A Word of Advice for CS 1300

Computer Skills is a great class. It gets you oriented with computer activities in a step-by-step fashion, so you don't have gaps later on. For example, almost everyone knows how to use Word, but hardly anyone knows how to use Excel to plug in addresses and names into Word to make greeting cards! It's a lot to learn and do in one semester, but in the end, it's completely worth it! From my experience in this class, I've learned to always do my homework; even if it's only a 4 point assignment. Have fun!

Know your HTML code!

It's important to know HTML code because, if something goes wrong when people are using Expression Web, or something similar, they can figure out what is basically wrong and fix it. For example, if the background color was not the one that they wanted they could go into the code form and change it manually. Or if for some reason the title was not centering it could also be changed manually.

Power Point Presentations

During last week's presentations, I enjoyed Kate and Meghan's the most. Kate's presentation was about paleontology, which she detailed in great excitement. I really liked the cvaite she went to that described the various fossils found in the different regions in Texas. Also, her T-Rex background was a nice touch too. What I liked about Meghan's presentation was also her enthusiasm for her topic, astronomy. She really knew what she was talking about. The thing I found most interesting was the fact that NASA created the powdered food items, like Tang. I hope they come up with rea powdered donuts one of these days. Her solar system background was really cool as well.

Tips for Power Point Presentations

1. Say a lot in few words - as in, each bullet point should be easy for the audience to understand and not take too long to read or take in
2. Use varying colors, but not colors that completely contrast each other or detract from the overall ability to pay attention to what's really important: the presentation topics
3. Add pictures to slides, but make sure that a picture doesn't stand out too much or too little, if it is the focus of a particular slide
4. Be consistant with the fonts used; don't overuse or underuse a font, as in be creative but not to the extent that it becomes a distraction for the audience
5. Make sure that the slides flow well, that the topics are organized and well-planned

Chris Nolan's Presentation

After listening to Chris Nolan's presentation on searching the internet, I found the differences in search engine credibility to be quite interesting. I used to think that all search engines would pull up the same links to a certain topic; but, he claims that Google and Yahoo, for example, have different priorities and thus different links or sources. So, depending on the topic, Google might have better links to more credible websites, have a greater variety, or get straight to the desired topic for which one is looking compared to those of Yahoo. Now, when I search a topic on Google, I will compare the results with those from Yahoo or another search engine in order to get access to the best websites or closest to what I'm looking for.

Copyright

After learning about the problems involved with and caused by copyright laws, I realize now how big an issue copyright is and has been for years. One of the big topics we discussed in class was the Sonny Bono Act of 1998, which helped the magical world of Disney by lengthening their copyright of Mickey Mouse and friends by an additional twenty years. However, in 2018 the same problem will ensue again, and Disney will want more power over its rights to their long-lived characters. This copyright problem represents the pain that authors, musicians, and artists suffer after creating something amazing but lose control over them after a certain number of years. Yet at the same time, many people feel that a piece of work should enter into the public domain quicker; if not, the public is obliged to pay the person who owns the rights (often not even the creater) to use a piece of work. So for many, this copyright issue is too strict, and for others too lenient. In my opinion, I think that the creater of a work should decide when his or her work should enter into the public domain - not a relative, spouse, or anyone looking for monetary gain without the creator's approval. This way, the rules would be different for every piece of work, but the public would have the upper-hand since many creators will want the monetary gain to end with him or her. So, with few exceptions the public could expect almost all pieces of work to be accessable once a creator dies, making both the public better informed on copyright strains and the creator more at ease about the future of his or her work.

My Experience with Excel

Having never used Excel in High School or anywhere else before, I have learned something completely new. Though Excel and I don't really get along very well, I feel it necessary to understand it as best as I can, for it will help me with any future career. For example, if I end up becoming a professional musician, Excel could help me in planning fundraisers, parties, or just calculating my own income and expenses. No matter what, I will always find something useful from Excel.