Advice for next year...

I actually learned a lot of really useful information in this class. My advice for next year students is to do all the homework assignments and to have fun! Not everything you learn in this class is boring, so enjoy yourself!

The Class Websites

I really enjoyed looking at everyone's websites and getting to know my classmates a little bit better. After looking at all of the sites, these are my three favorites:

1. I liked Jeanna Goodrich's websites. It was very creative (like always) and very artistic. It was fun to look at because it was different from everyone else's. It wasn't the usual website. I enjoyed it a lot.

2. I liked Ashley Conway's website. I liked on her home page how she made a photo collage of different pictures of her. It added a nice touch. I also enjoyed looking at her gallery and the different photographs that she has taken. It was neat.

3. I liked Luke Caldarera's website. First his site is very organized and so it made it easy to navigate. Also, there are lots of different pictures to look at which made it fun and interesting. I also enjoyed his travel section. It added a nice variation compared with other sites.

Overall I enjoyed making a website about myself. It was fun and it was interesting to learn how to make websites. Please follow the link below to look at my website:
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~dwright1/

HTML Codes

Although HTML codes are tedious and require lots of memorization and patience, it is still useful to understand how they work. Today there is sophisticated software, such as Expression Web or Dreamweaver, which alows web designers to create web pages without having to deal with HTML codes. Nevertheless it is still important for web designers to understand how HTML codes work in case there is a mistake or something wrong with the website. This way, the web designers can look at the HTML codes in order to figure out what is wrong or what is causing the problem. If they do not understand HTML codes, then it will be much more difficult to diagnose and fix the problems/errors that might occur while making web pages. Therefore understanding what HTML codes do and how they are used can be very useful. I know I am glad that I have learned how to use these codes. I had no idea what they were, but I think it will be useful for me in the future, and especially when we start to make our websites.

PPT Presentations

My two favorite presentations were by Meghan Appelbaum and Jeanna Goodrich. I really liked Meghan's topic--astronomy. I have always thought astronomy was very interesting and so I especially liked her presentation. Also, her design was good, I especially liked the background picture of the stars. Overall I think it was very nice. Jeanna's presentation was interesting because I didn't know much about the United States Postal Service. Also, her slides were very artistic and creative, which made it enjoyable to look at. I also liked her animated picture of her delivering mail--it was very creative. Good job girls!

Powerpoint Presentations

I liked reading these articles. These articles were entertaining to read and they laid our some basic rules when making powerpoint presentation that I think are useful. The five points I liked the best were as follows:
1. Limit animations or keep them simple (I get annoyed when there are too many things flying around or bouncing, etc.)
2. Use color well
3. Keep it simple, don't put every work into your powerpoint
4.Use Fonts well
5.Use high-quality graphics
I think we need to be sure to follow these guidelines so that we do not make annoying, hard-to read, or boring presentations.

Chris Nolan and Search Engines

I learned a lot of good information in this presentation. I have always used Google for my main search engine, but I never really understood it. This helped me to understand how it works and he gave me some tips for searching. Some of the tips include, using the "Advanced Search" link to narrow your search. Also, you can use Google Scholar to get better information for research projects, papers, and other school work. I also learned how Google rates the websites that come up when you search. It rates them according to the words that appear in the title, how often the words appear, the quality of the site, and also how often the sites are linked. This is interesting because although a site is linked lots of times, this doesn't mean it is necessarily a scholarly source. There are many websites that are only popular and are only for enjoyment that will be linked more often than many scholarly websites. Overall, I enjoyed this presentation and I learned a lot of useful information. Thank you Chris Nolan!

Copyright Information

The copyright presentation provided lots of information that was new to me. I have never really learned much about copyright before and I found Diane Graves presentation quite interesting. First, I didn't know that a copyright usually lasts the author's life plus 75 years, but it was extended 20 years in 1998 for Mickey Mouse. (Honestly, I think Mickey Mouse should be copyrighted forever, you can't just remove the copyright of Mickey Mouse, I mean really? Walt Disney was a genius!) I also that people who make parodies are given the right to produce copies. I guess I just figured they didn't need that right. In addition, I learned that the author/writer doesn't actually hold the copyright, instead the publisher is the one who holds the copyright. I thought this seemed a little strange. That is part of what the writers strike was about. The writer's realized that the publishers and film makers wouldn't have anything if it wasn't for them (the writers).

One main issue concerning copyright is all the law suits that are being cast to those who have illegally downloaded music. Many people are having to pay huge fines for downloading music off the internet without paying. On one hand, the person who downloads music is not trying to cause any harm. They may have a good reason why they need the music--like a school or work project or presentation--or they may just be downloading it simply because they like the music. They are not trying to decrease the sales of the music industry or break copyright laws--they are simply doing it because the technology is there and they don't necessarily know any better. It is ridiculous to find them thousands, and hundreds of thousands dollars for just a few songs. If you are going to fine them, then make it reasonable--paying $250,000 because you downloaded a few songs is a ridiculous price and it is unbelieveable that they are getting away with this price.

On the other hand, people who download music are doing it illegally and breaking the law. You cannot just pass around free music. Just because the technology is available does not make it legal. Artists create this music and they should be rewarded by having people actually buy their music. You cannot just take someone's work and make lots of copies to give to different people.

This issue is an interesting one. While I agree that we should not necessarily download music freely. I think that music prices are so expensive today and also that the price that they are sueing peope for is ridiculous. I think that they should not be allowed to sue for so much money and that maybe if they made music prices cheaper, less people would download illegally.