Thoughts on Excel

Although I have not enjoyed Excel much in the past, this class has helped me to become more comfortable with it. I do not feel as if I had struggled with it in high school, but it was often annoying to use and had connotations that included frustrating biology or chemistry prelabs. I knew how to input basic data, use formulas, and make basic charts, but I was not very experienced. I have learned more efficient ways to calculate equations in excel and how to have more control over the spreadsheet. I did not know about certain features such as conditional formatting. In future classes, it would be helpful to continue to find out the fastest ways to accomplish tasks in Excel, like all the simple shortcuts that exist. This could help me in my "real life" by making other school work easier and impressing teachers with visually appealing reports. I immaturely dislike Excel just for the fact that it is often used for rather dull assignments. I like Excel though for its clean organization.

Copyright Debate

The Internet has created a unique opportunity for thieves as well as intellectuals or even a combination of the two. I have actually been interested in copyright law for a while in regards to sharing media and sampling music, but learned new things from Jason Hardin's talk. For example, I did not know that it is a felony to commit a copyright infringement involving more than 10 copies and a value of more than $2500. The laws on such matters can be rather confusing as many gray areas exist. The line of legality is constantly blurred with new lawsuits and questioning of what is right and wrong. One matter up for debate is the question of what falls under “fair use” and what is outright stealing. I have done a research paper on such laws before and know that Title 17 of the US Code concerning copyright states that to determine whether the use of a copyrighted work is fair use or not, one must consider “the purpose and character of the use,” “the nature of the copyrighted work,” “the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole” and “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work” which Jason Hardin also shared with us in class. This allows cases to be determined more fairly based on the specifics on the scenario, which I think is very important.  Many young creative minds using already existing art as pieces in a bigger picture should not be punished for their drive to express themselves and expand on previous ideas. Yet, artists deserve to receive recognition and be able to earn a living from their creative efforts. The future of online media and sampling should be handled with cooperation instead of reprimand. I personally hope a fair balance is reached between artists making profit and consumers being able to share and enjoy creative works, but I do not believe the solution to such issues is solved by massive companies suing individuals. 

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Understanding the Trinity Network

At long lost, I think I am finally understanding how an institution, such as a college campus, gets a connection to the Internet and maintains its servers. I have never known much about the hardware behind working, high-speed Internet. It was very cool to take a look behind the scenes and have Jared Pack explain the connection to us. I was surprised by a number of things. For example, I couldn't have guessed that data was backed up on cassette tapes which often are seen as equipment of the past. I feel less ignorant knowing at least a bit about how our computer's precious connection to the online world must go through multiple sources before rendering the results we want.

Trinity Mystery Picture

The location I chose is a place I pass every Tuesday and Thursday on the way to class. You might be passing this area if you are going to be doing something more physical than using paper and a pen. The school mascot proudly stands and watches. I messed with the original photo in Picnik by turning up the saturation and contrast. I also altered the color settings to give it a warmer look. Then I added some random, silly-looking doodles. I finally added one of the "sticker" doodle creatures and gave him a thought bubble to show his confusion by the appearance of the tiger. I think this is a rather cool location on campus and it is a nice way for me to begin the day when I go to this class. There was not any particular reasoning for the edits, but I do enjoy intensifying the colors in photos to almost make them surreal. I thought the tiger lent itself very nicely to goofy doodles.

The Hatch Files

I really apprecited Joe Hatch taking the time to speak to us about online security and general maintenance. I was aware of the "reset" feature in Safari but did not know that it could quite possibly speed browsing the web. I also knew of nasty things that one's computer could become infected with such as viruses and trojans but did not know all the ways one's connection might become vulnerable. I think I now understand better why the school uses the Clean Access Agent. I will try to be more careful about accessing certain things online.