Website

www.cs.trinity.edu/~dgolden
I had a bit of experience with coding and web design so it went as I expected. As usual, there were some technical difficulties with some frustrating moments but it was not too hard. I mainly used KompoZer and Dreamweaver, but also had to look up some code on the web. I am probably most proud of the homepage because I had some difficulty with the images and it was nice to arrange everything like I had planned. I would probably change the layout or color scheme of the website a bit. It could probably be designed better. My biggest technical challenge was making a fixed background image which I was finally able to achieve. I believe that some of the code and design could have been sending conflicting information. My biggest design challenge was deciding how to do the navigation. I ended up choosing to make a navbar with the linkable areas. I might send my site to a friend or two and will most likely email it to my parents. I assume I will make another website in the future for a class. I have used a website as a presentation in high school before for a non computer class. This assignment helped and taught me new ways to make a website even better.

Larry Hechler

Larry Hechler shared some great advice and information regarding computer hardware. It was a good reminder to save work often to the Y drive in case one loses their data. I thought his story or two of people destroying their computers for a free upgrade were amusing, but I would not be eligible for a warranty plan such as that because I have a Mac. I do believe I have the Applecare plan that he advised though. I didn't know that it was best to clean an LCD computer screen with simply some dawn and water on a rag as opposed to alcohol, acetone, or any form of ammonia. Another great tip was running down the battery at least once a month before charging it to maintain the battery's strength.

Sick Burger

My picture was made to show how photo manipulation could be abused in advertising. The picture shows a burger with a fly perched on top with a greenish patch on the patty. A rat is creeping in the background among stains on the white surface. I found the image of the burger and fries through Google Images along with the rat and fly. I altered the color of the meat and surface by changing the hue and saturation. I was inspired to do this photo by considering a company trying to sabotage another's product. This photo would be very harmful to a restaurant's business. Companies often already try to make their competitors look inferior, but a photo that is deceiving such as this would be wrongful. My photo also relates to the article I read. The Kia car company tried to make it appear as if a golfer was wearing their logo on his shirt by editing a photo of him. He became very upset and attempted to sue the company. This goes to show the dark side of using photo manipulation in advertising.

Johnson, Bradley. "Kia ad gets carmaker sued." Advertising Age 68.34 (1997): 24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

PowerPoint Presentations

I enjoyed this PowerPoint presentation project. Both researching my topic and watching others present helped me to learn new things and was interesting. The subject of circuit bending is of special interest to me because I love experimental music. I have messed around with circuit bending toys myself a little bit before, which helped me to have a better understanding of the process. It was fun to find pictures of modified toys and instruments, as well as to input the videos of a circuit bent Gameboy and Furby. In my research for the PowerPoint, I learned more about the history of circuit bending. I was not aware that it had existed in some form since the 1960's and who was credited as being one of the first pioneers of the art. If I could change something about my presentation, I would probably attempt to organize my thoughts better and add more information. I could have also come up with more creative effects in PowerPoint.
I was very impressed by many people's Powerpoints, but two presentations that really stuck out were Leslie's and Lauren's. Leslie demonstrated her knowledge of design with a very visually effective presentation. She showed some great examples of her passion that kept one's attention throughout. Lauren's PowerPoint was great because she took a serious topic but contrasted it with a Dr. Seuss story as a way to make it more interesting and easier to understand.

Chris Nolan

Chris Nolan, the Assistant University Librarian, presented interesting information concerning research on the internet. I was not surprised that Google is vastly the most popular search engine, but I enjoyed seeing the frequency of use of other search engines on the pie chart. I sometimes forget about Google scholar which seems like a nice back up for an academic database. I also hadn't considered how Google factors in the number of links to a website in its search list. Limiting searches by domain such as looking for specifically "edu" sights is a great idea when trying to find certain sources. The activity that consisted of evaluating the validity of certain websites was an effective way to highlight how websites' credentials can be deceiving.