Powerpoint

I found that all three articles gave very important tips for designing effective and appealing powerpoint presentations. What I find most annoying on powerpoints is cheesy graphics and too many pictures, and all the articles mentioned not to use those in one way or another, so I guess it's what upsets most viewers. Another thing that makes powerpoint presentations irritating is too many bullet points or information on one slide. It gets hard to read and too much to take in. Also, if that happens on a slide, I usually find myself reading the slide instead of listening to the person present. The first article, "Top Ten Slide Tips", gave quite a few tips against that. In that same article, I especially liked the section where the author described what graphs are appropriate for what kind of data or information portrayed. It was helpful because sometimes it's hard to know which one to use, so that's a helpful tool. In the second article, I especially like the point that when we make powerpoint presentations, we should use the slides to "reinforce not repeat words". I think that is such a good way to put it--don't read from the slides, give the basics and voice the details in the speach. The YouTube tutorial is also good because sometimes, if you're a visual learner, it's good to watch to learn instead of reading. From the information gathered from the articles as well as my own personal opinion, here are my top five tips for creating successful powerpoint presentations:
1. Don't read from the slides--That bores the listeners.
2.Engage both sides of the brain--provide both interesting logic as well as images or songs.
3. Space out information--give yourself room to discuss and time to transition to other points.
4. Use big fonts and appropriate color schemes--make sure viewers can read what is put on the slide. If all the text can't fit without making it small, then that's probably too much information on one slide! Also, don't pick contrasting colors or colors that don't fit with the presentation's mood.
5. Make sure there's room to adapt--if it's a long presentation, keep the terms on the slides general so that there's room to adapt if the ideas flow a different way or your viewers take you a different direction. Audience is important to keep in mind.

Excel-lent!

I had taken a class sophomore year dealing with Microsoft, and we learned some excel, so some of the material we learned in class was review (such as SUM and making graphs). But, I also learned a lot of new things, like the IF formula and the Formatting skills (like Merge and Center) that really help to finalize a project and make it efficient and professional. I know that especially in my Bio Lab 1111 class, being comfortable in excel really pays off. We have to deal with a lot of data sets in that class and it's important to be accurate as well as quick, so knowing excel has really paid off. I've been talking with others about it too, and they say that knowing excel in Lab class is a must! This class has helped a lot with that. In the same boat, excel can be used in the future by one who goes into lab research as a profession. My dad is a Nanotechnologist and operates a lab conducting research on the field of Nanomedicine, and he hires people who are skilled in programs like Excel because they can produce the most accurate results in a short amount of time. That's why Excel important in academic fields and business-it keeps data organized and easy to manage.

A picture says a thousand lies!

When looking at the two photographs, it's easy to see that there is a man in the first that doesn't appear on the second. The missing man's name was Leon Trotsky, and the picture was taken in Soviet Russia. When he was no longer a part of the communist party in power, the soviets removed him in the picture, to erase any ties he had with other party officials. This type of picture is harmful, especially knowing that the government could and would easily distort images, because Trotsky's reputation and image could be easily distorted and manipulated by the use of pictures. In the example above, the government could make it seem like they had no ties with this man and could argue that they never had. I picked this image because the use of power is quite frightening--knowing that the government was so manipulative! I also did a little report once in my world history class about how Hitler similarly manipulated photos to his benefit. For example, when he thought that those who were in power with him were traitors, he would secretly have them assassinated or exiled and would remove all traces of those individuals from photos. Also, he would use it in his governing abilities by either erasing evidence or creating unreal evidence in his favor by changing photos. The Nazi regime was very corrupt, and photos, manipulated creatively, were as dangerous as their other forms of violence. 

Awesome Library Resources

Did you know that our Trinity library has way more than just books? You'll be amazed at all the wonderful resources you'll find on all the floors of our library. Let me tell you a little bit about some of the most fascinating rooms and all the possibilities that dwell within each one. First walking into the AT&T Learning center, you'll see a big room with many stations. One station is the Studios@CLT station. There are computers there that have dreamweaver, adobe illustrator, photoshop and even Flash CS3! These are all up-to-date programs that give users the power to create functional and stylish websites, photo and video-editing, and create animations. Not to mention, these programs are all relatively expensive, so why not take advantage of this awesome resource. Also, if you want to edit video, the Macs have iMovie, which is a really great and easy to use program, and the Windows PCs have Soni Vegas.

