Advice for next year

Come to class! That is the best way to stay ahead and it will make you not only capable of doing the homework but also more proficient. Also, stay up to date with your homework. It is not alot but even a few points is critical to your grade.

Websites

All of the websites we saw on Thursday were very well done. There were 3 that stood out for different reasons. The first one that I really liked was Morgan's. The design was really impressive, but I rally liked how she worked African-American history into her website. It really brought out a lot of not only her families history but also the passion she has for understanding it. You could tell her passion through the presentation and it made it even that much better.

Kelly's was also really good. I really liked her navbar. It was really simple yet easy to use and had great pictures. Also her pictures were very cool and well organized. I liked her soccer pictures because I have traveled and played alot of places except the Pacific Northwest and it was cool to see club pictures of hers from there.

I also really liked Ali Kimura's. You could tell she put alot of time into it and she has passion on many subjects. Her images were well organized and had some awesome functions. One of the coolest things she did was put the travel bag with links to all the places she has been. She also did a great job with organization and the colors and designs were perfect.

You can check my website out at www.cs.trinity.edu/~nalexand

Powerpoint Presentations #2

During day 2 of the presentations there were just as many great ones. Two that really stood out for me were Stanton's and Tyler's. First off in Stanton's I really liked his ideas as well as the images. The slide with his name as the record company(even though it was not his own) was extremely cool and perfect for his topic. His passion for music and the recording business was very obvious and made the presentation so much better. Also his slide showing the different recording studios was very cool as well as very smooth. All his images were very interesting and perfect for such a short presentation.

Tyler's presentation was also really good. He took a different approach than many others by providing a story unlike anyone else. His slides were extremely consistent and made the story flow perfectly. The information presented he also seemed to very knowledgeable about which made it easier for the audience to understand as he didn't merely read the slides. All his images were very nice and made the story flow more and gave visual aid to what actually happened during that shipwreck. 

Powerpoint Presentations

As we have not seen every ones presentation yet and all were very good and different there were 2 that I found very creative and exceptional. The first one that stood out was Lindsay Marotta's presentation on art therapy. As she was going thought this unfamiliar topic to me I almost felt as if I was going through art therapy at the moment. With all the pictures and the descriptions of the process along with the subtle background music you got a very pleasant helpful vibe that she was trying to portray that this therapy does to you. The graphics and designs also fit well and make it a very smooth presentation as well as her showing her up most passion for the topic during the presentation.
A huge sign for me of a great presentation is when you don't feel like the speaker cares what is being said behind them on the screen and actually presents the topic. Lachlan Fogarty did a great job with this and he made me feel his passion for the conservation of beaches and started to make me think about me helping out. Also the visual evidence, pictures, that he presented made you feel good about the positive effects and bad about the negative effects. Also the design was very smooth and made it look very professional.

Powerpoint

After reviewing the article it became very obvious to me what the themes for making a good presentation were. All of the articles seemed to focus on themes of making it easy for the reader to understand, visually appealing, and functional with the presentation that is being given. Here are my 5 guidelines to a successful powerpoint.

1.) Make it concise. Get to the point through you talking. Don't let the slide be all that is there to be said and elaborate on the slide.

2.) Don't overly complicate it. Make the slides simple but visually apealling without too much going on. You don't want the slides to drag the audiences attention away from your speech.

3.) Keep the transitions and movement to a minimal. It makes it seem tacky, corny, and elementary.

4.) Make it interesting by adding nice pictures, charts, videos, etc. You don't want your presentation to get repetitive and bland. 

5.) Make the font large enough that you can read from far away. You don't want the reader to feel uncomfortable with being able to read the slides.

Excel

After learning about and practicing with excel in class, I am now much more capable and efficient with my excel skills. One of the coolest things that I learned was absolute cell reference. In some past experiences with excel for various projects, I would always struggle when making my spreadsheets to make the data correct. I knew that you could pull the number down to make it the function for all them, but it would always be faulty. The use of the F4 and absolute cell reference function now saves me so much time as I don't have to individually do each formula and also takes out a lot of human error as well. 

As I plan to pursue a job in business the experience I have learned from excel will make me much better at my job and more proficient. In business you will always be using information and trying to get organized. Excel is the perfect way to easily access data, to make easy to use graphs and other visible organization functions, and also to make sure you have a safe reliable storage place. With the new knowledge of excel from class, I will enter the "real world" a little more ready and capable which will make the transition a lot easier. I will use excel for not only work but also for personal things too. Since I was 12 I have been helping my dad make NCAA tournament brackets every March, so this will help me make them quicker as well as more functional and better looking.

Robert Chapman and the CLT

The first time I entered the CLT I was blown away. I didn't realize how many computers and cool gadgets would be down there, but never really understood the functions of them until today. Robert Chapman presentation made me understand the diversity and functionality of the center. I found computers with Vista, Mac, and XP. I know that doesn't sound like much but when performing complex tasks having these different programs and the functionality of using all 3 in such an environment can be extremely useful. I also found out there is a sound studio and lots of cool music making and editing devices that really interest me as I thoroughly enjoy music. The CLT will be useful for many different purposes. For this class I can use the different programs on each to design projects such as a website and can get help from the people working there too! It will also help in other classes with projects and papers or just any time I want to be creative.

