December 1, 2007

Last Blog of the Semester

Go to every class and do all the homework, even if it seems tedious at times, because you learn a lot and most of what you learn will be on the tests and quizzes.

November 28, 2007

Website and Stumper Reactions

The collages that each person made to go on their page are all really good and are very representational of each persons character. Natalie's website had a link to a page all about books, which I love. I love to read so I can understand why a whole page could be devoted to that passion. Both Natalie and Samantha incorporated pictures of their name in acrossticks (poems with one word down and other words branching out from the first letter). Color choice on the websites also affected my pick of 'favorite' websites. Samantha's color choices were spot on! Jaime used a gradient background for his soccer page which perfectly matched the color of the sports jerseys they were wearing in a picture on the page. I also liked the links on Jaime's page because they were very relevant and educational.

The stumper pictures for our class were all really good! It was hard to pick my favorites, but I narrowed it down to three. I really liked Jake's stumper picture, but I had absolutely no idea where it was (somewhere in Bell Center maybe?) Alex's picture was gorgeous and I really liked the fact it could have been used for anything, not just this assignment. Also, she picked an out of the way spot on campus, so some people may have trouble placing where it is. Paul's stumper was very funny, which is very reminiscent of his personality. It was great that he gave options for answers at the top of his page with links telling you if it was the correct answer or not-I thought that was a brilliant idea! Jordan used a distorted angle on her picture, which made it more difficult to figure out, but I think it was taken near 'the fountain' and Northrup.

my website comments : Samantha's web, Natalie's web, Jamie's web



November 20, 2007

My Website

Come view my website, which I made for my computer skills class. Make sure to give me feedback on what you think of it!
Also, see if you can figure out where this picture was taken on the Trinity campus.

Kate Goldsberry

October 23, 2007

Bad Powerpoints

My favorite power point presentations were by Juan Perez, Paul Hoeg, and Nicole Heroux. Juan's PowerPoint was really hard to read with the light colors he used and the small font. The white background was so boring and the text was all over the place. He made a good point with using all the same formatting for his slides. Paul's presentation was way too wordy with images all over the place. He used several different types of charts and had a non watchable movie which I found very humorous. Nicole's presentation was amazing because it used a completely unreadable in a symbol alphabet on all the slides. She had random noises in her PowerPoint that were also very distracting.

Here is a link to my own bad PowerPoint Presentation

Top Ten Things To Do (Or Not Do) To Make A Good PowerPoint
10. If you are resizing a picture be careful of the resolution on your picture
9. Do not use to many words to convey your point-be clear and concise
8. Use related pictures and backgrounds
7. If using a chart, make sure the information is easily readable
6. Use sounds and animations sparingly and only when appropriate
5. Do a spelling and grammar check on your presentation
4. Make sure your color choice for background color and font do not clash
3. Choose an easy to read font and do not vary this too much from slide to slide
2. Speak slowly when you go through your PowerPoint
1. Do not move the mouse around when you are giving your presentation as it is distracting to the viewer

Kate Goldsberry

September 30, 2007

Image Protection under the Copyright Law

Copyright law changed in 1923 from a fourteen year copyright to a stricter and longer policy of the author’s life plus an extra seventy-five years or a corporation’s life plus ninety years. This long of a copyright date makes it more important than ever to cite sources, be wary of paraphrasing, and know your rights under current copyright law. Any work created by anyone, if it is an original piece, is copyrighted, whether or not is has the © symbol (Templeton, 2004). This includes written work, work saved on a file, and any visual art as well as other creations. There is no difference between a written work and an image under the current copyright law. Giving recognition to the work when you reproduce it is not enough to satisfy the law; you must have individual consent from the author to use the work.

For example, if I were to put a picture up from a website on this blog, even if I cited the source, it would be considered copyright infringement under the law and I could possibility receive a take-down notice and/or a lawsuit from the copyright owner. This blog would normally fall under the fair use rule because it is for a scholarly course, but because it is seen by non scholars, it no longer falls under this protection. If I were to change the photo in some way and “create something new” (Stim, 2007) with the image, there is more of a chance the photo would fall under the fair use law and I would not be penalized for violating copyright law. The Fair use rule is a tricky rule, but the main points are: if you are using another’s work for a parody, scholarly intentions, reporting, or non-profit educational uses you are not violating copyright law (Stim, 2007).