The Digital Audio Lab has a turntable, keyboard, CD player, cassette player, and many more audio editing and recording software. The door to this lab remains locked at all times, so you need permission to get in there. For example, the beginning guitar class is recording themselves and exporting their music to a CD. That's pretty cool!

I know about a room that many Trinity students would be interested about. It's the Media Presentation Lab. Although it sounds like a classroom, it's really closer to being a movie theater. There are touch-screen panels, a giant projector and even speakers that encircle the entire audience! This room is used for movie showing. Anybody can use it, but if you want to, it is wisest to reserve it. The majority of the day, it is reserved, but it is usually free at night.

The Video Conference Center has a Polycom video conference facility. Mr. Rubin Rodriquez, who is the programmer for Tiger TV, sometimes gives lectures in this room. Besides that, it has mostly just been turned into a storage room now. It has many podiums, lights, backgrounds, and other machinery.

I also went into a room where Windows computers and scanners line the back and Macs are in the front. It is the Innovation Studio. Mostly only faculty attends sessions held in there, but students could come if they really wanted to. This is where the faculty attends lessons on how to use Tlearn (which will ultimately replace Blackboard). It is a very spacey and comfortable room.

Something else that I found out while on my tour, I think you'll find very interesting. There is a dubbing station! This means that you can convert VHS cassette into a DVD. This is a neat machine to have on a campus. The only problem is that it converts in real time, so it may take a while. Still, it's a useful tool!

Besides using these resources for this Computer class, by exploring the different software packages and programs, I can also use it for other classes. For example, in my art class (Design I), the teacher always asks for interesting ways to artistically show nature or projects. Given the freedom of our projects, she strongly suggests programs like photoshop to help enhance our finished assignments. Also, on a more personal note, these resources can be used outside the classroom. I, for example, love making movies, but I haven't been able to do it very much because my video-editing software is not very good and it's been giving me lots of problems. Now, I can just use the lab and burn my projects to a CD. I can't believe we have all this stuff in our own library. Usually people have to spend lots of money to gain access to these materials, so we're all very lucky! I don't think that many students know just how much we can do, though, so let's spread the word.

A Few Things About Copyright

The presentation on copyright has been my favorite guest speaker so far. I thought it was interesting and very helpful. I learned that the public domain is a set of materials that can be used without requesting copyright permission, so they are publicly available. Also, I’m glad Mrs. Graves verified that even if the creator or author is dead or the work is out of print, the work can still be under protection. She cleared a lot of myths like that up, and I’m glad she did because copyright is rather confusing sometimes. I learned that copyright for U.S. published works is now the author’s life + 70 years (for single authors) or the date of publication + 95 years (for corporate entities like Disney).

One interesting fact I learned was about the Mickey Mouse Protection Act that was passed in 1998. It extended the term of copyright an additional 20 years. Disney did this because Steamboat Willie was about to lose its copyright. There is tension about what will happen in 2018 when the copyright of Steamboat Willie will run out. People think that Disney will most likely try to extend the copyright again. This is because they can still make money off of it. On the other side of the argument, extending copyright as a whole would be harmful because, especially in an academic libraries, authors or publishers cannot be located, and, besides, a piece rarely lives for more than ten years. What’s my stand on it? I, along with Mrs. Graves and many others, believe that it would be most wise of Disney to extend the copyright for Steamboat Willie, but they should try to apply for an extension only for themselves. Likewise, if any work is still useful to the owners for more than ninety five years, they can individually apply for an extension. Above is a picture of Steamboat Willie, which is still copyrighted by Disney.

Some more facts about copyright include the term “Orphan works” referring to publications that we can’t find or don’t know the author or publisher or any copyright holder. An interesting fact Mrs. Graves told us is that in Canada, if you can prove that something is an orphan work, it will be put into the public domain.

Just to relate this to our experiences at Trinity, about 4% of all file sharing is on campuses; therefore, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), and ESA (Entertainment Software Association) are disproportionately interested in campus-based file sharing. Trinity has to give out names if a subpoena is given. An individual can be sued 13,000-17,000$ for the case! One reason why these organizations are so worried about digital copyright infringement is because digital copies don’t deteriorate. It is important to know that Trinity will not provide for defense in court. So, just don’t do it Trinity students!Just buy the songs, go on YouTube, or listen to friends' CDs.