Advice for new students taking CS1300 next semester

My advice to get a good grade in this course is to DO YOUR WORK and PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS.
If you follow this advice there is absolutely no reason for any of you to not get the grade you want. Enjoy this course and learn as much as you can because everything that we cover in class is interesting and helpful.

Students Websites

I was really impressed with everybody's websites because they all looked great and were very interesting. My 3 favorite websites were:

1. Lauren's Website
2. Sarah's Travel Bucket List
3. The Hustings of Texas

Lauren's website had many pictures and I was able to learn a lot of about her. Her layout was very interesting and really caught my attention.
Sarah's Travel Bucket List was amazing! I personally want to travel all over the world and her last website part where she talks about studying abroad really made me want to learn more.
Deanna's website about her family was really nice. She did a great job organizing a page for each of her family members and all of the pictures were great.

It was really hard deciding what my favorite websites were because they were all really great.

I made a website! :)

Please visit my website at www.cs.trinity.edu/~kgarcia1 !

I can't believe that I created a website! The website I decided to make is called CUPCAKE WORLD because I just LOVE cupcakes! I learned to bake when I was only 5 years old at my grandmother's house and cupcakes have always been my specialty. Making my site was easier than I thought thanks to Microsoft Expression Web. The section that I am the most proud of is my nav bar because I created it in Adobe Photoshop. When I first used Adobe Photoshop I was a little nervous, but I am really happy that I learned so many useful tools in this class. Something that I changed in my website was making the pictures a little smaller because they were way too large! My biggest technical challenge was figuring out how to change the title on each section, but a classmate helped me figure that out. My biggest design challenge was making sure the pictures were the right size and designing a good layout. I will show this site to all of my family and friends because I know that they will be very proud of me. I think that I will definitely make another site for another class in the future especially since I am studying business.

Advice we got from Larry Hechler

 For today’s class Larry Hechler, Hardware Technitian Supervision at the Information Technology Services, talked to us about computer hardware and all of the information he gave us was new to me since I didn’t know much before. I had a hard time understanding everything he was saying because some of the terms I wasn’t familiar with, but he gave us a  lot of useful tips. Something that I found very important was that hand creams are destructive to LCD screens so it is crucial that we don’t touch our computer and laptop screens with our hands. I also learned that I should never clean the screen with anything that includes alcohol, acetone, chloride bleach or ammonia. If we do so the screen can suffer some major damage and it can become very difficult to read because it will become cloudy. I learned to never spray directly into the screen, but spray into a cloth. Liquids and computers never mix at all, so always make sure to be careful and avoid having drinks around when you are using the computer. Last but not least I learned that back up is critical!! If you care about it put it somewhere else besides hard drive. For my next computer purchase I am going to make sure that I get informed about coverage plans because I learned that Dell has a really good one.

Powerpoint Presentation

The topic I chose for my powerpoint presentation was Youth Entrepreneurship. My major is Business and since I am a first-year student there isn't a lot that I have learned, but I am really looking forward to next semester. The reason why I chose to talk about Youth Entrepeneurship is because I think that a lot of young people have really amazing and unique ideas, but they do not know of all the funding opportunitites that exist out there to help them get started NOW! I was truly blessed  to recieve the Texas Youth Entrepeneurship Award as a high school senior and this is how I met numerous succesful entrepeneurs that are currently in college at the same time that they are managing their businesses. It was during my research for this presentation that I learned that there are other funding opportunities and the importance of spreading the word to other young entrepeneurs about these opportunities. What I would have changed about my presentation is to maybe include more facts and information, but I just had a hard time working with the 3 minute time frame which was really limited.

My two favorite powerpoint presentations from my classmates were Deanna's and Paige's because they really caught my attention. I was impressed by how well they managed to organize their layouts and design styles to really catch the audiences attention. Their topics were both really interesting and made me want to learn more.

Here is the video that I used for my presentation! :)

Pictures That Lie

Using Adobe Photoshop Elements and some of the techniques we have learned in class I manipulated the picture above. I chose the picture of a mother with her three children riding bikes and a NO CARS sign to show the message that "Parents should teach their children to GO GREEN." The reason why I chose to convey this message through a picture is because I think that photo fakery should be used in a positive way rather than negative. The picture originated from a photographer's website who did a photoshoot of this family. I manipulated the picture by adding the NO CARS symbol to the bicycle's wheels. I think that this maniuplation was not harmful because it is carrying a positive message across.

The article I read was titled Computer as Accessory to Photo Fakery. It basically talked about how the computer software that is available today has allowed for a lot of people to be able to manipulate photographs. I agree with the article that photo fakery is often used in harmful ways by the media, but overall it is a positive thing to be able to use this technology during our daily lives. It was stated in the article, "The advent of the computer has taken much of the hard work out of convincing fakery." Yes, it is true that some people might take advantage of this to do negative things and carry negative messages, but it has also allowed many people to come up with creative ways to show positive messages to others. This is why I chose to maniuplate my picture so that it would carry a message about "Going Green" and showing the younger generations the importance of taking care of our environment.