So if the author of a work gives you permission to use a work, you can do that without getting sued for copyright infringment, but you still need to cite the source. The only way you can not site a source is if the creation is given to public domain or it is a government document. There are other types of licenses such as shareware or free ware being created recently to combat the restrictive nature of copyright laws. These are mainly for scholarly research which is being published for the enlightenment of others anyway and not for commercial use.

*“Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:
literary works;
musical works, including any accompanying words
dramatic works, including any accompanying music
pantomimes and choreographic works
pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
motion pictures and other audiovisual works
sound recordings
architectural works” (U.S. Copyright Office, 2006)

Bibliography
Stim, Richard. When Copying is Okay:The "Fair Use" Rule. 2007. 1 October 2007 .
Templeton, Brad. 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained. October 2004. 1 October 2007 .
U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright. July 2006. 1 October 2007 .

September 21, 2007

Oh the "Times", they are a'changin'

Reading the article, Time Person of the Year: You, evoked several different responses in my mind. I recalled that when the article first came out, those around me were calling it a cop out article. These naysayers were under the impression that the editors were scrambling for someone great to write about and had just wanted to make everyone feel better about themselves by making everyone the person of the year. Upon reading the article myself, however, I found that most of what it was saying to be true. We (a collective group of online browsers) are using the Internet even more than before. We shop online, write our diaries online, watch videos (and now movies) online, express ourselves creatively online, meet people online, and do any other number of extraordinary things using the Internet as a tool to do these things.

I was glad to see the contrasting ideas that the article conveyed-that as many good things have been born of the Internet, there have also been as many bad things happening (phishing, scamming, viruses sent, illegal music downloading, and hackers to name a few) as well. This is an important issue to bring up. Children now are growing up with the Internet-something the parents of this generation maybe never even dreamed of and are sometimes baffled by. We can read educational articles online as well as look up words on an online dictionary. The Internet is our oyster, to use a bad pun, but really, anything we can think of, we can figure out a way to do on the computer.

Businesses are looking for ways to harness this global power for their advertising. They are using blogs like the one I am writing this entry in today. There is plenty of money to be gleaned from the Internet. Pop-ups, those annoying little ads you get if you do not have a screening program on your computer, get money from you for clicking on them. These blogs are also a great way to create revenue and word of mouth on new products. The article I read on Web 2.0 mentioned how Victoria Secret was able to generate a huge buzz around their "pink" product line from a Facebook group before the new line was even launched. This is the success most companies dream of when they are starting a new blog/Myspace page/Facebook page/ect. as a form of marketing campaign.

The article about web 2.0 also warns that television is still a handy method of consumerism, but the television was once thought of the same way as the Internet (in this case, the radio would have accounted for the majority of customer sales and before the radio it was newspapers.) More and more of the things you can do with a TV are being transitioned over to the Internet. You can watch movies, listen to your daily news, see recipes (and watch cooking shows), as well as watch regular television channels in live streamed windows.

The Internet is a fantastic thing for people to get their ideas out there-though the Times article warns America's "solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses" that they "may have to learn to play with others" because of all the open contests and opportunities available on the web. The power of the Internet was illustrated nicely in this years Forbes Richest People of the World article. The number one richest person in the entire world is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Other top people include more Microsoft executives, Google founders, and software company guru's.

So whether or not you like the awesome pull of today's society toward the Internet, it seems like it is here to stay for good.

Katherine Goldsberry


*Outside sources used in this blog*

Dylan, Bob. "The Times They Are A-Changin'." The Times They Are A-Changin'. 1964.

"Forbes." 8 March 2007. The World's Billionaires. 20 September 2007 <http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires_CountryOfPrmRes.html>.
Grossman, Lev. "Time's Person of the Year: You." 13 December 2006. Time in partnership with CNN. 20 September 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html?aid=434&form=o&to=http%3A//www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html>.

Gumpert, David E. "The Right Way to use Web 2.0." Business Week Online (2007): 18-.