  I am also a pre-med student, so I was automatically interested, but the images and videos he used were designed to grab the audience's emotions and make them care about what was going on in the world in regards to tropical diseases.  Even though both presentations were drastically different in subject matter, design, and presentation, I thought they were quite effective and well-executed.

Chris Nolan Lecture

I thought that Chris Nolan's lecture was pretty interesting.  I didn't know how Google "worked," exactly.  Apparently it makes all of its money from the ads on the side of the page. Talk about the power of advertising... I also thought it was interesting how many people choose Google as their web browser - I just use Google because it's turned into a habit... I never really thought about using other web browsers.  Chris Nolan also talked about sources, and what to think about when you're selecting one.  ".com" sites are business sites for profit, which means they are literally trying to sell you something... So they might not be the most reliable sources.  ".org" sites are non-profit organizations, so even though they don't make money, they may be trying to sell you an idea.  And ".edu" sites are usually reserved for higher education, which means they're probably the most reliable.

Microsoft Powerpoint

Since we're just now starting Powerpoint, I thought I would share 5 things that I dislike about a Powerpoint presentation.  First of all (and this is true in general, but especially in Powerpoint), when some people capitalize every other letter in a title.  It's as if they think that typing like a four year old will deliver a greater impact... which is RiDiCuLoUs, and not at all aesthetically pleasing.  Secondly, obnoxious sound effects are not my favorite.  If anything, they are simply distracting the audience from the presentation.  I also dislike when people cram paragraphs of information onto a single slide.  Powerpoints are meant for summarizing information; the presenter is supposed to be there in order elaborate on each slide.  Providing too much information could just mean that the individual is excited about the material... but most likely, it means that they don't know the material well enough to fully present their topic without training wheels.  Fourth: I don't like when Powerpoint presentations are too long.  No topic should be stretched out for 400 slides, no matter how fascinating it is.  Lastly, I dislike it when the style of the slides isn't appropriately selected.  The creator of the Powerpoint needs to choose background colors, text colors, pictures, and transitions in such a way that will not detract from the material or lose the interest of the audience.  This can be a little more complicated than just using common sense - people spend tons of time and money selecting colors and fonts for advertisements in order to more or less "manipulate" the audience in terms of how they feel when they view the advertisement.  So obviously, being sloppy in selecting a background color is more forgivable than typing LiKe ThIs.  But still - it's nice to see a Powerpoint that is pleasing to the eye.

Despite these minor annoyances, I believe that Powerpoint is a very useful tool, especially today.  A lot of people are visual learners, and although Powerpoints are very useful (and necessary) when giving reports and presentations in a job setting, the most applicable example of a useful Powerpoint is one we have all experienced here in the classrooms at Trinity.  I'm a neuroscience major on the pre-med track, and when I'm taking a hard science class (versus a soft science class; not a "difficult" science class) such as Biology or Intro to Neuroscience, it's extremely helpful to look at Powerpoint slides of say, the Carbon Cycle or the Somatosensory Pathway.  When you hear a professor talk about a subject, it's easy to miss something and get lost.  But when you're hearing the professor AND observing a slide that gives a visual representation, it's not only easier to understand the topic, but it's easier to remember it and recall it later (at least for me, anyway - I'm definitely a visual learner).  Without the use of Powerpoint in my classes, I think I would have a much harder time keeping up with the lecture and creating a visual map in my head of what's really going on.

CLT Visit

On Thursday, our class took a field trip to the AT&T Center for Learning and Technology.  CLT is located on the first floor of the library.  Robert Chapman gave us the introduction to CLT, and told us that the computers in CLT have resources such as Photoshop, web-design tools, desktop publishing tools, etc. in addition to the basic tools such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, making it the perfect place to work on a multimedia project or to just play around editing photos.  CLT also has a sound recording room for students to use, as well as equipment to copy DVD clips for projects.  Students can even rent out videocameras, digital still cameras, and mp3 recorders (with permission from an instructor or organization).  The CLT also has a new HD videoconferencing system that allows people to communicate with students abroad, out-of-town professors, etc.  Students can download this software to communicate with people both on and off Trinity's campus.  Aside from providing students with these resources, the CLT is also responsible for providing cable to the dorms on campus and streaming live videos from graduation ceremonies, distinguished lecture series, and other important events.