Manipulation of Photos

I chose the image of the British soldier gesturing Iraq citizens in 2003 during the war to take cover. I chose this as this war has impacted our lives in the US for many years and I always looked at pictures and was curious the interaction between the soldiers and civilians. This picture originated in April of 2003 on the cover of the LA Times shortly after the US led an invasion of Iraq. The picture was manipulated by the author combining two different photos from the war to make it look as if the soldier was being compassionate and extremely helpful and caring towards the civilians of Iraq. The photo was manipulated to "improve" the composition of the picture and to portray a different image than actually happened. This image was made this way to show that we were helping the poor people that weren't fighting us and were just caught up in the war, except this image was false. The manipulation was harmful on many levels as the author was fired after 30 years in the business and it portrayed a false image of helpfulness that wasn't actually happening. Thus leading US and allied citizens into believing we were giving hope and help to those caught in the actions while the photo wasn't true and was harmful to our thoughts and notions on what actually was happening.

Chris Nolan's Presentation

From his presentation I learned alot of new and informative information. At first I figured that there wasn't alot to searching the web and that the searches and variety we very similar. But I was wrong. One thing I thought that was really cool is the advanced search feature ongoogle. It is awesome how you can use it to limit the search to avoid commercial sites and can specify your search to .edu, .gov., etc. based on the type of results your looking for. I didn't realize this feature and google scholar as well that make google such a diverse and more complex site than I thought based of the simple design. The information I learned about google as well as various other search engines and databases really put in perspective the power of the internet and how diverse it really can be.

Copyright and Mickey Mouse

Almost of the information I learned today was new. I was very unaware of the seriousness of copyrighting and all the different laws and what having a copyright entails. I was unaware of the Sonny Bono Act. I didn’t realize that this bill added in 1998 was to extend the time of the copyright of a person an extra 20 years to the now 70 years after their death that they still would be the sole proprietor of that copyright. This Mickey Mouse Protection Act has two distinct sides to it. On one hand it seems fair that Walt Disney’s company should be able to hold these rights to the characters forever. On the contrary many argue that it seems unreasonable to keep passing laws for something that someone that has been dead so long company is trying to hold onto and that they should become part of the public domain. I side with those that think Disney should maintain these rights. There are multimillion and billion dollars parks and franchises that run on these distinct and creative characters and I feel as it is unjust to give up these just because the original owner is dead. I believe that the copyright should stay with the company as long as it is in business and that they should still have the sole rights to all the characters.

FACEBOOK!

As facebook has become a staple among teens its hard to pick out a college student that doesn't use it anymore. I use it daily as a tool for communication whether it just be friendly chat or to check and see what could be happening in a group I'm involved with. It is useful academically as a person can get a message out there quickly, easily, and across a medium that students check multiple times a day. I also helps the transition from high school to college easier as you can stay in touch and keep up with old friends lives without too much time or effort. Its a simple easy way for students to be connected that can be used for many different things.

Check out what the Christian Science Moniter had to say about facebook

Word Experience

I have been using word since I can remember. It is really the only Office program that I feel comfortable with and capable of helping someone. I don't feel particularly comfortable with the new Word on a PC as I now am on a Mac, but through Trinity computers and this class I'm starting to get a better feel for it. I like Word better than IWork though and have made that my choice of word processing on my computer.
I have never been an expert on Word by any means but through trial and error I am functional. I would like to become quicker and more proficient with my work in Word especially with all of the little stuff such as formatting and page setup. With proper help and learning I could save a lot of time from the functionality of Word. I also struggle with the fancy aspects. I have never been good at pictures and moving them and placing them where I want. All of that would be helpful to know and would benefit my work and quickness as well.

About Me

Hi my name is Nicholas Alexander. I go by Nick and am from Overland Park, Kansas. Growing up I lived in four states. I was born in Overland Park, KS, then moved to Houston, TX, in 3rd grade, then a year later moved to Fairfax, VA. In 5th grade I then moved to St. Louis, MO, then moved back to Overland Park after 8th grade. Here is a link to my hometown to all of you that don't know where Overland Park is check out google maps.  Growing up I played many sports and eventually began to focus on just one, soccer. I have been playing soccer since I was three and my proudest accomplishment was winning the 2006 Kansas 6A State championship. I come from a decent sized family that mostly live in the Kansas City area. I even have a great great grandmother who is 106 years old! I play defender for the Trinity soccer team. We had a great year in 2007 as we posted a 20-1-1 record and made it to the regional final before being upset by Amherst. I also really enjoy golfing, playing basketball, and spending time with my family and friends. 

My computer skills on the main areas and main programs are good but I lack alot of knowledge in areas relating to photos, building websites, and parts of Excel and Access. I have learned most of my computer skills either by trial and error on my own or from my high school computer applications class freshman year. I would like to learn how to deal with photos and how to become quicker and more efficient in all that I do on the computer.

You can email me at nalexand@trinity.edu if you have any questions or comments.