Citation

BROWNE, MALCOLM W.. "Computer as Accessory to Photo Fakery." New York Times, The (NY) 24 Jul. 1991, Late Edition - Final, National Desk: 6. NewsBank. Web. 4 Apr. 2011.

Chris Nolan's Presentation on Searching the Internet

For today’s class, Chris Nolan who is the Assistant University Librarian came to talk to our class about searching the internet. It was interesting to learn that all of my classmates use Google as their main search engine and about 2/3 of users in the United States use google as well. I was glad to learn about the advance

search in google because I had never used it before. What I found to be really useful is the ability to find .gov or .edu sites only by typing this under “Search within a site or domain”. I had also never used Google Scholar, but I don’t think I will start to do so because we learned that it is similar to a database search but a lot of the articles don’t provide the full text for free unlike in our schoool’s library website.

Why Some of us Dislike PowerPoint Presentations

I think that everyone has experienced sitting through a really boring lesson that uses what can seem like the worst PowerPoint presentation in the world! I still remember trying to remain awake during some of my high school courses where the teacher used nothing but text on his/her PowerPoint presentation. I still can't understand why they couldn't spend just 10 more minutes looking for at least a few images that can help us (students) stay awake. I can also remember when some student would make a PowerPoint presentation that was very difficult to follow because he used backgrounds that would make it impossible for us to read the text. It would get to the point where students would just give up trying to follow along the presentation and take a nap instead. Here are a few other things that really bother me about bad Powerpoint presentations:

• Too much text, to the point where I feel that I am reading a 10 page paper!
• The same layout in every single slide!
• Text that is too small or with font that makes it difficult to read!
• Too much going on in every slide, which can make it hard to pay attention to the presenter!

AT&T Center for Learning and Technology

Today, I went to the AT&T Center for Learning and Technology for the first time during our computer class. I am so glad that now I know that this center exists because it has a lot of advanced software and computers that might come in handy. I learned that students are allowed to check out material such as cameras which I know will come in handy later in some of my business classes. The software that is available here such as Photoshop will also be very helpful since I do not have it installed in my personal computer. I had never used Photoshop until we used it in class and I find that it can be very helpful especially for editing pictures that can make my presentations appear more interesting. I also learned today that there are many people that are willing and able to help you with anything that you might need when working on a project at the center. I know that I will come back in a few weeks to work on my homework for computer class which will require me to use Photoshop.

This is a self-portrait that I did in 15 seconds.

My thoughts about Excel...

I am so glad that I am learning so many different functions in Excel. I know for a fact that I will use it in future classes and in real life especially since I am studying business. I wish I had learned it before because it could have come in hady when I opened my two businesses during high school. I was awarded the Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award along with a few other teenagers and one thing that I noticed was that many of them were using Excel to keep their "books" for their businesses. I never learned how to use excel properly so I wasn't able to use it and now I can see that it could have saved me A LOT of time. There is nothing I dislike so far about Excel, on the other hand I really like all the different functions that can be used not only for businesses but for persnal budgets as well. I will definitely be using it after our computer class finishes this semester!


These were the finalist for the award and I am on the right top corner.



Pictures that lie!

When I first saw this picture, I was in complete shock and could not help thinking what Oprah's reaction must have been when she found out that her head was placed onto the body of actress Ann-Margret. Oprah Windfrey is not only an amazing and succeful women, but also respected by thousands of people. I can't believe that someone would manipulate an image to make her body look so different. This picture was published on the cover of TvGuide in 1989.
I tried to figure out why someone would do this without permission of the person, but it is very hard for me to come up with an answer. I used to think that using photoshop to make somebody's body look skinnier was wrong, but this is just out of control because that is another person's body!
I am certain that this manipulation was harmful, especially to Oprah who is such a strong woman and this was just extremely disrespectful.

The YouTube video I added below carries a very strong message that women should not let modeling industries change their look. This image manipulation has gotten too far and people are being manipulated to an extent that they look like a completely different person. This needs to change and the only way is if we express our feelings.

Who is to blame when teenagers commit suicide with help of the internet?

Thousands of teenagers commit suicide each year and many people wonder who is to blame when these distressing events take place. For this blog entry I will discuss a hypothetical situation about a first-year medical student in California who posted in her personal blog explicit directions how to carry out an assisted suicide. The problem arose when a teenager who was being treated for depression read her post and ended her life with an overdose of drugs. Her family found a note that she left behind for them and it stated that she was able to end her life with the help of the blogger who described the process.

First, I will like to state my opinion that is it unethical for people to post such harmful information on the internet. I believe it is also illegal since there are a number of laws that have been passed to help reduce the rising suicide rates among teenagers. This blog entry can be considered something that provides information aiding people to commit suicide. Not only is this information available to anyone since it is posted on the internet, but it can be accessed by younger children who are not able to reason and make educated decisions yet. Even though the blogger intended to provide this information to help adults, she is still making an unethical and illegal mistake. Her information is allowing for people to take their life which makes her responsible for the death as well. If these people had not read the information, they could have been treated and still be alive. The blogger is also responsible for the damage and pain to the family and friends of the deceased.