Before Thursday, I didn't even know that the CLT existed.  I had walked past it once or twice in pursuit of a quiet place to study, but I didn't know what it was or what kind of resources it had.  Now that I'm aware of the programs on the computers in there, I will definitely be utilizing them if I have a project to work on.  And since we're starting Photoshop in class, the CLT computers will come in handy when I need to work on editing a picture outside of class.

Below I have attached a worksheet that I scanned using one of the scanners in CLT.  It contains a few questions regarding CLT and a random self portrait that is not entirely visible (I sketch very lightly...).

Pictures That Lie

The picture I chose for this assignment is the image of a couple on the cover of a Newsweek magazine.  The

couple's names are Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey, and they appeared in Newsweek to tell their story about giving birth to septuplets. The photo on the left was edited to make Bobbi's teeth look straighter and improve her overall appearance.  I believe that that in this case, the photo manipulation was harmful.  This woman gave birth to seven children, and the magazine is concerned with "fixing her teeth."  I understand that as humans, we tend to gravitate towards a certain cultural standard of what is "beautiful," and that Newsweek can potentially grab more readers if the targeted audience perceives the cover star(s) to be particularly attractive.  But I believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and no individual (or company) can decide what people are "supposed" to look like.  I think they should have embraced the fact that Bobbi has an amazing story - not everyone gives birth to septuplets - and that people will want to read about something like that regardless of how the person looks.  And I feel like by not asking her permission to alter the photo, she was especially violated.  How degrading it must be for the world to know that Newsweek (or anyone) didn't think you were good enough, so they took it upon themselves to turn you into something more aesthetically pleasing.  American girls have enough self-esteem issues as it is - and making is seem like every woman in the world wears a size 2 and has perfect skin and a flawless smile does nothing to build a young teen's self-confidence.  I think that the photo should have remained unaltered because ultimately, it detracts from the Bobbi and her family as individuals and perpetuates the harmful body image illusion to girls that take it to heart.  

I feel like this video is particularly harmful to the self-esteem of young girls because it's sending the message that the current state of their appearance is not good enough.  I think that the media has led us to believe that as a society, we are growing to embrace individual differences - skin color, hair color, etc., and that is what makes women beautiful.  But if unique is beautiful, then why the emphasis on flawless skin, straight, bleached teeth, heavy makeup, etc?  And at age 13?

Excel(lente!)

So far, I've had a pretty good experience with Excel. I haven't had any major problems with the program. I've been learning a lot about all of the different features of Excel - before, I just stuck to the basic functions and didn't stray far from the Home tab. I had no idea what conditional formatting was, and it took me a long time to figure out how to format cells. I'm still inexperienced in some areas, but I imagine that after I spend some time navigating through all of the tabs and drop-down menus, it'll be easier to figure out where everything is. Learning about Excel would have made it a lot easier for me to summarize data last year for bio and chem lab reports. I basically entered college without ever having to use Excel, and I struggled a lot first semester when it came to creating charts and graphs and knowing the "rules" of entering formulas and formatting cells. Now that I know (more or less) how to use Excel, I really like it. It makes it easy to organize data and categorize everything. I can see myself using Excel for making budgets, calendars, and (of course) more lab reports. The only thing that is a little overwhelming about Excel is the number of options available on the Ribbon. If you have forgotten where something is (or didn't know where it was in the first place) it can be very difficult to locate a particular command. Other than that, I don't have any problems with Excel. I think it's a very useful tool, especially in college.

Copyright Lecture

Jason Hardin, the Manager of Access Services, came to our class yesterday to talk to us about basic copyright information.  I thought he brought up a lot of interesting points, several of which are pretty controversial.  One thing he mentioned was how a former Trinity student was sued for copyright infringement.  According to Hardin, the student downloaded a somewhat obscure album of country songs and ended up going to court and paying somewhere around $15,000 for her crime.  Upon hearing stories of copyright infringement, it's easy to think that it could never happen to you and that you would have to really go out of your way to get caught for such a crime.  But hearing the story about the former Trinity student sort of made me reevaluate what I had previously thought about copyright infringement.  In reality, most (if not all) of us do it every day, especially because the internet makes ridiculously easy to obtain movies, pictures, songs, etc., in a matter of minutes.  And since violating copyright laws is so easy to do, it almost makes the law less real (or at least less personal).  When you picture stealing something, you probably don't think of clicking a 'download' button.  In the minds of most people, stealing takes considerable planning and effort and involves a tangible item.  

That's why I can't help but feeling slightly upset when I hear stories like the one about the Trinity student.  Our generation is so desensitized to the fact that it IS stealing that they (usually) don't even consider themselves to be breaking the law.  And out of the thousands and thousands of teens that violate copyright laws, it seems that only a handful of them are actually punished.  So when that one unfortunate student is busted for breaking the law and is forced to pay thousands of dollars, the distribution of "justice" seems a little off.  Obviously, a majority of people committing  a crime doesn't make it less of a crime.  And I completely understand why copyright laws are in place.  Copyright laws help stimulate our economy and work to protect people's ideas and creative works.  But the consequences of breaking the law (and getting caught, of course) seem to be on the harsher side.  And especially since I'm a college student, I know that the person who faced the law suit probably didn't have an extra 15 grand just sitting on his/her desk.  I feel like more time should be spent educating teens on what is and isn't legal, what the consequences of breaking the law are, and what some alternatives to downloading illegal files are.  Because simply lashing out at a few guilty individuals does nothing to deter copyright infringement - if anything, it makes it more of a high-risk game for those who ARE fully aware of the copyright laws.

Copyright Lecture by http://rileynewson.blogspot.com/2010/09/copyright-lecture.html is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

My Trinity Network Diagram

 

This is a screen shot of my Trinity Network Diagram.  I used the notes that I took in class as well as the example network diagrams for reference.  Mine does not look as complicated as some of the examples, but I formatted it a little differently and did not include the Cobb-Racy building in the diagram (since the building was recently torn down).  I enjoyed the tour that I took with my class last week to Trinity's server room in Halsell.  I had never seen a server room before, and I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of Ethernet cables running everywhere - especially when Jared Pack, the Systems Administrator, said that those were only about half the ones used for just the Halsell building.  It really makes you think twice about where your Internet is coming from, and how many different places it has to go in order to make it to your personal computer...

Trinity Mystery Spot

This is a place most of us pass by every day, but I feel like it doesn't always get the recognition it deserves.  It's a very tranquil (and often empty) place... If you pay attention to your surroundings as you walk through the middle of campus, this location will probably be pretty obvious.  I used Picnik to alter the saturation and temperature of the picture and added some artsy-looking trees and flowers to give it a little more vibrance and excitement.  I then saved it to my computer and uploaded it to my blog.  If this looks familiar, please feel free to guess the mystery spot! Good luck!

Joe Hatch's visit

Yesterday Joe Hatch came to our class to talk to us about computer survival skills. He explained what Clean Access was (a security system for the campus that checks for updates and provides Sophos antivirus, but does NOT protect against identity theft).  It kind of surprised me how this is my second year here and that was the first time anyone had explained what it was - I knew that it was some kind of security feature and that it was a pain in the butt to sign into the system every time I open my laptop, but I didn't know the details.  He also talked about Mac support, which didn't apply to me since I've always used a PC, and he discussed network drives.  I have used my Y drive a few times before, but it was nice to hear more about it.  Joe Hatch also introduced our class to ccleaner.com, which allows you to download a program that removes the buildup of temporary files, cookies, web histories, etc. that builds up on your computer over time.  I downloaded it yesterday and ran the program, and I removed about 1200 MB of junk from my laptop... I had no idea that my laptop had been continuously saving and storing so much stuff, especially since I've only had it for about a year.  Overall, I thought that I learned quite a bit about basic computer survival tips, and I will definitely be using the ccleaner program regularly!

Introduction

My name is Riley Newson.  I am the oldest of five children - I have three little sisters and a brother.  I don't really feel like I have a hometown because I have moved at least every three years for my entire life, but I currently live in Kansas City, Missouri.  My dad recently retired from the Army and my family moved to the Midwest to be closer to my grandparents.  So far, I have lived in Illinois, Colorado, Germany, and Hawaii.  I love to travel and meet new people.

I am interested in art (specifically drawing) and writing poetry and short stories, but I also fascinated by the sciences. I hope to major in either Neuroscience or Psychology and go on to medical school.  I don't consider myself to be very athletic, but I participated in both lacrosse and Irish dance for four years in high school.  I play club lacrosse for Trinity, and I'm also a member of the Psychology Club and RUF (Reformed University Fellowship).

My knowledge of computers is pretty limited - I use my laptop to write papers, read my Email, and surf the Internet.  If I have any computer problems, I usually go straight to a friend instead of trying to fix it myself.  I'm looking forward to expanding my basic knowledge of computers.

I can be reached through my instructor at lyn.belisle@trinity.edu.