In my opinion the person responsible for this tragedy is the medical student who posted the information on her blog. First of all, the teenager herself could not be responsible because when people suffer from depression they have a health problem which keeps them from making knowledgeable decisions many times. As Julie Thomerson stated, “Suicide is ultimately a mental health problem, but there are triggers and contributing factors that lead young people to turn to suicide as a solution, rather than dealing with their problems in healthier ways”. The weblog content provider is also responsible because they should have some kind of software that allows them to detect when people are posting harmful information. The parents should not be prosecuted because they were doing their part by making sure that their teenage daughter was getting treated for depression. I am unsure whether they were monitoring their daughter carefully, but all of this could have been prevented if the medical student hadn’t posted the information on her blog. I understand that when teenagers suffering from depression show any sign that they might commit suicide, parents must monitor them at all times. It is impossible for a parent to be watching their teenage daughter every second of the day and that is why I believe they should not be prosecuted.

Thomerson, Julie. "Violent Acts of Sadness: The Tragedy of Youth Suicide." State Legislatures 28.5 (2002): 30. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.

Copyright Presentation by Jason Hardin

In today’s class, Jason Hardin gave us a presentation on copyright that I believe was extremely helpful and interesting. First, I learned that there is a difference between the term copyright and plagiarism. Copyright would be reproducing someone else’s work as your own while plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as your own without giving credit to the author. Not only are these two terms different, but plagiarism is more of an ethical issue, not a crime. Another thing that Jason said that really caught my attention was that “technology itself is not illegal”. Jason explained that we can use this technology to share stuff that belongs to us, such as art or music. This doesn’t mean that if we bought a movie or CD it now belongs to us, but that we can share movies or music that we created. 

We learned about an issue involving a 17 year old girl who downloaded 37 songs using a file sharing program. She was sued and felt she was innocent, but she still lost the case and has to pay $27,750 to the recording industry. On one side, I believe that she was guilty but the amount that she has to pay is just ridiculous. The reason why I believe most of us found this presentation extremely helpful was that many of us did not know most of the things he told us or we were unsure whether the things we get from the internet are safe to use.

Copyright Presentation by Jason Hardin by Karime Gonzalez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

My Trinity Network Diagram

The diagram below shows a design I made to demonstrate Trinity’s network.  After watching the tour video by Jared Pack during Thursday’s class, I was overwhelmed by how much work was put in to our school’s network to allow our campus to have great services. My diagram shows Ruth Taylor in the center because it is the core that connects out to the entire campus. I included my off-campus apartment as well as the dorms to show how students at trinity connect to the internet through the wireless access points and how I also connect to the internet at home with a wireless access point. There are also a few descriptions for other important buildings on campus such as the library and Halsell.

Best Tech Tip

Joe Hatch came to our class today to give us a bunch of tips on how to enhance the performance of our computers as well as how to keep our private files secure from hackers. I would have to say that the best tip that I learned from him was not only how to install ccleaner, but learn about how useful it can be. I sometimes tend to forget that there are many hackers out there trying to access our private information such as bank statements. It is extremely important for us to protect our private information and this program allows us to do this in an easy manner. The other main reason why ccleaner is very useful is because it removes all unwanted software that keeps our computers running slow sometimes. Overall, his talk was very interesting and I am glad we had the opportunity to learn these helpful tips from him.

Where is this Trinity mystery spot?

At first I thought of finding a place that will be difficult to guess, but then I remembered a spot on campus that caught my attention during the tour for high school applicants the summer before my senior year. I am not too sure that many of you will know where this place is at, since it is not a high traffic zone. Originally, I thought about adding a picture of a tiger, but unfortunately there weren't any free ones in Picnik. Instead I decided to add the butterflies, parrot, and the cute ladybugs. I played around with the colors for a while until I found the perfect color scheme and effects. I made most of the background black and white so that the stickers that I added would really stand out. I really like the way it came out and I hope you guys agree with me.

NETWORK SERVER DIAGRAM

This diagram explains how the Trinity University network system works. The network provides a private storage for teachers and students through the three drives shown in the diagram. It allows for everyone to choose whether to use their personal drive, the class drive to view work, or the groups folder to save and turn in class assignments.

Hola

Welcome to my Blog! My name is Karime Gonzalez and I grew up in Laredo,Texas which is only two hours away from San Antonio. I was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and I am an only child. My mother is my best friend and I admire her greatly for being such an amazing person. I am currently a first year student at Trinity University planning to major in Business Administration/Management and Spanish. I also want to get a minor in Entrepreneurship. My interests include traveling, baking, dancing, figure skating, basketball, watching movies, and volunteering. I also have a collection of over 1,000 pencils. In high school I played basketball, volleyball, did track and field, danced flamenco, and volunteered over 1,000 hours. During my first semester at Trinity, I only got involved in a volunteering opportunity at San Anto Cultural Arts, but I plan to become more involved this semester.

My sophomore year in high school I took a computer class, but I forgot a lot of the material that we covered. I do not have a lot of knowledge on how to use programs such as Excel and Photoshop, so I am really looking forward to learning as much as I can this semester.

My mom and I when I arrived home from receiving the Gates Millenium Scholarship in Los Angeles,CA.

You can email me at kgarcia1@trinity.edu